Hi Bob: Eric Voegelin flushed out the concept that gnosticism is more of an "existential" condition than a religious one. It's a warped response to our predicament as creatures that live in the "metaxy" (that area between transcendence and immanence). It takes different forms, but the same response can be seen throughout history. More at the link below. Thanks for reading.

https://medium.com/catholicism-for-the-modern-world/voegelins-new-science-of-politics-put-gnosticism-back-into-our-awareness-3461b3394422