To: Darren
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 1999 10:58 PM
Subject: Gnostic Gospel
Darren,
I was thinking about your remarks re the gospel of thomas.
It is seems that somehow you formed a bad impression from your reading. I
shall offer an explication of the allegory of the pearl which should help
alleviate your misapprehension and reveal the truths of universal religion
contained therein.
The royal family, the "annointed ones", stand for
the unified state of being in the spirit. Coming from the land of the east
represents the fall of spirit into matter. In the devolution of the one into
the many the ego is created. The land of Egypt is the material world. The
serpent with his tail in his mouth is the ETERNAL void, CHAOS, or LOGOS out
of which the material world is created: it is usually thought of as the feminine
principle. The pearl is the divine nature in matter, the SOUL, the transcending
path from ego and alienation back to the spirit: it is sometimes thought of
as the masculine principle (although these are interchangable-male/female
complementarity is only an aspect of seperation in the material world). When
the narrator forgets about his MISSION this represents the ignorance, or ig-gnosis,
of life beyond the material world: he is asleep from a spiritual point of
view, un-conscious, aware only of the world of ego and ignorant that he is
not separated from God. The letter is his WAKE up call, whatever event makes
us REALise that we are asleep and alienated from our true divine nature. It
is your calling to the path, back to yourSELF.
Okay a lighting storm is coming I should turn off the computer!
If you have questions on this or want to hear the rest let me know. Gnosis,
or knowledge, is simply knowledge or awareness of and in one's divine nature.
peter
----- Original Message -----
From: <dcd4jesus@***** >
To: <logos@peterhodges.org>
Peter,
Yes, the Gospel of Thomas is disturbing, and I was interested
reading
your e-mail. During the early years when the Church was first established,
Gnosis was being incorporated into the Christian Faith to make it (1) More
appealing to men (ruling power) and (2) More accommodating (to make it
"easier" to accept) and (3) the Jewish Council didn't want to loose
membership, if we can say that.
We see the same kind of Gnosis in the west, the taking of
the Christian
Faith (which is not a religion) and twisting it to fit into the "lifestyle"
of the day. You and I agree that the times are full of evil, but as evil
increases, light increases all the more, things are no longer grey, but black
and white. I see things in black and white.
I'll bring some stuff to work for you.
See you later Bro, and remember, Jesus loves you!
In Him, .... Daren
----- Original Message -----
From: peter
To: darren
Darren,
The separation into black and white is the separation of fear and alienation
in the material world. This separation is the opposite of true religion,
religion meaning literally to relate: religion is awareness, or
ak-gnowledgement, of the unreality of one's isolation in the material world.
In the illusion of the material world there is the non-choice 'black or
white'. However, the truth lies in the excluded middle---
We do indeed agree that evil increases in the world, evil being separation
from the divine. Hence it is apt when you say that as evil increases black
and white also increase. but in our awareness, gnosis, that true reality
transcends the physical, the divine light emanates through us and we can act
as a beacon of compassion: compassion with black and white and thus
evidence of both the truth of divine love and the falsity of separation in
the material world.
love and peace
peter
----- Original Message -----
From: darren
To: peter
Peter,
We understand that the material world is temporary and constantly
changing every second, so it is a constant "rat race" to stay on
top or be
swept away by the waves of, the fear or in-ability to change, perhaps? Early
gnostic teachers saw this happening in early Christianity (which is not a
religion, but a relationship) and tried to make the "faith" more
approachable
by the deed of "works." Work, being more convenient, and as indeed
we (you
and I) are living in a society of convenience. The Roman Catholic Church,
as
I have understood, derived their "religious" system into the
greek-roman-pagan observations of the time, making early Christianity
contemporary, in order to further the Gospel. Still to this day, many
"Believers" rely on a religion of convenience, and this is why the
Christian
"faith" is misunderstood. About black and white, you had asked?
If you
agree on Gray matter, then what is truth? Can your truth and my truth, both
be truth? If this was the fact, would there not be anarchy and social
dis-order?
More later, time to have breakfast and get to work.
Jesus loves you Peter, and my prayer is, that you will come to understand
how
much he loves you, even unto death.
Your friend, .... Darren
----- Original Message -----
From: peter
To: darren
Darren
Anarchy yes, but not necessarily social disorder. Anarchy, or Chaos, is the
pure undifferentiated LOGOS which devolved itself into the material world.
Rules and borders, or black/ white, define the material world but true divineness
transcends separation into either/or: that is what I mean when I say that
the Truth lies in the excluded middle. Divine nature is in each of us and
so there is indeed your Truth and my Truth- but they are the same transcendent
Truth. Our divine nature is freedom from and in the material world but most
people do not see this and I believe this explains what I see as great social
disorder in the world now.
I think we see eye to eye in doubting the value of any 'religion of convenience'.
We should also be wary of 'labels of convenience'. For what is it to be a
christian, a pagan, or a gnostic? As you point out many package a set of beliefs
and prescriptions and call it religion. They then use these rules and prescriptions
as a tool to get to the top of the rat race, as a tool for increasing fear
and alienation in the world. That is the opposite of religion. You and I both
see the true nature of religion as a relationship with the divine. The more
people we help realise this are the more people who will in their freedom
choose to decrease fear and alienation in the world-'my one command is this-
love'
I do understand love in the Spirit and through our discussion my love and
appreciation for Creation are increasing all the more.
love and peace
Peter