posted on Friday, April 14, 2006 11:08 AM
by
Wandering Sages
An Easter Blog - 'The Hidden Sayings of Jesus'
I recently watched a documentary on the lost Gospel of Judas. Though it was interesting the thing that struck me was the discussion of the Gnostics and the other 16 or so gospels which were excluded from the ‘Bible’ in the early centuries AD. One of the people being interviewed pointed out that some of these were the ‘advanced teachings’ which were not suitable for the every day promulgation of the faith. She made particular mention of St Thomas’ Gospel. Its full title is ‘The Gospel of St Thomas - 'The Hidden Sayings of Jesus’.
Though I am not a Christian I was intrigued. I went off and read this gospel and was amazed. All the way through it I saw echoes of Mysticism.
(2) Jesus said: He who seeks, let him not cease seeking until he finds; and when he finds he will be troubled, and when he is troubled he will be amazed, and he will reign over the All.
(11) Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. And the dead (elements) are not alive, and the living (elements) will not die. In the days when you (plur.) used to ingest dead (elements), you made them alive. When you are in the light, what will you do? On the day that you were one, you made two. And when you are two, what will you do?"
(18) The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us how our end will be. Jesus said: Since you have discovered the beginning, why do you seek the end? For where the beginning is, there will the end be. Blessed is he who shall stand at the beginning (in the beginning), and he shall know the end, and shall not taste death.
I can see how a Church which was beginning to seek order and control over its members would find the Gnostics and their focus on personal spiritual experience a bit of a problem. Eventually of course they were crushed by the Church.
For me the Yijing is a direct connection back to this personal experience and knowing. Gnosticism is perhaps a deep part of our being.