Gospel of Thomas, Sayings 22 and 23

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

1:25 a.m. Saying 22 a and b.

22a Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples: Those infants taking milk are like those who enter the Kingdom.

22b His disciples asked him: If we are infants will we enter the Kingdom. Jesus responded: When you make the two into one, and when you make the inside like the outside, and the outside like the inside, and the upper like the lower, and the lower like the upper, and thus make the male and the female the same, so that the male isn’t male, and the female isn’t female. When you can make an eye to replace an eye, and a hand to replace a hand, and a foot to replace a foot, and an image to replace an image, then you will enter the Kingdom.

So, guys, an interpretation? It seems obvious. Is there more than meets the eye?

That depends upon what meets your eye, of course.

Well, I’d say 22a refers to a state of direct feed – nice pun, come to think of it. People who take direct nourishment in trust and acceptance, living in and from the non-3D connection.

And 22b means when you are all one thing, rather than divided between categories, and you have transcended duality and in a way replaced your old senses with new ones, then you may enter into the kingdom.

Good. But each of the images can be meditated upon, and will yield further insights. Still, you do have the basic idea of the saying. So, 23.

Galloping, these days, aren’t we?

23 Jesus said: I will choose one of you out of a thousand and two of you out of ten thousand. They will stand up and they will be alone.

This one, not so clear, perhaps.

Jesus says, “I will choose,” not “you will self-select.” What do you suppose that is all about? And “they will stand up and they will be alone.”

In context of Jesus teaching of our place in 3D and non-3D, I don’t know. It seems to mean more than merely, “I will notice this or that one.”

Yes. It is not merely a test of Jesus discerning certain individuals who are ready or who have potential. His will enters into it. How? And, why?

I suppose this could refer to a long argument that ensued about salivation through faith as opposed to through works. Christians divided on the question of whether anyone could by righteous living assure salvation, with the consensus being that it would require a combination of the grace of God and a righteous life.

Bear in mind, one and all, that we are not discussing “salvation” here, nor was Jesus, though his words came to be interpreted that way. We – and he – refer to the process of awakening to what you (we) really are; how things really are. “Salvation” put into “3D time-passing” terms what was 3D/non-3D present-time reality terms. [Or, perhaps more easily understood: “Salvation” put what was 3D/non-3D present-time reality into “3D time-passing” terms.]

It makes a difference.

In proper terms, this saying refers to the non-3D’s determining role in a 3D individual’s potential. You have to have potential for it to be realized. No potential, no way for it to be realized, obviously. [That is, if there is no potential, there is nothing there to be realized.] You can’t awaken to the true reality of things unless you have the potential to do so, and you can’t get that potential by merely willing to have it. So in that sense, Jesus will select one-tenth of one percent, as, in fact, they saw him doing. Most people could not understand him, but the few he picked had the potential to learn to do so. For the others, he could only lay down parables and teach modes of behavior (love one another) that would aid their development. But you can’t make bricks without straw, so to speak. And then, “they will stand up and they will be alone”?

Separated from the rest of humanity, I suppose.

Yes, true enough. Any more?

Separate in their self-identification, I suppose, as well as in external manifestation.

Externals here actually have nothing to do with it. It is how they will experience themselves that is the point.

But two sayings is enough to at one time, lest your insight become shallow. So even though this is only half an hour, it is enough.

Okay, thanks as always.

 

6 thoughts on “Gospel of Thomas, Sayings 22 and 23

  1. At first, I read 23 and its discussion as some cold, cruel, fickle finger of fate determining whether I was ready or not to understand what Jesus was teaching. It could seem that way if I considered myself a 3-D individual. I sighed, thinking there was some days I wasn’t ready to understand, simply because I was tired and the words just bounced off my head (like today.)

    My background picture on my computer is a dandelion seed bundle, like the ones we used to pick and blow on as kids, so as to see the seeds drift everywhere. I enjoy gazing at this picture and remembering that I’m like the little seed, and all those little connections that go from seed to seed are like the strands that are connecting to this life, and all those little connections overlap into other lives as well. It’s a great symbol for my greater self.

    As I gazed at the dandelion, I thought, no! No cruel fate does this to me! I choose! It all depends on what mix of past selves we (my greater “we”) brought together to make this self, and whether this self is on the path to do the work of connecting the 3-D to non-3-D and living that realization. I might have been on a totally different path and never been drawn to esoteric teaching or Frank’s blog.

    Sometimes the whack up side the head is not so painful, ya? It’s a good thing on these head achy mornings. . .

    1. It occurs to me, reading your comment, that of course if we consider ourselves as one 3D individual, this is going to seem unfair, discriminatory, etc. Only when we remember that each 3D incarnation is part of something greater do we realize that from that perspective it is impossible for life or any part of life to be unfair. Good comment!

      1. No part of me is ever left outside in the darkness to gnash my teeth, wishing I had been included or was “good enough” to have been chosen. It’s what you said, Frank: each 3D incarnation is part of something greater, and at this level I might not know what that is. I’m also okay knowing that some stuff is going to fly right by me without sticking. The greater part of me gets it. But today, it’s okay that I, the little “I”, might not.

        1. Not sure if this is different from what you are saying/thinking, but I think there’s two ways to look at this. From the 3D perspective and the non-3D perspective. From the 3D perspective, yes, an individual can feel left out and in the dark and not chosen. But from the non-3D perspective, they know that all are connected and never lost or disconnected. But that doesn’t mean the non-3D will shine a light on the 3D fractal who feels disconnected. It also means that the 3D person can feel excluded and left out, not because they weren’t chosen, but by choice. I don’t necessarily think the interpretation is that the non-3D chooses who will be picked post birth, as if a parent might choose a favorite child after-the-fact (of child birth). Instead, I see these words to mean the non-3D decides to have multiple incarnation experiences by choice, of which some will be more connected than others. In this way, each incarnation, regardless of their state of connection to the non-3D, is still perfect whether they are connected or not. Otherwise, the idea that each and all are “God” is diminished by the thought that one is chosen while incarnated, but others are not. It’s semantics and a subtle difference, but it gives a different feel to the interpretation, at least from how I read the interpretation.

          1. This also ties in to what TGU says about the saying, that it is not about salvation. But if you interpret the saying as a post-birth choosing, then it would be interpreted as meaning salvation. The comment about potential is exactly that: the “setup” of a life creates the potential, and the 3D life plays out the “setup”, either developing that potential or not.

  2. Coincidentally, I’m in the middle of reading It’s All One World, and I just finished reading the entry dated Tuesday, July 25, 2017 called “Choice”. I think this entry is very much aligned with this particular saying.

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