Gospel of Thomas Saying 102
gnostic ken
gnostic ken
The use of the words dogs and cattle, hint that it may have had a deeper more internal meaning.
Maybe something like, having a firm belief in something is feeding our ego and stopping us getting true spiritual food.
Clive.
Today I tend towards your deeper internal meaning. Our beliefs, our faith, does indeed obstruct our learning.
There is a saying "You can't learn if you already know everything."
When we look for the truth we will find what we are looking for unless we are able to turn loose of our beliefs and at least consider the possibility that we might be wrong. If we can do that then we are open to the truth whatever it might be, not just the truth we are willing to accept.
As Gnostic Tom often says "So little time, so much to unlearn."
IMO.
Ken
gnostic ken
Sun Dec 2, 2012 6:11 pm, Oregon George said:
An ancient Greek fable, attributed to Aesop,
reads as follows:
"A dog lay in a manger, and by his growling
and snapping he prevented the oxen
from eating the hay which had been placed there
for them. `What a selfish dog!'
said one of them to his companions; `he cannot
eat the hay himself, and yet he
refuses to allow those to eat who can.'
There are several versions and various
translations of this fable, but what
generally distinguishes it from the Thomas
version is that the dog growls and
snaps in the manger, whereas in Thomas he
sleeps. In the fable he is a selfish
dog; in Thomas his mere sleeping presence in the
manger is enough to prevent the
oxen from eating. The author apparently chose
this fable and adapted it to
reflect his own distinct perspective.
In GTh 39, the Pharisees and the scribes hide
the keys of knowledge, and not
only do they not enter, they prevent others from
entering. In effect, the same
is said of the Pharisees in this saying. The
keys of knowledge are like the hay
in the manger. The hay is a metaphor for
spiritual nourishment or fodder.
Additionally, in both sayings, the criticism of
the Pharisees is not harsh and
condemning, but rather mild.
The word, "woe," appears in only one
other Thomas saying, GTh 112: "Jesus said,
`Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul; woe
to the soul that depends on the
flesh.'" A very similar saying to that one
is GTh 87 in which the Greek
loan-word for "wretched" is used:
"Jesus said,'Wretched is the body that is
dependent upon a body, and wretched is the soul
that is dependent on these
two.'" Despite this difference, these two
sayings are very similar. The
implication is that the word, "woe" in
Thomas suggests a meaning more like
"wretched" than "damn," as
some translators have maintained. The Pharisees are
wretched because, like the dog, they have no
idea of the wealth on which they
sleep. They are doubly wretched since they
prevent others from partaking of
that wealth, and thereby they deny themselves
the joy of sharing truth. They
are not to be damned; they are asleep. Unlike
the dog, they are not literally
asleep, but spiritually asleep.
For Jesus, the Pharisees represent a contrasting
spiritual authority to his own
teachings. In the New Testament he condemns them
in decidedly violent language.
In this gospel, however, there is no hint of
that kind of malevolence. His
attention to them appears only to highlight his
own teaching in contrast to
theirs. The Pharisaic way is one of strict laws
and precepts in which
salvation is promised for good behavior. It is
salvation deferred in which its
adherents are rewarded for the study and slavish
adherence to the words of
scripture, whether they understand them or not.
His teaching is that truth is
everywhere, waiting only for man to be fully
awake to it. When man awakens to
it, he keeps it, not by saving it for himself,
but by sharing it with all his
fellow creatures. In that way, everyone joins in
the feast, and the wholeness
of creation is affirmed.
Thank you.
George
Corvallis, OR