Gnosticism in a nutshell:

“In the worlds of political, religious and economic man, commitment was outwardly directed to those communal beliefs, practices and institutions that were bigger than the individual and in which the individual, to the degree that he or she conformed to or cooperated with them, found meaning. The ancient Athenian was committed to the assembly, the medieval Christian to his church, and the twentieth-century factory worker to his trade union and working man’s club. All of them found their purpose and wellbeing by being committed to something outside themselves. In the world of Psychological Man, however, the commitment is first and foremost to the self and is inwardly directed. Thus, the order is reversed. Outward institutions become in effect the servants of the individual and her sense of inner wellbeing. [4]”

Kingsnorth, Paul. Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity (p. 172). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

[4]- Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self (Crossway, 2020), 48.