To dissolve the ego

ACCORDING TO THE THOMAS GOSPEL

10. Jesus said, "I have cast fire upon the world, and look, I'm guarding it until it blazes."

Interpretation :

The fire of true knowledge is required to destroy the ego and must be well guarded unless it is manipulated by the ego. It is the fire that comes out of the third eye of Shiva and the saints; Tejas, the fiery essence of knowledge of the intellect, buddhi. It is a teacher's duty to cast this fire upon the student and guard it until the student can maintain it without help (until it blazes).

16. Jesus said, "Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone."

Interpretation :

The fight against the ego is a tough one and should not be underestimated. Jesus cannot magically bring peace and happiness (cast peace upon the world), but must first attack the ego (cast conflict, fire, sword, war). All your attachments will need to be questioned. Yet also these attachments will continuously counter-attack the truth, for example through the intermediate of ones relatives and their attachments (father against son and vice versa). Hence the true seeker must be free of personal attachments, ready to leave family and friends if necessary (stand alone) to transform himself. The spiritual battle is a battle one ultimately must fight alone.

26. Jesus said, "You see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't see the timber in your own eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye."

Interpretation :

Clean up your own act (take the timber out of your own eye) before you want to clean up the world (remove the sliver in your friend's eye). We sometimes criticize minor things in others (mere slivers), while we have not removed the main problem of the ego (the timber) in ourselves.

71. Jesus said, "I will destroy [this] house, and no one will be able to build it [...]."

Interpretation :

Jesus will destroy the ego (the house) of his disciples and once that is done it cannot be restored (no one will be able to build it).

Back to the overview on the Thomas Gospel

http://www.sanatansociety.org/yoga_and_meditation/Thomas_Gospel_Jesus_dissolve_ego.htm

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