Abundance of life is determined not alone by one's material possessions, but primarily by one's riches of mind and spirit. A world of truth is contained in these words : " Life is what we are alive to. It is not a length, but breadth. To be alive only to appetite, pleasure, mere luxury or idleness, pride or moneymaking, and not to goodness and kindness, purity and love, history, poetry, and music, flowers, God and eternal hopes, is to be all but dead." RALPH WALDO TRINE
Translations by: Thomas O. Lambdin B.P Grenfell & A.S. Hunt Bentley Layton Commentary by: Craig Schenk
0) These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. 1) And He said, "Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death." 2) Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All." 3) Jesus said, "If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."
BEHOLD how this drop of sea-water Has taken so many forms and names; It has existed as mist, cloud, rain, dew, and mud, Then plant, animal, and perfect man; And yet it was a drop of water From which these things appeared. Even so this universe of reason, soul, heavens, and bodies, Was but a drop of water in its beginning and ending. . . . When a wave strikes it, the world vanishes; And when the appointed time comes to heaven and stars, Their being is lost in not being.
A true lover is proved such by his pain of heart; No sickness is there like sickness of heart. The lover's ailment is different from all ailments; Love is the astrolabe of God's mysteries. A lover may hanker after this love or that love, But at the last he is drawn to the KING of love. However much we describe and explain love, When we fall in love we are ashamed of our words. Explanation by the tongue makes most things clear, But love unexplained is clearer. When pen hasted to write, On reaching the subject of love it split in twain. When the discourse touched on the matter of love, Pen was broken and paper torn. In explaining it Reason sticks fast, as an ass in mire; Naught but Love itself can explain love and lovers! None but the sun can display the sun, If you would see it displayed, turn not away from it. Shadows, indeed, may indicate the sun's presence, But only the sun displays the light of life.
I. THE VESSEL IN WHICH TRANSMUTATION TAKES PLACE 9 II. THE FEMININE ELEMENTS IN MAN AND THEIR REDEEMING POWER 29 III. SPIRITUAL COMPANIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN 45 IV. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD OBTAINABLE THROUGH LOVE PURE AND UNDEFILED 61 V. THE MYSTERY OF TIME AND SPACE 73 VI. THE PEACE THAT PASSETH UNDERSTANDING 85 VII. JUSTICE AND MERCY 95 VIII. ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE SANCTUARY 107 IX. THE ETERNAL LIGHT ACCORDING TO THE QABALAH 121 X. REGENERATION ACCORDING TO THE QABALAH 124 QABALISTIC PRAYER 126
Abundance of life is determined not alone by one's material possessions, but primarily by one's riches of mind and spirit. A world of truth is contained in these words : " Life is what we are alive to. It is not a length, but breadth. To be alive only to appetite, pleasure, mere luxury or idleness, pride or moneymaking, and not to goodness and kindness, purity and love, history, poetry, and music, flowers, God and eternal hopes, is to be all but dead." RALPH WALDO TRINE
