Secrets of God

by Slawek Wojtowicz

  The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the journey of the soul into the spiritual realms after our body dies. If we did not fully awaken during our lifetime, we die. After death, we may encounter the brilliant white light representing God, but even if we see it, instead of merging with the Light of Love we may end up running away from it, terrified by its brightness and returning to this world to be born again. Jesus teaches us very clearly to strive for awakening while we are still here: “Look for the Living One while you are still alive, so that you will not die and seek to see Him and be unable to do so” (The Gospel of Thomas, Saying 59).

  Can reincarnation be proven in an objective, scientific way? The work done on the subject by Brian Weiss is probably closest to the “proof” that skeptics are seeking. Dr. Weiss is a well-known and respected psychiatrist, a graduate of Columbia and Yale Universities, and the chairman emeritus of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Florida. Dr. Weiss has been using hypnosis as a therapeutic tool to accelerate progress in psychotherapy of patients with a variety of problems. He became an expert hypnotherapist and took his patients back to their early childhood, where many of their current problems originated. In his book Many Lives, Many Masters he describes how in the early 1980s he began working with a woman who was suffering from panic attacks. However, at first he did not have much luck in identifying events in her life that may have been responsible for symptoms that brought her into therapy. Dr. Weiss was at loss regarding what to do, so he told her to go to the point in time when her problems had started.

  To his shock and amazement, she reported that she was now a teenage boy, drowning in the ocean. She was experiencing that death in such a terrifying detail that he had to bring her out quickly. He did not believe in reincarnation and did not know what to make out of her experience. However, some of her symptoms improved, so he decided to continue therapy. During subsequent hypnotherapy sessions, his patient traveled to different periods in history and described her surroundings and her past lives in vivid detail. Dr. Weiss was getting more and more incredulous, but his patient kept getting better, so the therapy continued. Then something even more unusual happened: During one of the sessions, she reported being in a time period between incarnations. Her voice changed and she told him about events from his personal life that she couldn’t possibly have known (death of his infant son due to cardiac defect several years before moving to Florida). Dr. Weiss was dubious no more. This information convinced him finally that what he heard from the patient was real, that her stories did not come from her imagination.

  He started using this “past life regression” hypnosis technique on other patients and accumulated a wealth of stories from the patients he has treated over the last 20 years. He finally gathered his courage and decided to publicize his findings, in spite of concerns about the impact on his academic career. Since then, Dr. Weiss has published several books on the subject and conducts workshops for psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and other clinical professionals, teaching them how to use past life regression therapy in their practices.

  Your body as a tool for spiritual growth

  Contrary to some academicians who claim that Gnostics taught that the world and people’s bodies are evil, most mystics believe that the world and our bodies are wonderful gifts of God. They assert that our bodies should be used as essential tools for awakening. We could not possibly awaken if we did not have our bodies and did not live in this world. We cannot awaken if we don’t inhabit our bodies fully. Physical bodies allow us to interact with others and to learn about our true nature. When we awaken, our bodies become what they were meant to be: perfect vehicles for God, means by which God can give and experience love, joy, and beauty, and learn about Himself. Our universe was created as a tool for self-discovery for God. It is meant as a place of wonder and amazing discoveries and surprises. Our journey on Earth is just the beginning of a wonderful adventure.

  In Planet Medicine, Richard Grossinger states that, “despite certain New Age fantasies, the flesh is not merely a vehicle to deliver the spirit seed to a higher dimension. The flesh and biosphere are extremely powerful manifestations of spirit seeking identity and experience in waves and holograms of matter. The goal is not to blast out of bodies but to transform bodies into temples of learning and vehicles of compassion. Bodies are the ultimate test (in this realm anyway) for spirits on a vision quest. They are spirit’s choice. They are the grail. They are what it needs (and has always needed) in order to become whole.”

  What about our food? Some say that we are what we eat. Clearly the quality of our food affects how we feel and how healthy we are. Very few people would argue that eating pesticides does our bodies any good. Beyond that, does our diet have anything to do with spirituality? Love of God is extended to everything that is alive. That’s why Buddhists and other mystics often become vegetarians—killing animals for food is not very loving towards them. The Old Testament hints that to return to the Garden of Eden we may have to become vegetarians, like the first people: God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Genesis 1: 29–30). According to that story, humans did not eat meat or fish until after the Deluge.

  Both canonical and secret gospels imply that Jesus did not eat meat, though on occasion he ate fish. The Essene Gospel of Peace also promotes a strict vegetarian diet, teaching that we should eat “living food” only, such as raw fruits and vegetables. The same gospel also stresses the need for self-sufficiency and teaches to take care of our bodies in other ways as well. It describes an incident when sick people came to Jesus asking to be healed, but instead of curing them through miracles he taught them how they can heal themselves through diet and other practices such as bathing in fresh running water or taking enemas.

  The commandment “Love your God with all your heart, mind, and soul” applies to our own minds and bodies. To be able to give love to others, we need to take care of ourselves first. To be able to heal others we have to heal ourselves first. We need to nurture our bodies and minds and take good care of them. That includes a healthy diet, regular exercise, good relationships, meditation, sufficient rest, and development of the creative side of our minds.

  The basic concepts described above should provide sufficient introduction to The Gospel of Thomas, which we will analyze together in the following chapter. As I mentioned earlier, reading of this gospel is a collaborative process. Thus, I am inviting you to stop frequently and to contemplate the messages as you read them, and to come up with alternative meanings that speak to you personally.

  Gospel of Thomas

  As I previously mentioned, the most complete version of this gospel survived in a Coptic original, discovered over a half century ago in the Egyptian desert. The original Gospel of Thomas was likely written in the Greek language and may well have been recorded before any of the four traditional canonical gospels.

  Coptic language is the most recent incarnation of the ancient Egyptian language. In the first century AD Egyptians created the Coptic script derived from the Greek alphabet, with the addition of six or seven signs from the Demotic script to represent Egyptian phonemes absent from Greek. Both Coptic and Demotic are grammatically closely related to the Late Egyptian, which was written in the hieroglyphic script. Coptic flourished as a literary language from the second to thirteenth centuries AD, and its Bohairic dialect continues to be the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Following Muslim conquests, Coptic was supplanted by a dialect of Arabic as a common spoken language in Egypt.

  This gospel consists of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus. Some of these sayings are virtually identical to those that can be found in synoptic gospels, save for their setting in a different context. However, it is this crucial difference in the context that significantly shifts the meaning of these sayings, and thus their interpretation may be quite different from traditional understanding. Other sayings appea
r in a slightly different form, and yet others are unique to The Gospel of Thomas. A careful reader will notice some repetitiveness in this gospel, as certain sayings are retold in a slightly different form. It is important to pay attention to the differences in these repetitions, since they are not accidental: They allow the reader to reach deeper levels of understanding as one carefully compares the old and new versions of each saying and reflects on truths contained in both of them. It is worthwhile to compare them to the synoptic gospels as well for the same reason.

  Reading this gospel is like climbing a ladder, where each step offers an opportunity to examine spiritual truths from a new vantage point. Please use my reflections on these sayings as a launching platform for your own discoveries and insights. In addition, please feel free to make notes in the margins as you go through this book, as ancient readers used to do. You will find your notes very useful when you re-read this book at a later date.

  These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.

  It is obvious even from the synoptic gospels that Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables and that he reserved certain teachings only for his inner circle of disciples. “When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. He told them, ‘The secret of the Kingdom of Heaven has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’” (Mark 4:10-12).

  The Gospel of Thomas—where Jesus says, “I disclose my mysteries to those who are worthy of my mysteries” (Saying 62)—and other Gnostic gospels imply that not only the outsiders but even many of the apostles were not ready to learn the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. Apostle Paul also speaks of the secret wisdom that is available for some but not for others, saying, “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (1 Corinthians 2: 6–7).

  Jesus’ secret teachings were very difficult to comprehend two thousand years ago, and are not easy to grasp even today. That’s the most likely reason why he had to limit them to the inner circle of disciples, who presumably were more open than other people to hear new, startling ideas. It is clear that some of the early Christians knew more about the mystical teachings of Jesus than was passed on through the “mainstream” churches. The orthodox Christians who were not privy to this information resented that. Elaine Pagels in The Gnostic Gospels explores in depth this and other political and psychological reasons for the suppression and destruction of the mystical teachings of Jesus. What were these secret teachings about? What were the things that made sense to the initiated, yet were totally opaque to everyone else? Surviving fragments of ancient writings give us some tantalizing clues. One example is the so-called Mar Saba letter, attributed to Clement of Alexandria.

  Clement of Alexandria was a prominent Christian philosopher born in mid-second century AD. He taught that the “faith of knowledge” is much higher than the mere “faith of conjecture,” or simple belief based on authority. The letter of Clement to Theodore (known as the Mar Saba Letter and discovered by biblical researcher Morton Smith) mentions secret Christian teachings meant only for those who were ready to receive them:

  “As for Mark, then, during Peter’s stay in Rome he wrote an account of the Lord’s doings, not, however, declaring all of them, nor yet hinting at the secret ones, but selecting what he thought most useful for increasing the faith of those who were being instructed. But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress towards knowledge. Thus he composed a more spiritual Gospel for the use of those who were being perfected. Nevertheless, he yet did not divulge the things not to be uttered, nor did he write down the sacred mysteries of the Lord, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers into the innermost sanctuary of that truth hidden by seven veils. Thus, in sum, he prepared matters, neither grudgingly nor incautiously, in my opinion, and, dying, he left his composition to the church in Alexandria, where it even yet is most carefully guarded. It is read only to those who are being initiated into the great mysteries.

  “To them, therefore, as I said above, one must never give way nor when they put forward their falsifications, should one concede that the secret Gospel is by Mark, but should even deny it on oath. For, ‘Not all true things are to be said to all men.’ For this reason the Wisdom of God, through Solomon, advises, ‘Answer the fool from his folly,’ teaching that the light of the truth should be hidden from those who are mentally blind. Again it says, ‘From him who has it not shall be taken away’ and ‘Let the fool walk in darkness.’ But we are ‘children of light,’ having been illuminated by the dayspring of the spirit of the Lord from on high, and ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is,’ it says, ‘there is freedom,’ for ‘all things are pure to the pure.’”

  Since Jesus reserved some of his secrets for those who were mature enough to receive and understand them, a logical question arises: When is one ready for these mystical teachings? Perhaps when he or she decides to let go of unexamined ideas and becomes open to new concepts? Or when one realizes that he or she doesn’t know all the answers and decides to listen to others with open mind? A mature person realizes that the true source of happiness springs from good relationships with other people and that giving to others is more rewarding that taking. Another facet of maturity is the willingness to take responsibility for everything that happens to us, instead of blaming others. Yet many of us prefer to project our own faults and weaknesses onto others in lieu of looking at our own dark side.

  * * *

  The term “living Jesus,” in the above paragraph and in other Gnostic writings, was used to describe the resurrected Jesus, who appeared to his chosen disciples after he was raised from the dead. “Didymos” in Greek and “Thomas” in Hebrew mean the same thing: “a twin.” Thus, symbolically, this gospel was written by an identical twin of Jesus Christ—by someone who was also awake just like Jesus and thus shared in his Christ identity. The writer of this gospel was a twin brother of Jesus by the virtue of following his teachings and by reaching salvation—awakening from the dream. In a spiritual sense, a person who awakens becomes united with the Christ-mind, and thus becomes a Christ.

  1. And he said, “Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not experience death.”

  Death is something that most of us fear—we see others dying and expect the same fate for ourselves. Isn’t it exciting to discover that we don’t have to die? The problem is that we think that we are our bodies—and there is plenty of evidence that bodies do die.

  Let’s imagine for a moment that a person learns to leave his/her body at will, while still alive. What would be the meaning of death for someone who gained freedom from imprisonment in his/her body?

  In the process of awakening we learn experientially that we are not the person we thought we were, and we are not just the body we inhabit, either. Our identity outgrows the confines of our bodies and minds: When we awaken, we become one with Christ. Thus, death loses its meaning.

  2. (1) Jesus said, “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. (2) When he finds, he will become troubled. (3) When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All. (4) Once he has ruled, he will rest.”

  (1) The search that we are on is the search for God who is Love and Life. We tend to forget that God is everywhere, but most importantly He is inside each one of us. And that’s where we need to look for Him—if we are patient, we will find Him within. Psalm 46: 10 tells us to “be st
ill, and know that I AM God.” Stillness of body and mind can be achieved through spiritual exercises such as meditation. When we are totally still, we experience God within us. We learn that His name is also our name: I AM.

  The Gospel of Philip describes explicitly what happens during the journey into the depths of our minds: “It is not possible for anyone to see anything of the things that actually exist unless he becomes like them. This is not the way with man in the world: He sees the sun without being a sun; and he sees the heaven and the earth and all other things, but he is not these things. This is quite in keeping with the truth. But when you see something of that place, you became those things. When you see the Spirit, you become Spirit. When you see Christ, you become Christ. When you see the Father, you shall become Father. So in this place you see everything and do not see yourself, but in that place you do see yourself—and what you see you shall become.”

  Canonical gospels don’t state this profound truth very clearly—though in many indirect ways they hint at the underlying oneness of everything.

  The Truth that will bring you the ultimate freedom is that God has only one Son, the Christ. And you are that son (or daughter). Paradoxically, each of us is the only son or daughter of God, since Christ is the only Son of God—and this is the true, shared identity of each one of us. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray to Our Father in Heaven. His Father is also your Father. In one of his parables Jesus teaches that Christ inhabits each of us, saying: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25: 34–40).