A belief is an opinion and not knowledge. Gnosis, as the word implies, has to do with knowledge - not an intellectual interpretation, not a powerful feeling, but true knowledge. If you begin to cross the street and suddenly see a car careening toward you, you simply jump back to the curb, without thought, without intellectal argument, without argumentation. You know . Gnosis operates in the same manner.
Gnosis is free of time.
One can study Gnosticism , but that cannot make one a gnostic, just a gnostic student. The task of those who aspire to gnosis is one of facing life and self. It is the struggle toward consciousness. It is reaching beyond the personal and eventually dealing with the underlying pain and alienation of the world. It is total commitment to consciousness.