The THOMAS Web-Zine
November 2012 Issue 39
On Our Own!
Many miss out on themselves as they journey through life. They know others, they know places, they know skills, they know their work, but they do not know themselves at all. We struggle to catch up with ourselves; we are so busy and distracted that we cannot dedicate enough time or recognition to the hidden depths within us.
#42 Become yourselves, passing by
Walk along the World Heritage Coast at Lyme Regis and see billions of million-year old rocks and pebbles, some of which capture life in ancient seas. Finding a fossil causes great excitement in old and young alike; a snapshot of a unique member of a long-gone life form. We can also notice that each pebble is unique; no one is like any other. No matter how long we search we will never find another the same.
This is true of ourselves. There is no-one else in the whole world like you. Each of us have our own story, our own history, our own beliefs, thoughts, feelings etc. We are truly completely unique.
Our spiritual journey therefore is also unique to ourselves. This journey is not from one set of beliefs to another, from one religious group to another. Its this journey into our own depths that we need to explore.
To help us on our personal Journey we look for help, instruction, and guidance. Go into any book store and we will find many books with instructions and rules to follow. For example: 7 Steps to Awakening, 9 Steps to Creating Prayers that get Results, 12 Steps to Forgiveness. Perhaps our bookshelves groan under such books!
So what do we find in the Gospel of Thomas to guide us on our very personal journey?
We find little in the way of instructions or rules; in fact it seems difficult to discern help in what we need to do. 'Thomas' precedes the New Testaments (NT) which surround Jesus' teaching with clear rules on religious behaviour. The NT authors of the time codified their interpretation of the teaching, their religious background, and their goal of comformity.
Jesus recognizes that each of us are on our own unique path to be taken in our own time, so he altered his teachings and approach for his audience; for us. He encourages, coaxes, and implores but avoids giving instructions and rules. He wants us to be with him on our journey:
#90 Come to me, for easy is my yoke and my lord ship is gentle,and you shall find Repose for yourselves.
Jesus also knows that we will come to him when we are ready, and that we may become complacent along the way:
#62 I tell my mysteries to those who are worthy of my mysteries. Whatever your right hand will do, let not your left hand be aware of what it does.
#92 Seek and you will find. But those things that you asked me in those days I did not tell you then; now I desire to tell them but you do not seek after them.
Jesus has an awareness of the different attitudes between males and females: one active the other passive:
#98 The Kingdom of the Father is like a man wishing to kill a giant. He drew the sword in his house, he struck it through the wall in order to be assured that his hand would be confident. Then he slew the giant.
#97 The Kingdom of the Father is like a woman who was carrying a jar full of flour while walking on a long road; the handle of the jar broke, the flour streamed out behind her on the road. AS she did not know it she could not be troubled by it. When she had reached her house she put the jar on the ground; she found it empty.
This does not mean that either attitude cannot apply to the opposite sex, nor that it could change during our own journey.
Jesus's own attitude to rules is described in logia 6 and 14. His disciples request instruction of various restrictions and obediences for their new religious life, such as diet and prayer. He dismisses all such matters with this simple approach:
#6 Do not lie, and do not do what you dislike, for all things are revealed before the heaven, for there is nothing hidden that shall not be manifest, and there is nothing concealed that shall remain without being revealed.
#14 For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but what comes out of your mouth that is what will defile you.
How many times have we spoken words that have hurt others, or have hidden the truth? Our inner Guide can help us avoid such things in the future.
Our ahamkara or ego is the barrier to our Real Self; it interferes with our attempts to Know ourselves. That is why we struggle and become distracted in our unique 'worlds'. This duality within us: our ego self and our Real Self must be resolved and Jesus gives us these clues:
#37 When you strip yourselves of your shame, and take your garments and put them under your feet even as little children, and you trample them; then shall you behold the Son of Him who is living, and you shall not fear.
Jesus uses the words 'shame' (your past) and 'garments' (your façade) in this logion to remind us of our task and it's benefits when successful.
#22 When you make the two One, and you make the inner as the outer, and the outer as the inner, and the above as the below, so that you make the male and the female into a single One, in order that the male is not made male nor the female made female: when you make eyes into an eye and a hand into a hand, and a foot into a foot, and even an image into an image, then you shall enter the Kingdom.
#21 Let there be in your centre a man who is understanding! When the produce ripened he came in haste, his sickle in this hand, he reaped it. He who has ears let him hear!
We are on our own. How each of us go about these tasks will be different—our attitudes, our approach, our understanding,—but our longing to live in the Light is the thing that binds us together