While the purpose of this site is to be an extension of my book Closing the Circle,
and provide more material that was simply too detailed, or just too
voluminous to be included in the book, I do feel compelled to maintain a
certain sense of balance. I have noticed over time that some of the
Logia have not come up in other contexts, and I realized that it might
be fun at this point to expand on some of them beyond what was in the
book. The whole thing is becoming a sort of a tapestry in which these
sayings are becoming the repeating patterns. I'm beginning to sense that
while the collection per se is not an organic whole, or in any way a
complete representation of the teachings of Jesus, but rather an
unfinished collection of pearls of wisdom, the way this site has grown,
it is beginning to demonstrate more of an inner consistency among the
collection, which tends to demonstrate how it does form a certain
pattern we can recognize.
So, in that spirit, I just took an
inventory of the Logia which have not yet come up in conversation, and
they are respectively, 23, 32, 36, 40, 49, 51, 54, 58, 59, 70, 75, 76,
79, 80, 85, 86, 88, 92, 94, 95, 97, 103, 106, 107, 109. It'll be
interesting at this point to see if I recognize any pattern among this
collection. Pursah does point out in her comments in Gary's books that
some of these sayings are not as easy for the modern western reader as
some others.
So, the next few posts will be devoted to these
stragglers. Meanwhile, I want to report here that I have begun to get
reader feedback, complementing my own experience, strengthening my
belief that for me the Pursah version of the Thomas gospel is the
definitive edition. I was really very delighted recently to get a strong
confirmation of that from a reader who evidently had a strong inner
experience that this is the case. As I reported in the book, my original
inclination had been to include a translation based on the Nag Hammadi
texts, but when I encountered all kinds of difficulties with that, in
particular in terms of getting the necessary permissions, I sensed that
this might not be practical, in particular since the exercise would have
to be repeated for every translation of the book. It seemed too much
work and effort for something that was absolutely not material to the
book, but more a matter of courtesy. Funnily enough, I naively assumed
that in a field where there are 10+ Thomas translations circulating in
most languages, I thought that the publishers of whatever text I chose
would be happy if their edition got a boost from being thusly included
in my book, and so I figured I was helping them. Hilariously, some of
these folks thought I should pay them for the privilege. Some others did
not even respond at all to the inquiry. So I gave it up. Initially I
thought it was a sacrifice of convenience for the eventual reader, but
then I realized it was a highly beneficial streamlining. No use carrying
that ballast. This is how the comments about the comparison with the
historical text have ended up being made in very general terms, so that
everyone can do their own individual comparison with their own favorite
translations. The bottom line is you'll do it only once, if that, and
then you know. There is just no comparison.
The corollary to this
information is our own reading experience, which also finds expression
in this blog, in the sense that the more you commune with the text (in
Pursah's version), the more you get the feeling I described above, which
is that while the Thomas Gospel is not a complete text of Jesus'
teachings even in the historical sense, as Pursah also addresses with
Gary in his books, the more you work with it, the more consistent and
coherent they seem to be, as if they were indeed repeat patterns in the
embroidery of this particular tapestry. They very clearly belong
together and come from the same place, and this becomes even more clear
when you have the context of A Course in Miracles, and Gary's two books, now soon to be three, or even four.
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