gospel of Thomas 75

Jesus said, "Many are standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber."

I love this little saying by Jesus. We humans tend to live as a crowd: following each other; herding together; following the fashion – whatever is being talked about in the news, in social chit chat, on the social networking internet sites. We just move, as a flock, so often.

And even when we break away and try and do something rather different to explore our spirituality, we find another crowd to follow, another herd to become part of. It gives us a feeling of belonging. It dampens our self-doubts and our doubts about existence – have I gone mad, am I imagining things? If there are lots of other people doing what we are doing, we feel we must be on the right track, reasonably sane.

And being in the crowd gives us opportunities for entertainment – to be entertained by others, and to entertain others. And of course, it gives us sexual opportunities for mating. And we love all this stuff, naturally enough. But on the spiritual journey, something else is needed. We cannot just follow a crowd. That's not the way to find truth.

And this is what Jesus is saying here. There are many standing at the door – many people who think they are interested in finding truth. But they've come as a crowd together, and they will not enter the bridal chamber. What a lovely phrase: the bridal chamber. This is the place where union happens – the union between you and existence. You are the bride. And you need to surrender to existence for that union to take place.

But not only do you need to surrender: you need to stand alone in that surrender; not as part of a crowd; not as one in a flock, a herd; no. Only the solitary can enter that bridal chamber. You need to stand alone and feel the vulnerability of being alone. Only then, only when you are solitary, can you enter the bridal chamber.

Jesus knew this, he knew it well. I wonder how many of his disciples were courageous enough to listen to this teaching. It needs a tremendous courage to stand alone; to set aside all the norms of society; to exclude oneself from the social groups; to dis-identify oneself with those groups of people. The ego will resist this with every ounce of energy it can find.

But it is those who can stand alone who will come to the truth. Only the solitary will enter that bridal chamber, and become one with God.