ON LOVE; PART CDLIV
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.
(82) Jesus says: “The person who is near me is near the fire. And the person who is far from me is far from the kingdom.“
(83) Jesus says: “The images are visible to humanity, but the light within them is hidden in the image. {} The light of the Father will reveal itself, but his image is hidden by his light.”
(84) Jesus says: “When you see your likeness you are full of joy. But when you see your likenesses that came into existence before you – they neither die nor become manifest – how much will you bear?“
(85) Jesus says: “Adam came from a great power and a great wealth. But he did not become worthy of you. For if he had been worthy, (then) [he would] not [have tasted] death.“
(86) Jesus says: “[Foxes have] their holes and birds have their nest. But the son of man has no place to lay his head down (and) to rest.“
(87) Jesus says: “Wretched is the body that depends on a body. And wretched is the soul that depends on these two.“
(88) Jesus says: “The messengers and the prophets are coming to you, and they will give you what belongs to you. And you, in turn, give to them what you have in your hands (and) say to yourselves: ‘When will they come (and) take what belongs to them?’”
In the last essay be finished our discussion of the eighty second saying from Thomas’ Gospel by using what we see as pertinent ideas from the accepted gospels. In this case the words of John the Baptist showed us the relationship between fire and the Holy Spirit and although we changed the normal translations to accomplish this, the idea will work out in those normal translations as well albeit a bit harder to see. Using the ideas from the lexicon we took the Baptist’s words as he refers to the coming of the Master who will baptize “with the Holy Ghost, and with fire“, as we read in most ALL translations of this from Matthew’s Gospel, to a different but rendering that says the same thing about the Master and which clarifies the idea of the Holy Ghost which we read as “with the Holy Ghost, even fire“. In the latter we can more clearly see the relationship that we apply to Thomas and this does not leave us without the former more common rendering; it just makes the relationship to say that both are used in this baptism by the Master. If we use the latter rendering we can more clearly see the Holy Ghost as ‘spiritual fire’ that can burn through the carnal thoughts, attitudes and actions of the baptized man and set him upon the Path and this IS of course the purpose of True baptism; to cause that change in the man as that his focus becomes the things of God.
Seeing then this relationship between fire and the Holy Spirit, we can see as rather rational this idea from Thomas where the Master says that the man who IS close to Him is as well close to the fire and here we should remember our comments on the rendering of this Coptic word as close versus the more normal near in the last post. Our point here in repeating these ideas is to show that when we look at these sayings in the Light of the possibility that these ARE Truly the Master’s words and view them as we view His words from the accepted gospels, we can find much of the hidden value which here appears to be a straightforward saying that if one is close to the Master, not in proximity but as a matter of keeping His words and following Him, then one IS close to the fire, ‘the spiritual fire’ which we can see as the Holy Spirit which we in turn understand as the activity of the Christ Within, the God Within, in the Life of the man in the world. We should note here that this IS what we do, we express the God and the Christ Within when we are keeping His word. Hence the rest of the saying that tells us that the man who IS far from Him, again not in proximity but in focus, IS as well far from the Kingdom and this we KNOW from so many other sayings throughout ALL the gospels. This IS NOT unlike the Master’s words to His disciple that “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23); the meanings here are virtually the same.
We also began our look at the next saying, the eighty third, in the last essay and we find again a rather straightforward saying from the Master albeit one that is not expressed in this language in the accepted gospels. We also noted that the ideas in this saying can be differently understood based upon the translation that one reads and this is especially true here because of the placement of the punctuation. We noted that many of these older manuscripts lack punctuation and in our view of the original manuscripts there appears that there is none. In this view, when we commented in previous essays about things such as the critical stop in the Interlinear that did not appear in some translations, we were in reality commenting on the difference of the more literal Interlinear Version versus other translations; we were not Truly commenting upon the original manuscript. Going forward, this will be our new view; that all punctuation is done by the various translators. Here then we again will look at this saying from the perspective of the more literal Interlinear Version which renders this saying as: “the-images, they-are-revealed forth to-the-man, and the-light which-is-in-them, he-is-hidden in-the-image of -the-light of -the-father; > he-will-be-revealed forth, and his-image hidden away by-his-\-light“.
The idea here is captured for us best by the Patterson and Robinson translation above which reads: “The images are visible to humanity, but the light within them is hidden in the image. {} The light of the Father will reveal itself, but his image is hidden by his light“. The difference here is in the idea from the Interlinear, that the Light is hidden in the image of the Light of the Father, versus the idea that the Light is hidden in the image itself. The rest of the comparison between these two can remain without comment as the Light will reveal itself as the result of either. Here we should see that this first part, this first image, IS the man in the world and these images are revealed to man, he does see them. Then we find that there is Light hidden in this image and, we can see this as that this Light is hidden in the Light of the Father, which we KNOW as the God Within, or we can see this as Patterson and Robinson as simply that the Light is hidden within the image that IS the man in the world. In either case, the idea is the same as the Light IS the God Within, it IS the Christ Within, it IS the Soul. Going further we see that the True man is the Light, the Soul, and that the Master IS telling us that this Light WILL BE revealed and that in this revelation of Light that the image that IS the body will be obscured. Here we see that same reality, that as the expression of the Christ Within becomes the expression of the man in the world, that he will see Himself as such, as the expression of divinity and this will also become his appearance to others who CAN see. This IS most clearly seen in the Interlinear but our other version does say this as well and the picture offered by both is that there is the body, the image that we see and there is the Soul the Light that IS hidden within this form and it IS in the processes of striving that we can sense this Light and see the reality of the Master’s words that tell us clearly to: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works” (Matthew 5:16). It IS in this shining of one’s Light that men will see the Light and the man will then be KNOWN for the Light and NOT for the phenomenal appearance nor the personality.
Our next saying, the eighty fourth can be see to be related to this last one as here we are speaking about likeness which is rendered as image in other translations. This IS another that is not found in the accepted gospels although the reality of what this says IS spread across much of the New Testament. The basis of this saying is the essence of what we have been saying about the spiritual reality of the Soul as a separate aspect of Life in this world and here, since most all of the translations do say essentially the same thing, we will not post them. There are several comments on this saying which include:
- R. McL. Wilson writes: “Like Irenaeus and some other Fathers, Thomas distinguishes between the ‘image’ and the ‘likeness’ in Genesis i. 26. Man on earth possesses only the likeness; the image (for Thomas) is his heavenly counterpart, the pattern on which he was made. Now we see only the likeness, as in a mirror (Doresse quotes 1 Cor. xiii. 12, 2 Cor. iii. 18), but when Christ shall appear we shall be like Him (1 John iii. 2, quoted by Grant and Freedman). Logion 24 speaks of the light that is in a man of light (cf. Matt. v. 14, vi. 22-23), logion 50 of the disciples (or the Gnostics) as coming from the Light, and the Pistis Sophia (chaps. 2-6) of a light descending upon Jesus, so bright that the disciples were blinded and could not see Him. Christ is the image of God (Col. i. 15 etc.), and Paul speaks of ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. iv. 4, 6, quoted by Grant and Freedman). Colossians iii. 3 speaks of our life as ‘hid with Christ in god,’ and we may also recall the Pauline formula ‘in Christ.’ Finally, the opening words of logion 83 may owe something to reflection on Romans i. 20 ff., the ‘invisible things of God’ being interpreted as the archetypal patterns, the ‘images’ or Platonic ideas of all created things. Such speculations seem to belong to a period later than the New Testament, and certainly long after the time of Jesus.” (Studies in the Gospel of Thomas, pp. 108-109).
- F. F. Bruce writes: “This carries on the thought of the previous saying. Since men are created in the divine image (Genesis 1.26 f.), Christ, who is himself the divine image, is the archetypal man, the true Adam.” (Jesus and Christian Origins Outside the New Testament, p. 145).
- Funk and Hoover write: “This saying is closely related to Thomas 83 and reflects the same early Christian attempt to employ Platonic categories. Some gnostics believed that each person has a heavenly twin, or image, which never perishes, but which awaits the moment of death, when the gnostic’s soul is reunited with that twin.” (The Five Gospels, p. 518).
- Gerd Ludemann writes: “This verse introduces the eternal heavenly likenesses to which the readers have not yet become assimilated. Thomas raises the question how long the readers can bear it, i.e. can be reminded of their earthly existence, without failing.” (Jesus After 2000 Years, p. 632).
- Helmut Koester writes: “Separating the soul from corporeal existence does not mean that the soul would henceforth exist as a disembodied spirit, wandering abstractly through the cosmos without form and identity; rather, the soul freed from its prison would enter a new kind of corporeal existence which awaits her in the heavenly realm. This new ‘body’ is often spoken of as one’s heavenly ‘image,’ which awaits the soul, but remains guarded and enclosed in the safety of the godhead until it can be properly claimed. Thus Thomas speaks of ‘images,’ for the present concealed in the Father, but waiting for the moment when their splendor will be revealed to the utter astonishment of those by whom they will be claimed: [83 and 84].” (Ancient Christian Gospels, pp. 126-127).
- Stevan Davies writes: “For Thomas the world can be conceived in two ways, from the perspective of the primordial light and the beginning, or from the everyday perspective. The difference between these two perspectives is discussed in Thomas’s sayings 50a, 83 and 84 . . . Unfortunately, however, these sayings presuppose an underlying metaphysics that is hinted at so briefly and that is so dependent on unclear pronoun references that certainty in regard to their interpretation may be impossible. Still, it is hard to deny that these sayings refer ultimately to a form of Platonism wherein there is a highest reality, an image of that reality, and an image of that image which is, evidently, the world as it is ordinarily perceived.” “In sayings 50a, 83, and 84, it appears that the images which constitute the world as ordinarily perceived are seen through the image of the primordial light (or, alternatively, the image of the light of the Father). The image of primordial light is our ordinary sunlight. Seeing always in an ordinary way, by ordinary sunlight, precludes seeing the primordial light that permeates all things. In this way the light of the Father is concealed by the image of the light of the Father.” (http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/thomas/jblprot.htm).
Here we have some commentaries that do investigate the saying but unfortunately they seem to be of the opinion that the saying IS NOT from the Master but from Thomas and in this we find their ideas that these words come from some Platonic teachings. In the relation that is drawn here to the ideas from Genesis there is much left unsaid except that there is some recognition of the idea man being created in the image of God. The idea here of a new body, a heavenly body, that is waiting till such time as it can be claimed IS unfounded and while there may be a form involved in Soul Life as one achieves the Kingdom of God with no further need for incarnation, what this could be IS a deep mystery. For this reason we speak of the Soul just as the Soul; how and if the Soul has an appearance does not matter and the image of the Soul IS just that, the Soul, but this IS an idea that is missing in ALL of these comments. Understanding that none of these writers or translators see Life as we see it, we should understand as well our unique perspective regarding the Master’s sayings from this Gospel of Thomas and note that we have this same unique perspective regarding ALL of the works of the New Testament. Free from doctrine we can see that in the use of the words rendered as likeness and as image that there IS an intended difference and that the difference here in this saying is the opposite of how it is portrayed in the last saying. In eighty three we see the image as the body in the first part and then we see the image as the man in the world, the whole man, which is hidden by the Light. Here in eighty four we see the likeness as the body or as the body nature of the disciple and, depending upon how one should view this, there can be two different understandings of this saying.
In the last we KNOW that this is the body as the words ARE that this is visible to men without any specificity as to what men. Here we find that the likeness is seen by the man who is listening to these words and, assuming here that this IS the disciple, we can see this as that he is joyous in seeing himself as the Soul expressing through his form. If we try to see this as the man seeing his form, his body on this Earth, we must then wonder what it is that would make one joyous; this IS but a body in the world. Can we see the point here? Following then that the disciple, and it is usually to disciples that the Master speaks of such things, sees himself as such and IS joyous, the Master tells him that there is yet another image that he does not yet see and this IS the purity of the Soul, the spiritual man, the God Within, that was in existence before the body in this world. Here the Master tells the disciple that this part of man from the perspective of Life in form, this True man, this Soul, IS eternal and IS NOT manifest in the world and this takes us to our own understanding of Life in form, that the Soul gives Life and consciousness to the body nature for its time in this Earth and, at the same time, remains as the Soul. Then, the simple statement or question, when the disciple can see this Truth can he bear to do so? Here we have that finality that shows the disciple as a man in the world that what he has thought himself to be, a man in the world expressing divinity, IS in fact that greater reality of a Soul expressing Life through form. He IS NO longer the man that he sees in the glass, he is that True man, that Soul which IS the Life and the consciousness, the eternal and unmanifest Life and consciousness that IS the Light, the hidden Light from the previous saying. We close today with this from the Apostle Paul that can shed some light here; speaking on Love to the Corinthians and showing them the utter importance of Love over ALL things, over ALL expression by a man in the world including what he may have seen as the divine expressions of prophecy or tongues and even knowledge, he tells them this:
“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:9-12).
In this perfection is the seeing of the True man as we see in Thomas’ and the part done away is the seeing of oneself as this man in the world which can be likened to seeing oneself in the glass darkly.
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.
Today we repeat the Mantram of Unification as our Quote of the Day.
This is an affirmation of the Oneness of the human family from the perspective of the disciple and the aspirant and any who hold these ideals as important. In this we find the essence of the two ideas that we have discussed from Values to Live By and that these are firmly grounded in the desire to Love not hate; to serve and not exact due service and to heal and not to hurt. It is Love shown as Truth and justice that is at the heart of this mantram.
Mantram of Unification
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love. Spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.
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/
