Refers to combining two or more "cultural" or otherwise perspectives into one system. Gnosticism (and therefore Christianity), as well as Kabbalah and the Mysteries of Mithras etc. grew from syncretism. Influence of Jewish mysticism, Zoroastrian, and Hermetic contained in the "Nag Hammadi Library", and other works suggest that Sethian Gnosticism is based upon a syncretism. Syncretism is not eclecticism but is often mistaken for the same thing. The latter is a picking and choosing according to taste, without the internal framework of a genuine understanding of function. The former is when two systems come together with cultural perspectives, or mutual economy that needs to be worked out. Thus the important deeper "hard parts" of a system will still be included after syncretism, but lost on eclecticism.