ON LOVE; PART XDXII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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The Gospel of Thomas

These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.

(46) Jesus says: “From Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women there is no one who surpasses John the Baptist so that his (i.e., John’s) eyes need not be downcast.  But I have also said: ‘Whoever among you becomes little will know the kingdom, and will surpass John.’”

(47) Jesus says: “It is impossible for a person to mount two horses and to stretch two bows. And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters. Else he will honor the one and insult the other. No person drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, so that they do not burst; nor is old wine put into (a) new wineskin, so that it does not spoil it. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear will result.“

(48) Jesus says: “If two make peace with one another in one and the same house, (then) they will say to the mountain: ‘Move away,’ and it will move away.“

(49) Jesus says: “Blessed are the solitary ones, the elect. For you will find the kingdom.  For you come from it (and) will return to it.“

(50) Jesus says: “If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’” ¹⁴

Two posts back we looked at the first listed point from the Values to Live By as they appear as our Quote of the Day. Today we will look at the second point which IS A Sense of Justice—recognition of the rights and needs, of all. As we looked at the previous point, A Love of Truth, we found a relationship to the Golden Rule which we stated in its more common verbiage  ‘do unto others as you would have others do unto you‘ and we tried to show how this must work on a global level as well as on a personal level and this especially in the words, thoughts, attitudes and actions that are expressed by those who have assumed authority on in the world, the leaders if you will, in religion, in politics, in business and in any other arena of human expression. Here we looked at the idea of Truth as it comes forth in an honest approach to promote one’s objectives and the tie here to the Golden Rule should be quite clear….that one man or one group would not promote its position by untruths and by half truths and this simply because that man or group would NOT want to be treated so by others. We noted as well that the whole idea of using untruths and half truths has come to be acceptable in religion, in politics, in business and in virtually every avenue of human endeavor; it comes across as salesmanship instead of lying and marketing instead of misleading. In this ALL the worldly forces of illusion and of glamour play a large role.

This second point, A Sense of Justice, has similar effect and similar relationship to the Golden Rule especially when this is understood from the positive perspective where we should see this as  DOING FOR as well as DOING AGAINST when this idea of do unto is considered. To some this Golden Rule has taken on the idea that it is a “reciprocal”, or “two-way”, relationship between one’s self and others that involves both sides equally, and in a mutual fashion* but this IS NOT and has never been its intent. The intent as it is captured for us by Emmet Fox is the more appropriate as he tells us: I PRACTICE, the Golden Rule of Jesus instead of merely admiring it. He said, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” The important point about the Golden Rule is that I am to practice it whether the other fellow does so or not**. The point here is that in this Sense of Justice, one should ever do what IS right and not what is convenient, one should do what IS fair and honest without regard to the other persons place or attitude. In the words of the apostles who clarify and who amplify the Master’s thoughts and words we read several times that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) and this is the essence of this  Sense of Justice as well as this sense requires that we see ALL men as equal. This idea IS NOT unique to our sense and thoughts as this we see in this codified saying from the American Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The problem with this idea is not the idea; the idea IS a great Truth. The problem is that it is not understood as a functional part of Life’s realities that must be extended to ALL men and not only held for the self and perhaps those of like mind. This IS the essence of our idea of A Sense of Justice, that we have a recognition of the rights and needs, of all. These words of the Declaration of Independence have become for many just trite words that have a nice sound and perhaps give the appearance of justice in the ways of the men who purport to live under them and, it is just this sense of appearance that we covered in the first point, A Love of Truth. Great strides have been made over the course of the nearly 250 years since these words were codified but the changes do not come easy and the changes do not come willingly to many who yet today don’t understand the reality and yet profess themselves as religious and followers of God and of the Christ. The reality of this saying and the reality of this Sense of Justice must be realized in the minds of men and for this there IS ONLY the educative process and this must one that is free from the preconceived notions and prejudices that still fill classrooms around the world. It is ironic that as men signed onto this original declaration and as others adopted it as their law and policy as new states and new territories were added to the thirteen, that they did not see that the slavery and the annihilation of the American Indian were both grossly against this precept of their own law and, to add religious fuel here, these same men who enslaved and who annihilated professed to be Christians who not only did not understand this declaration but who also did not see the reality of the Golden Rule. This has ever been the way of man in the world but this CAN and MUST change as we move forward into this New Age of Aquarius where the ideas of brotherhood and harmony can take on new Life in the interrelationships of men around the world.

And, like the Love of Truth, this Sense of Justice begins with us who do understand the deeper Truths of Life and the reality of the Golden Rule. We who do understand and recognize the rights and needs, of all. And for us ALL must mean ALL as it is only in this frame of mind that a man can make True spiritual progress. It is only in this frame of mind that is instilled in us by our focus upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True, the Ways of God, that we can Truly understand and DO the ideas of the Master and His apostles who tell us:

• “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:31).
• “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
• “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons……if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors (James 2:1, 9).

In these are Truth and in these are Justice; in these is the beginning of the right treatment of our brother, our neighbor and the stranger who qualifies as both. In these are Life and our spiritual reality.

We began our look at the fiftieth saying from the Gospel of Thomas in the last essay and found that while the commentary on this saying was better than we have seen on many, that they still do not see the depth of the ideas presented as we see them but they rather see them in the same view as normal doctrinal Christianity. One, Stevan Davies, writes a lengthy commentary on this saying and his words seem to support the idea that they are similar to the Master’s words from the accepted gospels and makes a statement that perhaps an understanding of John’ s Gospel could help one to understand Thomas. However, in the better than usual commentary there is still not determination offered as to what these words may mean and while they most all toy with the idea of who would ask the question they seem to not see the relevance of the question itself. Repeating our division of this saying for clarity we begin:

• “If they say to you: Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image”.
• “If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father”.
• “If they ask you: What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose“.

If we can view these ideas as practical instruction on the mysteries of Life itself we can see that the questions can be naturally asked by one who perhaps witnesses a healing or some other thing that the people view as a miracle. In this context the required answer would need to be parabolic as is the teaching of the Master Himself so that there is Truth and at the same time the Truth is obscured from those who do not yet have the wherewithal to understand. This will be our view in examining these ideas, that these are instructions from the Lord as to how the disciples should handle any questioning of them by men and this regardless of whether they are regular people in the streets, or Pharisees, or any of the other classes of Jewish religious leaders. This becomes as it were a part of their individual teaching to the people. Let us look here at the Interlinear version as the translations do not seem to place the idea of who is referenced properly; we have a new Interlinear source which we can copy from rather than type; the rendering is the same and the parenthetical words are assumed. The reference here to (pl) means plural and we will define other such references as we go along in other sayings. The dashes are in the rendered text and seem to show an English rendering of a Coptic phrase. The first part from the Interlinear says:

“Said-JS this: If-they-should-speak to-you(pl) this- “Have–you(pl)-come-into-being out (of) where?” Speak to-them this- “We-have-come out of-the-light, the-place which-the-light came-into-being there, outward by-his-hand himself; he-stood to-his-feet, and he-appeared forth in -their-image“”.

Looking at this first part of the fiftieth saying through the Interlinear we get a the view of Jesus question in a slightly different way as the inclusion of the phrasing “should speak to you“. From our perspective this gives a bit more remoteness to the idea that they would be asked this particular question and while this may not appear to make a difference, it can further qualify the Master’s words more as the general instruction than as how they would respond to an expected question. The question is however the same and it reflects the simple idea of “Where do you come from?’ ” as is offered in different but similar words in most all of the translations. Here we can imagine the crowds in the street listening to the disciple with many being healed by him and here, if they were not familiar with the Master and His disciples, they would naturally be in awe and ask this question as would the religious ruler. Here, the general idea of the questioning can be seen as ‘who are you and were did you come from that you can say and do as you do?’ We should not confuse this with the second question in this saying as that one is more inclined as a followup to the answer to this one than it is a question of identity.

And so the answer is that “We-have-come out of-the-light, the-place which-the-light came-into-being there” which is to say that they have come from the Kingdom of God. We CAN NOT say how the people or the rulers would understand this saying; it would most certainly be obscure and this IS of course the purpose of parabolic speech. This is not unlike the words of the Master Himself in response to the Pharisees’ harassment of Him after that episode of the stoning of the woman where we read:

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go” (John 8:12-14).

Here the Master answers in His normal parabolic way and while His instruction to the disciples is not quite so certain as to say “I am the light of the world“, it does say similar in saying that the disciple comes from this Light in like manner, from that same place where the Light began, from the Kingdom of God and God Himself. The rest here is where we need the Interlinear rendering to rightly understand it as the rest of this answer says that the disciple came out of this Light by the Power of God Himself and he stood, as the God Within, as He appears in the image of the disciple to whom the people are speaking. Here we can use the idea of the God Within or the Christ Within and if this is difficult to understand it is because it is made difficult by design, as an answer that IS revealed to the hearer from his own Soul, from that God Within. We should see this as no more obscure than the Master’s answer from John’s Gospel nor is this any more mysterious than His other saying that “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father” which idea His own disciples did not completely understand and to which saying they tell Jesus that “Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not  that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.” (John 16:28-30).

This is our view and our way of viewing this saying from the Master as recorded by Thomas and whether this gospel is the True writing of the apostle or not, the saying is a valid one as regards the simple answer to those who do not understand; it is a Truth hidden in the obscurity of a parabolic saying. The next part reads this way from the Interlinear: “If-they–should-speak to-you(pl) this- “You(pl) are (him)? “, speak this- ” We (are) his-sons, and we (are) the-chosen of-the-father who -lives“. Here again we can get a different feel from this than from the translation that renders this as “‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father”.

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.

Values to Live By

A Love of Truth—essential
for a just, inclusive and progressive society;

A Sense of Justice—recognition
of the rights and needs, of all.

Spirit of Cooperation—based
on active goodwill and the principle of right human
relationships;

A Sense of Personal Responsibility—for
group, community and national affairs;

Serving the Common Good— through
the sacrifice of selfishness. Only what is good for all
is good for each one.

The world of the future depends on what each one of us chooses to do today.

From a previous essay and Quote of the Day we reprise these words:  It is interesting to note that the ideas of the Quote of the Day embody much of the Master’s teachings and can set the stage for the beginning of each man’s revelation and realization of the Light of the Soul; that is, that by the intentional practice of these ‘rules’ of conduct one can put himself in the position of a follower of the Master and an keeper of His word and this regardless if he has ever heard of the Christ or wants to be affiliated with any ideas Christian. By keeping these sound principals of Life in mind and practicing them a man can lift himself up above and beyond the world of men and into the world of the Good, the Beautiful and the True as it exists for those in whom the Christ Within, the God Within, is awakened. Ponder on this.

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/
• *  Wikipedia contributors. “Golden Rule.”  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 5 Oct. 2013
• ** From The Fifteen Points by Emmet Fox; © 1932 HarperCollins Publishers Inc