Jesus rebukes those who seek access to God elsewhere; One either discovers the light within that illuminates or lives in darkness

[Guest guest]

Beyond Belief

The Secret Gospel of Thomas

by Elaine Pagels

published 2003 by Random House, New York

 

Elaine Pagels, professor of religion at Princeton University, became

famous – well, at least well known – with the publication of her

book, The Gnostic Gospels, in 1979. She has written several other

books as well on the history of Christianity, establishing her as the

foremost popular scholar in the field.

 

Beyond Belief, published in 2003 by Random House, is a sort of sequel

to The Secret Gospels, in that it incorporates the new scholarship

that has come to light since that book was published. Since Ms.

Pagels' infant son was diagnosed with fatal pulmonary hypertension,

her pursuit of knowledge about who Jesus really was has become a

question of personal urgency for her. This need is reflected in the

text and transforms the book into much more than a scholarly treatise

for the curious. She wants to know what Christ meant to his followers

before doctrine and dogmas, in other words, before Christianity was

invented by the Church.

 

The discovery of the Gospel of Thomas, along with other early

Christian texts, offers revealing clues. Pagels compares Thomas's

gospel (which claims to give Jesus' secret teaching, and indicates an

affinity with the Kabbalah) with the canonic texts to show how the

early Church chose to include some gospels and exclude others from

the collection we know as the New Testament – and why. During the

time of persecution of Christians, the church fathers constructed the

canon, creed and hierarchy, suppressing many of its spiritual

resources in the process, in order to avoid conflict with Roman law

and religion.

 

A prime example is the label of heresy attached to the Gospel of

Thomas, and its subsequent suppression. If a copy hadn't been found

by accident (or destiny?) in the caves of Nag Hammadi, along with

many other documents during the middle of the twentieth century, we'd

have never even known of its existence. Such secret writings had been

denounced by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon (c.180) as " an abyss of

madness, and blasphemy against Christ. " Pagels had therefore expected

to find madness and blasphemy in these texts, but when she first

studied them in Harvard graduate school she found the contrary in

sayings such as this from Thomas. " Jesus said: If you bring forth

what is within you, what you will bring forth will save you. If you

do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth

will destroy you. Pagels found that " ..the strength of this saying is

that it does not tell us what to believe but challenges us to

discover what lies hidden within ourselves; and, with a shock of

recognition, I realized that this perspective seemed to me to be self-

evidently true. "

 

However, certain church leaders from the second through the fourth

centuries rejected many of these sources of revelation and

constructed instead the New Testament gospel canon of Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John, which has defined Christianity to this day. The Gospel

of John is of special importance in church dogma, and its basic

tenets seem to be in direct opposition to Thomas. John says that he

writes " so that you may believe, and believing may have life in

[Jesus'] name. " Thomas's gospel, however, encourages us not so much

to believe in Jesus, as John demands, as to seek to know God through

one's own, divinely given capacity, since all are created in the

image of God. " For Christians of later generations, the Gospel of

John helped provide a foundation for a unified church, which Thomas,

with its emphasis on each person's search for God, did not. "

 

According to Pagels, John is the only evangelist who actually states

that Jesus is God incarnated. But not only Pagels says so. In one of

his commentaries on John, Origen – a church father, (c.240) - writes

that while the other gospels describe Jesus as human, " none of them

clearly spoke of his divinity, as John does. " One may object that the

other three, synoptic ( " seeing together " ) gospels call Jesus " son of

God " , and this is virtually the same thing. But such titles (son of

God, messiah) in Jesus' time designated human, not divine roles. When

translated into English fifteen centuries later, these were

capitalized – a linguistic convention that does not occur in the

original Greek. When all four gospels, together with Paul's letters,

were united in the New Testament (c. 160 to 360) most Christians had

come to read all four through John's lens, that Jesus is " Lord and

God " .

 

Pagels feels that if the Gospel of Thomas were included in the New

Testament instead of that of John, or even if it were included along

with John, the development of Christianity would have been quite

different. Whereas Mark, Matthew and Luke identify Jesus as God's

human agent, John and Thomas characterize him as God's own light in

human form. Both claim to reveal, at least to a certain extent,

Jesus' " secret teachings " , and assume that their readers are already

familiar with the synoptic gospels.

 

Despite their similarities, John and Thomas point the secret

teachings in sharply different directions. John claims that we can

experience God only through the divine light embodied in Jesus, while

Thomas says that the divine light embodied in Jesus is already shared

by humanity since we are all made " in the image of God " . Thomas thus

expresses what would become a central theme of Jewish, and later

Christian, mysticism a thousand years later: that the " image of God "

is hidden within everyone, and it is a question of recognizing this

and finding it through one's own efforts.

 

At one point in her description of the dispute among the early

Christians about who Jesus really was, Pagels quotes Mark: …he asked

his disciples, " Who do people say that I am? " And they told

him, " John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; and others, one of the

prophets. " And he asked them, " But who do you say that I am? " Peter

answered him, " You are the messiah. " In view of this passage, it has

always seemed contradictory to me the contention that Christianity –

and Judaism – do not embrace the idea of reincarnation, even reject

it, when these first Jewish Christians seem to act as though it were

common knowledge.

 

The synoptic gospels claim that Jesus' teaching predicted the coming

of the kingdom of God some time in the future, an interpretation

still adhered to by many Christians. However, both John and Thomas

say something different, the latter very specifically: Jesus said, If

those who lead you say to you, `Look, the kingdom is in the sky',

then the birds of the sky will get there before you….If they say to

you, `It is in the sea,' then the fish will get there before you.

And: His disciples said to him, `When will the resurrection of the

dead come, and when will the new world come?' He said to them, `What

you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.'

 

Though the Gospel of Luke includes an alternative version of the same

idea ( " …the kingdom of God is within you " ), Luke later retreats from

this position and concludes with the apocalyptic warning that the Son

of Man is not a divine presence in us all but a terrifying judge.

 

A century ago Leo Tolstoy, in his monumental The Kingdom of God is

Within you, urged Christians to give up coercion and violence in

order to realize God's kingdom here and now. Thomas Merton, the

twentieth century writer and Trappist monk, agreed with Tolstoy but

interpreted his kingdom mystically rather then practically. We are

confronted here with the Catholic church's insistence that humanity

is sinful, base and unworthy by nature and that salvation from the

pangs of hell is only possible through faith in Jesus and, by obvious

extension, his church, and his representative on earth, the pope. But

the Gospel of Thomas leaves spiritual destiny up to each individual.

There Jesus treats us as equals, or at least as struggling siblings:

 

" According to Thomas, Jesus rebukes those who seek access to God

elsewhere, even—perhaps especially—those who seek it by trying

to " follow Jesus " himself. When certain disciples plead with Jesus

to " show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to

seek it, " he does not bother to answer so misguided a question and

redirects the disciples away from themselves toward the light hidden

within each person: `There is light within a person of light, and it

lights up the whole universe; If it does not shine, there is

darkness.' In other words, one either discovers the light within that

illuminates `the whole universe' or lives in darkness, within and

without. "

 

Finally, after so many centuries, the heretics are having their say.

Another most interesting document found at Nag Hammadi is the Gospel

of Philip, who explains baptism. Sometimes the person who receives

baptism " receives the holy spirit…this is what happens when one

experiences a mystery. " Divine grace, this implies, isn't sufficient;

the initiate's capacity for spiritual understanding is also a

factor. " Faith is our earth, in which we take root; hope is the water

through which we are nourished; love is the air through which we

grow; gnosis is the light through which we become fully grown.

 

Beyond Belief

The Secret Gospel of Thomas

 

 

>

> Then a most important realization came before the inaugural

> celebration of Divine Feminine Day 13 November 2008. It was as if

> the Adi Shakti has given me this realization as a blessing to our

> pending celebrations of the Divine Feminine - after nearly 15 years

> it finally dawned on me that Kash was first shown the Light, the

> presence of God Almighty within us ......... before being shown His

> Power, the Adi Shakti, the next day!

>

> Kash, Arwinder and Lalita have all claimed that this extremely

> bright Light is always above Shri Mataji's abode. But it was Lalita

> who revealed that this Light is God Almighty:

>

> Tue Mar 15, 2005 2:59 pm

>

> A few months ago i asked my ten-year-old daughter Lalita what that

> immensely brilliant Light above the Adi Shakti in her Sahasrara is.

> She replied " God! "

>

> i remained silent for a long time to absorb the immensity of that

> single word answer.

>

 

 

antar jot pargat paasaaraa.

Deep within the self is the Light of God; It radiates throughout the

expanse of His creation.

 

gur saakhee miti-aa anDhi-aaraa.

Through the Guru's Teachings, the darkness of spiritual ignorance is

dispelled.

 

kamal bigaas sadaa sukh paa-i-aa jotee jot milaavani-aa.

The heart-lotus blossoms forth, and eternal peace is obtained, as

one's light merges into the Light.

 

Guru Granth Sahib, p.126

 

 

--------------------------

 

 

" The most magnetic of all religious symbols is the light, the light

that radiates everywhere within and without — the light that never

was on land or sea. Great mystics have realised the Peerless One in

the form of Light. Moses saw the burning bush and received the word

of God. The Upanishad seers saw It as Jothi Aham — the Splendour in

the self.

 

In many a Devaram and Tiruvacagam, and the lyrics of Tayumanavar and

Ramalinga Swamigal, we have allusions to light as the symbol of the

formless God; and Light also indicates goals and the radiance of

Wisdom, as well as the illumination of Supreme Awareness.

 

Gleaming as the earth and all the spheres

Oh Thou expanse of matchless Effulgence!

In radiant forms of Light art Thou beheld

Oh Formless One!

 

Tiruvacagam 22.8.9.

 

Hinduism Today

 

 

-------------------------

 

“As Jesus talks with his three chosen disciples, Matthew asks him to

show him the “place of life,” which is, he says, the “pure light.”

Jesus answers, “Every one [of you] who has known himself has seen

it.”53 Here again, he deflects the question, pointing the disciple

instead toward his own self-discovery.”

 

Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels

Random House, New York, 1989, p. 131.

(53. Dialogue of the Savior 132.15 — 16, in NHL 233.)

 

 

-------------------------

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by Him;

And without Him was not anything made that was made.

In Him was life; and the life was the Light of men.

And the Light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehend it not.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

The same came for a witness,

To bear witness to the Light that all men through him might believe.

He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness to that Light.

That was the true Light,

Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

 

John 1:1-10

 

 

----------------------------

 

" The Bible is seen to be full of terms about light. Lossky tells us

that " for the mystical theology of the eastern Church these are not

metaphors, rhetorical figures but words expressing a real aspect of

godliness. " " The godly light does not have an abstract and

allegorical meaning. It is a data of the mystical experience. " The

author then referred to " Gnostics " , the highest level of godly

knowledge [that] is an experience (a living) of the noncreated light,

where the experience itself is the light: in lumine tuo videbimus

lumen (in Your Light we shall see light.) "

 

Eternal, endless, existing beyond time and space, it appeared in the

theophanies of the Old Testament as the Glory of God. The Glory

is " the Uncreated Light, His Eternal Kingdom. " Being bestowed to the

Christians by the Holy Spirit, the energies appear no longer as

external causes but as grace, as inner light. " Makarius the Egyptian

wrote: " It is . . . the enlightenment of the holy souls, the

steadiness of the heavenly powers " (Spiritual Homilies V.8.)

 

" The godly light appears here, in this world, in time. It is

disclosed in the history but it is not of this world; it is eternal,

it means going out from the historical existence: ‘the secret of the

eight day’, the secret of the true knowledge, the fulfillment of the

Gnosis . . . It is exactly the beginning of parousia in the holy

souls, the beginning of the revealing at the end of times, when God

will be disclosed to everyone in this distant Light. "

 

Dan Costian, Bible Enlightened

Computex Graphics, 1995, p.415

 

 

-----------------------------

 

" This universal symbol of Light is surely one of the best symbols Man

has found to express the delicate balance that almost all cultures

have tried to maintain, with varying success, between a merely this-

worldly or atheistic attitude and a totally otherworldly or

transcendent attitude. There must be some link between the world of

Men and the world of the Gods, between the material and the

spiritual, the immanent and the transcendent. If this link is of a

substantial nature, pantheism is unavoidable. If the link is

exclusively epistemic, as Indian and many other scholasticisms tend

to affirm, the reality of this world will ultimately vanish. The

symbol of Light avoids these two pitfalls by allowing for a specific

sharing in its nature by both worlds or even by the " three worlds. "

 

This is the supreme light spoken of in the Rig Veda and in the

Brahmanas; it is mentioned also in the Chandogya Upanishad and in the

well-known prayer of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: " Lead me from

darkness to light! " It is also the refulgent light of the golden

vessel stationed in the dwelling place of the Divine: " The

impregnable stronghold of the Gods has eight circles and nine gates.

It contains a golden vessel, turned toward heaven and suffused with

light. " This light is neither exclusively divine nor exclusively

human, neither merely material nor merely spiritual, neither from

this side only nor from the other. It is precisely this fact

that " links the two shores. " This light is cosmic as well as

transcosmic.”

 

Professor Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience

 

 

------------------------------

 

" Cultivating the Awareness of the Light Within

 

The heart and mind can find peace and harmony by contemplating the

transcendental nature of the true self as supreme effulgent light

 

From the Yoga Sutra of PATANJALI, second century B.C.

 

Patanjali is often called the father of yoga because he was the first

person to codify and write down yoga practices. In this meditation

instruction, he is telling us to let go of all distracting sights,

smells, and sounds and meditate on our spiritual nature, our luminous

true self. He is telling us to look inside and experience the

radiance within.

 

All cultures, peoples, and religious groups through all times have

talked about the phenomena of light in the context of the religious

or mystical experience. Those who have seen visions of holy beings

typically see them surrounded by white light. People have always

described going to the light, finding the light, being called by the

light, dissolving in the light. We read about light in The Egyptian

Book of the Dead as well as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Men, women,

and children who have had classic near-death experiences vividly

describe arriving in a place of white light; they speak of themselves

and others as being bathed in white light.

 

Prior to being described as the light of any religion, light was just

light. Light is a part of the primary source material. Later, as the

history of mankind developed, the concept of light became

institutionalized; it was then interpreted according to cultural and

religious beliefs. Pure light thus became light of God, light of

truth, light of Buddha, light of Jesus, cosmic light, and ocean of

light depending upon where you were born and what you were taught.

Light, however, is constant. It is fundamental energy.

 

The New Testament, referring to John the Baptist, reads: " He came for

testimony, to bear witness to the light that all might believe

through him. " Later Jesus says, " Put your trust in the light while

you have it so that you may become sons of light. " ...

 

British mystic George Fox, who founded the Quaker religion, used the

term " inner light " to describe our ability to personally experience

God within ourselves. He himself had such an experience, which left

him with the lifelong conviction that everyone can hear God's voice

directly without mediation by priests or church ritual. This is the

central tenet of the Society of Friends.

 

According to Buddhism, all beings are imbued with a spark of inner

divine light. In describing our original Buddha-nature, we use such

phrases as innate luminosity, primordial radiance, the unobscured

clear natural mind, and the clear light of reality.... The Jewish

mystics use similar words when they speak of the inner spark or the

spark of God. The Koran, referring to man, talks about the little

candle flame burning in a niche in the wall of God's temple.

 

Almost inevitably a spiritual search becomes a search for divine or

sacred light. By cultivating our inner core, we search for this light

in ourselves as well as the divine. "

 

Lama Surya Das, Awakening to the Sacred

 

 

-------------------------

 

“ “Lead me from darkness to light, from death to immortality.” This

famed Vedic prayer proclaims the human urge to survive, to conquer

death and to know the joys of illuminated consciousness. People often

pilgrimage to an isolated place in expectation of a vision, be it a

jungle of fauna and foliage or cement and glass. Every person is on a

vision quest. But for all souls, at the time of the great departure,

mahaprasthana, a vision comes as a tunnel of light at the end of

which are beings of divine nature. Many having had the near-death

experience have sworn their testimony of such transforming

encounters. An American woman who “died” during childbirth, but was

brought back to life by quick medical action, recounted: “It was an

incredible energy — a light you wouldn't believe. I almost floated in

it. It was feeding my consciousness feelings of unconditional love,

complete safety and complete, total perfection. And then, and then, a

piece of knowledge came in — it was that I was immortal,

indestructible. I cannot be hurt, cannot be lost, and that the world

is perfect.” Hundreds of people report similar experiences, affirming

what Hinduism has always taught — that death is a blissful, light-

filled transition from one state to another, as simple and natural as

changing clothes, far from the morbid, even hellish alternatives some

dread. A Vedic funeral hymn intones: “Where eternal luster glows, the

realm in which the light divine is set, place me, Purifier, in that

deathless, imperishable world. Make me immortal in that realm where

movement is accordant to wish, in the third region, the third heaven

of heavens, where the worlds are resplendent” (Rig Veda, Aitareya

Aranyaka 6-11).”

 

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, January 1997

 

 

--------------------------

 

“One has to know on this point that you have got the Light... It is

such a powerful Light. You can verify it whether it is eternal or

not. You have to see for yourself you have such a unique Light within

you. In the history of spirituality of this world so many have got

Realization — such a Light in them. How could these stupid, flimsy,

useless conditionings dominate you now, when you are the carrier of

Eternal Light.”

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi

Being The Light Of Pure Compassion,

Istanbul, Turkey — November 6, 1994