The Gospel of Thomas (Part 6)

Translated by Thomas O. Lambdin

27

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.”

If you do not ‘starve’ yourself of ‘eating’ sensory phenomena, you will not overcome the obscurations that prevent the recognition of primal awareness. Furthermore, the final process involves doing nothing — resting — which becomes a new path of increasing non-action.

28

Jesus said, “I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh. I found all of them intoxicated; I found none of them thirsty. And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their hearts and do not have sight; for empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave the world. But for the moment they are intoxicated. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent.”

Jesus refers to the Gnostic myth of the saviour — an incarnation of Sophia — who succeeded in bringing through the message of wisdom where others, such as Hercules, failed. Arriving as a bodhisattva, he found mankind in a dark era, intoxicated with sensual phenomena and uninterested in spiritual work. As a bodhisattva, he feels compassion for humanity’s plight: through spiritual ignorance, they cannot discern right from wrong.

They are empty of spiritual identity at birth (amnesiac of it) and, lacking guidance, depart just as empty and unfulfilled.

In some texts, human existence is seen as the most valuable condition. Humans are perfectly suited to enlightenment; other realms are either too pleasant to prompt doubt, or too terrible to allow the tranquillity necessary for insight to develop.

“At the moment they are intoxicated” — this may refer to the kali yuga, a period of moral decline.

“When they shake off their wine” — likely pertains to death, when karmic intoxicants fall away as one enters the bardos.

29

Jesus said, “If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty.”

Jesus remarks on how astonishing it is that our bodies exist through the power of the spirit. Yet, even more wondrous is how gnosis — recognition of the spirit by the disciple — brings the spirit into material existence through the instrument of the body.

Despite these two miraculous possibilities — one easily observed but rarely recognized, and the other more magical — such work is rare, and people are content with much lesser existences.

30

Jesus said, “Where there are three gods, they are gods. Where there are two or one, I am with him.”

I am unsure about this, but it may relate to beliefs in creation and existence. It might also refer to the Tree of Life.

The three gods may represent the first three sephirot (lights of the Tree), which create multiplicity. Once these three levels of consciousness exist, countless beings and phenomena become possible — perceived as ‘real’ by the conditioned mind.

With only two (self and other) — where both are singularities — the relationship becomes mirror-like, lacking any third presence to form a multitude. This leads to a personal, one-to-one relationship with the divine.

Mystical union (samādhi) involves unification of self with divinity, as in mantra or other forms of worship. Unification with elemental objects is also samādhi. Both are jhānic experiences that foster insights, prompting spiritual progress.