Poverty and Riches
In this world we are all whores. We have no choice in the matter; all of us are created to be whoring slaves of our Fallen pimp masters. From the beginning we were created to be agents of the Fallen on earth (first as labourers, then as priests, then as prophets, and finally as human kings) to help cultivate, care for, and conquer the earth on behalf of our Fallen masters. In our absolute ignorance we came to call our Fallen masters “God”. However, the Fallen are not the ONE true God, but impostors and usurpers.
The act of whoring by us humans is to work on and with the “earthly client” arranged for us by the Fallen so that everything we do on this earth creates fortune, fame, praise and worship for our Fallen pimp masters. Our Fallen pimps provide us with the substance we are addicted to (money) to keep us dependent on them and working for them – trapping our souls in this material world – so that we return again and again to serve the pimps. We are nothing but expendable gears keeping the Fallen machine running so the Fallen themselves don’t do the dirty work.
Despite this endless living drudgery of accumulating and hoarding material wealth (which many of us enjoy and actively pursue) there is hope for those of us who recognise the world for the farcical podium it is.
The alternative to material wealth is spiritual wealth. In the spiritual world, poverty and riches have nothing to do with material wealth. Spiritually, our poverty or wealth is dependent on us being conscious of our soul as a spiritual element emanating from and integrated with the ONE true God.
To begin to understand spiritual wealth and our true purpose we must first “know ourselves”.
In the extra-biblical ancient text known as the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus Christ tells us: “When you know yourselves, then you will be known (by yourselves and the ONE), and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you will dwell in poverty, and you are poverty… Know what is in front of your face (your body, the soul in it, and the spirit in the soul), and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed”.
What does it mean to know ourselves?
Further clues to this can be found in the extra-biblical ancient text called the Secret Book of James, where Jesus Christ tells us: “He (the ONE) knows about desire and what the flesh (body) needs. Doesn’t it desire the soul? The body does not sin apart from the soul just as the soul is not saved apart from the spirit (of the ONE). But if the soul is saved from evil and the spirit too is saved, the body becomes sinless. The spirit animates the soul but the body kills it (the spirit). The soul kills itself. I tell you the truth, he (the ONE) certainly will not forgive the sin of the soul or the guilt of the flesh, for none of those who have worn the flesh will be saved. Do you think that many have found heaven’s kingdom? Blessed is one who has seen oneself as a fourth one in heaven”.
The extracts above tell us that our human journey occurs on a path that offers body, soul, spirit, and ultimate unity with the ONE. But that journey is not a foregone conclusion; while the path offers these milestones, whether we get to the end of the path or not depends on the choices we make. The choices follow this sequence: 1) know that the body is a material object given to us by the Fallen to serve as a prison for the soul on earth, 2) become conscious of the soul in our body as the animating “life force” breathed into our body by the Fallen, 3) become conscious of the spirit (of the ONE) which resides in the “unconscious realms” of the soul as the animating “enlightening force” of the soul, 4) become conscious of the enlightenment within us (body, soul, and spirit) as the “unifying force” that enables us to integrate with the ONE and become one with the ONE. This is what Jesus refers to when he says “blessed is one who has seen oneself as a fourth one in heaven”. To know one’s self and to eventually see one as the fourth stage: as the spiritually enlightened soul fully integrated with the ONE, is to be truly blessed.
To corroborate this, there is a section from the very important extra-biblical Book of Thomas (separate from the Gospel of Thomas) where, talking to Thomas, Jesus says: “…examine yourself and understand who you are, how you exist, and how you will come to be…though you do lack understanding, already you have obtained knowledge and you will be called one who knows himself. For those who have not known themselves have known nothing, but those who have known themselves already have acquired knowledge about the depth of the All”.
In a later section in the Book of Thomas, Jesus also says: “Woe to you who hope in the flesh and in the prison (the body) that will perish. How long will you sleep (live unconsciously) and think that what is imperishable will also perish? Your hope is based upon the world, and your god is this present life. You are destroying your souls. Woe to you with the fire that burns within you. It is insatiable. Woe to you because of the wheel that turns in your minds. Woe to you because of the smouldering within you. It will devour your flesh visibly, tear your souls secretly, and prepare you for each other…Darkness has risen in you like the light, for you have surrendered your freedom to slavery. You have darkened your hearts and surrendered your minds to foolishness…You love the garment (the body) you wear, although it is filthy, and you have been gripped by non-existent hope. You have believed in what you do not know. You all live in bondage but pride yourselves in your freedom. You have baptised your souls in the water of darkness. You have pursued your own wishes”.
Once we know ourselves, how do we live in that knowledge and continue to function in the earthly realm in a way that will preserve that knowledge and save us from the darkness of the Fallen?
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus tells us: “If you do not fast from the world, you will not find the kingdom…I took my stand in the midst of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them. I found them all drunk, and I did not find any of them thirsty. My soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their hearts and do not see, for they came into the world empty, and they also seek to depart from the world empty. But now they are drunk. When they shake off their wine, then they will repent…If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a marvel, but if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels. Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has come to dwell in this great poverty”.
Later in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says: “Whoever blasphemes against the Father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the Son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Spirit (of the ONE) will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven”.
The preceding quote is most important because it tells us that if we, through the material earthly body we are in, “blaspheme” against the Spirit (which offers us enlightenment and unity with the ONE) – that is, we constantly use our body to think, feel, and act in evil ways – we will drive ourselves deeper into the darkness of the Fallen and we will never find redemption.
Later yet in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says: “A person cannot mount two horses or bend two bows. A servant cannot serve two masters, or that servant will honour the one and offend the other”.
To transcend this world of the Fallen and to come to see ourselves as “the fourth one in heaven” we must use our abilities to perform the will of the ONE true God. We must serve one master (the ONE) and think, feel, and act in ways that are only good. This instruction from Jesus is captured in a parable in the Gospel of Matthew (25: 14-30). In the same Gospel (Matthew 6: 19-21), Jesus tells us: “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”.
But what exactly are the thoughts, feelings and actions we should live by? What is the will of the ONE we should do on earth? Once again, Jesus tells us quite plainly what this is: “love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another” (John 13:34), and “love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12), and again “love one another” (John 15:17).
And if the above is not clear enough; if readers do not understand what is involved in loving their fellow humans, there is a section in the extra-biblical ancient text known as the Gospel of Truth that tells us some of the things we can think, feel and act on: “Steady the feet of those who stumble and extend your hands to the sick. Feed the hungry and give rest to the weary. Awaken those who wish to arise and rouse those who sleep…Focus your attention upon yourselves…Do not be a place for the devil…treat the lawless one (the devil and his Fallen race) more harshly than the just one…Do the Father’s will...”.
The above section can be taken literally, as in help the frail, the sick, the hungry and needy and those who are stressed and tired (mentally and physically). This is a good start, but it’s also still too embedded in the ways of the material world. Read the above section in a spiritual way: help those who stumble (while trying to live the will of the ONE); help those who are sick (infected with the ways of the Fallen); help those who are hungry and thirsty (for the spiritual bread and water that Jesus offers us – see the Gospel of John to understand); give rest to the weary (who are spiritually worn down by the ways of this Fallen world); rouse those who sleep (as they live unconsciously in the ways of the Fallen) and awaken those who wish to arise (in the spiritual light of the ONE). Focus your attention on knowing yourself – come to see yourself as “a fourth one in heaven”, and try to see others in this light. Once you see others as souls with capacity for spiritual enlightenment, love those souls as you love your soul – this will enable the unification of souls with the ONE.
Our mission is not to convert others – that’s their choice; our mission is to live by example, and share the living example with others so they can choose to follow it if they wish.
In closing: we live in this world – we have no choice as we were born into it. But we do not have to live like whores, selling our talents and souls for the benefit of the Fallen, and striving to be like the Fallen (rewarded with excessive ego-validating material fortune and fame). We can transcend the ways of this world. Yes, we have to “play by the rules” and make money in order to transact in this world, but we do not have to let money (and the Fallen) be our master and drive the burning narcissistic desires of our bodies and minds. We can use money to buy things that educate and empower us in the ways of the light; we can use money to establish organisations that can help the “frail, sick, needy, hungry, thirsty, weary, sleeping, and the waking”. We can be instruments of the ONE while we live in this world.
Image: Meteora, Thessaly, Central Greece. Copyright - Michael Beaton
NOTE: I chose a photo I took of Meteora to show one of the monasteries (top right corner of the photo) sitting atop a sandstone cliff rising from a valley in the Pindos mountains (which can be seen in the background of the photo). The photo illustrates our efforts to "fast" from the world, and transcend the world of the Fallen (which lies in the valley below, way down at the bottom of the cliffs). Meteora is a most intriguing place with a very peaceful energy and spiritual aura about it.
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