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beetsmyth
USA
104 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 02 2009 : 10:47:52 PM
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In Christianity, there is a gospel called Gospel of Thomas. It starts out as saying that these are the secret teachings of Jesus set aside for the select few.
In it, Jesus is saying things like, (paraphrased):
"When you know your self, then you will know God." "When 2 two are no longer two but one, then you will know God". "When there is no longer male or female, then you will know God."
It's pretty obvious!!! It's completely colored with Advaita/Tao/Vasistha/Non-dulaity.
But guess what!!!! They didnt include this gospel as part of regularly balanced breakfast. Or should I say didnt include this in the Bible. Basically they couldnt figure out what he meant by this so they just disregarded it!!!!! And now scholars are saying Thomas could be the oldest of all the NT texts.
Also in the regular Bible ...Jesus says "I and the father are one" and he wishes that everyone can share in the Oneness that he and his father have. It's sooooo obvious that its Nonduality!!!!
And yet this is all completely misinterpreted by the majority and they have no clue about this.
Oh well |
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Etherfish
USA
3615 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2009 : 12:08:37 AM
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I wouldn't presume that they didn't understand this gospel when they decided to not include it.
The decisions to include canons in the bible were based upon keeping the church and men in power.
All gospels were left out that even hinted that either the church was not needed or women have importance.
Although this sounds very evil and corrupt by today's standards, I think at the time they felt they were doing what was best for people. |
Edited by - Etherfish on Aug 03 2009 12:10:52 AM |
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Kirtanman
USA
1651 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2009 : 2:53:30 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by beetsmyth
In Christianity, there is a gospel called Gospel of Thomas. It starts out as saying that these are the secret teachings of Jesus set aside for the select few.
In it, Jesus is saying things like, (paraphrased):
"When you know your self, then you will know God." "When 2 two are no longer two but one, then you will know God". "When there is no longer male or female, then you will know God."
It's pretty obvious!!! It's completely colored with Advaita/Tao/Vasistha/Non-dulaity.
But guess what!!!! They didnt include this gospel as part of regularly balanced breakfast. Or should I say didnt include this in the Bible. Basically they couldnt figure out what he meant by this so they just disregarded it!!!!! And now scholars are saying Thomas could be the oldest of all the NT texts.
Also in the regular Bible ...Jesus says "I and the father are one" and he wishes that everyone can share in the Oneness that he and his father have. It's sooooo obvious that its Nonduality!!!!
And yet this is all completely misinterpreted by the majority and they have no clue about this.
Oh well
I'm on my way out the door (so more detail later) ... in the meantime (all) .. please check out:
http://www.sophian.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=4
... excellent Gospel of Thomas & related info!
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Kirtanman
USA
1651 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2009 : 9:34:44 PM
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A good overview of the enlightenment-oriented teachings of the Gospel of St. Thomas, from Tau Malachi of the Sophian Fellowship (and author of The Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas <- which I've read; excellent book!).
And, by the way, the term Tau Malachi uses, "Supernal Being", is equivalent to the Shambhavopaya (thought-free awareness; unmana) level, as taught in non-dual Kashmir Shaivism.
The Hebrew terms are all from the Kabbalah ("Advaitic Judaism"), the non-dual mystical system within Judaism, and have exact 1:1 correspondences in non-dual Kashmir Shaivism.
Point Being: non-dual Kashmir Shaivism, non-dual Kabbalistic Judaism, and non-dual Gnostic Christian Kabbalah (as presented below), are all the same system; only the language and the exact symbols vary; the templates are essentially identical.
**
http://www.sophian.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1137" target="_blank">Source: http://www.sophian.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1137
Yeshua said, “One who knows all but lacks within is utterly lacking” (Thomas 67).
This saying of the gospel goes hand in hand with Thomas 70; what I’ve written in The Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas reflects the basic teachings on this – that which is within us is our soul: nefesh, ruach, neshamah, hayyah and yechidah. Of course, coupled with this is the Human One of Light or Hayyah Yeshua (the Living Yeshua), the Risen Messiah; specifically the *indwelling Messiah* – hence what may be called our divine and enlightened nature, Supernal Being.
What these verses speak about is an actual enlightenment or self-realization in Christ – the generation of Supernal or Messianic Consciousness; faith is a good beginning, and it is a great power along the way, but it is this Divine Gnosis which is our ultimate salvation, our liberation from bondage to the gilgulim (rounds of rebirth). This is directly communicated in the very first saying of the gospel, where Master Yeshua says that if we understand the interpretation of these sayings we will not experience death – we will no longer remain in bondage.
Now when we couple Thomas 67 with Thomas 70 it is interesting, for this gnosis is something more than intellectual knowledge or esoteric information; having all of the right spiritual and metaphysical concepts, and all of the right words, means nothing in terms of actual self-realization. Rather, true knowledge, in the sense of gnosis, is *experiential* – it is direct spiritual and mystical experience; it isn’t the concepts that form following an experience either, but is the direct knowledge and awareness that occurs during the experience itself.
The gnosis that brings about our salvation, or our liberation, is experiential – hence the Gnostic experience, the *enlightenment experience*.
However, it must be said that this is something more the idle psychic fantasies – with this Divine Gnosis comes the Divine Presence and Power, the wonderworking power of the Holy Spirit. This is reflected in the Gnostic Gospel of St. Philip:
If you go down into the water and come up, receiving nothing, and say, “I am a Christian,” you have borrowed the name at interest. But if you receive the Holy Spirit, you have the name as a gift. And a gift you do not pay back, but if you barrow at interest, you must pay. So it works when you have passed through mystery.
The Holy Spirit is illumination and power – and so it may be said of the actual experience of higher states of consciousness and the realization of the inner and higher aspects of the soul, there is the witness of the Holy Spirit with their realization, a living presence and power.
This defines the distinction between recognition and realization, for we can enter into many peak experiences in consciousness, and have various gradations of spiritual and mystical experience, but until there is a radical change in consciousness, in our person, and the awakening and uplifting of the Divine Power in us, the fruit of True Gnosis has not yet been attained, realized and embodied.
Thus, recognition is one thing, and realization is another.
This defines the difference between the “apostolic succession” in orthodoxy versus actual Gnosticism – in orthodoxy, typically speaking, you learn and preach the creed and doctrine, and you learn the rites and rituals, and if you remain “faithful” you may be ordained. That is not the case among Gnostics – an ordination comes by way of the Holy Spirit, and apostles are recognized by the power of the Holy Spirit moving with, in and through them; it isn’t head knowledge, but is the illumination and power of the Holy Spirit through which they come into being as an apostle of Light, an illumined individual.
There is the witness of others experiencing the Gnostic and Light Transmission with them, as well as the witness of wonders transpiring around them – hence a very distinct living presence and power.
This Light-presence (Messiah) and Light-power (Holy Spirit) comes from within.
Now here it must be said, as with St. Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians (13), that knowledge and power are not the fruition of all, but rather it is the generation of the Sacred Heart – *spiritual love and compassion*; the purpose of the generation of knowledge and power is to be of the greatest possible benefit to all beings, and to bring glory to God. We witness this with Master Yeshua and his wonderworking ministry, and with the holy apostles after him and their wonderworking ministry – it becomes active love and compassion, helping to liberate the people from shades and shadows, healing and illuminating them, uplifting them in the Great Resurrection and Ascension.
This is only natural, for with true higher consciousness and awareness of the Divine there is an awareness of our innate interconnection and interdependence with everyone and everything – *Sacred Unity*; the egoistic idea of “personal salvation” no longer applies, but rather one’s passion is the uplifting of all as one’s very own self, for truly, all is one’s self, and the Messiah is the Self of every self, Soul of every soul, the All-In-All.
This Divine Self is within…
If I have faith in this Divine Self embodied in Lord Yeshua, that is good, and if, per chance, I encounter a true living apostles, a holy tzaddik, who embodies something of this Divine Self, and I have faith, that is good; but in terms of the enlightenment and liberation of my soul, this Divine Self, the Messiah of the Supreme, must be recognized and realized in me, and the Shekinah of Messiah must rest upon me, becoming embodied – in other words this must unfold in my experience.
This reflects the focus upon an actual spiritual life and practice in Christian Gnosticism, for it is through the spiritual life and practice that we become open and sensitive to the Gnostic and Light Transmission, and enter into the actual Gnostic experience.
Perhaps this carries the contemplation of these sayings a bit further than what is shared in The Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas.
May we be blessed to receive the Mother’s Force, the Divine Light from above, so that we might awaken the Divine Power in us and be reborn of the Holy Spirit; amen.
Blessings & shalom!
_________________
Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia
**
Advaito'ham,
Kirtanman |
Edited by - Kirtanman on Aug 03 2009 10:30:25 PM |
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BellaMente
USA
147 Posts |
Posted - Sep 26 2009 : 9:29:39 PM
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| Beautiful Kirtanman! |
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nonduality in Christianity is in gospel of Thomas.
