What''s the difference between the church view,
and the more ancient view ( coming to us now,
but scarcely digested)
that comes from the earliest gospel...
Here are some quotations of Christ from
the ancient texts:
"I am He who is from the Same
Cleave a piece of wood I am there.
The Kingdom is within you.
Know yourself and you will be known
Know yourself and you will know me
Each person directly apprehends God
Each individual has a mystical duty to know God,
to realize God within oneself
It's each individual's duty...to save his own soul
by forming a mystical union with the One
Who Is Creating Us.
Here are two more sayings I like from the ancient
gospel:
"Love calls nothing its own."
"When the Holy Spirit breathes, summer comes."
Modern day church approach:
Believe on my name
Have faith.
Imitation of Christ
Follow the commandments
Love your neighbour as yourself
Talk to your priest/minister and he will intercede
on your behalf with God I know that's more a Catholic
notion, but most churches have the same leaning.
The following words are not Cliff-Top writings, but are
phrases taken directly from the Nag Hammadi:
"The world is a corpse-eater.
All things eaten in it dies also."
"Truth is a life-eater. No one nourished
by the Truth will die.
Jesus brought food from this place (heaven/the Father)
The tree of knowledge killed Adam.
"But here the tree of knowledge makes men alive."
He who has been anointed posses everything:
Resurrection, the Light, the cross and the Holy Spirit."
The Father gave him this in the bridal chamber
Christ merely accepted the Gift.
The Father was in the Son and the Son was in the Father.
This is the Kingdom of Heaven. So it is with the bread,
the cup, the oil. No one will receive imperishability
if he does not first become a Son.
"No one can see himself in a mirror or in water...
without light. That is why Baptism is done with light
and water."
This article is not as coherent as the articles based on the Cliff-Top writings. I am reading the raw material
from various Gospels.
From the Gospel of Truth, there is this:
Through this, the gospel of the one who is searched for,
which was revealed to those who were made perfect
through the mercies of the Father, the hidden mystery,
Jesus the Christ enlightened those who were in
darkness through oblivion. He enlightened them; he
showed them a way, and the way is the truth which he
taught them..."
"He was nailed to a tree and he became a
fruit of the knowledge of the Father. It did not,
however, cause destruction because it was eaten,
but to those who ate it, it gave cause to be glad
in the discovery, and he discovered them in himself,
and they discovered him in themselves."
The underlining is mine. This 'knowing' and
'being known', becoming a reflection of one
another - the seeker, the Christ.... in the mirrored
Bridal Chamber: the Christ a reflection of the seeker.
The very IDENTITY of the seeker changes
in the reflection of the Christ.
It is not me, Joe Smith, following and imitating
the life of Christ. It is me, Joe Smith, becoming
a reflection of the Christ, and becoming one with
the Christ in reflection.
This person is no longer a Christian,
but a Christ.
I can hear screams of, "Blasphemy!"
But think about it... In the East, when a
person does zazen and much hard work in questioning
and looking within for his real nature, when
he says: "I get it! Aha!"
"Between heaven and earth I alone exist!"
"I AM Buddha."
In the East, he is congratulated
by his fellow monks and friends. He has achieved
"enlightenment"... "satori"
This realization is the aim.
"
In the West, you say, "Aha! I have realized!
I AM Christ."
In the West, you then would be DOOMED!
But should you be reviled for what really is
a great achievement, and the product of years
of work?
No.
This is the very realization I had,
and now we see it is not so strange. It is
the aim. It is true Holy Communion, this reflection
process I spoke of.
You are not "doomed."
You have merely come home.
_______________________
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