On Joining the Y

If it wasn't going to be Closing the Circle, perhaps the title of the book should have been Joining the Y, but while on the one hand the first required a subtitle to avoid confusion with other books with the same title, on the other hand Joining the Y might have been mistaken as a membership drive for a venerable youth institution, so Closing the Circle it is. However, I like the graphical notion of the Y as a symbol for the book, namely that it has two legs, ACIM and the Thomas Gospel, which come together in one Jesus. Just another way of looking at it, but it makes the point that the book is all about realizing that in truth, allowing for different times and places, the voice and the message never changed. This was the real promise of the Last Supper and the ritual that has been distorted as the Eucharist - Jesus promises that he is present to us in our mind whenever and wherever at our slightest invitation, exactly because he is not a body, he is not promoting the cannibalistic ritual Christianity has promoted instead. And the cover represents the one Jesus for all time, who is just the symbol of God's Love in our lives. We got lost, but we have the option of wandering back any time we like, and he comes in at our invitation.

The way it seems to be working out in practice is that the painting, Teach Only Love, on the cover really is the shortcut to the book, and I am gratified to see that it is being picked up by readers who previously did not know much about either ACIM or the Thomas Gospel. The first reports I received from Holland was that the picture practically made the book jump into people's arms. And the longer it is out there, I realize that my collaboration with the painter, Sam Augustin, is really a central feature of the book, and the fact that it's so inviting really is an integral part of the book itself. If a picture is worth a thousand words, the painting is better than any lenghty introduction.

Coincidentally, some people have asked why the two sources of light over Jesus' head in the cover art. Sam answered that in his mind that symbolized the omnipresence of Love, which then was focused in the presence of Jesus. It occurred to me that on some level it could also represent exactly the Y I'm talking about in this post, i.e. the two legs of ACIM and the Thomas Gospel, connecting to the one consistent manifestation of Jesus as the presence of Love.

Some Scholarly Stuff about Thomas

Occasionally it makes me bristle when Gary or anyone states that my work would be 'scholarly,' in my view it is not, strictly speaking. I find that epithet a bit off-putting in the sense that I neither produce college textbooks or original research, even if I am--at times at least--a keen watcher of what is developing in some of the literature surrounding Thomas. And some good stuff has been percolating for years now in the community that studies Thomas with an open mind. A very interesting discussion about Thomas in relationship to Mark (my favorite of the canonical gospels), can be found here: http://users.misericordia.edu//davies/thomas/tomark1.htm and here http://users.misericordia.edu//davies/thomas/tomark2.htm

The above material in essence documents in a formal, scholarly fashion, having recourse strictly to the form of the material, and the sequence and circumstance of its borrowing, the transformation of Jesus teachings in their raw, relatively unedited form in the Thomas gospel, towards the Pauline/Christian rendering of him, of which Mark is the first example. Clearly the dominant influence behind all this is Paul and his interpretation of Jesus, which progressively pulls him into this world, and puts all kinds of theological make-up on him, ultimately insisting that the resurrection and second coming are of the body, thus accomplishing what the ego always wants to do, namely to pull Jesus down into the muck of this world with us, and solve our problems here, instead of us learning to follow him to a Kingdom not of this world, of which he speaks to us always. But which we do not want to hear about in the worst way. This last issue is of course the crux, and it is the reason why the Course spends so much time putting us in touch with our resistance to what Jesus teaches.

So, the simple thing to take away from it all is that the reason Jesus in Thomas does not sound like a Christian, is because Christianity is an ego-dominated, dualistic, distortion of his teachings, which fully makes the world real, and as such ensures that we do not hear what Jesus teaches in reality. And as Course students we may then always recognize that this is merely a very useful mirror of our own tendency to want to do all of these things with Jesus, thus compromising the Course. Our ways of doing so are often very subtle, but as we progress with our work they will become more and more clear and easy to recognize, and for many who are 'recovering Christians' forgiving Paul will be one way this process can take form, for different from what Dan Brown et al. believe, we were not duped into believing certain things while an evil church withheld the truth. The ego's conspiracy is always to set it up so that someone else can be blamed for our betrayal of our true Self, which in this Judaeo-Christian imagery is symbolized as the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus, and we simply do not hear, and do not want to hear his message of forgiveness, the meaninglessness of the body and the fact that he does not believe in betrayal (ACIM:T-6.I.15:5) for those reasons, knowing us, as he does, as spirit. He is asking us to follow him and do the same, and we simply reinterpret him to make sure we don't, so that the ego stays firmly in charge. We simply resist, because we realize that if we are spirit, we didn't happen, and so we have to keep on killing Christ, as Wilhelm Reich fathomed in his own funny way (see his The Murder of Christ).

Fun with Thomas

In a way it would seem to be no accident that Jefferson's first name was Thomas, considering how his Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, came so close to guessing the outlines of the Thomas Gospel, even if Jefferson's personal position as a "materialist" in a way prevented him from seeing the content of Jesus's teaching. In fact it is really remarkable, if you consider that what has generally been mis-labeled as "The Jefferson Bible," was completed in 1819, and the Thomas Gospel was not rediscovered till 1945, but translations did not begin to appear till well into the 1950's. The most salient feature of the Thomas Gospel is of course that it makes irrevocably clear why Jesus was not a Christian (since they had not been invented yet, and he never attended Paul's catechism classes), and Jefferson sensed in his stocking feet that Paul had distorted the teachings of Jesus, and called him names like a "dupe and impostor," and ruthlessly took out all of his writings, but also all of his theological influence (by excluding the narrative and interpretative dimensions of the canonical gospel materials).

With my own growing involvement in this topic the Thomas sightings are increasing, in a variety of forms. For one there was a time when I was in the studio audience when both Gary Renard and Micael Ledwith were on a panel discussion on New Realities TV, about spirituality and the new science, and I was aware that both Gary and Micael have recollections of past lives as Thomas. Then there's Michael Tamura, a friend of Gary's who also has past life memories of Thomas. More recently I met someone who was in India in Kerala, in the area where Thomas spent the final years of his ministry, and who experienced an appearance of Thomas while there. Further it appears as if recently there is a proliferation of people in my life with Thomas as either first or last name, and it is just kind of fun. I started writing about Thomas and he seems to be showing up around every corner.

The Gary Controversy Revisited

... those who seek controversy will find it. (ACIM:C.in.2:1)

From a recent post on Gary's site, I take it the controversy surrounding him is still being fed by some, apparently including the originators of it, the MPM-trio (Mundy, Perry, Mackie), as I deduced from the appearance of an article on his site by Dr. Michael Mirdad.

Since my book relies on Gary's work, I wanted to add a clarification of my own. Gary is irrelevant. I repeat that: Gary is completely irrelevant to the whole conversation. There is the simple matter separating the message and the messenger. If Gary blew it in your mind, or you don't like his looks, or his eyes, or his new Hollywood hairdo, so be it - forgive him already. Don't believe or disbelieve his work either because anybody says so, even Gary, or tells you not to, like the MPM-trio. The Course indeed is not a religion, there is no pope of the Course, though periodically some appear to be running for the job, but there is no such position available, since it is a self-study program. How you learn the Course is up to you, so it's your own decision if you find Gary's writings helpful or not. I could put that a different way. If you find yourself to sometimes feel like a fool, like Gary, who needs all the help he can get to learn the Course, slips on every available bananapeel the ego throws you, crawls back up, and yet realizes (like the little children of Lake Wobegon) that he has an above average ability to remember who he is in truth, perhaps you will identify with the story, and it can be helpful to you. If you don't, it won't, so don't bother.

Indirectly I address this issue also in my discussion of the "Pursah version" of the Thomas Gospel in Closing the Circle. Other than to note that it makes a lot of sense, the same goes here: you are entirely on your own in deciding if it is credible or not. Don't believe me either. Follow your heart. As I've pointed out in the book, Pursah just happens to make a lot of sense, and tangentially, it would seem pretty hard to make such a thing up, even if some of the edits Pursah offers seem quite compelling on close scrutiny. To think of them on your own, without any real guidance, would seem impossibly hard to me. Thus I think it is with this material much like it is with the Course, if it works for you, use it. And if it doesn't, don't bother. No harm, no foul.

In case of doubt about the above, the reader may note that Gary's books even says so. In particular on page 378 of Disappearance, Gary says to Arten: '... I always have to be reminded--and you're not just talking to me ayway, are you? And Arten responds: 'You got it, buddy.' And if you think about it, that says in two lines, what I just argued in this post. The books stand on their own. Take them or leave them, but their value to you is up to you, and is independent of anything else Gary says or does, and of whoever likes him or does not like him, or his books.

Preparations for a Booksigning Party

It all started with Sam painting the painting for the cover of my book, a painting which we titled: "Teach Only Love" with a quote from the Course. Sam is a Brooklyn resident, and a native of Haiti. A French ACIM (UCEM) study group we had for a few years, started in his basement/studio. I live in the Bronx myself. Somewhere along the line Isma, another Brooklyn resident offered to help organize a booksigning, not to mention Bernice (also from Brooklyn) who is also helping with the same.

Then I was on the phone with Sam and he told me that he has an artshow coming up with his work and some Haitian artists to raise money for Haiti in the aftermath of the storms--four hurricanes in a row. What organization to donate to? Enter my friend Peter (see www.tr-ac.net.com), who knows his way around in these things, and we selected Fonkoze. The artshow opens on 9/25/08, and from memory I thought that was the official publication date of my book, which however seems to actually be September 26th, but who cares. We're having the book signing party at the opening of the art show, organized as a fundraiser for Fonkoze. The event is at Artisan Gallery, owned by Mery, who is a native of Senegal. Mery and Sam were brought together by one Percy Thomas, who is quietly orchestrating various parts of the program.

So we are having a suitably international event, typical New York, the city where at last count some 120 languages are spoken. And the coming together of this event in a very serendipetous and spontaneous manner is one of those experiences which sometimes makes people say: "Only in New York!", though we should not forget that spontaneous living is really our birthright, regardless of where we live-even in New York-if we only get our egos out of the way. The pictures above are of Mery and Sam discussing the planning for the event on September 16th.

Empty Space

...as unsubstantial as the empty place between the ripples that a ship has made in passing by. And covered just as fast, as water rushes in to close the gap, and as the waves in joining cover it. Where is the gap between the waves when they have joined, and covered up the space which seemed to keep them separate for a little while? (ACIM:T-28.III.5:2-4)

One of the reasons for picking the title Closing the Circle for my book is contained in the above paragraph. For once you really tune in to the consistency of the Jesus of the Thomas gospel and the Jesus of  ACIM, the whole magnificent theology in between evaporates into nothing, for Jesus said the same thing before and after, as if nothing ever happened. To look at it from this point of view, you begin to realize how and why the ego must always push Jesus, Yeshua, J, out of the way, and yet it can never succeed, for in the end only truth is true, and all else is a lie. As I have argued elsewhere, the emergence of Christianity as a solid, coherent religion, was a victory for the Church, and a brainchild of Paul, but it is the choice for the murder of Jesus, and perpetuates the psychological mechanisms for keeping him out of the way, i.e. the expectation of the Second Coming as some sort of future event in the time/space framework is an expectation, which detours the mind around the presence of Jesus in the now, keeps us blind to him, and now dependent on the emerging Church as our only hope to ever bring him back.

In the meantime, never mind how badly distorted Jesus's teachings were in the course of Christianity, undoubtedly some always found their way to him. For even with only the Biblical account to go by, we are free to lift Jesus out from the editorials around his words, as in fact Thomas Jefferson attempted quite amazingly. But many saints and mystics, many of whom were never known, have found the way.

The image that emerges then is of how the teachings of Jesus in the form he taught in Palestine 2000 years ago, began to fade into the background almost immediately, with the Thomas gospel and perhaps the Q tradition as the purest traditions, which are fading into the background almost immediately, and the narrative gospels taking their place. The ego always uses cooptation as one of it's most powerful strategies, which is also referenced in the Course as follows:

The ego speaks in judgment, and the Holy Spirit reverses its decision, much as a higher court has the power to reverse a lower court's decisions in this world. The ego's decisions are always wrong, because they are based on the error they were made to uphold. Nothing the ego perceives is interpreted correctly. Not only does the ego cite Scripture for its purpose, but it even interprets Scripture as a witness for itself. The Bible is a fearful thing in the ego's judgment. Perceiving it as frightening, it interprets it fearfully. Being afraid, you do not appeal to the Higher Court because you believe its judgment would also be against you. (ACIM:T-5.VI.4)

Ultimately it is because of this development  that the Thomas gospel, and the things Jesus says there, to not sound like Christianity at all. This is what came as such a shock when they were first rediscovered. Not only that it has taken fifty years since that discovery before we are beginning to notice what he really might be talking about, and that it is not the Pauline theology that was invented twenty years after his death and on. This meeting really is the central point of Gary Renard's work. The experiences he had, break through the veil of obfuscations of these teachings, and free us up to hear them anew with their original freshness. Therefore that particular circle began to be closed with the re-discovery of the Thomas gospel, and is now emerging into public consciousness, among other things because of Gary's work describing his own experiences in the vernacular.

Meanwhile the dynamic of the ego as being the choice for the murder of Christ is powerfully spoken of in the Course, and makes complete psychological sense, but there is a curious book I want to mention here, by Wilhelm Reich, titled The Murder of Christ, which explains the whole process in a very curious way. Reich was the disciple who Freud chose over Jung in the end, as a defense against Jung's interest in spirituality. Freud literally said to Reich, that they must protect the world against the "rising tide of occultism," which was exactly where Jung's interest led him, and which upset Freud no end. To Reich, like to Freud the body was the foundation of our reality in this world. Reich was faithful to Freud to the extent that for him all issues were centered in the body, and seen most clearly in our difficulties with healthy sexuality. But you can read that as a parable, that just happens to be Reich's way of expressing the issues, once you see through that, he identifies perfectly how and why, as long as we deny who we are in truth, we are absolutely committed to the continuing murder of Christ. To see through the whole thing, all you have to do is to grasp that the point is not re-becoming sexually liberated bodies, which was Reich's way of understanding our true creativity, but to re-become spirit, which really is the only place of our creative identity, when we re-identify with what we truly are as the Son of God. All the power in Heaven and earth was indeed given to us, for we have the option to choose against the ego.

On the stage of history the re-discovery of the Thomas gospel, and the ensuing renewed focus on the deeper meaning of Jesus's teachings, is certainly one way of closing the gap over 2,000 years of obfuscation of his teachings, which in a way was only empty space, once you see how silly it really was.

Anything Rather Than The Love Of God

They said to him, "Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you."

He said to them, "You examine the face of Heaven and earth, but you have not come to know the one who is in your presence, and you do not know how to examine the present moment."
(PGoTh, Logion 91)

In Lesson 196 we find the following: The thing you dread the most is your salvation. (ACIM:W-196.9:4) The central theme here is that Jesus teaches us in this saying as well as throughout the Course that our problem is that we are slamming the door in his face, or to put it more formally, we keep choosing the separation now.

To paraphrase it in a different way, he is present to us, always, but we prevent ourselves from seeing him while we keep seeking in the world outside, and in the past, for the explanation of who he is, instead of accepting his presence. Thus the ego's motto in slightly different words is: "Anything rather than the Love of God." The Course may not use quite those words anywhere, but the theme plays throughout, as in here:

It is reasonable to ask how the mind could ever have made the ego. In fact, it is the best question you could ask. There is, however, no point in giving an answer in terms of the past because the past does not matter, and history would not exist if the same errors were not being repeated in the present. (ACIM:T-4.II.1:1-3)

And again this is also the essence of what has been misinterpreted in Christianity as the Eucharist--he is sharing his mind with us, and is present to us whenever we remember him, that is the power of the resurrection. The power of the Course as a path lies in the fact that all of this points towards our responsibility for a behavior in the mind which we can stop. Jesus is outside the door, and it is up to us to stop slamming the door in his face, as he will be glad to come into our mind at our invitation. The ego's problem is we keep looking for him as a body, i.e. outside, and that sets us up for defeat, which played itself out in early Christian history as the constant adjustments about the prediction of the Second Coming, which then became enshrined in various apocalyptic theologies over time. Meanwhile, we safely keep him outside the door, by denying his reality, and through our addiction to conflict we keep him far away from us.

Thus, we indeed do not know how to examine the present, for we are sound asleep in the ego's dreams, unable to be awake to his presence--think also of the apostles asleep in the garden. And here is where the Course is so practical and helpful, for it helps us to learn to see the silliness of our resistance, and how we're causing our own pain. And the practice of forgiveness helps us to let go of the defenses that are designed to keep us in misery.