gospel of Thomas 67

Jesus said, "If one who knows the all still feels a personal deficiency, he is completely deficient."

In this parable, Jesus is having something of a joke with one of his disciples. I don't know who. But it must be someone who has already seen a lot of the truth. And Jesus is saying very simply here, if one who has seen the all – that is, one who has seen the way of the universe, seen to the very core of their being, understood really what is going on in life – such a person has reached home. They have become enlightened. There are no more questions left.

And in such a person, there is really no space for personal deficiency. The personal has lost all its significance. Everything is felt as part of one whole. So of course, there's no room for personal deficiency. Nothing is felt as deficient. And here Jesus is saying this: if you've seen everything, if you've seen the all, if everything has been revealed to you, then you no longer feel personally deficient.

The subject relates to the previous parable as well, where we explored this sense of personal deficiency. And probably this saying by Jesus, was uttered shortly afterwards. This sense of personal deficiency, which causes us so much anguish, can evaporate away. And it has to do so. It will do so. Once we have explored the mysteries of existence, when we no longer feel ourselves to be separate from all that is, then the sense of deficiency will go. It will simply melt away, without us needing to do much about it.

So Jesus knows full well, one who has seen the all won't be feeling a sense of deficiency. But one of his disciples must have hinted at such a state. And so as a joke, Jesus is saying, well, if you still feel personally deficient, once you've seen the all, if you're still feeling that, then you are completely deficient. Everything about you is deficient. Your whole being is deficient. In fact, the whole of existence is deficient.

Of course, it is not so. Jesus is talking whimsically here, to try and make the point, that these things change together: the seeing of the whole is the ending of the sense of personal deficiency. There is no separation between these two.