Support this effort to give people the truth about the reality of the afterlife by contributing $6 for a membership.
The Gospel of Thomas, found at Nag Hammadi in Egypt and likely written in the late first or early second century, is considered the most significant ancient text from the site. It presents a collection of 114 sayings spoken by Yeshua. It contains no miracles, no Christmas story, and most notably, not a word about his being a god who was crucified and resurrected.
Instead, Yeshua reveals the profound truth that within each of us is the divine “light” that is our true nature when all the Earth-realm facades are stripped away. As long as we do not realize this divine nature, we remain trapped in the material world that seduces us into ignorant beliefs about life and the afterlife. In this series of videos, I explain the meanings of the sayings with a 21st century understanding of the nature of reality, the life after this life, and our spiritual nature.
Explanations of sayings 11 through 20 from the Gospel of Thomas are in this video. Links to the videos with the other 104 teachings are in the descriptions below. This is the eleventh saying.
The theme of this saying is the reality of life after this life in the realm called by some Heaven, by others Summerland. All the realms are states of mind we enter as a normal, natural part of our development. “This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away,” Yeshua says, “but the dead are not alive and the living will not die.” Earth is a spiritual realm, just as the next life is a spiritual realm. It isn’t that this is life and the next realm is the afterlife, as though what we are living in now is the real life and the next is an afterthought.
In the spiritual realm we currently inhabit, there are only the mind and experiences that we perceive as matter, energy, and consciousness. The next realm is also matter, energy, and consciousness, just in a different focus. We change to the next life by changing focus, rather like looking at a sunset and then turning around to look at a waterfall. The sunset and waterfall are in one realm, but with different focuses. So we can enter Heaven here by changing our focus while still on Earth.
The abundance of Heaven is here, now, if we open ourselves to it. Yeshua stated repeatedly that Heaven is within us. It is a state of mind. So when he says “this Heaven,” he refers to our state of mind now. When he refers to the Heaven above this Heaven, he is referring to the life after this life. We will go from the next life into the life after it, and then on to the life after that life. We will continue to grow through eternity, from one state of mind or Heaven to the next, without end.
When Yeshua says “the dead are not alive, and the living will not die,” he is saying our bodies will be dead, but we will be alive, living happily in the next realm, traditionally called “Heaven.” He says, “When you physically eat, what you eat becomes alive because it nourishes the body. Then, when we enter the Kingdom of Heaven here, as a state of mind, we come to dwell in the light while still on Earth. We were one individual living on Earth, but then we became the Earth dweller and the Heaven dweller, both in one person.”
His final question, “When you become two, what will you do?” asks the listener to consider what life will be like when we have entered the Kingdom of Heaven here. We will still be Earth residents, but will enjoy all the fruits of Heaven. He is asking the listeners to consider what life will be like for them when they live with Heaven as part of their nature. That goal of our lives is what he leaves the listener with in this saying. When we attain that goal now, we will live life in love, peace, and joy with all others.
James the righteous or James the just was Yeshua’s brother on Earth. In response to the disciples’ question about who their leader will be when Yeshua goes on to the life after this life, he refers to James, but refines his statement by expanding the identity of James from a single person into the symbol of the entire human race, for whose sake we have an Earth realm and will have the Heaven realm we will all enter. People often ask us whether the Earth will end, perhaps in a conflagration when the Sun expands into a red giant as it exhausts its hydrogen fuel and begins to burn helium. In this scenario, as the Sun expands, it will engulf Mercury, then Venus, then Earth. But that’s all just part of the scenery of this life given to us so we can grow in love, compassion, and wisdom. Earth exists in the mind of God, Our Universal Intelligence. Earth and the cosmos are only experiences we have as we grow mentally and spiritually. They do not exist independent of us. There is no Earth spinning through an insensate universe of matter and energy. There are only the experiences we have in our one focus we call Earth. We are dreaming the same dream together. If no one were having this dream, no one would refer to Earth experiences. It isn’t that Earth would stop existing as a rock in space. It is only that everyone would be having their experiences in other realms. So Yeshua is saying we are having Earth experiences because they are being given to us. It is for our sake that heaven and earth came into being. James is being used as the representation of humanity at the point of time after Yeshua’s transition to the next realm. The disciples are to go to James to continue bringing Yeshua’s message to humanity.
Yeshua said, “I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out.” And he took him and withdrew and told him three things.
When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, “What did Yeshua say to you?” Thomas said to them, “If I tell you one of the things which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.”
Yeshua intends to teach the disciples truths about his identity and the Earth realm. He sets up the teaching by asking them to compare him to someone and explain why they have chosen that person, an opening anyone familiar with experiential learning will recognize as the way to introduce new concepts to trainees. Simon Peter compares Yeshua to a righteous angel and Matthew to a wise philosopher. Thomas dodges the question. Yeshua then begins his teaching. He says he is not their master, meaning he is not in control of their thinking and feeling. He certainly is not a god. He continues by saying, “You have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out.” The disciples have lost sight of Yeshua’s teaching because of their awe at his person, what he teaches, and what he does. He withdraws with them to sober them up with teachings that, unfortunately, are not shared with us. However, we have a clear sense of what he taught them. It is so revolutionary, Thomas says, that people would stone him if they heard him voice the teachings. But the truth has life in it, regardless of people’s violent reactions to it. Eventually, that truth will consume the listeners, and ultimately all of humanity. For us today, those who speak these truths are insulted and demeaned. People throw verbal stones at them. But the detractors don’t realize that eventually these truths will inflame the world, as Yeshua stated in another saying. The flames of this revolution in human understanding will burn up the primitive notions of those now throwing the stones because of their ignorance.—
They are not to teach those listening to them to fast, pray, and give money to the poor. Instead, they must teach the truth Yeshua is explaining: that people enter the Kingdom of Heaven that is within when they have love and compassion for others in their hearts. Loving, compassionate words from their mouths are what have value. They come naturally from their state of being loving and compassionate. Conversely, words that chastise listeners for not following the doctrines, commandments, and restrictions valued by the speaker, condemning listeners for their lifestyles and actions, will defile the speaker.
People are socialized to believe that we are our bodies and the contents of our lives. If someone asks, “Who are you?” we may provide our gender, name, occupation, citizenship, and other characteristics of our lives in Earth School. We may also say, “I am Dorothy’s son” or “I am Mike and Mary Carpenter’s daughter.” But we are none of those things. Who we are is not anything that can be identified with the Earth realm, including the identity of a birth mother. We are eternal beings having a temporary physical existence with a body, parents, and personal attributes that are part of the Earth realm only. They are parts of the roles we play in this drama on Earth. Our eternal self is one with Our Universal Intelligence. It was not born of a woman. That eternal self is our father. Yeshua was saying our true nature is eternal beings, one with Our Universal Intelligence. We must not get caught up in the affairs of Earth. The Earth identity is not who we are.
Yeshua realized that he was bringing truths about life that would sow turmoil. We are seeing that today. We who are dedicated to helping people understand we are eternal beings having a temporary physical existence, and our loved ones are alive in the afterlife and are anxious to communicate, are seen by many as spreading misinformation or committing outright fraud. These views are fueled by media portrayals and societal stigmas, causing dissension. And the Christian church today opposes the understanding of Yeshua’s meaning in the sayings. At the same time, factions in world religions are inciting war and bloodshed. In this passage, Yeshua is saying that his message will spark conflict among nations and within families. If there are five in a house, two may believe we are eternal beings who will live on after our body dies and that our loved ones are available to communicate, but three may either insist there is no life after this life or may believe the teachings of a religion, at times with violence and bloodshed. But in the end, those opposing belief systems will stand solitary. There will be no agreement among them. Our challenge is to bring this truth to humankind fearlessly so eventually all people come to understand and believe it. But the interpretation of Yeshua’s teachings presented in the Gospel of Thomas will be actively opposed by institutions within Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
Yeshua knew his message was unique. His teachings in the Gospel of Thomas are being understood for the first time in humanity’s history. No eye has seen these teachings, no ear has heard them, and no hand has touched them. His teachings and our growing understanding that we will never die are causing a revolution in our perspective on ourselves and others. Yeshua predicted changes in humanity we are witnessing today. He knew what he was teaching would contribute to the change.
When his disciples asked him what would happen at the end of their lives, Yeshua rebuked them, saying they were asking about the end of life, but they didn’t yet understand why they had begun their lives on Earth. Without understanding our beginning, it is impossible to understand what will happen when our lives end. Yeshua ends with the answer to their question: “You will not experience death.” He was saying we are eternal beings who will never die. At the end of our life, we will transition easily and comfortably into the next stage of our eternal existence. When we know that we began life on Earth to learn lessons, grow in love and compassion, and enjoy life, we will understand our graduation into the next life at the end of this life, which will occur when we have accomplished the goals we set out to achieve in this life. This message is the same as Confucius’ response when asked about death. He replied, “How do you ask about death when you do not yet understand life?”
Yeshua is saying that when the listeners become his disciples by understanding his words, all of creation will open up to them. Understanding the nature of the physical realm, the stones, will bring them to an understanding of why they have incarnated on Earth. When they understand, they will realize that they existed before they were born into the Earth plane. We came into being in a physical form when we incarnated onto Earth. Yeshua concludes by repeating what he has stated in other sayings, that a whole realm exists in the next life waiting for us. There are beautiful trees that never lose their leaves because there is no freezing winter. Yeshua concludes by saying that when the disciples understand these truths, they will not fear the death of the body, because there is no death and there are no dead.
Yeshua is saying that knowing we are eternal beings who will never die is a simple, easy-to-understand concept that has profound, life-changing effects. It is like a mustard seed. When people understand the simple truth that we do not die, their lives are transformed. They experience a metanoia, a change of heart and mind that causes them to view themselves, others, and this world differently. This single seed of understanding that we are eternal beings having a physical experience grows into a magnificent tree of revolutionary changes in our lives. It enables people to live with others in love, peace, and joy. Ultimately, it will allow all of humanity to live in peace and love.
Conclusion
These teachings by Yeshua bar Yosef have been lost in today’s Christian church, which bases its doctrines on narrow interpretations of the four canonical gospels. The Nag Hammadi Gnostic documents teach clearly that Christians may communicate directly with the divine without the intervening control of a church. Yeshua’s mission was to show humanity the way that would lead to enjoying lives filled with love, peace, and joy. We are just now realizing this wonderful message in the Gnostic writings that was lost for 2,000 years.
