I subscribe to a few newsletters that arrive at various times throughout the month, showering my inbox with life~enhancing wisdom. In the past week, I've received two and, as is often the case, they work well together.
The first is from theologian Meggan Watterson, in which she explores several passages from the Gospel of Thomas, one of the Christian texts unearthed near Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. Both Greek and Coptic fragments of this Gospel were found, supporting the likelihood that it was widely read during the earliest days of Christianity, before all but the canonical gospels were condemned by the Church.
The Gospel begins with this statement: "These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke." About two~thirds of these are similar to the quotes found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Others, however, are quite different.
In Thomas, Jesus speaks of non~duality and describes himself as "the one who comes from what is undivided." For Watterson, this means "the one who is anchored in a love that never ends," despite the flux, divisions and divisiveness of our human world. Jesus urges us to the same standard. "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner...and when you make male and female into a single one, then you will enter the kingdom of heaven."
This rather cryptic message mirrors Eastern spiritual traditions that seek the still point at the center of it all and encourage us to perceive with the eyes of the heart the unity that lies beneath all external differences. In Thomas, the kingdom of heaven is identified not as something out there, a separate place we can hope to enter only upon physical death.
"What you look forward to has already come," Jesus says, "but you do not recognize it." According to Watterson, this is because "we walk around every day with heaven already right here, within." Heaven, Jesus tells us, is a light within us, here and now and right in the muck and the glory of a human life. "There is light within a person of light," Jesus says, "and it lights up the whole world." He calls us to live from that light by remembering and acting from the eternal while dwelling in the world as it is.
No easy task then. No easy task now. And still it is our task. We are, Watterson says, "these mortal, vulnerable, fleeting human beings that constantly fail and fall down and make tremendous mistakes, all while containing an infinite fire, an immutable, inviolable soul... a love that never ends, and never fails."
Jesus instructs "If they say to you, 'Where have you come from?' say to them, 'We have come from the light.' "
Enter the second newsletter from a much different source. Astrologer Kirsty Gallagher focuses on the energies of Leo, the astrological sign the Sun entered late last month, one that is all about shining out from one's soul.
"I know," she writes, "that right now the world may feel wild, chaotic, erratic, scary and unsettling to the human us." She encourages us, though, "not to add to the scarcity, lack and fear and instead connect to...(and) operate from the level of our soul." What this looks like will vary among us, as we are each a unique expression of Source energy. Yet she urges us "to expand and be brave and bold and follow where your soul is calling you to go...the world needs your light more than ever right now."
Back to Thomas. "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.”
Similar messages from the Jesus of two thousand years ago, a theologian with degrees in theology and divinity from Harvard and Columbia respectively, and an astrologer and yoga teacher from the UK:
Remember the Light. Connect with the Light. Express the Light in your own unique way within your very human life. In just this way, we each do our part in lighting up the world.
Light and Love ever flowing,
Leia
