gospel of Thomas 61

Jesus said, "Two will rest on a bed: the one will die, and the other will live."

Salome said, "Who are you, man, that you...have come up on my couch and eaten from my table?"

Jesus said to her, "I am he who exists from the undivided. I was given some of the things of my father."

[...] "I am your disciple."

[...] "Therefore I say, if he is destroyed, he will be filled with light, but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness."

I'm rather curious about this verse from the Gospel of Thomas. It may be my overactive imagination but my feeling is, Jesus and Salome have become lovers, and that this conversation was taking place whilst they yet lay in bed, after love making.

In any case, before we delve into this verse, there are a couple of things to point out. One is that in this translation, there are some ellipses – there's some text missing – which I assume means that in the original Gospel of Thomas, as found in Egypt, there may have been a few words missing from this verse.

And the other point is that there is a sort of love triangle going on. It was Salome who danced the dance of the seven veils, for King Herod, if I remember rightly. And the outcome of that dance was that John the Baptist was beheaded, killed. Effectively Salome's sexuality, her beauty, led to the death of John the Baptist. And yet it was John the Baptist who had baptised Jesus. It was John who had led Jesus to his enlightenment, to his ministry, to his teaching. Without John the Baptist, we would never have heard of Jesus. For Jesus, John was his master, the one who had baptised him. So Jesus and John had as close a relationship as two heterosexual men can. Jesus would have loved John. And Salome, through her sexuality, killed John. And here, from this verse in the Gospel of Thomas, it seems that Jesus and Salome were lovers. Wow. Sexual relationships and love lead us into very complex situations. But perhaps I'm reading a little too much into the situation. So let's return to the verse.

Jesus said two will rest on a bed. Well, I think he's saying that because they are resting on a bed at the time, but I'm guessing. Jesus says one will die and the other will live. Now what does he mean by this? We all know that everyone dies sooner or later. So I assume that Jesus is referring to the eternal part of us, that lives forever: our essence, our spirit. This energy within us is not something that comes and goes. It's not something that comes into existence when we are born, and disappears when we die– just as the atoms that make up your physical body don't come into existence with your birth. They've been kicking around in the universe for billions of years. They just happen to come together to manifest in you.

And so it is, with our essence. It comes from the source of all that is. You can call it God. You can call it existence. Some call it the source, or the unmanifest – it has many names. And that is, at our core, who we really are. That is the essential part of us. But neither is it born, nor does it die.

And Jesus has realised this. And this is why he says one will live. It is not that he, in his individual personality, will live forever, oh no. At the moment of death, Jesus, just like the rest of us, will cease to exist as an individual. His personality will be over. His personal memories will be erased. But the essence of who he is, will return to the source. And because he has realised this, he is in the same situation as other enlightened people. He's living his life from that place, from that perspective, and with his energy already returned to the source.

So Jesus knows that for himself at least, the moment of death is not that great a deal. It's a rather small step. The ending of the personality and the physical body, and the individual. It's nothing to be worried about.

But from this verse, it seems that Salome has not yet realised this. So for her, death will be a very significant moment. And this is how I interpret what Jesus is saying: one will die. That is for one – for Salome – the moment of death will be of great significance, a big change. And for the other – for Jesus – it won't really make that much difference. It's not going to be a big deal. Because to become enlightened is to die psychologically anyway. Jesus has already died in that sense. And what is left is of little significance – in terms of the personality, the individual, the physical body. All these things are fine. But once one has realised one's essence, they are not of that great significance anymore.

This statement from Jesus has made Salome rather curious, who are you? Who are you, man? You've come up on my couch and eaten from my table. Well, he's obviously rather intimate with Salome, whether or not they're lovers. And she's asking now, who are you? And this is often the way: if you get close to an enlightened one, you'll begin to realise that there's something unusual about this person, something rather different. What is it? Who are you? This is what Salome is asking. She saw something rather odd or different about Jesus, but she doesn't yet realise what it is.

Jesus tries to explain: I am he who exists from the undivided. There’s another way of talking about the unmanifest or the source or God or existence – the undivided. It is only our little human mind that divides up the universe into me and you, this and that. It is our thinking mind, our rational mind, our symbolic mind, that sees separation in the universe. In truth, that separation is not there. It is an approximation created by the mind. So Jesus is saying, I exist from the undivided. And if the truth be known, we all do, but we've lost sight of that perspective. We've become obsessed with the separation and everything that follows from it.

Jesus goes on, I was given some of the things of my father. This is rather beautiful. I don't like this word father much. But what Jesus means when he says the father, is again the source, the unmanifest – that energy from where we all come, and to where our essence returns upon our death. And in truth, our essence never leaves that source. We are part of it. We are part of the father. Jesus knows this full well.

And when one has realised that, as Jesus has, even in our day to day life, we carry some of the air, some of the nuance, some of the flavour, the aroma, of the source: the spaciousness, the peacefulness, the silence – Jesus will have been carrying some of these. That's what he means by, I was given some of the things of my father. They are available to all of us. And upon our enlightenment, we too will begin to express in subtle ways some of those mysterious qualities that Jesus refers to.

Moving on in this verse, there's a little bit of text missing, and then Salome says, I am your disciple. And my feeling is this is her moment of surrender to Jesus. This is the first time she said that to him. My feeling is she has realised, wow, this man, maybe my lover, is enlightened. He is a master.

And that's why I also think this happens after the beheading of John the Baptist. For once one has surrendered to a master, one honours the spiritual ancestors of that master – in this case, John the Baptist. So she must have felt a twinge of regret at this point.

There is some more missing text at this point, and then Jesus continues: therefore I say, if he is destroyed, he will be filled with light, but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness, Ah, such poetry: if he is destroyed, he will be filled with light. This is what I was saying about enlightenment being a psychological death. One is destroyed, to reach one's enlightenment. And not that one has any choice about the matter – it is something that happens to us. And if one is destroyed in this way, one becomes filled with light. For that destruction is the clearing out of all the entanglements, attachments, addictions, to the personality. And with that great clearing out, there comes a space. We are nothing but spaciousness. And the feeling is that space is filled with light. But to feel that, to make it real in one's life, there has first to be a great destruction of the ego.

And Jesus contrasts this with the lot of most men by saying, if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness. Most people are divided within themselves, internally, fragmented into a thousand parts, ten thousand parts, countless parts. And these parts are at war with each other. One part of the psychology wanting one thing, and another part the opposite. How can one ever find peace when one is divided? How can one feel any lasting happiness when one is divided? And yet, the majority of people live out their life, divided. It is the great tragedy of humanity.

So here I've tried to interpret this curious verse from the Gospel of Thomas. Perhaps I'm reading a little too much into it, into the relationship between Salome and Jesus. But regardless of that, I feel there are some important teachings which Jesus is conveying here.