Logion 66
is another one of what Pursah called "prequels" to the NT, sayings in
Thomas which were clearly later quoted by the writers of the "canonical"
gospels, who wrote some twenty or more years after the Thomas gospel.
The same idea comes back in several places in the NT, so we have some
immediate familiarity with it.
The whole idea running through all
of this material is the central notion of changing our mind, metanoia
in the Greek of the New Testament. Clearly, to follow Jesus to the
Kingdom not of this world, entails a completely different mindset,
thought system even, so what's useful in this world is useless in the
Kingdom and vice versa. We seek the world as long as we're running away
from home, all the while building defenses to keep God and Jesus away
from us, and those defensive structures are of no use to us in the
Kingdom. Jesus on the other hand says, give me the stone you rejected in
building your castle in this world, for that is the cornerstone, once
we start on the way home. In other words, the things that were of no use
in building up the ego's defenses, are now extremely useful as our
purpose has changed. This same underlying theme of an either/or choice
and a radically different purpose is reflected in different ways in many
Thomas Logia, e.g 89, 100, 107, 110, and many others. It is also a
familiar theme in A Course in Miracles, as the thought systems of the Holy Spirit and the ego are mutually exclusive.
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