Among the Nag Hammadi archives is the Secret Book Of James ( SBJ). In a number of earlier meditations, I have made reference to teachings contained in other apocryphal texts such as the Gospel of Thomas and Thunder Perfect Mind. In much the same spirit as those, SBJ has a number of powerful sayings that stimulate rich contemplation. I briefly share and explore one of them here. [ One of a vast variety of interpretations that these words may inspire.]
The Lord said:
” I tell you the truth: no one will be saved among those who fear death. For the Kingdom of death belongs to those who put themselves to death. Be superior to me! Be like the child of the Holy Spirit!”
The Teacher admonishes his disciples to embrace the Cross. What meaning can we intuit from this saying that is, once again, koan-like?
The saying has three big ideas:
- fear of death,
- putting oneself to death, and
- being a child of the Holy Spirit.
To fear death is to be preoccupied with one’s own well-being as an end in itself. One of the largest and growing sections of any bookstore is the self-help section. Written by so many soothe-sayers, there is something there seemingly for every condition imaginable. While there is certainly nothing wrong with them per se, there is a fundamental narcissism that these books feed, and that is the more interesting thing. After all, those books sell for a reason. There’s a big market out there of people looking to make themselves better through some ready-made formula.
What is the alternative? Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with taking good care of yourself, right?
Surely not, the body is the temple of the soul and we should care for it. Part of that care, however, is to relate to the body as the theater on which the mind outwardly presents the inner play. Once again, body and mind struggle to be reunited. If the mind is sound, the body’s journey through life is certainly benefitted. However, what needs more attention is generosity of spirit, the charitable heart, and service to “all sentient beings.”
Fear of death or denial of the Cross is rejection of the inconvenient moments of someone else’s need. Consider the missed opportunities in all of our lives when someone needed something and we were too pressed for time, or otherwise too preoccupied to offer a hand.
It is well established that acts of true charity, without seeking recognition of any kind, is a profound elixir for what troubles the soul. I find that when I am distressed over something, turning my gaze out to how I might make someone else’s distress a little lighter lightens the weight of my baggage. Fear of death is me-centered. Love of life and the way of the heart is other-centered. Buddha and Christ alike refer to the central importance of being for others ( man and animal), and doing so is a true reflection of being “enlightened.”
What does it mean to put “oneself” to death? We are what we have made of ourselves in thought and deed. We are a construction built up over many years of being rewarded for certain things. We attached ourselves to certain signature behaviors, values, and dispositions that were pre-potent by virtue of our unique biochemistry and psychogenic make-up. To “put oneself to death” is to rise about the allusions, illusions, and attributions of the self, and to recognize our far greater identity in Christ-Buddha.
The self is a study in complexes and contradictions, conflicts and dilemmas, that we navigate and look at in our therapies and meditations. The dance to which we are invited is one designed, like the practice of the whirling dervishes, to lose oneself in the mystery. Then, we can try on many selves realizing that we plug into a deeper ocean of identity with Mystery.
“Be like the child of the Holy Spirit” and “be superior to me”: What is the Teacher of Righteousness saying to me here? The heart of Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven is within. It is our’s to miss or rediscover. The Spirit beckons always. The still small voice is ever chanting in the dark so we can find our way.
It is our Call to Action to make our way through the inmost cave, and discover our transcendent parentage, and the voice of deep ancestral legacy.
We are called to be Christics: children of the Cross of Light. We have nothing whatsoever to fear except turning away from the path of discovery.
What do you hear in the Teacher’s homily?
© Brother Anton and The Harried Mystic, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The Harried Mystic 
We seem to be thinking about the same things!
I find that the more I give away or simply let go of (including–or perhaps especially–those “certain signature behaviors, values, and dispositions”) the more peace I have, the more easily I can hear the “still small voice.” I feel it as a kind of dissolving (“putting to death”, I guess) of all of the extraneous elements of my “self” that I’ve taken on since the day I was born so that all is left is what was there in the beginning–what belongs to God, or the place where God lives.
Just now I was reading an essay by D.T. Suzuki (in Merton’s book, Zen and the Birds of Appetite) that deals with absolute poverty as an ideal. As Suzuki says, and as you mention here on this blog several times, it’s hardly considered a “virtue” any more to voluntarily have as little as possible, and to have no desire to strive for things, and to give away what one has without even having a CONCEPT of “giving” or “receiving”. It takes some doing to see the value in it–probably a divine bonk on the head is the only thing that can open one’s eyes to it.
Thank God for the bonk. But I know I still have a lot of giving away to do.
Nancy
http://saradode.wordpress.com
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May the Spirit that knows no impatience and whose motivation never wanes thus inspire us.
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mmmm….in England, bonk is used as a euphemism for sex…
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Well, if that’s what it takes (what’s that about the Lord working in mysterious ways? 🙂 )!
Nancy
http://saradode.wordpress.com
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I do apologize to my colleagues in the UK. I meant no such allusion but was simply incorporating a word used by a commentator on my post. Live and learn; I had no idea that the word was used in England that way. I have edited my reply accordingly. Thanks for the heads-up Viv.
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No worries. mind you, we have an enormous number of humorous euphemisms for practically everything even vaguely naughty, so we are frequently reduced to giggling like school children of a certain age.
The astonishing variety of words of shades of different meanings for almost the same things is what makes English for me the most wonderful language. Having spent the last couple of days struggling with German, rather valiantly I might add(!) and then thankfully being able to revert to French(in which I am fluent enough to chat and even joke) for a few hours as we paused in Lille, I have been even gladder to get back to my native tongue.
I had the lovely experience of being taken for a beer in a real German pub, full of real Germans, and being in the company of two German friends who were enchanted and delighted by my fumbling and hesitant attempts to communicate but were doubtless secretly amused if I used the wrong word occasionally!
the double entendre is another feature of English humor/culture everyone falls foul of. We are eternallly 12 year old school boys when it comes to “naughtiness”!
That said, divine union with the spirit would surely be close in feel to the euphoria of great sex.
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“Making love” would be a better way to express it, I think–making love with someone you love so much that it goes well beyond the physical to a sense of, as you say, union–a sense that you cannot become any closer emotionally and spiritually without somehow becoming one and the same. Bliss that is a product of pure love…Nothing “naughty” about it!
Nancy
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HI Nancy. I agree and the analogy of union with God as love-making is deeply meaningful. The lost “sacrament of the bridal chamber” was once regarded, among certain sects of ancient Christendom, as the summit of all sacraments. I reflected on it and its history in an earlier post. The Songs of Solomon and so much other sacred poetry is filled with sensuality. The church today has largely lost this important facet of true Knowing. Theology and religion have become too intellectual. The balance is the key as one must inform and illuminate the other.
As to the “divine bonk on the head,” I appreciated your meaning as more a “whack on the side of the head” from the Spirit than an allusion to sensual union. Nonetheless, I am really enjoying the serendipitous double meaning at the moment. In truth, when the Spirit moves to awaken us, the “whack on the head” is sometimes a jolt but very often a kiss: the marraige of two archetypes – those of Lover & Teacher. Thank you so much for your lovely thoughts this morning.
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Thank YOU for the image of the kiss and of “Lover and Teacher.” It is perfect, as far as I’m concerned. I also feel it as being like one end of a magnet “reaching out”, longing for, its counterpart (the force that you can feel when you hold two magnets close to each other without actually touching). When the two can come together, there’s a wholeness and, again, bliss.
I so agree, too, about your statement regarding the intellectualization of religion and theology; it seems that something intuitive, mystical, and very personal (in terms of one’s relationship with God) so often gets lost in conjecture and theory. God is among us and miracles happen all the time, but we miss them as we waste time trying to define the undefinable.
The Song of Solomon is probably one of the most beautiful pieces of literature ever written–it really knocked the breath out of me the first time I read it.
Nancy
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