gospel of Thomas 40

Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted outside of the father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed."

Here, Jesus is alluding to the central problem of being human. A grapevine has been planted outside of the father. That grapevine is you, feeling yourself to be separate – separate from the rest of existence, separate from God. The father is God. I wish we didn't have to use a masculine or feminine term here. That's very misleading. God is neither masculine nor feminine. God is the whole of existence in an undivided state. God is a process, the living process of the whole universe. God is everything, once we drop the illusion of separation. Everything is a part of God. It always has been, and always will be.

But a grapevine has been planted outside of the father, says Jesus. It means we as humans have developed a sense of being separate, separate from the rest of existence. That's what Jesus means when he says planted outside of the father. The truth is that we are not separate, but whilst we have that feeling, then it is true for us. We are separate. That's how it feels. That is our reality until we return home.

So Jesus says, a grapevine has been planted outside of the father. That is your ego. Your sense of a little self separate from everything else.

Jesus goes on though, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed. The ego is unsound. It has no basis in reality. There is no separation, but we believe there is separation. The idea has come into the mind, that we are separate. And with that idea comes all the trouble in the world. But the idea itself is unsound, it's unfounded.

And being unsound, it will one day be uprooted and destroyed. That is the destruction of your ego. The destruction of the sense of being separate – not just as an idea but as your lived reality, your felt sense about yourself and the rest of what is. It can all change. And in that change, that unsound grapevine is uprooted, and destroyed utterly. That is your moment of enlightenment – the destruction of that unsound grapevine; the destruction of your sense of being separate; the destruction of your ego.

So in this little saying, Jesus is pointing to the problem. The ego is the cause of all our suffering, psychologically, emotionally. But one day, it will change. That will all be gone. It's true. You may have no inkling of it yet, but one day it will happen. And then you will feel free. And you will feel once more to be at rest in existence, as part of existence, as part of God.