gospel of Thomas 78

Jesus said, "Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine garments, and they are unable to discern the truth."

This is an important teaching from Jesus, especially for those who are just setting out on the spiritual journey.

I don't know the circumstances exactly, in which Jesus was speaking. Presumably he was in the desert somewhere and some people had come to him from the city, from normal society. And Jesus is testing them. Why have you come? Are you expecting something like that which you see in the city, in the so-called great men?

Because this is how we approach life. We take what we know, what we are familiar with, and we expect the new to be very similar. I'm going to meet someone new that I haven't met before. But I'm already assuming that he's going to be a slightly different variation on the theme of the people that I already do know. And if he has a reputation as a great man, I'll assume he's just like the other great men that I know. And so I will go to him with some preconception that he will be a great philosopher and talk like the other philosophers – slightly different words, slightly different ideas, but more of the same. Or he will be like one of the great kings: carrying himself with a certain stature, dressed in fine clothes; again, saying slightly different words, but really emanating the same energy that I have already experienced in others.

Isn't this how we go through life? Expecting more of the same. Meeting someone for the first time and yet already projecting hundreds of ideas about who they are and what they have to share with us. Such preconceptions obstruct our vision. How can we meet someone if we are meeting them through our ideas and our expectations of who they are? This is not being open. There is no way to connect, no way to really commune from this starting point.

And with this saying, Jesus is challenging us. And the challenge is this: can we drop everything we think we know about people in general? Can we drop it all, and really meet each other from a state of emptiness? Like a womb receiving an egg and some semen. That womb has to be empty, has to be fertile, ready to receive. And then magic can happen. Then that great fusion and life can happen.

And so it is when two people come together. If we can meet each other from that space of emptiness, receptivity, creativity – with a great vitality, a great fertility – if we can meet each other that way, then something magical can occur. We can actually see each other, as we are. We can hear each other, as we are. We can touch each other, as we are. So can we do that? Can we drop all our ideas about who we think other people are going to be? And really receive them in our hearts, for who they truly are?

In a way, it sounds simple, but it's the most difficult thing to do: to drop judgements, to drop preconceptions, prejudice. These things are deeply ingrained. And yet only if we can cleanse ourselves of these ideas, only then can we really meet each other; only then are we open to receive.

And look what Jesus is saying here: the great men of the cities – they're not able to discern truth. They have become political beasts. They're gamesmen; playing tactical games. We are not interested in that on the spiritual journey. That whole approach will get us nowhere. We have to drop it and be very simple; very, very simple. And only with this empty simplicity will we begin to discern truth.

Truth is not a complex matter. Truth is not hidden from us – except by our own minds and our own desires. We can come to truth, for it is there within us. But only if we learn to listen to life in a new way: a fresh way, as a newborn baby does. Every day, feel yourself to be carte blanche, a blank sheet. The day is not yet written, and we know nothing as to what is going to unfold.

If we can live our life this way, allowing the new to come into being, in every moment, then we will – without making any effort – be discerning truth all the time, quite naturally. We will be living truth, as Jesus was.