Gospel of Thomas 25

[gnostic ken]

What does this ancient saying mean to you?

25 Jesus said,
"Love your friends like your own soul,
protect them like the pupil of your eye."
.....................

25 Jesus said, "Love your brother like your soul,
guard him like the pupil of your eye."
..........................

25 Love your brother
Like your own soul. Cherish him.
Like the apple of your eye.
........................

25. Y'shua says:
Love thy Brother as thy soul,
protect him as the pupil of thine eye.
..........................

(25) Jesus says:
(1) "Love your brother like your life!
(2) Protect him like the apple of your eye!"
........................

25
Love your sibling
JESUS said, "Love your (sing.) sibling like your own soul;
look out for that person like the apple of your eye."

http://www.westarinstitute.org/Polebridge/Excerpts/thomas.html

http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/nhl_thomas.htm

http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/thomas.htm

http://www.ntgateway.com/noncanonical-texts/gospel-of-thomas/

[gnostic ken]

Sat Dec 13, 2003 1:05 pm, I said:
Assuming the brothers being talked about were fellow Gnostics I see it saying "Us Gnostics need to stick together."

Ken

--Oct 12, 2003, "Steve" ; wrote:
The pupil of the eye is the window to the soul. Be a spiritual
peeping-Tom and realize that we are all the I/eyes of God.-Steve W.

Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:30 pm, Steve said:
The pupil of the eye is traditionally the window to the soul.
We would do well to become spiritual Peeping-Toms and realize
that we are all the I/Eyes of God. Only when we become cognizant
of the fact thar our seemingly separate souls are interconnected
in the One Consciousness can we truly feel sympathy and compassion
untainted by the transactionalism of the calculating ego. Freke
and Gandy mention a meditative exercise whereby two people look
deeply into each other's eyes and try to intuitively connect on the
implicate level of the shared Unitary Consciousness. In doing so,
we go beyond the usual preoccupation with those reflected
phenomena which we mistake for the True Self, to a deeper level
wherein all is Not-Two. Having tasted this One Taste, one becomes
capable of loving one's brother or sister like one's soul, guarding
him or her like the pupil of one's eye.
IMO.
-Steve

Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:48 am, edmondwhlr wrote:
I have found looking both ways at once is helpful also in ones daily walk and
application.

ed

Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:57 pm, Steve answered Ed:
Yes. In fact it is essential, imo.
-Steve

Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:34 pm, I said:
Those of you who know me (on these lists) know I am always going on and on about
how our individuality is illusion created by our physical brain (our personal
demiurge) and how I believe we are all one in other dimensions.

I see this as saying "Take care of each other because you are all one."

IMO.

Ken

Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:43 pm, hmshutton answered:
I'm a newbie who couldn't agree more. Further, I think that, until this
realization is achieved more commonly, we will continue to sully and put the
planet itself at risk.

Thanks for this morning's fun.

Scott Hutton

Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:49 am, I replied to Scott:
I agree it would help our chances if we could realise we are all one, but I do
think Mother can take care of herself. In fact Mother taking care of herself
might cause our extinction if we fail to learn it.

IMO.

Ken

Sun Feb 17, 2008 2:48 am, edmondwhlr wrote:
I have found looking both ways at once is helpful also in ones daily walk and
application.

ed

Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:57 pm, Steve answered Ed:
Yes. In fact it is essential, imo.
-Steve 

Hi Ken
I like the above.
I look at it this way. There are two opposing systems at work, impure forces and Holiness, all coming from one point, the Creator.
I see this life as egoism, a desire for pleasure. and beyond this egoism I see a soul that feels great joy and light when my egoistic desire is towards the system Holiness and when my desire is towards the system of the impure forces, I feel great sadness and heaviness of heart.
I guess this means that I see my soul as the force behind my desire for Spiriuality and its this that is connected to all other souls and belongs to Holiness.
The rest of me, all my other desires belong to the system of impure forces and are something to be seperated from.
My thoughts and current understanding are a work in progress.

1 Apr 11 Clive said:

Hi Ken
I love this saying.
One of the two greatest commandments, "love your neighbour as yourself" struck a chord with me the first time I read it many moons ago, and has always been close to my heart.
To be honest, despite this saying being one I cling to, its so hard.
There are certain people that I can't stand and avoid like the plague, I think this is because I can't practice what I preach when I'm in contact with them, and that makes me feel rotten or maybe better said feel the rotteness of hatred inside me, egoism, that which I want to strip off.
When I pass such people, I smile and wish them well and then put some distance between us as quick as posable.
By avoiding such people though, I'm not correcting my ego, I'm just putting myself in a position where it doesn't manifest itself.
One day soon I'm going to start associating with those I dislike, and by working above my ego I will act in a caring and loving way towards them, thereby correcting my ego.

2 Apr 11 I said:

Taken literally I think it means judge your brother in the same way you judge yourself. If you make excuses for yourself then you should make the same excuses for others, but if you are hard on yourself then don't make excuses for others. It works both ways.

IMO.

Ken

4 Apr 11, I said:

Hi Clive,
I don't see anything human as impure. I think if we go too far into the physical we lose out on wonderful spiritual growth and at the same time going too far into the spirit results out in missing out on equally wonderful physical experiences. IMO the key is balance.

Ken

4 Apr 11, Clive replied:

Hi Ken

I think your probably right in maintaining a balance between these two sides. I think thats where the real I stands, thats where the freedom of choice is, to choose either side or maintain a balance inbetween and observe both.
I'm a bit left and right at the moment, first one leg then the other,often taking many steps a day, perhaps this is what I need to be doing at the moment to walk forward.
I wish I could be balanced inbetween, just observing.

5 Apr 11, I said:

When walking one shifts weight from one leg to the other and then back while moving forward.

My point being one doesn't necessarily lose one's balance when one's weight is shifted to one side or the other.

Ken

5 Apr 11, Clive answered:

Well said Ken.
I must write out 100 times -
Equillibrium, Equilibrium, Equilibrium, Equilibrium, -------

[gnostic ken]

7 Apr 11, Clive said:

Why should we love our friends ?
Is it because in each friend there is a spark of the divine and by loving our friends we connect the sparks and create a higher level of sanctity than we are able to when working only by ouirselves.

8 Apr 11, Clive said:

Another angle on this is that if we focus on love of friends, its one way to annul self love.

If we love ourselves with all our heart, all our soul and all our might. To love our friends as ourselves must mean to love them with all our heart, soul and might.
We are told to love God with all our heart soul and might, but in trying this we can easily decieve ourselves.
If we practice it amongst our friends who are laid out before us, we can get a true measure on how far we have come in annuling self love.

9 Apr 11, I said:

I don't think self love is bad. It's how we survive. Love for our friends, our group, our tribe, is also how our group survives. Again, balance is the key.

Throughout the evolution of human society our concept of our group has been expanding. First it was just the family. Then the tribe, the city, the race and then the nation. In the twentieth century many people's concept of their group expanded to all of humankind, and a few expanded to include animals and a very few to include all life on the planet. Now there is a struggle between expanding to all life and going back to the nation and even to the race. Whether human life continues depends on the outcome of that struggle, IMO.

Ken

9 Apr 11, Clive replied:

I'm with you when you said -" I don't think self love is bad. It's how we survive. Love for our friends, our group, our tribe, is also how our group survives. Again, balance is the key."

Jesus didn't say love your friends not your self, but love your friends as yourself.
I think the confusion came in my use of the word annuling. I didn't mean eradicating.
By annuling I meant to build on top of.
I look at it this way, self love is the ground which is always there, love of friends is a building which has to be erected on top of the ground.

10 Apr 11, I answered:

Hi Clive,

Now I understand what you are saying and I agree.

Ken

[gnostic ken]

Thu Jun 17, 2010 12:49 pm, Sam asid:

Gist of GoT #25

Treat each-expression-of-life* as dear;
to beseech of Golden-rule... adhere.

Consider all-lifekind*... with revere.

* = whatever icon preferred.


itso,
philo