ON LOVE; PART CCCLXXXV
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
GoodWill IS Love in Action
ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•ΑΩ•Α
The Gospel of Thomas
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(26) Jesus says: “You see the splinter that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not see the beam that is in your (own) eye. When you remove the beam from your (own) eye, then you will see clearly (enough) to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.“
(27) “If you do not abstain from the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not make the Sabbath into a Sabbath, you will not see the Father.”
(28) Jesus says: “I stood in the middle of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found all of them drunk. None of them did I find thirsty. And my soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their heart, and they cannot see; for they came into the world empty, (and) they also seek to depart from the world empty. But now they are drunk. (But) when they shake off their wine, then they will change their mind.“
(29) Jesus says: “If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a wonder. But if the spirit (came into being) because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has taken up residence in this poverty“14
Having finished about the quarter of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, it is likely a good idea to remember what we are doing and what benefits this look at the purported writings of the Apostle Thomas can do for us. We are doing this basically because it came to mind to look at them through a radio show where the speaker, a pastor I believe, mentioned something that is in Thomas work; what he said is lost but the idea that he spurred was for us to look at this and in researching the history we thought it a good idea to look more closely. This we have been doing saying by saying and while some are markedly different than the sayings from the accepted gospels, we find that many of those that are not embrace our own understanding of the Truth of the Master’s words which is many times also a Truth that mainstream Christian doctrine misses. And this is likely why these writings are not accepted as gospel as perhaps if they were, they would force a sea change in Christian thinking; so they are relegated to heresy by some including the Church Fathers, or as later Gnostic writings posing as the apostle’s by others; and Gnosticism IS also called heretical by many in the church past and present. We see these sayings differently as we do not see the idea of Truth only coming from the accepted canon of the churches, canon that was decided by those who assumed authority and who in their superstitious and devotionally oriented ways decided what was Truth and thereby the beginnings of doctrines that ofttimes do not rightly portray the teachings of the Master nor His apostles and which is organized around the ways of men in the world rather than the Truth of the Master’s words and the clarification and amplification offered by His apostles.
We see Truth coming from many places and there are times that the Truth is hard to accept, that it is difficult to perform, and this is most likely why doctrine varies from Truth. This it does yet today and did as well in the times of the Christ’s presence among us and likely for ages before as well. This we can see in the Master’s citing the words of the prophet, repeating them as His own against the ways of the Pharisees and the Jewish rulers as He tells them: “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:7-9). And modern doctrine believes that Jesus here is speaking only about them from 2000 years ago; they do not see the same error in their own time. But this is not our point. That we see Truth from many sources is our right position and we ever try to measure this Truth against those words for the Apostle James on the Wisdom from above, what IS and what IS NOT such Wisdom: and the words of the Apostle Paul on what IS and what IS NOT the fruit of the Spirit. Our lesson here is that we DO NOT regard aught that is for the self in the world as Truth and this because if it has benefit to the self it is most likely of the world and not from above and we can see this idea clearly in the right understanding of the apostles’ words which we have discussed in detail several times over the last two years.
And so it is here with these words from Thomas Gospel; we try to relate them to our understanding of the Master’s words and not to the doctrinal view and we have been able to see most of these sayings rather clearly in this light. For those that we have not been able to fully understand we have provided our premise, our best idea of what the words should mean, and in doing this, saying by saying, we have been able to look as well at words from the Master in the accepted gospels from fresh perspectives and have been able to see things that we had not seen before and, along with this, we have been brought to sayings that we may not have ever discussed. This is of course the benefit; that we gain a deeper and fuller understanding of the Master’s words and the intent of His words and while Thomas frames most everything differently than the synoptic gospels, his framing is no more obscure than much that we find in the Gospel of John.
Continuing were we left off in the last essay, we have this first part of the twenty eighth saying as a statement that is similar in nature to the Prologue of the Gospel of John as the Master tells us that “I s[t]ood in the midst of the world” which rendering we take from the Greek fragment. Here, while we can not KNOW exactly what He means, we can surmise that HE is reflecting on that idea that John gives us as “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God“. And, the following thought that “and in the flesh I appeared to them” can be seen in the same context of the Prologue where we read: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). This is all rather clear to us and are statements of fact; the Christ ever was and in the midst of the Creation and He did appear in the flesh as Jesus 2000 years ago. And when He came among us He found us drunk as the next part tells us and in this idea there is much to understand as it relates to the very nature of Life in the world. In this idea of drunk we should see intoxication and that there are so many things that a man can be intoxicated by including spiritual things. Spiritual things are unlikely His subject here and this we see in the way that this is framed; we should likely see that man is intoxicated by the self and the self in the world, by the desires for the pleasures and the well being of the carnal man. These things the man sees as of paramount importance in his Life in form and the Master is telling us that this IS the state of mankind; that he flows from pleasure to pleasure ever seeking more oblivious to the call of the Inner man, the Soul, and we should see this idea of pleasure as ALL things that the man believes can bring him joy. Then, as today, man goes from pleasure to pleasure always seeking greater and seldom realizing that once attained so many of these pleasures simply fade; the man is intoxicated by the illusion and the glamour of his own Life with its many twists and turns and its general lack of that True sense of satisfaction which keeps the man ever seeking the next drink from the fountain of hope and wishful thinking.
These ideas are a great Truth though many will never admit that this is how they spend their lives; chasing dreams and wishes in the temporal world of men. The Master’s next comment is another Truth as He tells us that He found “none thirsty among them” which we can see as there were none seeking the spiritual reality of Life, none seeking the Truth of the teachings of the law and the Prophets; none seeking His rest. There should be no mystery here in this part of the saying; that all were drunk on the illusion and the glamour, the vanity of the Apostle Paul, and none were thirsting after the Truth of Life as had been held out in their own religious writings but which had been covered over by doctrine. There is one saying by the Master from Matthew’s Gospel that plays well here as He says: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). And, of course this IS a timeless saying as ARE the ideas of the Master’s statement of fact; if He were to return today what would He find?
The next part is stated as a complete saying in the Interlinear but this varies among translations; the Greek fragment may not be complete as this ends at the idea of “they cannot see”. We will present this as a single saying as we understand the link between these thoughts; we stay with our version above based on the idea of ached versus afflicted as some render this because we can not understand how the Master’s Soul could be afflicted and the idea of “cannot see” works well with the idea of being blind. We read this then as: “And my soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their heart, and they cannot see; for they came into the world empty, (and) they also seek to depart from the world empty“. In the idea of being blind we should again see the words of the Apostle Paul who tells us that this whole creation IS subjected to that vanity on which the world is drunk and that this is a part of the Plan of God. Now while we see this is True, we read similar as well in the words of the Prophet who says of the men of the world that: “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:14-15). Here we can see the drunkenness and the lack of thirst and here we can see the blindness as well and that it is by the choice of men that they do not thirst and it is in their lack of thirst that they remain blind. This IS why the Master offers these words of remorse; that He is pained by the fact that few if any Truly thirst. In John’s Gospel we get the similar idea, again from the Prophet but here in the apostle’s words: “But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (John 12-37-41). Here we have the same Plan of God, the same vanity, the same illusion and glamour that keep men drunk so that they do not thirst after righteousness; the same blindness, and here we can better see the idea of His pain as He has tried to show them the way “though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him“.
This is where the Greek fragment ends and we cannot tell if this is by design; the Coptic continues however and without an apparent critical stop in the text. The first part here is rather easy to understand and a similar idea to the whole can be found in Ecclesiastes where we read: “As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand” (Ecclesiastes 5:15). This is of course a clear statement of fact as when we leave we can take nothing but this is not exactly what the Master says in Thomas’ Gospel; He says “they also seek to depart from the world empty“. Here our confusion is in this idea of seeking to leave empty.
Can we try to see that here we have the Master’s parabolic ideas coming forth in a riddle of sorts, that in the combination of not thirsting and their continued blindness that they are not seeking to bring out of this Life anything of spiritual benefit which of course IS the only thing that one can leave with? Looking at the Master’s words on treasure we can see some like ideas to this as He says: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Can we see the link here and that in this combination of sayings from Thomas’ and Matthew’s writing that the Master is telling us that to accumulate the things of the world that we lust after in our drunken state are temporal and we should KNOW that we can not take them with us thus rendering them futile as well; and, we should note as well that those things that we should thirst after, righteousness and Truth, we can bring out of this Life? Here we have the idea that by not thirsting and by continuing in blindness that a man IS seeking to leave empty.
And the final part is clear to us who are seeking the Truth and who have come out of our own drunkenness. The alternate wording here is preferred and we will use the rendering from the Interlinear which says this as “But now they are drunk; when they should cast off their wine, then they will repent“. For us this is a timeless saying that DOES NOT envision this happening for ALL in this Lifetime and this IS much like that second part of that saying from Paul that we cited in the last post; there we see mankind subjected to the vanity which is the cause of this drunken blindness; and, in this second part is the promise that when we cast off our intoxication we “shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect of God |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way
|
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe,
From Whom all things proceed,
To Whom all things return,
Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden Light
That we may know the Truth And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.
As with any ancient manuscript from a foreign land, there are many interpretations and translations of The Gayatri available. The version that appears here comes to us in every day English and without the need to have a Sanskrit reference as a key; it is constructed so that all can understand it and use it.
The Gayatri is really quite simple and straightforward in the form that we have here. It begins, as does the Lord’s Prayer, with an acknowledgement of the Majesty of God as the Giver of all Life and as our Source of all things. We ask only one thing in this prayer; that the true spiritual light of God be unveiled to us so that we may see it clearly. The Sun is the giver of light and life to our planet and all that is on it and, just as each of our forms veils the Spirit within, we ask to see and to know the Light that is behind the Sun that which we see.
In saying this we believe that by seeing the true Spiritual Light that we will be able to see and to know the Truth that is in that light. This is the Light that the Buddha and then the Christ brought to us through their lives on Earth. This is the Light that shines in our hearts from our own spiritual selves, the Christ Within.
We close by acknowledging that we have a duty to God, to our brothers and to His Plan and it is this duty that we will perform when we realize the truth as we journey back to God.
Others have said about this prayer that “The Gayatri is one of the oldest invocations, or mantrams, know to man. It carries the power of purpose, the plan of love and the light of truth. It reveals human relationships as vertical alignment with the source of all Energy and horizontal service in the right use of energy. It is a potent tool for use with the inflow of new age energies” (from The Gayatri prayer card of World Goodwill; NY, NY).
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 14 The Gospel of Thomas; Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson; http://gnosis.org/
