gospel of Thomas 24

His disciples said to him, "Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it."

He said to them, "Whoever has ears, let him hear. There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness."

Here the disciples must be really scratching their heads. They are asking Jesus, show us enlightenment. It's necessary for us to seek it – we've figured that much out – but we're not quite sure what it is. What is enlightenment? Show us it. Show us the kingdom of heaven, so that we know what we're looking for.

Well, it's not so easy to show enlightenment to one who is unenlightened. If it were easy, then nobody would feel unenlightened in the first place. So Jesus says, whoever has ears, let him hear. This is his way of saying, you're not necessarily all going to understand what I say. It will most likely be misunderstood by most people. But still, I'll try to answer your question.

Then Jesus goes on, there is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. Yes. This is why it's called enlightenment. And Jesus says, if he does not shine, he is darkness. Here Jesus is using poetry to hint at the feeling of enlightenment. Before enlightenment, we are living in darkness. We don't know, we don't know the truth. We have lost touch with it. We have lost touch with who we really are. This is the state of ignorance, of misunderstanding about the whole world, and most especially about oneself. So this is the darkness of a man who does not shine, of the one who is dwelling in unenlightenment.

But within a man of light, one who has seen the truth, there is light and he lights up the whole world. And this is the feeling of enlightenment. It feels as if the world is suddenly illuminated. The ignorance has gone. The illusions about oneself have gone. Everything seems clear. Everything seems bright. This is the light.

And everyone has this light. The source of this light is within everyone. It is our nature, our natural state, to live in this light. And when we are living in this space of light, it does feel like the whole world is being illuminated by it. But it's not a personal light. There's no pride in this. It's nothing to do with the individual. This is the light of life, the light of existence, the light of God, shining through us. This is something of the feel of enlightenment.

But most will not have ears to hear this. And that is why we have to be very careful with this poetry. If we just take it literally, it becomes meaningless. That is not the point. This is poetry, which speaks to our heart and the innermost core of our being, whispering to it, come forth, come forth. The light within you can be allowed to shine. And then the whole world will be illuminated.