gospel of Thomas 98

Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain man who wanted to kill a powerful man. In his own house he drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. Then he slew the powerful man."

I always feel rather uneasy when reading spiritual teachings that use violence as an analogy for something on the spiritual path. All too often, people take things literally. And it wouldn't surprise me if some idiot somewhere, reading this parable from the Gospel of Thomas, were to go out and buy a sword, and go and kill some powerful man. People take things literally that are not meant to be taken literally. So I feel very wary about such language. Anyway, let's see what interpretation comes from this parable.

Jesus says, the kingdom is like a man who wants to kill a powerful man. It is clear that on the spiritual journey, we want to end something, and that is our ego. And the ego is powerful. Human ego has caused all the misery of humanity, for thousands of years. It all stems from this mistaken identity, with our personality, with this idea that we are a separate little being, disconnected from the rest of life. That is the ego. It is powerful indeed, and we do need to kill it.

In Jesus' parable, he goes on to say that in his own house he drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. And all I can assume that Jesus meant by this, is that we need to practise. We need to practise a spiritual discipline, if we are to slew the ego within us. We need to practise and practise.

And of course there are different methods, different forms of practice. And each of us needs to find one that works for us. And perhaps over the course of months and years, we will use several different practices. But in any case, we need to practise.

Meditation, for example, builds a certain quality in our consciousness. There comes a calmness, an equanimity. We begin to attach less to outward things. We become peaceful. And it's very difficult for the ego to attach itself and feed off peace. Of course, the ego, being so powerful, is a tricky beast, and it will attempt to attach to whatever we are doing. If we feel proud about our spiritual practice, be sure that is the ego attaching to it, feeding of it. But if we practice diligently, the ego will be under threat. And eventually it will be slain.