Nag Hammadi....

[mnaz]

(12.23.05)


To know oneself,
is to know God.
The secret of gnosis.

Jesus told me the good news.
Peace on earth is contained within,
like papyrus tomes, buried at Hammadi.
Our gnostic gospels were kept by soft soil,
hidden for ages by a reverent monk,
sheltered from the holy emperor,
spared from his iron-fisted piety.
For sixteen-hundred years they lay,
unearthed sixty years ago today.

They come from where the spirit flowered,
when the early church burned for wisdom,
like wonder and promise of a peaceful new soul,
the gift, before it was defiled by its own walls,
before blasphemous cries of "heretic!" arose.
Many followers of Christ were silenced,
yet their voices may be heard.

The father's kingdom is spread out upon earth.
What chasm separates me from my author?
What words shall be used to confine God?
What is the divine act of my next breath?
What is salvation within awareness?
Where is Paul, on Damascus road?
Where am I, between thoughts?

[stilltrucking]

It is all Zen to me these days.

"Others are as strange and compelling as Zen koans. My favorite of these is saying number 70, which says, "If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." The gospel opens as Jesus invites people to see.... "


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... homas.html

Nice work, thanks
I was looking for a koan

[mnaz]

'Zen is the furthest thing from my mind', I lied.

[sooZen]

(Hah!...Zen is the furthest thing from mind...and lies between thoughts...)

[mnaz]

I love it when East meets West....

What can I say?

[mnaz]

Stilltrucking.... excellent link.

Here's the one I was reading....

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline ... agels.html

What a discovery!

[stilltrucking]

From the Washington Post today.


Another Take on Gospel Truth About Judas
Manuscript Could Add to Understanding of Gnostic Sect
By Stacy Meichtry
Religion News Service
Saturday, February 25, 2006; Page B09

The first translation of an ancient, self-proclaimed "Gospel of Judas" will be published in late April, bringing to light what some scholars believe are the writings of an early Christian sect suppressed for supporting Jesus's infamous betrayer.


James Robinson, a retired professor of Coptic studies at Claremont Graduate University and general editor of the English edition of the Nag Hammadi Library, vouched for the document's authenticity based on his experience in trying to purchase the codex as early as 1983.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01799.html


I don't know if it annoys you when I ramble all over your posts. My horoscope advises me not to step on toes this week And I had plans to go dancing.

this is a bunch of stuff I posted on this string and deleted.


I never lie. I am honest to a fault. (this is not spontaneous gibberish)

I don't want no truck with Gnosis. At least not acoording to the book I picked up about it the other day by a fellow named Tau Malachi. He is not my cup of tea.
Quote:
He said: "Jesus walked on the water,"And I know that is true, But sometimes I think that preacher man, Would like to do a little walkin', too.

So much for koans, they are all Greek to me, Zen is all Greek to me.

Between my thoughts I think about koans
I am keeping my heretical faith in doubt and confustion. G W Bush. is my wrang-wrang
I have converted to bokononism
Quote:
A wrang-wrang is "a person who steers people away from a line of speculation by reducing that line, with the example of the wrang-wrang's own life, to an absurdity. [ 36 ]
You are right
I lied
I could have said it is all Greek to me.

Of course koans are Greek to me too.

Between my thoughts I am listening

listening to my breath

between breaths

I am watching

Truth be told I have

No idea where I am

I must still be here

Same place same time I suppose

In and out

of consciousness

Just some stuff I posted to you and deleted because I thought I was rambling too much

St. Paul the first Christian, he was from South Dakota
Until then the ignominious death had seemed to him the chief argument against the Messianic claim of which the new doctrine spoke: but what if it were necessary to get rid of the law?
The tremendous consequences of this idea, of this solution of the riddle, spin before his eyes; at one stroke he becomes the happiest man; the destiny of the Jews--no, of all men--seems to him to be tied to this idea, to this second of its sudden illumination; he has the thought of thoughts, the key of keys, the light of lights; it is around him that all history must revolve henceforth. For he is from now on the teacher of the annihilation of the law...
This is the first Christian, the inventor of Christianity. Until then there were only a few Jewish sectarians.
http://www.pitt.edu/~wbcurry/nietzsche.html From Daybreak s.68

Christianity was from the beginning, essentially and fundamentally, life's nausea and disgust with life, merely concealed behind, masked by, dressed up as, faith in "another" or "better" life.
from Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, p.23, Walter Kaufmann transl
Nietz

Strange how a book that I first read a life time ago has come back to me so vividly. I was eating a lot of moldy rye ergot sandwiches back then. Kind of like how they etch on glass with acid.

In my ignorant opinion a koan is a mind F***. It blanks thought opens some empty space in my mind.

[mnaz]

I love understanding,

as a general rule.

I am no different than anyone else,
in that regard.

[stilltrucking]

the love of understanding is the root of my evil

cause there is a way that seems right

so I lean hard on my own understanding

I connect dots

and the shortest distance is

I draw straight lines

I call it an axis of evil

monkey brains

they are delicious

with ketchup

Bush has a brain I envy

He has such moral clarity

but

I envy your poetry more

[mnaz]

Great Nietszche link(s).....

Top Ten Reasons to Not Trust the Apostle Paul:

10). He trashed Jewish law, only after he failed in his ability to keep it.

9). He persecuted God (well, according to God, at least).

8. He changed his name from Saul.

7). He invented a religion where salvation is not based on the merits of individual human deeds, then proceeded to endlessly lecture everyone else according to his stilted sense of morals.

6). He invented a religion where God supposedly created man as incapable of sin-free existence by definition, yet still held man accountable to perfection.

5). He invented a religion which often seems to prey on despair.

4). He invented a religion in which the idea of human free will, which is implied, or necessary for the concept of "sin", cannot be reconciled with God's omniscience, which is necessary for the concept of Jesus "paying the debt" for all sin, future sins included.

3). He invented a religion which makes God look somewhat haphazard, indecisive.... First God picked the Jews, then he "changed boats" in mid-stream, suddenly taking up with the Gentiles.

2). He invented a religion. Actually, that's reason enough, right there.

and, 1). He wore his shoes too tight (as Lightning Rod pointed out, earlier).

Note: Apologies to our Christian friends. I'm joking, of course. Sort of.

[stilltrucking]

I missed the LR/Shoes comment I will have to search for it.



I just wonder who it was that George W Bush met on his road to becoming the leader of the free world? Was it Christ or Satan? I joke of course.
Does it make a difference?
I mean no disrespect to anyone Christ is my metaphor. He lives within me. Satan too, and Buddha, and Jimmy Cricket is my conscience.

Somehow I got the impression that Hitler saw Christianity as a Jewish plot to enslave the superman.

Bt of course Paul was right about women. It is our job to be their boss.

Thinking of of The Big Sleep, the only place I have heard women called "frails"

There are many good people who are Christians, but there are enough zombies to make me shudder at that C word.

[mtmynd]

Good one, mnaz... me gusta mucha!