I stayed up very late watching this video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2500050210699556702&ei=qO4QS5LDJ4HzlQeX29W7Dg&q=Gnosticism#
This was without question the best source for my research to-date: a great instructional slide-show presentation.
“…[Gnostics] were not concerned with contradictions, they were concerned with myths. Myths can be contradictions, but they point to truth. And truth is beyond anything that can be put into words. Truth can be experienced, but cannot be stated.”