{"id":10203,"date":"2024-07-12T21:35:26","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T21:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/keithgiles\/?p=10203"},"modified":"2024-07-12T21:35:26","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T21:35:26","slug":"inner-circle-discovering-ourselves-in-one-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/keithgiles\/2024\/07\/inner-circle-discovering-ourselves-in-one-another\/","title":{"rendered":"INNER CIRCLE: Discovering Ourselves in One Another"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\u00a0<\/p>\n
IMAGE: Keith Giles [MidJourney]<\/figcaption><\/figure>I want to say a few things about the language found in Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Truth (GoT) regarding the interaction between Christ and those who \u201cdiscover him in themselves\u201d even as he \u201cdiscovered them in himself.\u201d\n
This language speaks to the paradox of separation and oneness. Our discovery of Christ within ourselves and Christ\u2019s discovery of us in him, or of Jesus\u2019s discovery of both the Christ and us in himself [and vice versa], is crucial to understanding the text.<\/p>\n
As we see in the Gospel of Thomas, there is no \u201cinside or outside\u201d or \u201cupper or lower\u201d or \u201cmale or female\u201d or any other form of separation. Those are illusions which prevent us from seeing the reality of our shared Divinity and Humanity in the Christ.<\/p>\n
\n
The GoT uses the metaphor of the body of Jesus being \u201cnailed to a tree\u201d to become \u201cthe fruit of the Father\u2019s knowledge\u201d as a way to explain how we \u201ccome into being\u201d and \u201cfind contentment within [this] discovery\u201d of our shared Divinity and Humanity.<\/p>\n
This is when both Jesus and those who engage in a Eucharistic \u201ceating of his flesh\u201d discover themselves within one another and it\u2019s also when we discover the Father, \u201cthe uncontainable [and] the unknowable Father\u2026who is full and made all things.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, there are two awakenings here \u2013 the one Jesus experiences of us in himself, and the one we experience of Jesus [or the Christ] in us. But there is another awakening of ourselves to the reality that this Divine connection also reveals the \u201cunknowable\u201d and \u201cuncontainable Father\u201d within all of us.<\/p>\n
This is why, in Chapter 5, the author of this Gospel feels the need to explain that \u201c(although) he kept their fullness within himself\u2026the Father was not jealous.\u201d Because our fullness was in Christ, and this fullness was kept within him.<\/p>\n
Why? Because, as he says, \u201cFor if the generations had received their fullness, they would not be able to come to the Father. [So], he kept their fullness within himself, giving it to them to bring back to him with full, unified knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s in play here is a sort of dance where our lack of fullness leads us to seek fullness and that fullness is found only in Christ, whose fullness is found in us. Does that make sense? He\u2019s suggesting that the fullness we desired was what led us to Christ and that, in turn, led us to receive our fullness in Christ and, therefore, also the Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our forgetfulness is what leads us to seek the answers, and that searching is what leads us to find the Answer which was within us all along; his fullness is us, and our fullness in Christ which is the same fullness of the Father \u201cwho is full and made all things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 5 ends with this beautiful retelling of what Jesus accomplished and why:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe became a guide, at rest and at leisure. He came into their midst and spoke a teacher\u2019s words in places of learning. Those thinking themselves wise tested him, but he reproached them because they were empty and hated him for they were not truly wise. After all these, the little children came \u2013 those to whom knowledge of the Father belongs. When they had been strengthened, they learned about the Father\u2019s face. They knew and they were known, they were glorified and they glorified.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
So, the wise were unable to see the Father\u2019s face because they were seeking a wisdom of intellect [epistime] which leads to pride and the inflation of the Ego which leads to separation. However, the little children are the ones who come to Jesus and they know [ginosko] the Father which is expressed beautifully as the simple reality of gazing upon the loving face of the Father which leads them to know and to be known in ways that transcend knowledge and intellect.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The newest book from Keith Giles, \u201cThe Quantum Sayings of Jesus: Decoding the Lost Gospel of Thomas\u201d releases TODAY on Amazon. Order\u00a0HERE><\/a><\/p>\n
Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and\u00a0John Fugelsang\u2019s<\/a> \u201cTell Me Everything.\u201d He co-hosts The God Squad Podcast<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0and the\u00a0Heretic Happy Hour Podcast<\/a>.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 I want to say a few things about the language found in Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Truth (GoT) regarding the interaction between Christ and those who \u201cdiscover him in themselves\u201d even as he \u201cdiscovered them in himself.\u201d This language speaks to the paradox of separation and oneness. Our discovery of Christ within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3089,"featured_media":10206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,419,573,420],"tags":[39,89,29,421,35],"class_list":["post-10203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cosmic-christ","category-gnostics","category-gospel-of-truth","category-inner-circle","tag-christ","tag-gospel","tag-jesus","tag-premium","tag-scripture"],"yoast_head":"\nINNER CIRCLE: Discovering Ourselves in One Another<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" I want to say a few things about the language found in Chapter 4 of the Gospel of Truth (GoT) regarding the interaction between Christ and those\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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