Hi, here's a documentary I just watched that taught me alot about the steady rise of Christianity. Maybe you have seen it before, I would like to watch it again, since it throws alot of info out there.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/watch/

There were two points made in the movie that stood out for me. One was a historical observation made by Elaine Pagels, that the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) share about 17 chapters that share the exact same Greek wording. She said Jesus spoke Aramaic principally, and so it would be nearly impossible for the writers of the Synoptics to individually translate Jesus's words exactly the same. She concluded that they must have borrowed greatly from an earlier source. And that the writers were not actually in the presence of Jesus in his time.

The other and very novel suggestion was by a man who stated that the writers of the gospels must have known the discrepencies in their resurrection stories and the anectdotes that tie them to after the fall of Jerusalem. He suggests that since they must have known the divergent nature of their stories, that they were actually suggesting a symbolic interpretation to them. An interpretation that did not win over the eventual literal one.

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Sam,
Indeed a wonderful program. Thanks for posting the link. I had watched it when it aired earlier and even created a page for it and used the heading for several different pages to do with Gnosticism. Here is the link to that heading. You can click on the heading to access PBS Frontline website that offers the detailed message.

Elaine Pagels is one of my spiritual mentors {click on her name to access the page I created for her}. It was Joseph Campbell who introduced me to her early in my journey {mid 90s}. Here is my page of an interview she gave addressing her book "Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas".

There are many, many 'gospels' that were left from the bible and this was done primarily because they did not fit with the patriarchal stance of the Christian church. When we read the Gospel According to Thomas we find many of the verses are found within the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, some almost verbatim. But there is one very big difference. Instead of Jesus telling us to look outside ourselves for 'salvation', in the Gospel of Thomas he is directing us to look 'inward'. Perhaps the most striking of the 114 parable is parable 108:

Jesus said, "Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me; I myself shall become that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to him."
{Jesus Compare this to John 10:30- Jesus said, "Jesus I and the Father are one".

In other words, you merely need to WWJD and you become the same spiritual person as Jesus. And by doing so you achieve Buddha consciousness, WWBD.

To find God you go inward. As Campbell rightly pointed out these words by Jesus are pure 'Buddhism'. These gospels liberated me from the binds of my early Christian upbringing. It provided me with another view of the world that most people are not aware of.

All religions are myths. Buddhism is less of a religion as it is a psychology. When we look at these spiritual concepts in terms of psychology they begin to fit. The death and resurrection of Jesus is metaphor what must happen to the individual; the death of the ego centered 'self' and a resurrection to the spiritual 'Self'. And it can also be applied to life stages. At mid-life we must transcend the early ages of life and begin that journey to wholeness, the end of one stage in life to a 'higher' stage {a higher stage if the individual begins a journey to wholeness, Individuation}. Jesus spoke in parable, riddles. And as with dreams they are metaphorical.
Enlightening isn't it. So simple but so hard to understand if you remain fixed on a literal interpretation.

Perhaps thee most interesting words in parable 108 of the Gospel of Thomas are 'the hidden things will be revealed'. What are these hidden things. Psychologically speaking, and I think of Jesus as a great psychologist, these are the hidden things within the individual unconscious, including the emotional conflicts dreams are trying to communicate. Literally speaking they are a 'secret knowledge' about the spiritual identity and looking inward to access the true spiritual self {of which Jung states is an inherent aspect of the human psyche - the SELF}. The Gnostics, those people and tribes who lived in the first centuries AD, claimed to have access to a 'secret knowledge'. It was a secret in that the general populace did not understand or accept that God is within and not something that needs to be brought in.
I feel the same today about those of us who possess and abide by this knowledge

Jung and Campbell both were sages of such knowledge. As were Pagels, Marion Woodman, Jean Houston, Robert Bly, Depak Chopra, and a great many other 'teachers' who possess the knowledge that it is an inner journey that must be realized to live a truly spiritual life. As it says above the title of my Myths-Dreams-Symbols website, the the spiritual path is a psychological journey. And so is life. all that we do becomes a psychological experience.

As for the real spiritual truth that trumps all religions. It is to be found in nature. Follow the patterns of nature and all things connect. Explore those patterns within nature, and human nature, on the many various levels and enlightenment is obtained. Individual and universal knowledge that will provide enlightenment to the truths of the universe, and the individual self.

I'm proud to be a 'heretic' since being so I can be that true spiritual being nature meant for me to be. It is not in a faith that define who I am but in the deeds. Nature has its mechanisms for good and evil {remembering that what happens to us as individuals is what we bring on to ourselves}. A parable I live by and one I have experienced that is a truth is philosophy of 'what goes around comes around'. So simple, yet so hard to understand. Unless you direct your sight inward.

Jerry

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