Gospel of Thomas Degree - UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH

7. Jesus said, "Sacred is the lion which becomes man when eaten by man, and cursed is the man whom the lion eats and the lion becomes man."

This saying is fun; some people of learning are totally baffled by it. One professor of theology at a prominent religious university commented that he hoped it was not necessary to understand it. Obviously, some scribe had made a mistake copying it. Yet it is so simple to understand when one begins to see themselves as dual. We are the spiritual man, (the man). We are the physical man, (the lion). In the formative years of a person’s life, there is constant strife between the spirit, the man, and conscious animal desire -- the ego that is the lion, also known as the naked ape. In this age, it is called "the teenage crises”, although it can last well into middle age or beyond. In time, for most people, one or the other will prevail.

A person will either follow a spiritual path rejecting the physical or go the other way, living as a materialist at the expense of their soul. The face the man in this world shows is either that of a lion to be praised in the here and now or he will follow the path of the spirit and be thought a fool. For those who fail to resolve the crisis, they usually become criminal, blaming society for their inability to face themselves. Occasionally trying to get even.

What a beautiful day to feel so free, so alive, so in love with life and the divine. Right, but what a beautiful jacket in that window and wouldn't I like to have it? Will you quit this nonsense and get a job? Go back to the rat race to get the jacket kind of thing. Cater to the soul or cater to the ego, but one cannot do both. "One cannot serve two masters." Either the man or the lion must be consumed so the other can prevail. If not, chaos is the result.

If the man is victorious, the lion (body), does become a sacred thing and is recognized as such by its owner. If the lion prevails, cursed indeed is the man, (soul). The physical world is too heavy to carry into the light and the freedom of the kingdom. Because it is to heavy, when one goes to the next level in the game of life they will pine for what they left behind. And they will get what they want -- another trip back into this lowest of the heavens.

The ancient Greeks had a saying, "The gods give men what they want to punish them." God has answered their prayer, which is a desire. However, not to punish, but to discipline and help them grow. There is a world of difference between the two. Punishment is saying you are bad, a sinner, and must pay a price for your evil ways. Discipline is saying in your immaturity you have made a mistake. I am giving you a task that will help you learn to correct the mistake. So you go back into the world of toil and trouble until you learn. It might take another life time or a thousand, but in time you will understand. Punishment is applied by the immature to the immature. Discipline is applied by the mature to help the immature grow. The act might be the same in both cases, but the intention behind it is different and that attitude projects with the act. So why does this society punish criminals only to have them come out of prison worse than when they went in? Think about it.

This conflict between the body and the soul is a direct result of civilization. In 1928, Margaret Mead published, "Coming of Age in Samoa." She had lived with the primitive people of Samoa for several years. The book stirred considerable criticism because she had observed that children were allowed to live free. Sex was a natural pastime engaged in by adults and incorporated into children's games openly and above board with no thought of wrong doing. As a result, children past from childhood through puberty and into adulthood without any of the psychological trauma we see in our youths. This is not to suggest children today should be raised as primitives. It is to suggest that this society needs to stop treating sex as taboo and allow children from earliest age to learn to accept their sexuality as a normal healthy part of the human condition like eating and sleeping. If this were done, the man, (lion) conflict could, to a large extent, be resolved. Our children would have a much easier passage.

8. And he said, "The man is like a clever fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up full of small fish. Among them he found a good quality large fish. He threw the small fish back and chose the large fish without any effort. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear. "

The small fish of today are all those little slips of paper with a treasury seal on them. They will taste good in the mouth, but will turn acidic when they hit the stomach, which is the day of spiritual reckoning. Spiritual heartburn big time! The fine large fish is, of course, the small inner spark of the Divine that reveals the entrance into the kingdom. The wise fisherman is the man who consumed the lion. In the end he chose a path into the kingdom. The one who has wrestled with the lion and came out on top. No matter how much a person accumulates in this world it is no more than so many small fish. The large fish is when one is looking at the larger cosmic possibilities and uniting the mind with the Quantum Holograph, Jesus did and said we could also.

9. Jesus said, "Now the sower went out, and scattered a handful of seeds. Some landed on the road; the birds came and ate them. Others fell on the rocks and could not root in the soil. They could not bring forth produce. Others fell on thorns, the seeds were choked out and worms ate them. Some others fell on good soil and they gave a good harvest. They brought forth sixty per measure and a hundred and fifty per measure."

This saying also appears in Matthew 13:4-40, Mark 4:15-20 and Luke 5:4-13. That all three recorded it tells something about how important the ancients thought it was. Or they liked the fact that Jesus explained this one. Jesus explains it this way, "And those seeds that fall by the side of the path, are the people in whom the word is sown; and as soon as they have heard it, Satan comes, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts." They hear, but do not believe what they hear. "And those sown on the rock, are the people who, when they hear the word receive it with joy, but they have no roots and are shallow so that when they face difficulties because of the word, they quickly abandon it. And those people who sown among thorns, are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the excesses (note this word, excesses) of other lusts enter in and choke the word, and it does not bear fruit. And those seed sown on good ground are the people that hear the word, and receive it, and bear fruits, by thirties, and by sixties, and by hundreds." No explanation needed in these time. There are many things different between the first century and the twenty-first. This is not one of them.

There are other ways this saying can be understood. For the purpose of using it in this location in this Gospel, the seeds are the thoughts that question things as they are and the desire for knowledge of things that might be. There are many paths into the kingdom, but only one way for any given individual. Following the path of Thomas there will be many dead ends, seeds falling on the road, on rocks or among thorns but only one true way. The furrows in the mental field one plows that lead to understanding as a good harvest. Do not fear the loss of or cry for seeds cast on the road, the rocks, or in the brambles, continue to seek. Plow your ground and dress it well. Some of your seeds will fall on it and it will produce a harvest that far outweighs the few lost seeds. Each wrong turn is one less wrong turn to be made. Trust, as a person explores strange new spiritual territory they will reach many dead ends. That is what the 114 sayings in Thomas are about. Guide posts along the way that always guide you back and send you on your way. There is no sin in making a mistake. There is much sin in making a mistake and being so closed minded and stubborn one will not admit the mistake and correct it.

A professor at Boston State Collage once said, "There are two different kinds of thinkers, vertical and horizontal. If a vertical and a horizontal thinker are each digging a well and both find they are digging in the wrong place the vertical thinker will keep right on digging rationalizing that a deeper hole is a better hole." It's the living water you're after not the hole fool!" The horizontal thinker will move to another place." Vertical thinkers will never enter the kingdom of heaven unless they are willing to start thinking horizontally. Look forward to the horizon that is where the kingdom lies. If one continues looking to the sky they may well trip on a blade of grass and land flat on their face and to quote President Obama must, "Pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start again." Only this time watch where they are going. Or if they keep their nose to the grind stone, grind their head off and have no "eyes to see or ears to hear."

10. Jesus said, "I have hurled fire upon the world, and I will guard it until it bursts into flames."

This is the fire of passion, the burning desire to become an adult child, within the Mind of God. Become a full fledged godman who is able to live each day under the guiding hand of the divine web. He lives with a fire that consumes all other fires, burning out all desire for the material world. In the early days of the Jesus movement many lived with this desire. Indeed that fire was spreading around the known western world until the period between fourth century and the thirteenth century when that fire was stamped out. Extinguished by the unenlightened who were not able to see beyond the physical world. These were the church leaders who were consumed with a negative fire of power and greed. They would bodily burn many seekers of the mysteries behind the teachings of Jesus at the stake and thus send then to paradise. While in turn they were being consumed by their fiery passion for power over all people and all things. The desire of their egos that tricked them into thinking they were more god than God. The fire that was in the hearts and minds of those who were judging would drag the judges down to oblivion on the day their souls were required.

Fire here, fire there, fire, fire everywhere. every time a person turns around they are confronted by the fire of passion. Passion for goods, passion for position in the churches, in the community, in politics, the fire in their loins, and this list could go on for pages. Desire! Desire to satisfy the childish, animal, egocentric parts of our nature. All these little destructive fires must be gathered together into one all consuming soul completing fire so one can find one's place in the divine web.

11. Jesus said, "This heaven will vanish, as will the one above it will vanish. The dead don't live and the living don't die. In that time when you devoured what is dead, you made it live. When you become enlightened what will you do? In that time you were one you became two. When you have become two then what will you do?"

This is a very complex, compound, saying from Jesus. He is telling us that the physical universe will pass away and the universe above it will pass away. This makes it clear Jesus recognized the theory of multiple universes under the name of heavens. Jesus and Einstein would have found much in common. They both knew there is a universal plan even if we cannot see its completeness, that, "God does not play dice." Jesus is telling us the lower two universes will pass away.

He does not tell us how to identify these universes. So we must look some place else. Among the writings of "The Thrice Great Hermes" there is an article called, "Prominent." In it Hermes recognizes seven lower heavens, universes, which he calls spheres, plus the eighth and ninth the two highest heavens or universes. The lower seven is where we leave behind all that is undesirable in our make up, they are:

These things are never as cut and dry as they appear on the surface. Great minds think alike, but in different patens. Where Hermes saw seven heavens Jesus saw two and Einstein, the scientist, would not number his universes because there are no precise divisions. Every day, for some unenlightened, the first heaven passes away and the other six go with then as burning, but unattainable desires, think Hell. For those men who have subdued the animal force in them both of these heavens pass away the day they made the two one and became two in one. A harmonious whole as the lion lies down with the lamb.

A word about Hermes before moving on. His list is an interesting one. It needs to be read in context. It can be found is in the "Gnostic Bible," and, "The Nag Hammadi Library." The early followers of Jesus considered it worth looking into. In addition, it should be noted that some of these items are not absolute. Not just striving for wealth, but doing it by evil means. Not lying, but malicious lying.

One should not rely on just one teacher. It is about overcoming our undesirable traits. Attachment to this world being first on the list of things to overcome. As for Hermes' eighth and ninth, this is the divine web, kingdom of heaven where we experience, among other things, love, bliss and our unity with the mind of God which is also recognizing our unity with our fellow humans and all God's creations which we have helped to create. Recognize the wholeness of the cosmos and our role in it. The reason Hermes identified seven plus two spheres is that he was teaching in accordance with Greek astrology, astronomy.

From a religious prospective we are alive in this world and dead in the next. From a spiritual prospective, we are dead in this world and were alive in the one we came from. For the spiritual person, to quote the "Tablets of Thoth" this physical life is a, "life within death." If we become enlightened, alive, in this world it is the eighth and ninth where we will still be alive when we leave this lowest of the heavens and our bodies.

The second part of the saying hearkens back to the seventh saying about the man and the lion and one must die and the other live. If the lion prevails and the man is dead, there is no life for him beyond the physical. He goes to what the ancient Egyptians called, "The land of the headless ones." If the man prevails and is on his journey to the eighth and ninth he will continue that journey. The Egyptian model is a good one to use to understand. For me at least it is the clearest of the ancient descriptions of the passage out of this world. The Egyptian book that today is called "The book of the Dead" was called by the ancient Egyptians "The Book of Coming Fourth By Day." Most people today see departing this life as death. The Egyptians saw it as the dawn of a new day. We should start with the cast of characters involved. Starting with the soul of the departing one. The faithful dog headed god Anubis as guide. Osiris appearing as a man wrapped in a mummy cloth from the neck down wearing the crowns of upper and lower Egypt, he is the judge as is Jesus for his followers. To his left sat forty two gods as jury and the beast Ammet she has the head of a crocodile, main of a lion, front body of a leopard and rear of a hippopotamus all the animals the people feared ready to devour the sinners.

To the right of the judge would be Ma'at goddess of truth and justice she was in human form and was holding her balance scale of justice on which was her symbol, a feather. Next to her was the Ibis headed god Thoth, a wisdom god and scribe of the gods. He was ready to record the trial of the deceased.

So let the drama begin. Anubis escorted the soul through the maze of the underworld to stand before Osiris. It was not the deceased that was judged, but the person's heart which was placed upon the scale to be weighted against the feather of truth and justice, against the feather of Ma'at, as the soul recited what is called today the negative confession. I did not lie, I did not commit adultery etc. It was from this Moses got his ten commandments. Keep in mind all these statements were relative. I did not lie, maliciously. I only slept with my neighbors wife because he stole my goat so I was justified. It was his heart, his feelings, emotions that are on trial, not his actions. If the heart balanced against the feather the soul could pass into the boat of the sun god Ra to sail forever in the light, heaven, the eighth and ninth, the divine web. What went with this soul was the entire mind, conscious, subconscious and super-conscious.

If the heart was heaver than the feather the soul was found guilty by the jury and the soul was devoured by Ammet. It passed painfully and frightened through her and come out the other end as a headless one. The fear and the guilt of the perceived wrong it had done and desire for material things All this negative fire, but without the conscious mind needed to reason through it, hell. The conscious mind of this one had stayed behind with the body, think ghost. This one because it loved the world more than it did truth and justice would be recycled back into a physical body.

The divine spirit, Holy Spirit, is also the quantum holograph, the Mind, of God, the negative, not in the sense of bad, but of polarity, pole of energy and it has the quality of the female, it gives birth. She was called by the ancient Greeks Sophia, wisdom, female. The Gospel of Philip has this to say, "Some say that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. They do not know what they are talking about. How can a woman conceive by a woman?" Somewhere in the development of the Christian church this got lost. All wisdom is contained in the quantum holograph. She gave/gives birth to the cosmos and to the Logos, rational though or the Word. The Logos was/is also the Divine Child, first Adam. From this Jesus could claim the titles of both son of God and son of man, son of first man(kind) the androgynous Adam. Only later was this Adam child of God divided into separate sexes. All that the divine spirit gives birth to is androgynous having male, positive and female, negative polarities. If there is a female, mother, there must be a male to impregnate her so she might give birth. A source of the male energy that exists in all creation. He is the unknown Father that Jesus focused on.

Now that some groundwork has been laid, we can look at the third part of this saying. "On the day you were one you became two. But when you become two what will you do?" Originally we were one male/female mind and nothing more, we were androgynous, and lived in Paradise as a mental unit within the quantum holograph Then through the desire for a mate like the animals had we divided into separate male and female. The result was we fell into the most compatible animal body, the naked ape. In doing so we died to our true spiritual selves.

To reawaken our spiritual selves and return to Paradise, the quantum holograph, once again it is necessary to reverse the sequence that lead to our fall. Once again, become mentally androgynous developing both sides of our brain so they have equal influence in our lives. Balance of mind and how to achieve it is the key.

You are encouraged to post your lesson experiences on the forum (www.ulcseminary.org/forum) or send them to amy@ulcseminary.org and she will post them for you. The goal is to begin some meaningful dialogue with other ministers and to learn from the different exchanges.

MASTER OF THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS COURSE SAMPLE

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