Gaining Knowledge

Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.

D&C 130:18-19

Wikipedia has this to say about Gnosticism:

Gnosticism is a historical term for various mystical initiatory religions, sects and knowledge schools that were most active in the first few centuries A.D. around the Mediterranean and extending into central Asia.

These systems typically recommend the pursuit of mysticism or "special knowledge" (gnosis) as the central goal of life. They also commonly depict creation as a mythological struggle between competing forces of light and dark, and posit a marked division between the material realm, typically depicted as under the governance of malevolent forces (such as the demiurge), and the higher spiritual realm from which it is divided, governed by God (the Monad) and the Aeons.

A face-value interpretation of Mormonism's roots would seem to support that its natural state is that of a Gnostic order, where acquiring certain information conveyed by symbols will allow us admittance into the highest order of the Celestial Kingdom. (This is of course, possible because of Jesus Christ) I think most "lofty" Latter-day Saints recognize that the symbols themselves are not the keys to admittance, but that we must puzzle out through diligent faith and prayer the true keys for which they are only a type, in order to gain our eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell, and that any one exercising faith and honestly striving with real intent is guaranteed to arrive at the correct answer before judgment. This makes puzzle-solving, to us, the most important facet of our Gospel, for if we cease to seek the answer, we have gone off of the path, and our exaltation is not sure.