Sunday, May 11, 2025

The Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas - Saying 2 - Seeking Truth - Presented by Keith Giles

 








Jesus said, 
“Let him who seeks
 not
 cease seeking until he finds.
 When he finds,
 he will become troubled.
 When he becomes troubled,
 he will be astonished,
 and he will reign over the all.”

!!!

Simply put, if you’re not ready to have your assumptions challenged, surrendering your need to be right about everything, your search for Truth is meaningless. If we’re honest, this is where most of us get hung up . We claim to be open-minded, telling ourselves we’re honest seekers of Truth, but what most of us really want is to have our beliefs confirmed rather than challenged. As long as we’re unwilling to admit up front that we might be wrong about everything, we cannot sincerely consider ourselves to be seekers of Truth. If we’re honest, we’ll concede that we have been wrong in the past, we’re likely to be wrong about some things right now, and are therefore capable of being wrong again in the future. 
If we can let go of our need to be right, then and only then can we begin our search for Truth. Because, let’s face it, if you already have the Truth, there’s no need to seek for it, is there? Our desire to know Truth must begin with an admission of ignorance. As Socrates famously said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing.” 
So, let us begin our journey by confessing our ignorance, embracing the great Mystery of God as an endlessly unfolding discovery of a Being beyond our feeble imaginations. As the saying here begins, “Let him who seeks not cease seeking until he finds…” and this is our biggest challenge: we give up the search much too quickly. Too often we hear a sermon, or read a book, accepting answers given to us by our spiritual gurus without question. 
But what Jesus urges us to do here is to keep an open mind, hold loosely to our beliefs, and never allow the cement to dry. Let us “not cease seeking.” 
Even when we think we have found the answers, there are always more things to know and to learn as we grow and mature. We must allow ourselves to be transformed by the Truth that is higher, and wider, and longer, and deeper than we can possibly imagine. How do we know when we have found Truth? 
Jesus says we’ll know we’ve found the Truth because “when [we] find [it], [we] will become troubled.” 
Are you troubled by the Truth? Or does it comfort you? If the Truth you have received doesn’t at first trouble you, perhaps you have not yet known the Truth at all. Perhaps you have simply found a comforting lie that affirms all of your preconceived ideas about yourself and about God. If the Truth is going to transform you, it must first trouble you and disturb your personal status quo. Once you have been troubled by the Truth, you will experience astonishment. 
As Jesus says, “When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished.” That sense of awe and wonder is what many of us are lacking in our spiritual experience today. Why? Because we believe we already know all the answers and have everything figured out. We are not astonished, we are immune to awe, we have no pervading sense of wonder or mystery when it comes to God. Yet, how foolish can we be? How could we possibly encounter a Being who is beyond imagination—the One who dwells in unapproachable light; who spoke the Universe into existence, whose “name is too wonderful” for us to even speak—without falling to our knees in absolute astonishment and breathless wonder? 
Do we have God in a box, or bound in a book? If so, what we think of God is not God. As St. Augustine said, “We can know what God is not, but we cannot know what God is. God is best known in not knowing God.” Think about that: “God is best known in not knowing God.” Do you have this sense of the impenetrable mystery of God within your heart? Are you overwhelmed with the transcendent majesty of the Divine? When you think of God, do you imagine a Being whose very nature is too marvelous for our minds to contain? If not, why not? Have you settled for a God who can be defined, explained, outlined, and summarized within the narrow framework of your religious system? If so, what you have may be understandable and describable, but one thing you do not have is any idea who God actually is. Once we embrace the boundless mystery of the Divine, then and only then can we begin our journey. 
We begin by seeking without ceasing. We continue by becoming troubled by what we find. We allow ourselves to be challenged, astonished, awed. We then reach a place where we are consumed by the Great Mystery, entering a place of rapturous surrender where, as the Apostle Paul puts it, we find ourselves “seated with Christ in Heavenly places.” 
This place is where, as Jesus tells us here in Saying 2, we “reign over the all.” Please note, the phrase actually says: “…he will reign over the all,” not that he will reign over all. Our spiritual epiphanies do not position us in hierarchical authority over other people. This is not what Jesus suggests here. When Jesus tells us that those who ceaselessly seek Truth are troubled, and then astonished, the end result is that we become One with this Truth—with the Divine One—and in that moment we realize that we are connected to all things, even as all things are connected to us. To “reign over the all” is to realize that “the all” is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be. There is no “us and them.” There is only “Us.” Other translations of this saying add “and having reigned he will rest” to the end of this sentence. To rest, in this context, is to accept the peace that comes from the realization that striving is useless, that anxiety and fear are illusions, and that our Oneness with God is unbroken. As the Apostle Paul encourages us: “Nothing will ever separate us from the love of God. Not trouble or hardship. Not persecution or famine. Not danger, nakedness or the sword. Not angels, nor demons, not the future, nor the past, nor any powers, or anything else in all Creation shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is for us in Christ.” [Rom. 8:35-39] 
We are One with God in Christ: “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” [1 John 4:16] This is the Truth that both troubles us, astonishes us and transforms us. It is the Truth that has no boundary—no beginning and no end—and it is the Truth that leads us to ultimate rest and an awareness of our Oneness with God, and all things, everywhere. 
!!!

I have been reading this book over the last few months and am almost finished, but I feel it is time to introduce all of you to the book... First, I want to share that I am constantly amazed of all that is available through the YouTube site. There you will find somthing on just about anything you want to know. And many have established a place for you to learn and share with those individuals. Keith Giles, author of the book being discussed, is one of them. I recommend that you seek him out there since there is a wealth of information, as well as, it seems, videos that can be used instead of this book... 

I found that I prefer my own copy so I can highlight and makes notes. In fact, I had already purchased The Gospel of Thomas  but I'm finding this book much more informative... In fact, I've wondered if there were not multiple documents written and maintained by Thomas... If he indeed was the recorder of all that Jesus said, then surely there could be an extensive collection which could be found as time goes by. 

One thing I did appreciate is that Giles had made a comparative analysis of what was said and ultimately published in the Bible, as provided in Matthew, Mark Luke and John... After all, given that over 2000 years have gone by and much study and research has occurred, we can, and are encouraged, to know that each of us must continue to seek Truth in each of our lives. And, in my opinion, each of us may ultimately have learned something that nobody else knows--simply because we have been in communication with God...

I have read many books by many different writers, each having written their own experiences. Some have become a separate place of worship... Some have been a single experience of authors and others reviewed here. I truly believe that, even at my age, I will never stop learning more about the true and powerful connection that each of us has with God. If we only recognize that we are indeed "as One..." But I believe that is between you and God as to when that happens, don't you think?

We have once again seen just how many choose to use religion either to promote fear, hate, or prejudice against others who are different in some way... However, if we truly believe that God created us, that means, in my opinion, that there is no way to "use" religion to claim that one group, or even one person, is different and must be treated differently based upon that belief. As Spock would say, "that is illogical."

So, I find it especially important to today, as people are being "disappeared" or murdered either by war or by lack of food, based upon the opinions of a few that we must acknowledge that is not what God wants... I was therefore thankful that another Pope was chosen who will be working to ensure that all people are recognized in all ways needed to ensure God's will for this world


And he has already spoken out about the U.S. Presidency...



And may the world work to support the protestors in America and across the world who are speaking out against what is being done to destroy our democracy and our constitution! As well as Ukraine and so many other wars now underway to separate and divide! We must understand that God's Truth--loving one another--is the only Truth and Power that will bring Peace!





God Bless Us All!
Gabby

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