The Magician Jesus of The Gospel of Thomas.
“One
mind there is, but under it two principles contend.”
Philip K. Dick Tractates Cryptica Scriptura
The process
of deciding what constitutes Christian doctrine and what are the remnants of
previous traditions was summed up well by Elaine Pagels when she writes in Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, “What survived as orthodox Christianity did
so by suppressing and forcibly eliminating a lot of other material.”
This can
often be revelatory for those who believe that Christianity today exists in the
same form as in its first centuries.
This
position is also expounded upon by Earl Doherty in his book The Jesus Puzzle
and in his argument that a wisdom tradition existed and influenced the
development of early Christianity, “…but
in conjunction with the Greek Logos concept in the Hellenistic tradition of the
period. Indeed, even Jewish personified Wisdom by Paul’s time had been
influenced by the Greek Logos, as we can see in the Hellenistic Judaism of
Philo and an Alexandrian document about to be examined.” (1.)
The Gospel
of Thomas has perplexed scholars and believers alike since its discovery as
part of the Nag Hammadi texts in 1945. We also have fragments dating back even
earlier coming from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri in
Scholars
now believe that the original, core sayings were composed somewhere between
40AD and 140 AD which could in effect place them even earlier than the
canonical Gospels. Perhaps the truth of the matter can be reconciled for now by
the thinking of Robert Van Voorst who believes that although it could have been
written down in the 2nd century, the oral tradition on which it is
based is much older. (2.)
Of course,
this leaves conventional Christianity in somewhat of a bind as The Gospel of
Thomas has Jesus making some very unusual statements more in line with Hermetic
or alchemical thinking: “If you bring
forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not
bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”
If these
sayings attributed to Jesus were from older more ancient traditions then they
should encompass a philosophy that was already known and existent at the time.
They should reflect esoteric thinking which we now understand to have been part
of mystery schools and oral spirituality.
Writing in The Pagan Christ, Tom Harpur describes the
tradition as thus, “Many of them were
pre-existent, pre-historic, and therefore certainly pre-Christian. They were
collections of Egyptian, Hebrew and Gnostic sayings, and therefore cannot stand
on their own as evidence that the Jesus of the Gospels ever lived as a man or
teacher.”
He goes on
to write, “These sayings were all oral
teachings in the ancient Mysteries ages before they were written down.” (3.)
So, what
can we glean from the Gospel of Thomas that might be construed as older,
perhaps animistic, and reflecting the mysticism of the mystery traditions?
Quite a
lot, in actual fact.
We can find
examples of the holographic nature of reality which many shaman describe. We
can find descriptions of the Hermetic and alchemical ‘as above, so below’ maxim and we can find specific instruction to
go within in order to find the eternal.
Perhaps it
is no coincidence that, as Andrew Phillip Smith writes in The Secret History of the Gnostics, “All of the surviving copies of
Thomas, in Greek and Coptic, were found in
Could The
Gospel of Thomas incorporate a much earlier alchemical and magical world view
which informed the esoteric thinking of ancient
After all,
the word alchemy comes from the term Al
Khem which means ‘Black Earth’ and was the ancient name for
One of the
most enigmatic sayings from The Gospel of Thomas, and a good example of the
parallels with a shamanic-type world view is saying number 22.
Jesus saw infants
being suckled. He said to his disciples, "These infants being suckled are
like those who enter the kingdom."
They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the
kingdom?"
Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the
inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the
below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the
male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place
of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a
likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom."
Here we have a clear example of a mystery teaching incorporated into Thomas and a saying that links us back to the ancient Pyramid Texts. This notion of unification of opposites incorporates the ‘great work’ of alchemy and the goal of enlightenment which is the transformation of the self.
Another major and overlooked parallel is described by Jeremy Naydler in Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts when he writes, “Unlike historically more recent, and therefore more familiar, accounts of visionary mystics, the Pyramid Texts do not have a narrative form.” (5.)
This has been one of the frustrations for Christian scholars who struggle to find uniformity in the Gospel of Thomas. Maybe the solution is to forget about linear uniformity altogether and accept that this collection contains sayings from various traditions which, over time, were placed together in order to suit the groups who read them.
When scholars struggle with saying 114 from Thomas and try to overcome its misogynistic appearance perhaps a return to the esoteric and alchemical subtext may untangle the transformative secret of its words.
“Simon Peter said to them, "Mary
should leave us, for females are not worthy of life." Jesus said,
"See, I am going to attract her to make her male so that she too might
become a living spirit that resembles you males. For every female (element)
that makes itself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."
We can then understand the saying as something that hints at inner polarities coming together and intimations of the same unification as saying 22.
But is there a lineage that can connect such teachings?
Maybe part of the solution lies with the Mandaeans, who claim descent from Seth, son of Adam and as Gerard Russell writes in Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms, “…connect the present day with the distant pre-Christian past, the funerary banquet of the Mithraists and the Egyptians, and the teachings of the Manichees.” (6.)
But if we accept, as Jeremy Naydler argues, that The Pyramid Texts were not funerary at all, then the Mandaean ceremonies, which are still secret, may be about something else entirely, where the soul is not transformed after death, but while the person is still living.
This then echoes many of the unification themes in Thomas and provides a link between Naydler's
theory of the shamanism of Egyptian mysticism and a Gnostic sect who trace
their origins to the Middle East and ancient
In the Pyramid Texts, Osiris must die in order for Horus to be born, but Horus is Osiris in the same way as the female is made male and the two are made one, and the inside like the outside as we read in the Thomas sayings.
As Naydler goes on to say about the Pyramid Texts transformative exegesis, “Only when it is seen that the two gods can also correspond to two different existential phases, or states of consciousness, of one and the same king is it possible to grasp the potential initiatory significance of their relationship.”
Of course
the persecution of various groups and sects meant that many esoteric teachings
became lost and fragmented over time. The amalgamation and mistranslations over
time make it difficult to arrive at any certainties. However, as new
scholarship is continuing to find, there is a deep rooted relationship between
Gnosticism, Hermeticsim and new revelations about
“Do not be unaware of me O
god,
Know me, for I know you.
Do not be unaware of me, O god.
Of me it is said: “The
transitory one.”
Do not be unaware of me, O
Ra.
Know me, for I know you.
Do not be unaware of me, O
Ra.
Of me it is said: “Great One who is
destroyed.”
Utterance 45. The Pyramid Texts.
Jesus said, "Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest."
The Gospel of Thomas.
Saying Number 5.
This brings
uncomfortable reassessments in some instances but it also allows us to believe
that something timeless and transformative has been at the root of spiritual
traditions around the world.
Sometimes
the cultural and ceremonial differences have masked this very truth but
sometimes it has been the very exploration of these differences which has
uncovered the common shamanic essence.
© David
Halpin
Van Voorst, Robert (2000). Jesus
Outside the New Testament: an introduction to the ancient evidence.
The Pagan Christ Tom Harpur P140
The Secret History of the Gnostics Andrew Phillip Smith P.73
Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts Jeremy Naydler P. 311
Heirs To
Forgotten Kingdoms. Gerard Russell
Image Credits.
1. DarkSouls1 c/o Pixabay.
2. Yehorlapko c/o Pixabay.
3. GDJ c/o Pixabay.
Comments
Post a Comment