
Way of the Hermit
Way of the Hermit discusses the Western Esoteric Tradition of Freemasonry, mysticism, Hermetic lore and more. E-mail: info@wayofthehermit.com.
Way of the Hermit
S2E10: The Gospel of Thomas - Part 1
In this episode of the Way of the Hermit Podcast, David and Gene begin their exploration of the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of 114 enigmatic sayings attributed to the “Living Jesus,” that, like the other Gnostic texts discovered in the cache at Nag Hammadi, Egypt - challenges conventional religious notions.
Unlike the cosmological narrative of the Secret Gospel of John, the teachings in the Gospel of Thomas are distilled into koan-like paradoxes and parables, designed to provoke self-realization. Labeled heretical by early church fathers, this primary text of the “Thomasine Tradition,” rejects dogma in favor of direct spiritual revelation, urging initiates to meditate on its riddles to awaken their divine nature, so as to “not taste death.”
This episode discusses the first 23 sayings. Here are highlights from the sections:
- Sayings 1–3: immortality comes by transcending physicality and materiality through self-knowledge and identification with consciousness, while the path to sovereignty (“becoming king over the All”) demands confronting disturbing truths.
- Sayings 4–7: delve into Jungian shadow work, where innocence must be reclaimed consciously, and spiritual mastery requires “eating the lion” (integrating instinctual forces symbolized by the Demiurge).
- Sayings 8–11: contrast transient heavens with eternal unity, using metaphors like the fisherman’s “large fish” (ultimate truth) and the disruptive “fire” that the teachings help kindle, to dismantle outdated paradigms.
- A pivotal moment arises in Saying 13, where Thomas receives three secret words - keys to spiritual, soul, and material realms - after recognizing Jesus’s ineffable nature, also highlighting Peter’s and Matthew’s limited interpretations of Jesus as merely a prophet or a philosopher.
- Later sayings (14–23): critique performative piety, urging alignment with the “unborn” (bornless) divine essence within. These sayings include Kabbalistic references, and also refer to the alchemical unification of male/female polarities.
The episode culminates in Saying 23’s stark reminder that few attain full unity with the divine - a “spiritual alchemy” reserved for those willing to dissolve egoic barriers, to die to who they thought they were, in order to become a “Twin of Jesus,” a spiritual master.
David and Gene contextualize Thomas’ role as the archetypal Gnostic doubter, whose insistence on firsthand gnosis mirrors the text’s radical claim: that we are all potential “twins” of Christ, tasked with resurrecting the reflection of the divine, in our mind, heart and hands.
Deep Dive:
Chapters:
- 01:15 Introduction
- 02:45 History and Significance
- 05:10 The Gospel of Thomas
- 06:36 Sayings 1-3
- 09:24 Sayings 4-7
- 12:02 Sayings 8-11
- 15:43 Sayings 12-13
- 19:14 Sayings 14-16
- 22:59 Sayings 17-19
- 25:27 Sayings 20-23
- 30:15 Conclusions
Resources:
- The Gospel of Thomas (history and various translations - Gnosis.org)
- Gospel of Thomas (Patterson and Robinson translation)
- Gnosis.org - The Gnosis Archive
- The Nag Hammadi Scriptures
- The Red Book: A Reader's Edition by Carl Jung
- Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians by Freke and Gandy
01:15 Introduction
Gene: Hello Dave.
David: Hello Gene. You ready to start something new?
Gene: Yes, I’m looking forward to it.
David: Me, too. But, before we get started, as always, I want to remind everyone that Show Notes, Chapter Markers, and Transcripts for all of our episode are available on our website - WayOfTheHermit.com. In our last episode, we finished up our four-part discussion of the Secret Gospel of John. And, in this episode, we begin our discussion of the Gospel of Thomas.
Gene: Which is very different. The Secret Gospel of John was a huge cosmological drama, with a whole cast of characters like Barbelo, Sophia, the Demiurge, the Archons, Adam and Eve, and a host of angels and demons.
David: And it ends with Adam being awakened from death-like sleep by the Perfect Pronoia, when the divine image is brought to life inside him, and he begins to hear its voice.
Gene: That was the transmission of Gnosis, which was likened to being raised from the dead.
David: Right, the knowledge of the true self, soul united again with psyche, the “Sacred Marriage.” Anyway, the Gospel of Thomas is not a big cosmic drama, it’s not in the form of a story even. It’s a collection of 114 sayings. Some of which are familiar from the Bible, some are little strange, and some are downright weird.
Gene: Many of them are paradoxes, like Zen Koans. They’re supposed to sort of short-circuit your normal way of processing things, to make way for a new point of view.
02:45 History and Significance
David: Right. So, the Gospel of Thomas is probably one of the best known of the non-canonical gospels, the one’s not included in the Bible.
Gene: Which makes you think about why certain texts, like this one, weren’t included.
David: Yeah, it was referred to mostly in derogatory terms, by the early church fathers. It’s teachings were labeled as heretical, because, as we’ll see, it’s about personal revelation. The only complete copy of the Gospel of Thomas, is from the find at Nag Hammadi, Egypt that we talked about in an earlier episode, and it’s written in Coptic.
Gene: But there are also three fragments of it, written in Greek, which are actually considered to have been written earlier, like in the 3rd century, with the Coptic version dated around 340AD.
David: It’s the main text of what’s called the “Thomasine Tradition,” associated with the teachings attributed to the apostle Thomas. And I think that the way this text was used, was as seeds for meditation. Like you would take one of the sayings and then meditate on it, and let it unfold its meaning to you, over time. They’re meant for teaching initiates.
Gene: Yeah, they do have layers of meaning. My first reading was just all of it, in one sitting. It’s not long, but you aren’t likely to make much sense of it that way. I’ve since made a couple more passes, taking in just a saying or two at a time, and really thinking about it. You have to take each one and meditate on it, to give it time to sink in.
David: You do, and so, we encourage everyone to make your own study of the text. I’ve included a link to the version that we’re using in the “Show Notes.” And what we’re going to do is look at each of the sayings, and make a few comments on it, but more like pointing toward the esoteric meaning, that we see. We’re not trying trying to fully define it.
Gene: Which we can’t do that anyway. You have to make it come alive for yourself, otherwise, it’s just words.
David: That’s true. So, we’re going to go through the first 23 sayings today, and then we’ll see how it goes in other episodes. But at that rate, it will take about fivewAq- episodes to cover the whole text of the Gospel of Thomas. So, are you ready to start, Gene?
Gene: Let’s do it.
05:10 The Gospel of Thomas
David: Alright. The Gospel of Thomas begins with the line - “These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.”
Gene: The word Didymos is the Greek word for “twin,” and Thomas means “twin” in Aramaic.
David: Yeah, the designation of twin is significant because the text later talks about becoming a twin, or reflection of Jesus, the divine pattern - which is a common motif in many of the Gnostic texts.
Gene: There’s even a tradition of Judas being the twin of Jesus, which reminds me of how the Archons took on the likeness of the Divine Spirit in the Secret Gospel of John.
David: And the term “living Jesus,” means the words are not supposed to be taken as something said once long ago, but are being said in the present, to the listener.
Gene: Most of the sayings start with “Jesus says,” like he’s saying it right now. And I’d also point out that the saying are being put in the mouth of Jesus because it’s the Christian Gnostic tradition. If it was Buddhist, it would be “Buddha said,” or in Confucianism, Confucius. It’s the teachings attributed to, but often not the actual sayings of, a specific person.
David: Right. They’re supposed to be a reflection of the words that the voice that you’re trying to awaken inside yourself would say, if you could hear it. Do you want to start us off with the first saying?
06:36 Sayings 1-3
Gene: Sure. The first saying is - “Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death.”
David: So, it’s saying that there is a hidden, or esoteric meaning in the text, and that finding this meaning leads to immortality.
Gene: We talked in the last episode about how people are considered “walking dead,” until they achieve Gnosis and are, “raised from the dead.”
David: That new state of consciousness, is one in which you don’t identify with the body, but with the eternal spirit, that wasn’t born and doesn’t die.
Gene: So, from this perspective, which is the one taken in the text, you don’t “taste death.”
David: Right. Saying 2 is “Jesus says: "The one who seeks should not cease seeking until he finds. And when he finds, he will be dismayed. And when he is dismayed, he will be astonished. And he will be king over the All.”
Gene: So, the stages are seeking, finding, being dismayed or disturbed, astonishment and finally, becoming a king or a queen. Some translations say you can rest after that.
David: Yeah, but this one doesn’t. So, you just seek the truth about your self - self knowledge, but at every step, it gets more disturbing because it upsets your notions about yourself and the world. But, it does reveal a bigger mystery, that is astonishing, and finally, it shows how you can reign over your microcosm, your little kingdom, of your self.
Gene: It’s Jung’s confrontation with the shadow and individuation. And it reminds me of a quote from Rumi - “*Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”* It’s a personal journey.
David: It is. Saying 3 says - "If those who lead you say to you: ‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky!’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you: ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fishes will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty."
Gene: We are a reflection of the pattern that is reflected in, and passed on through, us. So it’s both inside and outside, above and below.
David: It's again talking from the perspective of identification with the One, and from that perspective you don't lack anything, you're one with it all. But, from outside that perspective, you don't actually own anything, because it's ultimately transient. As they say, "You can't take it with you." Do you want to do the next one?
09:24 Sayings 4-7
Gene: Right. OK. Saying number 4 starts off weird. It says, "The person old in his days will not hesitate to ask a child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become a single one.." The last part about becoming a “single one,” is about re-uniting with the part that was lost - again, individuation.
David: Yeah. The “person old in days,” is a person with experience of the world, in contrast to the 7-day old child, who is totally innocent, without any experience. So, the child represents a time when the psyche is still one with its soul. It’s the state we’re supposed to return to, but consciously, taking with us our experience, but having been transformed through Gnosis. Are you ready to move on?
Gene: Sure. Saying 5 - “ Jesus says: Come to know what is in front of you, and that which is hidden from you will become clear to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not become manifest."
David: And Saying 6 is very close to that, so we'll do both together. It says - “His disciples questioned him, (and) they said to him: Do you want us to fast? And how should we pray and give alms? And what diet should we observe?" Jesus says: "Do not lie. And do not do what you hate. For everything is disclosed in view of the truth. For there is nothing hidden that will not become revealed. And there is nothing covered that will remain undisclosed.”
Gene: So, his answer is just “don’t do what you hate” because, it all comes out in the wash. Meaning, that if you are digging deep inside yourself, and you find things you hate about yourself, you will become “disturbed,” like we talked about earlier, uncovering shadow material.
David: And that’s part of the process, uncovering those conflicts. In number 7, “Jesus says: Blessed is the lion that a person will eat and the lion will become human. And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion will become human."
Gene: Sometimes you eat the bar’ and sometimes, well, the bar’… he eats you!”
David: Well, that’s maybe the Dudist way of referring to whether the human, the self, aligns more with the Demiurge, the Lion-faced Serpent, or with the Divine Spirit, the true self. We talked about this as the “fate of souls,” in the last episode.
Gene: Right. Ready for the next one?
12:02 Sayings 8-11
David: Yes. Number 8 says, “The human being is like a sensible fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea filled with little fish. Among them the sensible fisherman found a large, fine fish. He threw all the little fish back into the sea, and he chose the large fish effortlessly. Whoever has ears to hear should hear."
Gene: Are you fishing for Moby Dick, or just small fries? It goes back to what you’re seeking. What you see on the surface is the tip of the iceberg, and you’re not supposed to get caught up in the little things, the distractions, or fragments, but keep pursuing the ultimate goal, the big fish.
David: Right, it’s the same as the parable of the “Pearl of Great Price,” to pursue the “pure light,” where the knower and known are one. And to pursue that, is what the “sensible fisherman,” does - the one that’s thinking straight. Number 9 is the parable of the “Sower and the Seed,” which we’ve talked about quite a bit. Do you want to say anything else about it Gene?
Gene: No, but I do want to talk about number 10, where “Jesus says: I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes."
David: That’s like Luke 12:49 in the Bible. What did you want to say about it?
Gene: It describes a fire that has to be tended, and then it burns up the world - meaning it cleanses it by destroying it, so that you can see it transformed and new, again - like a child.
David: Which, once again, is disturbing - to have the world you've known, destroyed.
Gene: And, it’s like you might think, if it makes me feel bad, then I need to quit, because we can’t ever feel bad, right?
David: That is something that people overlook, or purposely ignore. But, if you’re really digging deeply inside yourself, it’s often, not pleasant, but you’re supposed to keep going.
Gene: As the second saying points out.
David: Right. It’s a process, with the goal being to integrate the darkness you encounter, and come back stronger and with more self-knowledge.
Gene: With more light, more aware of your own self.
David: Exactly. Saying 11 is long and strange. It says - "This heaven will pass away, and the (heaven) above it will pass away. And the dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive. When you are in the light, what will you do. On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?”
Gene: That’s a lot to unpack.
David: It is. It even sounds disjointed, but like many of these sayings, you have to connect the dots. It’s talking about the three worlds - material, soul, and psyche or spirit. It says that they’re all transient and will pass away, but it’s wrong to think that they are born or die, or that we do.
Gene: As we’ve said, that’s from the perspective of the spirit, from unity. But why does it say that even it passes away?
David: The upper heaven? Because how would you know? If you’re one with everything, there’s nothing to perceive and no perception. Like we said before, your whole world is destroyed, or at least your conception of it.
Gene: Ah, ok.
David: And that last part about when you were one, you became two… now what will you do? That’s almost a joke, because by asking the question, you cause that split. You have to separate yourself in order to analyze anything. So now, what will you do?
15:43 Sayings 12-13
Gene: Yeah. That makes sense. Saying 12 is another strange one. It says - “The disciples said to Jesus: "We know that you will depart from us. Who (then) will rule over us?” Jesus said to them: "No matter where you came from, you should go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."
David: James, is often referred to as the brother of Jesus, and in some Gnostic texts, he’s portrayed as the spiritual heir to Jesus.
Gene: So, a rival to Paul and Peter, and the church that they ended up representing.
David: That’s likely. And the weird statement “for whose sake heaven and earth came into being,” could mean, that James was the spiritual heir, and James had the organization, and/or material resources to build a church around. But, it didn’t work out that way.
Gene: No, it didn’t.
David: The next one, saying 13 is really long, but I’ll just read it. “ Jesus said to his disciples: "Compare me, and tell me whom I am like. Simon Peter said to him: "You are like a just messenger." Matthew said to him: "You are like an (especially) wise philosopher." Thomas said to him: "Teacher, my mouth will not bear at all to say whom you are like." Jesus said: "I am not your teacher. For you have drunk, you have become intoxicated at the bubbling spring that I have measured out." And he took him, (and) withdrew, (and) he said three words to him. But when Thomas came back to his companions, they asked him: “What did Jesus say to you?" Thomas said to them: "If I tell you one of the words he said to me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me, and fire will come out of the stones (and) burn you up."
Gene: It’s interesting that Peter sees him as a messenger, another Prophet of the Lord, in the Jewish Tradition. And Matthew sees him as a wise philosopher, like in the Greek Tradition. But Thomas sees him as something more than that.
David: He’s been intoxicated by Gnostic initiatory tradition. Meaning, he’s been prepared to understand the words that are communicated to him, and the others have not. Thomas thinks they would consider them either heretical or crazy, and might even try to kill him.
Gene: “Pearls before swine.”
David: Yeah, same thing. As we’ve said, some of the what you find out is disturbing, and it can easily be misinterpreted.
Gene: I thought it was interesting that there were three words communicated… like three “lost words,” or names?
David: Right. It’s the keys to the three worlds. The three secrets of the three degrees of Gnostic initiation. Jesus is handing Thomas, not Peter, the “keys to the kingdom.”
Gene: What do you thing those keys are?
David: In the Spiritual World, the Pleroma, it’s the Monad, god - the ultimate unity of all being. In the second world, referred to as Heaven, the soul level, it’s Sophia, who has two aspects, a heavenly one, and a fallen one, which are reflected in the Bible stories of the two Mary’s. And, the truth of the soul is about the illusory nature of our separate selfhood. And Jesus is the symbol of the material level, because he represents the unity within multiplicity, the secret being the immediate presence of the divine in all things.
Gene: Well, once you spell it out like that!
David: I mean, that’s my take. And, take it with a grain of salt. But, you know, easier said than done, right?
19:14 Sayings 14-16
Gene: True that. It’s one thing to hear it, another to try to put those things into practice. Saying 14 relates to that idea, it says - “Jesus said to them: ‘If you fast, you will bring forth sin for yourselves. And if you pray, you will be condemned. And if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. And if you go into any land and wander from place to place, (and) if they take you in, (then) eat what they will set before you. Heal the sick among them! For what goes into your mouth will not defile you. Rather, what comes out of your mouth will defile you."
David: For that one, I would just say - don’t do things for how they look. Just do good works. Don’t make a fuss.
Gene: Don’t try and puff yourself up and be “holier than thou.” Just hold to your principles and speak the truth.
David: Yeah. I like the next one, saying 15. It says - “When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your face (and) worship him. That one is your Father."
Gene: That makes me think of Melchizedek, the priest of Salem and of the “Most High God,” who gave Abraham communion in the Old Testament.
David: And Paul later refers to Jesus, and the ones that live his teachings as “Priests after the Order of Melchizedek.” But, “not born of woman,” means not physical - a mental conception, which as we’ve said, is the personal conception of the “divine pattern.” And it says “when you see” that, which again, not with your physical eyes, your inner sight, you’ll know that it’s your father.
Gene: If you “have eyes to see it,” - meaning to recognize the truth of our own divine nature, our spiritual lineage. With Melchizedek representing that part that acts as priest or intermediary, of that realization.
David: And it’s saying that this divine conception, or immaculate conception, is your spiritual father - meaning the pattern that unfolded into you. The creator of your world, or your conception of the world. Do you want to do the next one?
Gene: Sure. Saying 16 - “Jesus said: "Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the earth. But they do not know that I have come to cast dissension upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there will be five in one house: there will be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father. And they will stand as solitary ones."
David: I mean, the exoteric interpretation of that is just how the teachings divide people, but the esoteric interpretation of “house,” is your house, your mind. And the five, relates to the five powers of the mind, that we talked about in the “Secret Gospel of John,” as the five powers of Barbelo. And the three against two and two against three, are the material and spiritual aspects of the mind, the two aspects of Sophia, the apparent duality.
Gene: And also the engine of consciousness, the circulation or stream of consciousness. Perception turns into thoughts and thoughts get grounded into actions.
David: Right. But it’s only resolved when the Son becomes a Monad, too. The self, reconnected to the divine source. When you’ve found Unity, the Father, again, but in multiplicity. It’s what I talked about earlier, about the third word revealed to Thomas, which is symbolized by Jesus, and what he represents - unity in multiplicity.
Gene: That’s good. Next one?
David: Yes.
22:59 Sayings 17-19
Gene: Saying 17 is “Jesus says: I will give you what no eye has seen, and what no ear has heard, and what no hand has touched, and what has not occurred to the human mind."
David: Beyond sight, sound, touch or even thought.
Gene: Gnosis. It’s outside of what your mind can conceive of, because it transcends it.
David: Exactly. Number 18 says - “The disciples said to Jesus: "Tell us how our end will be. Jesus said: "Have you already discovered the beginning that you are now asking about the end? For where the beginning is, there the end will be too. Blessed is he who will stand at the beginning. And he will know the end, and he will not taste death."
Gene: It’s the Kabbalistic saying that “the end is embedded in the beginning and the beginning in the end.” Which came first the chicken or the egg?
David: Right. There’s a mystery at the beginning of things that is very obvious for anyone who cares to look. He’s saying, you haven’t figured that out, how you came to be, your mind, your soul and psyche.
Gene: But, they’re worried about dying. About their individual existence ending.
David: And he’s saying that they’re looking at it wrong. The teaching is that from the perspective of spirit, your aren’t born and you don’t die. You’re part of something much bigger and more mysterious than our limited perspective allows us to see.
Gene: It makes me think back to the process that says you seek, then you find, then you are disturbed, but then you’re amazed.
David: Right. In Saying 19 - “Jesus says: "Blessed is he who was, before he came into being. If you become disciples of mine (and) listen to my words, these stones will serve you. For you have five trees in Paradise that do not change during summer (and) winter, and their leaves do not fall. Whoever comes to know them will not taste death."
Gene: The first part of that is talking about God, or the ultimate reality, as past, present and future - outside of time.
David: Again, bornless. And the five trees in Paradise, are again the five powers of the mind attributed to Barbelo, and if you come to know them, meaning how your mind really works, you won’t “taste death,” which as we’ve said, means you’re not identifying with those parts, you’re now observing them. The knower, becoming the known.
25:27 Sayings 20-23
Gene: Yeah, that’s good. The next one, Saying 20, is the parable of the mustard seed, that appears in the Bible. The disciples ask Jesus: "Tell us whom the kingdom of heaven is like. He said to them: "It is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on cultivated soil, it produces a large branch (and) becomes shelter for the birds of the sky."
David: Heaven is the second world, the world of the soul, where we make choices, our mind. It’s compared to a small seed, because it’s not physical, it has no size - it’s consciousness. And when it falls onto fertile soil, some organism that can express it, then it branches out and becomes a habitat for creatures of the air, thoughts, mental conceptions.
Gene: That’s a good exegesis of that one. Do you want to read the next one? It’s really long.
David: Yeah, I’ll read it, but let’s break it into three parts. It begins with Mary asking Jesus - “ Whom are your disciples like? He said: "They are like servants who are entrusted with a field that is not theirs. When the owners of the field arrive, they will say: ‘Let us have our field.’ (But) they are naked in their presence so as to let them have it (and thus) to give them their field.”
Gene: So, his disciples work in the field, sowing and reaping. But they, and we, don’t own anything in this world really. In a sense, it’s all borrowed… even your body.
David: That’s good. The next part says - “That is why I say: ‘When the master of the house learns that the thief is about to come, he will be on guard before he comes (and) will not let him break into his house, his domain, to carry away his possessions.’ (But) you, be on guard against the world! Gird your loins with great strength, so that the robbers will not find a way to get to you.”
Gene: That’s about protecting the things you hold sacred, or precious, from the world, and even from your own lower impulses.
David: And the last part ties it all together - “For the necessities for which you wait (with longing) will be found. There ought to be a wise person among you! When the fruit was ripe, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand, (and) he harvested it. Whoever has ears to hear should hear."
Gene: So, we are like spiritual workers in the field, watching over our crops, and are told to be ready to harvest the fruits of our labor, before they are stolen by the thief.
David: Meaning that their spiritual value is taken out of them.
Gene: Right.
David: OK. Saying 22 - “Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples: "These little ones being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom." They said to him: "Then will we enter the kingdom as little ones?" Jesus said to them: "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below – that is, to make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female will not be female – and when you make eyes instead of an eye and a hand instead of a hand and a foot instead of a foot, an image instead of an image, then you will enter the kingdom."
Gene: Wowsers! Wow! That’s like the whole “Secret Gospel of John,” in a paragraph. Making “the two into one” and the “male and female” into a single one is referring to the re-unification of the self, what’s called the “Sacred Marriage.”
David: And the part about “an eye instead of an eye” and “a hand instead of a hand,” we talked about the spiritual reflections of all the body parts in the Secret Gospel of John. It’s referring to those spiritual reflections here. To see them as objects of conscious observation.
Gene: Inner eyes and ears, for those with “ears to hear” and “eyes to see.”
David: Yes, the spiritual counterparts that perceive the objects of consciousness. Do you want to do the last one?
Gene: Sure. Saying 23 - “Jesus says: "I will choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand. And they will stand as a single one."
David: That’s talking about the three Gnostic initiations and making the point of how rare it is to finish the process. One in a thousand awaken to a higher purpose. It’s even rarer for the awakened soul to make contact with their higher self, that’s the two. And the final step is for those two to become one with the divine source, the Monad, to become a "single one.
Gene: And that’s the “Alchemical Opus” - union with the divine.
30:15 Conclusions
David: Yes. So, that concludes the first part of our discussion. I do want to mention that I’ve created a deep dive page that discusses more about the Gospel of Thomas and I’ve linked it, and other resources, like the translation we’re using, in the Show Notes. So Gene, what are your final thoughts?
Gene: I’ve been thinking about how Thomas is portrayed in the Bible as a doubter. He has to actually touch the living Jesus, before he will believe. He has to have first-hand knowledge, or Gnosis, himself.
David: Right. What are you thinking about that?
Gene: That Thomas is the archetypal Gnostic. In the 13th saying, Peter sees Jesus as a prophet, and Matthew sees him as a Philosopher, but Thomas sees him as something more, something beyond words and normal conceptions, someone who can impart Gnosis, who can make you like him.
David: Which brings up the most interesting thing to me this time, the concept of becoming the “twin of Jesus.”
Gene: Which is considered blasphemy from an orthodox view.
David: Yeah, that orthodox view is that you’re supposed to keep that image at arm’s length. You’re not meant to identify with it. But, in the Gnostic system, the goal is to bring that image of perfection to life, to reflect it inside your mind, to become "Jesus' Twin." Do you have anything else?
Gene: No, I’m good.
David: Alright.
Gene: In our next episode, we continue our discussion of the Gospel of Thomas. As we walk, the Way of the Hermit.