Gospel of Thomas Through My Eyes

Thank You: The last post

2009-12-30T01:22:00.000-08:00

This will be the last posting for this blog. For those of you who have read what I have written, I hope my words might have genuinely helped you in anyway.

Thank you blogger for the means to post.

Thank you, God for your help, inspiration, and most of all, for being there when I needed you most.

Peace and Love to all of you.

Logion 103

2009-12-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

Jesus said, "Fortunate is the man who knows where the brigands will enter, so that he may get up, muster his domain, and arm himself before they invade."

For me, this means that I should know my weaknesses which can be my strongest desires, or character traits that hinder my spritual path. If I am trying to become more spiritually-oriented, the Lord can test me, and these tests can be the brigands, or they can be the normal circumstances of living a worldly existence.
I can be passive in remedying these weaknesses, or I can proactively seek to correct them. These tests will come again and again until I can conquer the assailants. For some people these brigands can be from internal sources such as procrastination, depression, anxiety, etc.

To muster, then, is to have an organized plan to deal with the brigands, something not improvised at the last moment. To arm, then, is to implement the plan with immediacy, rapidness, confidence, and authority. The plan may be as simple as listening to my favorite music album to help me to realign with spirit.

From Buddha's Way of Virtue:

Is there in all the world a man so modest that he provokes no blame, as a noble steed never deserves the whip? As a noble steed stung by the whip, be ye spirited and swift.

and:

Not nakedness, nor matted hair, not dirt, nor fastings, not sleeping in sanctuaries, nor ashes, nor ascetic posture—none of these things purifies a man who is not free from doubt.

Logion 79

2009-11-28T21:20:00.000-08:00

A woman from the crowd said to Him, "Blessed are the womb which bore You and the breasts which nourished You." He said to her, "Blessed are those who have heard the word of the Father and have truly kept it. For there will be days when you will say, 'Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.'"

As I free myself from some of the things that are holding me back in reaching higher levels of enlightenment, the more I become realized in escaping the karmic sufferings of this worldly existence. And in bringing this knowledge to action in my life, the more I escape the karma of those I live near, the karma of my demographic groups, the karma of my culture, etc.

The insinuated woman referenced at the end of the passage is the incarnation of unity consciousness which is, in essence, "thou art that." There can be "days" when horrible circumstances effect many people, but this conferred immunity imparted by being true to the principles contained in the Gospel of Thomas will be in force.

There is the idea of escaping rebirth in Buddhism, of being rid of bad karma once and for all. From the Buddha's Way of Virtue:

"No more will he be born whose patience is as the earth's, who is firm as a pillar and pious, pure as some unruffled lake."

Logion 4

2009-11-14T17:04:00.000-08:00

Jesus said, "The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same."

Babies are born in a state of unity consciousness, not knowing how to distinguish themselves from the external. As the baby grows, it learns more and more that it is a separate consciousness from the All. In some manner of speaking, part of this is societal teaching that might not be at the highest understanding.
There is great humility in speaking to the baby, and humility is a prerequisite to learning and experiencing higher spiritual knowledge. It may come apparent to an aspirant that one knows that one has much to learn, and it can be much less of a "shock to one's system" if one is in self-admission to one's ignorance.
The man in years represents an individual relying on experience to conduct his life. There is the reversal that the baby has very little wisdom. If one's external reality is representative of one's internal reality, then in one's absorbing the baby into one's consciousness, the baby's emotions can be reflective of one's emotions. The more one can do this, the more this can be in evidence.

In genuinely asking the baby, the man advanced in years becomes receptive to learning, and he becomes more as the baby who is not clouded by self and societally imposed mores.

From Logion 22:

Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to His disciples, "These infants being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom."

Logion 27

2009-10-25T20:06:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the Kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not see the Father."

For me, this means that I need to set aside time regularly to try to connect to the Divine. This fasting is meant to give a clarity to the connection.
I have to balance this connecting with the need to function in the material world. There is the juggling of my priorities to become optimal in both, and I have to maintain both proper protocol in both. Specifically, one of the Ten Commandments is to observe the Sabbath.
For me, observing the Sabbath means to rest and not to create. It is the chance to relate what has happened to myself during the week, and to relate the whirl of circumstances and causalities to the Divine. And in doing so, I naturally ask the Divine for answers. And, if I am truly fasting from the world, I am optimizing the possibility of clarity in the answers.

Logion 42

2009-10-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "Become passers-by."

This is the statement of non-attachment. Also, it means not to hold rigidly to one's worldview, because in spiritual advancement it can be, and is often shattered. So to not move from one's old way of viewing the world, is to be stagnant, and that even in its satisfactorily explaining "everything," it falls short.
One has to adventure from one's secure place of understanding, armed with life experience, to experience the unknown and to test whether one's wisdom has a validity in more supernal realms. This is not to say, this is to recklessly escape one's chaos necessarily, but it is to venture forth with some security in one's understanding. In other words, it is not an entirely unplanned adventure, and it is a prerequisite to have had some degree of success in the material plane. That failing, one's capacity to understand new principles of higher understanding will leave one mired in chaos heaped upon chaos. Significant learning and understanding will serve the passer-by well.
Very likely to advance to an understanding of this Gospel of Thomas, one's worldview will be shattered. This Gospel is written largely from the vein of unity consciousness, and its understanding is trying for even one who has attained this state. In fact, the attainment of the higher plane of Messianic Consciousness is necessary for many of the pieces to be understood. That is, one must operate having a higher consciousness aware of one's being in unity consciousness, yet still being functional in terrestrial realms. And in having achieved this state the individual willfully and consciously brings to bear the Messianic channeling of powerful spiritual forces. And there must be yet higher states of consciousness than Messianic Consciousness. It is important to note that even though one might be cognizant of Messianic capability in this higher state, one can choose not to use it in the capacity of the Messiah. That some would say that one would necessarily want to become the Messiah in having achieved this state cannot be true.

And in these new revelations, one must answer new questions where the answers are one's reality. One can fall back, but one never loses the memory, and there is the pain in knowing one is living in a lesser plane. And this fallen state may be still enlightened yet populated by very few people. This falling is to hold on.
And, yes, you can talk to very enlightened people, who have never experienced these states, who think because they are enlightened they must have experienced these elevated states. Personal experience is your only option. When these Logia begin to make sense to you, you'll know. People will be sure you're wrong. You're not.

From Bhuddha's Way of Virtue:

As a bee taking honey from flowers, without hurt to bloom or scent, so let the sage seek his food from house to house.

Logion 107

2009-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "The Kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine sheep and looked for that one until he found it. When he had gone to such trouble, he said to the sheep, 'I love for you more than the ninety-nine.'"

For me, the one hundred represents the shepherd locked into Logion-100 consciousness where one has not yet become Christ-like as is represented in Logion 108. The shepherd, one of the sheep, has the world nicely under control as is represented by the divisions in Logion 100, but there is more yet to learn.
The sheep represent the dynamism of the Logia in describing past situations. The sheep one has represent the Logia that one understands, but the lost sheep represents the Father who shows that there is always more to learn.

The Kingdom represents the attainment of consciousness that what is inside oneself is represented symbolically outside of us. The persistence in finding the lost sheep proves that one is worthy of meeting the Father.

The lost sheep is the Father.

Logion 71

2009-08-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "I shall destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to rebuild it."

For me, it means that Jesus came in fulfillment of prophecy and that not all prophecies are written, and so can be known only to an individual. To be in fulfillment of a prophecy can be an act of free will. Moreover, single individuals can raise the consciousness of all humanity, and humanity's consciousness is itself an individual which can overturn its own reality. Many prophecies are so richly metaphorical that they can be brought to happen as cancellation.

Logion 19

2009-08-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become My disciples and listen to My words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and winter and whose leaves do not fall. Whoever becomes acquainted with them will not experience death."

For me, the stones represent the concepts contained in each logion and the trees represent the logion themselves. In this instance the five trees are represented by the logion 19,20,21,22 and 23.

Respectively they represent the five skandhas of consciousness, impulse, perception, feeling and form. And, again, respectively they represent the olamot of will, mind, thought, speech and action.

Logion 19 portrays the divine, undying consciousness that creates through will. Logion 20 represents the conception that the Kingdom of Heaven can be manifest on earth given as impulse to the receptive mind. Logion 21 represents the thoughts and discernment of how to accomplish this in light of arrayed powers, both for and against the idea. Logion 22 portrays the realization that the countervailing forces are contained in oneself, if only in ignorance, and that they can only be conquered by bringing them to light. Logion 23 represents the high degree of selectivity of one's actions it takes to bring this about.

And finally, there must be perseverance to the principles in both good times and bad: In spring and winter. And that through this perseverance, the Kingdom of Heaven can be made manifest on earth.

Logion 70 on Sabbath

2009-08-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

Yeshua said: When you bring forth that within you, then that will save you. If you do not, then that will kill you.

Life is the possibility for understanding, and there is an infinity of potential for understanding in me. What is inside of me is essentially what is outside of me, or more precisely, that which is inside me is my past, and what is outside of me is my future. So that in understanding my past in the light of greater love brought through spiritual growth, I can change the future to be of greater love.

Logion 67

2009-08-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "If one who knows the all still feels a personal deficiency, that person, he is completely deficient."

For me, this can mean that in coming to realize that everything in the outside of me is really a manifestation of the inside of me, there is the seeming non sequitur, that I can still be oblivious to knowledge of myself for this to occur.

Logion 18

2009-07-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

The disciples asked Yeshua: "Tell us, what will be our end?" Yeshua answered: What do you know of the beginning, so that you now seek the end? Where the beginning is, the end will also be. Blessed are those who abide in the beginning, for they will know the end and will not taste death.

For me, this means that there are governing principles that order my life, and that to know them, to take them to heart, is to be a creator of one's external reality. Contrarily, to be governed by chaos is to be living in the reality external to one's own divine essence.
Because there is the reversal upon one's death of becoming one's external environment, if one has prior to death made the internal more the same as the external, the less one will experience death by forgetting what one previously was.

Purification

2009-07-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

I am following these precepts called the Pancha Sila from the Buddhist Catechism to clean-up what might keep me from the presence of Spirit.

I observe the precept to refrain from destroying the life of beings.
I observe the precept to refrain from stealing.
I observe the precept to abstain from unlawful sexual intercourse.
I observe the precept to refrain from falsehood.
I observe the precept to abstain from using intoxicants.

Question. What strikes the intelligent person on reading these Silas?

Answer. That one who observes them strictly must escape from every cause productive of human misery. If we study history we shall find that it has all sprung from one or another of these causes.

Question. In which Silas is the far-seeing wisdom of the Buddha most plainly shown?

Answer. In the first, third and fifth: for the taking of life, sensuality, and the use of intoxicants, cause at least 95 per cent. of the suffering among men.

Logion 2

2009-07-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

Jesus said, "let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the all."

For me, it means that the finding is in achieving unity consciousness. The troubling is in the realization in how one lived one's life prior to gaining this new insight. The astonishment comes about in realizing that one now has the knowledge to effect the world more powerfully than ever.

Logion 76

2009-07-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Kingdom of the Father is like the merchant who had a load of goods to sell. Then he saw a pearl. The merchant was wise and sold his goods to buy the pearl. You too should pursue that treasure which is everlasting, there where moths never go nor worms devour.

For me, it means that one should not pursue spirituality presented in the Gospel of Thomas with ostentation symbolically represented as the pearl. The Kingdom of the Father is fraught with temptation and tests. It is ever the nature of the Kingdom of the Father to test those who claim themselves to be spiritually enlightened - just check the newspaper headlines.
Rather the journey of discovery is self-discovery, of going inside where moths nor worms devour. My yearning to be the seed planted in a safe and nurturing field.

Logion 71

2009-07-19T12:35:00.000-07:00

Yeshua said: I will overturn this house and none will be able to rebuild it.

For me, the house is my consciousness, my way of perceiving reality. The house is how I understand my reality to work in line with the wisdom acquired from above, and quite obviously it is incomplete!

By understanding these sayings in the Gospel of Thomas, there must be a large change in how I view this house, so much so, as to be living in a new house. In spirituality, there is no falling back, so the old house will no longer exist.

In my past, I have always been encouraged to save others, but in my trying to save others without having saved myself, ripples of chaos have been sent throughout my life. But this time I have to save myself first!

Peace and Love.

Sabbath

2009-07-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today, after many hints from spirit, it was made clear to me that today is the Sabbath and a day of rest. For me, many of the sayings in the Gospel of Thomas are difficult to understand and difficult to relate to my personal experience. In fact they are work to interpret.

The Sabbath is a day of rest, so there is no saying meant for me today.

Peace and love to all mankind.

Logion 74

2009-07-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

He said, "O Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the cistern."

For me, this means that I have become reliant on established religious preachers to glean from religious teachings, and that I have exhausted in some capacities, the limits of their knowledge, and to that end, they can no longer help me.

The cistern is filled by rain which is the will and grace of God, and it is water that transforms man's spirit. It is myself that must pray for more understanding, in essence, that God might fill the cistern. Many preachers of God's relate their weekly sermons to people who have come to them through counseling or via their own personal situations. They too, are on their own Way, but I need to stop looking through their eyes, so to live spiritually through vicarious experiences, and start looking through my own with the Godly wisdom I myself have received and hope yet to receive by spiritual devotion.

And that I am no longer just a student, but now, both teacher and student. I hope to be filled to overflowing, so to help as I am helped, and to teach as I am taught.

Peace and love.

Logion 91

2009-07-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

Today I was given the Gospel of Thomas Logion 91 to think about.

They said to him: "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you." He answered them: You search the face of heaven and earth, but you do not recognize the one who is in your presence and you do not know how to experience the present moment."

This Logion is representative of the whole body of 114 sayings of the Gospel of Thomas. Meaning that here these expressions lie before me, and I do not understand them in their totality. And that in communion with God and Jesus in prayer in persistence, dedication, and commitment that I will understand them as the very laws that give birth to the present moment.

Peace and Love.