gospel of Thomas 82

Jesus said, "He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom."

Every master is a fire. And when you come close to a master, you are playing with fire. That fire will burn you up if you come too close. Jesus was such a master. And for those coming to him, there was a great danger – a danger of incineration.

And this is the way it has to be. For along the way, we have collected so many concepts, beliefs, ideas of who we are, and the way things should be. And all of this gets in the way of us becoming the truth, a simple truth. To come to the truth, all of that garbage must be burnt. It has to go up in flames, turn to smoke and ashes.

It is very difficult to do that for oneself, alone. It can happen that way, but that demands a total trust and courage. For most people, a master – like Jesus – serves the purpose of the incinerator. He is a fire, a raging fire, unstoppable. And if you come too close, whether you like it or not, that incineration will happen. Everything you think yourself to be, and yet you are not – everything you've ever invested in, emotionally – it will all go, leaving nothing behind, leaving a great emptiness.

This is why Jesus says, those who are near him are near the fire. This is what he means. He is emanating truth so strongly that all those illusions that we have gathered will not be able to sustain themselves. And not even our attachment, our ego, will be able to cling onto them. They will go up in flames, just from that proximity to a master.

And Jesus continues: those who are far from me are far from the kingdom. The kingdom is the kingdom of heaven – bliss, beauty, truth. And it is not something to wait for. It is not something you will find after death. It is here now, right in front of your nose, staring you in the face, waiting for you to open to it. This is the kingdom. But there is only one way to reach the kingdom, and that is through that fire. This is why Jesus says, those who are far from me are far from the kingdom. If you look at that fire and just stay away from it, you will never come to the kingdom.

It doesn't need to be through Jesus, of course – any master will do. Or you can incinerate yourself: your own ideas of who you are, all your attachments. But you have to go through the fire. There is no other way to reach the kingdom.