True Salvation - 2
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Dignity - Continued
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
7/7/2013
Act 2:
Beyond The Nest: Flying!
LIKE A BIRD IN THE HEAVENS - Continued
Refrain:
Like a bird in the heavens,
I am free to be.
Like a bird in the heavens,
I can fly to thee.
Like a bird in the heavens,
I’m in love, you see;
for love is just being me.
BRIDGE:
Oh, how I love all the birds of the air –
no less than I love ole sister Moon.
So, please don’t blame me if I follow their lead –
and act like the whole world is my living room.
I don’t need a servant
tending my needs.
I don’t need the world
feeling sorry for me.
I don’t need your glasses
to let me see.
Just set me free
to be little me.
If I were to live only for this life, I might be tempted to disregard my “dignity” and cast it all to the wind; but the likelihood of my being restricted as a soul to just this life is practically nihil. In brief, that is to say that I better pay attention to my dignity in this life in order to know it in a next - and a next - and a next.
Ever since I was a naked kid running around without a care on a farm in northern Wyoming in the ‘40s and ‘50s, I have known that I came from some place before I came into this life. I have always sensed that before me, I was - in a sense. I came into this world as a child of the light because I was a child of the light in my last life. Of course, I am not alone. I am not the only naked kid in the world who has ever realized that Life itself is worthy and that because Life itself is worthy, as a child of Life I am worthy too. There are many who know that - and have known that throughout their lives.
But there are those among us who have not lived as naked kids too. There have been as many who have had no regard for their own dignity as there have been those who have been aware of it; and it is for those who are unaware of their dignity that such persons as Jesus have lived. This, I Believe! You might say that Jesus - like others of like mind and vision - was one of self-worth trying to rescue souls having a sense of worthlessness.
But how does one try to teach others who lack self-esteem that they should have it? To a great degree, it is like trying to tell a drowning man that water is really sacred. I mean if someone is so lost within a mindset that Life itself somehow needs saved or “redeemed,” they will see water itself as the enemy because water is part of the Life they want to reject. They will yell out: Don’t tell me that water is sacred when I am drowning in it!
All too often, however, these who would have drowned manage to escape the water; and then they go forward to preach that anyone can escape drowning who does not go into the water. The water becomes the enemy - and partly because they are so sure that they escaped an evil, which they equate to the water.
Jesus has been used like that in history, I think. He has been portrayed as a singular and solo holy man who has “saved” many who believed they were drowning. How? By obedience to some command or law issued later “in his name” by an assumed “successor of Jesus” - not by imitation of conduct for the sake of imitation itself. The payoff? If you will do this for me now, I will do that for you later. That is how Jesus has been used by so many who have been convinced that Life itself needs redeemed.
But in all likelihood, that is not what Jesus taught. Jesus did not teach that if I come to him, I will be saved. He probably taught that if I recognize my inherent worth - which he has also recognized in himself - I will be saved. Thus, if I was born a “child of the dark” when I entered this world, I can go out of it as a “child of the light.” That is the intent and purpose of the Life of Jesus, I Believe.
Welcome, Elaine Pagels!
I would not have known that Jesus may have taught that salvation amounts to recognizing my inherent worth, or dignity, though, if a peasant looking for fertilizer in a cave off the Nile River in Egypt had not stumbled onto a wonder jar containing ancient manuscripts written by early believers of a different cloth - that is in the man we call “Jesus.” I would not have known that there even existed such beliefs in Jesus had they not been “discovered” in 1945 - when so called Gnostic works and works like THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS were “discovered” - strictly by accident. Or was it strictly an accident? (Note: For those unfamiliar with the story of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS, please refer to my earlier blog: KNOW THYSELF.)
I repeat: was it an “accident”? I wonder what my friend, Elaine Pagels, thinks about that. Was 1945 and the discovery of “the other side of Christianity” an accident, Elaine - or was it simply a matter of timing? Has the human race had enough of a so called “Orthodox Jesus” - intent on commanding obedience for the sake of obedience - to finally come to realize that there is nothing wrong with the water - even if I should drown in it?????
Elaine, I hope you do not mind my telling a secret, but Elaine and I are “kindred spirits” - as she wrote in a book of hers - BEYOND BELIEF - that I had with me when we met last Saturday in a little church in Greeley, Colorado. You see, I heard from friends in Greeley, Clyde & Rose Edmiston, that someone they knew that I was fond of would be speaking at a church there last Saturday. Elaine has been a scholar and a half on behalf of the long hidden works found in 1945 in a cave off the Nile River - one of which has been my own “savior” in life - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS.
It was there at that local United Church of Christ of Greeley, Colorado that I “officially” met with a dear friend, but in truth, Elaine and I go back “in spirit” to at least 1979. It was 1979 that a relatively young Elaine Pagels (then 35 or so) wrote her book on the finding of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS - and other books that were banned as heretical by the church in the 4th Century. She called her book THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS - and it was an early review of the previously hidden works found in that cave off the Nile River.
It was that same year, 1979, however, that Elaine wrote her book on THE GNOSTIC GOSPELS, that I became aware of one of the books she reviewed - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS. In 1979, another friend of mine told me about THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS - or was it friends? It might have been just Russ Pope who told me about the Gospel of Thomas - or it may have been both Russ Pope and Joe Edgar who told me about it. I do not remember who introduced it to me, but it could have been either Russ or Joe or both of them because the three of us were good friends at the time - and still are.
But Elaine is a “Doctor” of religious studies and even now teaches as such at Princeton University - and I am only a speculator. I have no degrees, but I do have a mind and a brain that has the sense to know that it can not be as “The Church” has been saying since I was a kid. Somehow there has been a part of me that has “chosen” - a “dangerous” word according to Elaine Pagels - to believe that I am already a “child of the light” and do not need to become one.
You see, the word for “choose” in Greek is “heretic” - or so it is claimed by my friend - and if I might claim so - “associate in truth,” Elaine Pagels. In the early centuries of Christianity, there were many who believed that it was some so called “faith” that is important for salvation - and that faith must not be encumbered by such a thing as “choice.” No one should have the freedom to choose to believe that they are good. We must all believe that no one is good so that some among us can lead others of us to the good.
Well, in my book, Belief is crucial for salvation - but not Belief in another. It is the kind of “belief” that is important - not belief itself. And my friend, Jesus, would agree - though there are many who think they have sole access to Jesus who would claim otherwise. They would argue that “their belief” in Jesus himself is what all must believe; but in my mind, their belief is wrong.
In the “heretical” gospel, chosen to be believed by many in the 4th Century - THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS, in Verse 2, Jesus says: Let him who seeks, not cease seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he will be troubled, and when he has been troubled, he will marvel and he will reign over the all.
That is to say, I think, think for yourself. Never mind what others think is the truth. In all likelihood, they are as blind as you are - and, as Jesus also offers in multiple gospels, if the blind follow the blind, both fall into a pit. The real “heresy” of Jesus was to encourage others to think for themselves and find their own truths because it is only having your own truth that will save you in the end. You don’t need a Temple or Church to tell you what to believe. You need to listen to yourself and find your own truth. If you think that another’s faith or another’s way will save you, then according to the “heretical” Jesus of THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS, you will probably stay blind - if blind you were in the beginning.
In another verse, Verse 28, of the branded heretical GOSPEL OF THOMAS, Jesus says: I took my stand in the midst of the world and in flesh I appeared to them; I found them all drunk, I found none among them athirst. And my soul was afflicted for the sons of men because they are blind in their heart and do not see that empty they have come into this world (and that) empty they seek to go out of the world again.
That makes sense to me. It says that before I came into the world, I already existed as a soul - just like Jesus and you. That might offer a whole new meaning to what Jesus supposedly claimed: Before Abraham was, I am. Maybe before Abraham was, you were too. Suppose? That is not to say that Abraham did not have a previous life, though. It is only to say that before Abraham existed as a person, maybe all of us existed as prior souls as well. Something to think about. Right?
But it also says that as a soul, I will go out of - or leave - this world. It says that I was not wrong in believing as a child running naked when I could that I came from another place - or at least, another time; but it is the same with everyone. We all existed before we are - so to speak. We all came into this world as previous souls - and the way we came into it is the way we exited the last time we were here - or anywhere. We did not just start in this life. We came from previous selves; and that is why it is so important to make sure that the self you go forward with out of this life is one you will wish to attend in a next life - or next time.
But why were the men in the Jesus quote above empty? Because they did not believe in their own dignity. They “chose” their own heresy - of believing in their own emptiness and believing that somehow Jesus was supposed to fill that emptiness when he said it plain as could be for those who could listen in Verse 70 of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS - if you bring forth that within yourselves, that which you have will save you. If you do not have that within yourselves, that which you do not have within you will kill you.
Some of the major bishops of the 4th Century - when books like THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS were banned as heretical - did not want to hear that, though. It did not make any sense to them; and so they “chose” the very heresy that Jesus damned - trusting one’s own salvation to another - even if that other was the likes of Jesus.
John - one of the early “real heretics” put salvation in another in very fancy words. He had Jesus saying - “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one can get to the Father except that he go by me.”
And then blind John went forward to paint Thomas as a doubter in order to dismiss “thinking for yourself.” It all sounds so wonderful - that I am going to “get to the Father” - or the Light - by way of another; but it is just not true. You have to know your own dignity in order to “get to the Father.” Listening to Jesus is not depending on Jesus. It is only “becoming like Jesus.”
It was claimed by some that Thomas was considered a “twin” of Jesus. He was referred to as that in THE GOSPEL OF JOHN when John was trying to dispel “thinking for yourself.” But as Elaine Pagels pointed out last Saturday, that was probably only to say that Jesus may have considered Thomas a “twin” - or Thomas may have considered Jesus a “twin” - because in believing in the Same Light as Jesus did, Thomas was “like Jesus” - and therefore - the “twin” of Jesus - or a twin of Jesus.
Hello, “Twin”!
Thanks, Elaine, for that idea that Thomas may have been referred to as a “twin” of Jesus for believing “like Jesus.” I did not know that before last Saturday. It is always good to realize a new idea; and that is an idea that really seems right to me. Thanks so much for that! Am I a “twin” of Jesus? Is Elaine a “twin” of Jesus? I think so. Do you?
But what is it like to be a “twin” of Jesus? THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS tells us about that too - if we will listen. In Verse 37 (of 114), it is found: His disciples said: When will Thou be revealed to us and when will we see thee? Jesus said: When you take off your clothing without being ashamed, and take your clothes and put them under your feet as the little children and tread on them, then (shall you behold) the Son of the Living (One) and you shall not fear.
Remember what Eben said he was told in that coma of his - offered earlier in this essay? You are loved and cherished, you have nothing to fear, and there is nothing you can do wrong.
The naked is only a way of saying that - and showing that you really believe it. You are loved and cherished! Why? Because you are really a “child of the light” - but you must believe it to know it. What true “child of the light” is not really loved? What true “child of the light” can be ashamed of him or herself?
You have nothing to fear! You are already saved! The only darkness is the darkness you believe in. Believe, instead, in The Light - and that IT is all around; and you will know you are part of it. How can it possibly be otherwise if God - the Light - is truly everywhere?
There is nothing you can do wrong! As long as you know you are worthy and take off your clothes without shame, you can be “like Jesus.” Then you can do nothing wrong. Why? Because you will not want to do anything wrong. Wrong is impeding the search of another and keeping him or her from finding his or her own way - in the light. No one can do that for you. If you are to become a “twin” of Jesus, then you must take charge. When you die, all you can take with you is your attitude. So, why depend on anything else?
But we “twins” of Jesus can go naked because we are not ashamed of Life. It is not “taking off our clothes” that is the important idea to be found here in Verse 37. It is being “unashamed of Life.” It is knowing that Life itself is Sacred - and that Life itself is the very treasure of our existence. Life itself is the Miracle we would want to find elsewhere. So why not act like it by going naked now? Yes, I know - Heresy!
Jesus said: I will behold the Son of the Living One if I take off my clothes without shame and I will not fear. Who is that “Son of the Living One”? It is me. I did not take off my clothes to see Jesus. I took off my clothes to see myself. I cannot “fear myself” if I consider myself equal to Holiness Itself. I am “Holiness Itself.” I am what I behold. It is as simple as that.
Jesus said I have to take off my clothes without shame to see him. I have long known that - though I was not able to put it into the clarity I know now before the now treasured THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS. As a kid, I went naked without even knowing that it should be so. I went naked because I wanted to “show” God how much I love what I thought God is doing - giving me the Miracle of Life. But that was probably because I went naked in a last life - and was used to it.
That is not to say that everyone must go naked to express dignity, as it were; but it is to say that you cannot degrade the naked or accuse it of being sordid or sinful. You cannot find the light by denying the blessedness of any of the Creation of The God of Light. How many have lived their lives in total blindness thinking they could despise themselves and not also despise the God of Light in the process!
My Greatest Friend!
I think I could say that my single greatest friend in this life has been my nakedness. If I am to believe the previous quote of Jesus in THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS, Jesus agreed. It makes sense to a “fellow twin.” It makes sense to a “fellow child of the light.” Of what am I to be ashamed if Life Itself is Grace Itself? That is what I know - and have known all my life. It seems so with Jesus too.
When I die, I probably won’t see Jesus or Dad because they will probably be out and about in their next journeys into a next incarnation; but like Eben, I will know I will be as home there as I am here - and I will be naked! How about you? And when I return? Look for a naked kid running down the road and playing with the butterflies. Hey, you have an invitation to join me! Will you?
I have read about quite a few “near death” experiences - and none of them offer that the “angels” in them are naked. Like Eben’s vision, they are all clothed in some really colorful clothes. I think that is so for ones like Eben because they have not yet taken the step to discard their clothes. They are still a little way off from the ideal. They still need clothes to feel safe; and that is why their “angels” are always dressed in “colorful” clothes. But in my dreams and my life as a “holy one,” I have gone that extra step. I have “taken off my clothes without shame” - and I have been naked.
My nakedness is singular, though, and it would be singular even if another were to join me. It is “solitary holiness” that I know as a naked one; and I do not need another’s nakedness to complete me. I do not need sex. I do not need another to be completed. I need another to have a baby, but I do not need another for any other reason. Why? Because every one of us is perfect as an individual - being wholly of God - and one perfect individual does not need another perfect individual to enhance his or her perfection. I am not saying one who is perfect cannot share in another’s perfection. Of course we can; but one perfect individual does not need another perfect individual because each of us is whole - as perfect - unto ourselves.
I often argue that if I were alone on an island, I could be happy all by myself - simply because I would spend my time admiring the beauty that I have and whatever other beauty that surrounds me. I would be “too busy” with such admiration to notice that I am alone. Therefore, I would not “miss” being with another; and if another were to join me but was distracted with feeling lonely or sad or incomplete, then my focus on the perfect within me might be interrupted - and then it would actually be to my advantage if that person were to leave. I can hear myself saying: Get off my island and leave me to my peace.
This world, however, is caught up with “needing one another” - and one of the basic ways people think they need another is sex. Thus, it generally goes with the territory. If I am to go naked, I am also agreeing to “have sex.” To each his or her own on that, but I think sex - understood as coitus - confuses things in terms of leading me on a path that makes me dependent on another for my well being. I reject that; and that is why I reject having sex just because I go naked. Naked is not Sex for me. It is only an Admission that All Life is Holy! Non-sexual embracing and exchange is OK, though. At least I have never found it on the side of confusing, but again, to each, his or her own.
And seeing another naked is nice, too. I will admit that. Seeing another naked and/or being with another naked on a non-sexual basis is very confirming that all of us are really “children of the light.” We just need to realize it and believe it to allow us to make any life we live also Heaven. That, I Believe!
When I Die
And now the big question: what happens when I die? No one knows, including this speculator of life; but what I do know is that anyone who claims they do know is way off base. So many are absolutely sure of themselves when it comes to death; but those same people have no idea what life itself is all about. So, why should I entrust my soul in death to some who have not satisfied me with answers about life?
The standard answer is that upon death, some will go to Heaven and some will go to Hell - or maybe somewhere in between Heaven and Hell. But where is this Heaven of which they are so sure? Where is this Hell of which they are so sure? Those same people who divide death between Heaven and Hell live to deny that there is any Heaven on Earth. So, why believe them?
What did Jesus say about it? First of all, I think he would tell me to think for myself. Never mind what others claim the afterlife is. They probably don’t know. Go with what seems right to you - and ignore all other opinion.
What seems right to me? I have said it before and I will repeat it now: Judgment of my soul is probably only a continuation of me. If I lived seeing only light - or concentrating on seeing the light - then I will find myself in the light. If I lived seeing only dark - or concentrating on the dark or sad or cruel or just or whatever - then I will find myself in the dark - or in the same general category of life that I chose before.
Let me seek for an answer to that question, though, from THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS. In Verse 24, we find: His disciples said: Show us the place where Thou art, for it is necessary for us to seek it. He said to them: Whoever has ears, let him hear. Within a man of light, there is light and he lights the whole world. When he does not shine, there is darkness.
Obviously, Jesus was not talking about the world in general in that message. Jesus was a man of light, yet much of the world of his time lived in the dark. So Jesus did not mean that the “whole world” is light if one of light is there. He could have only meant that one who believes in the light sees only light.
Now take me through death. I have died and what can I expect? If I was a man of light when I lived, then there is no reason to believe that the light of before will not continue. Why? Because the light is me - and wherever I go, my light goes with me. However, contrariwise, if I was a man of dark when I lived and insisted on the doleful and not being happy with my life, then it is likely that the dark in me will continue after death. Why should it be otherwise?
When I Live Again
After some period of time, is it likely that I will live again - in another incarnation? Again, no one knows for sure; but as a realist who is living now and senses that he has lived before, what are the chances that I won’t “live again”?
Again, however, there is somewhat of an answer to that question about living again in THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS. In Verse 51, we find: His disciples said to Him: When will the repose of the dead come about and when will the new world come? He said to them: What you expect has come, but you know it not.
That is to say, I think, that what has happened will happen again - in terms of process. When will those who have died come back again? Jesus would say “they have already come.” You may be among your own ancestors. You are the very people that were here before - and you live again. The so called “new world” is only an extension of the “old world.”
The biggest “proof,” however, that it is likely that I will live again is that I am living now. I came into this life. I am here now. How did I come? I don’t know, but I know I am here - and it is realistic to believe that whatever process landed me in this life will be the same process that will rule my return. As I have happened before, I will likely happen again; and that makes it all the more important that whatever I am, I choose the me that will go on.
Let me leave you on this occasion of Dad’s Death Anniversary with a poem I wrote in 2001 - all about being a “child of the light.” Join me in Believing, if you will!
Thanks! (FWB)
Child Of The Light
By Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
5/2001
(A Poem; may also be sung)
Oh, Child of The Light, play as you will.
You have but to live to find your fill.
You can’t understand from whence you came
Just embrace it all joyfully as if it’s a game.
For a game life is, or should be for all.
Oh, Child of The Light, have yourself a ball.
Look at the Earth and the Sun and the Moon
and know that they are all in tune.
The wonder of all of God’s great creation
should fill your mind with jubilation.
Oh, Child of The Light, you fit in well
and you ring as you should as one of the bells.
So, don’t fret and worry and live in fear.
As God is your source, It’s also your care.
Be not afraid as you go forward in time.
Oh, Child of The Light, you’ve a life that’s Divine.