gospel of Thomas 51

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 look forward to has already come, but you do not recognise it."

Here, the disciples are beginning to get a little impatient. They want to know when transformation will happen. Will it be tomorrow? Will it be in a year's time? Or a decade perhaps? Or do they have to wait till the next lifetime? How long will it be?

Most seekers have this question: how long will it take? It's a question of the ego mind, of course. Everything to do with time always is. But nevertheless, the question is there for the disciples: when? And look at the words they choose – they must have been listening a little bit to what Jesus has been saying – when will the repose of the dead come about? It doesn't make enlightenment sound very appealing, does it – the repose of the dead. I'm sure this phrase had been used by Jesus before the disciples picked up on it.

And this is a dilemma every master faces. Does one put the focus on the positive aspects of enlightenment? It gives people the encouragement, the incentive to carry on seeking. But at the same time, it feeds that ego drive, that wants to get something out of the whole process; that is ambitious, and hungry to achieve something. So another approach of the masters is to downplay the positive aspect of enlightenment, and just focus on the annihilation that is involved in the transformation. Gautam Buddha used the word nirvana. It means extinction, just as a candle flame is extinguished. So is the sense of self extinguished during this process.

And here Jesus uses an equally negative sounding phrase: the repose of the dead. I like it. It actually captures the feel of enlightenment very well. One is at repose – at ease, at peace with the world, relaxed, at rest. In fact, at rest like someone who is dead. Psychologically, it is a death. So the repose of the dead – that's what the disciples are after, at least some of them.

Although they go on to say, when will the new world come? Sounds more positive, doesn't it: the new world. We're fed up with the old world. We're fed up with what's actually happening to us in our life. So we go seeking after something new, something different, something better, always chasing a fantasy – the new world. So here we have a negative phrasing and the positive.

But basically what the disciples are asking is, how long will it take? When's it going to happen? We're getting a bit fed up of sitting around listening to you, gabbling on every day, and nothing is happening to us. Yes, this is the impatience of the seeker's mind. And look at Jesus' reply. Yes: what you look forward to, has already come, but you do not recognise it. Every master has said something like this, every one. But nobody can really understand it, nobody can really grasp it, until the moment of readiness finally comes.

What you look forward to has already come. Look at the words, listen to them carefully: what you look forward to. You see, the disciples are looking forward to something. They're projecting something into the future, some new world, or some repose of the dead. Either way it's something to look forward to. And this is the ego mind at work – imagining something nice in the future, but also holding it in the future; never allowing the present moment to be that; always moving one away from the present moment, from what is here now; and creating a fantasy, a fantasy world, somewhere in the future.

So that disciples are looking forward to something. And the great irony is, that thing has already come. It's just a question of recognising it, seeing it, in oneself, and in the rest of existence – the beauty, the sublime perfection, in everything, positive and negative; in the liveliness and the newness of everything, every moment; and in the stillness, the repose of the dead, which is also present in every moment. And Jesus is saying once again, this is already here, everything that you seek, is already here.

So are you ready? Are you ready to recognise the beauty of existence and the beauty of yourself?