These are the words of Jesus, the Christ, the
holy or Anointed One.
The saying in the title of
this article comes from the Gospel of Thomas, which many scholars have
concluded is the Source gospel of the gospels that appear in the Bible.
The fact that Thomas is older is apparent
as soon as you first read the gospel for yourself.
There is no finely honed narrative line about the
life of Jesus.
Not much of a story at all, compared to
the Bible gospels. As Northrop Frye kept
repeating to our seminar group - "The narrative
form is a later literary form."
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus speaks
most of his parables we come to know later in the
Biblical gospels. But there is almost no
story-telling narrative
The narrative line that fills the later gospels,
Matthew, Mark. Luke and John,
scarcely exists in the source gospels.
What you have in Thomas is a series of
question and answer sessions, rather like the
sessions we read about in early zen books.
The monk, the seeker asks a question. The
master makes an answer - but it is never
an intellectual answer.
The teacher might give you a slap,
hit you with a stick, or say something that sounds like nonsense at the time...But he's not about
to explain anything to you. He understands
very well that the "truth" can never be
explained: it must be Known ( not thought
about). It must be experienced.
It is the same situation with Jesus Christ
and his disciples in the Gospel of Thomas.
For example, a disciple asks: "Master,
where is the kingdom of heaven?"
And the teacher answers, "If you go to the sky,
the birds will precede you. If you search for heaven
in the sea, the fish will precede you... ...
But the kingdom of heaven is within you.
And the Kingdom is spread out upon the earth, and men see it not."
Quick and to the point. It is difficult to
misinterpret many of the statements made in the
Gospel of Thomas.
Of course, those who insist on
pushing forward their own point of view can
misinterpret anything.
The emphasis that the Empire Church
has put on the message of Christ is that Jesus
Christ is SO SPECIAL none of us can be
like him.
Well, it is said he was the son of God
and he came from a virgin birth, and he performed miracles, and there was a star in the East. The
same thing was said of Mithra and too many
other god-kings to mention...
But why is it stressed that the Christ is
so 'special?' For this goes exactly against His
teaching.
Why? Why did they re-create the attributes
of the Christ so as to make him unattainable in our minds,
unreachable as the basic goal of meditation.
You can't REALIZE THE CHRIST within you... If he is made to be a water-walking, storm-calming,
from -the- dead- raising, demon-expelling heroic
action figure. Like GI Joe.
We all know these TV action figures do
impossible feats, which are fun to watch but which
we nevewr try to do ourselves.
But G.I. Joe is a plastic doll.... a toy that
kids can play with at the kitchen table as mother is
making breakfast...I'm surprised they didn't make
their version of the Christ into a plastic hero doll...
... Oh, no! I forgot... they did!
What happens if the Christ is made out
to be such a hero? Well... then he can be monopolized
and sold as you sell a product. Christ, as he
has come down to us, He has been packaged,
shelved, and given a brand name -
he has been patented. And you'd better not infringe
the patent!
You see the point?
Now a certain smallish group of
people have been restricting access to this unique
big time hero doll that no one else can hope to emulate.
because he is so unique, and also He is the Source of
Truth, which the whole world wishes
to partake of....and if he is so special, so
unique... ... ... well, people will pay anything
to get a piece of the action.
It becomes a mercenary situation.
You wish to attain forgiveness. You
must pay for forgiveness... and I could go on
for a long time about the different ramifications
of all the wrongs that have been done.
OK! OK! But this kind of belly-aching doesn't
help much. What helps is if someone lays
down how it really works... what is the essence
of what this great healer emerging out of the Essene
community, the Teacher of Righteousness,
what is the essence of what he is saying?
The essence is this: "When you
realize 'what it is', what I am. this truth that I embody,
when you come to Know me, you
will know yourself. For what I am you shall be,
and the hidden things will be revealed
to you..."
In other words, there will be nothing
hidden to you.
Another way of putting it is:
"I AM AS CLOSE TO YOU AS YOUR VERY BREATH"
This is the important point. This is the truth that
is told in the earliest gospels...
'CLEAVE A PIECE OF WOOD, I AM THERE."
"LIFT UP A STONE AND YOU WILL FIND ME THERE."
The presence that says these words is not an
action figure. And He doesn't exist in the past
either. He exists right here and now, and right
beside you - "As close to you as your very breath."
It is important that in this country we get
these basic facts right... that we get the straight
goods. We have been told a fairy tale for too
long.
This is serious business! This is life or
death... of a person and of a culture. Our person
and our culture.
We rise or fall as a people in so far
as we attain this basic realization.
"CLEAVE A PIECE OF WOOD, I AM THERE."
When you go into the woods with your
close friends and you light a fire and you drink
some wine and you eat whatever mind-rocking
indigenous plants are available, and you look
into the fire....and you clear your mind... this
is the voice that is speaking out of the fire.
The voice is here and now. God
is within you. Christ is your ultimate nature.
Come to this voice inside yourself... and you
will have found the Key to life eternal.
The I AM existing in
I AM THAT I AM
This is the voice that speaks within you.
The I AM in:
BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM.
This is the voice that speaks within you.
And if you listen very carefully, and if you
discard all your preconceptions, you will
Realize this voice... And the world will change
for you.
When we touch the sacred nature
of the holy path of the real God, when we hear
His voice, when we taste him in the smoke
of the peace pipe of your circle, when
the sanctity of the One who is
creating all things caresses you... you will not
need any other caress, for you realize
that all affection comes from the same Source...
And I praise thee, O holy One, you
are the source of all our strength.You are
all our love...I praise thee...
the God of Jacob, the God of Abraham,
the One who rides the clouds, the One who speaks from
on high, the Lord of the Meeting Rivers, the
Lord of all the countries of the earth, like sands
of the seas, this is the ancient holiness that you
partake of. This is the holiness that is immaculate
and new.
This is the gift I bring to you.
"He was nailed to a tree and he became
the fruit of the Knowledge of the Father. The
fruit did not, however, cause destruction
because it was eaten, but to those who ate it,
it gave cause to become glad in the discovery.
and he discovered them in himself, and they
discovered him in themselves."
The Gospel of Truth
There really was a Teacher of Righteousness
emerging out of the Essene community. The
Essene people were great healers, and this man in particular
was a great teacher and healer. This
man was crucified in 65 B.C.
This is a true, historical figure.
Taste the vision of the ancients,
the vision that is holiness, the vision
that manna gives to wanderers in the desert.
We are walking in the desert,
even now. For life without the Knowledge
of God is a desert, make no mistake.
Without this Knowledge
We walk in the valley of death, alone.
We walk in the wilderness, far from our
home.
Until Vision is awakened
within us... and when vision awakes
within us, we see we are in the holy city
and we have always been in the holy city.
When things become wrong,
evil, lost... this is when we are living in
ignorance. We have forgotten that the holy
altar exists. And there are meanings to
be achieved within it, within the circle
of the holy tabernacle of God...
Meanings that have been with us
from the beginning.
This is the Second Coming of Christ,
"And he shall be as I am, and I shall be he,
an the hidden things will be revealed to him."
The Gospel of Thomas
Christ Consciousness is now arising from the miraculous
discovery at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945, one year before the
discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but a far more important discovery
than that of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Two thousand years ( 2000 years)
after the so-called death of Christ, the return occurs.
To my mind, this could never be an accident.
"Whoever finds the explanation of these
words will not taste death"
The Gospel of Thomas.
(C)2014 by W.G.Milne
