Synopsis "The Gospel of Thomas: with Comments"
The Gospel of Thomas was discovered in 1945 in a cave near the village of Nag Hamadi. It is the most significant document among the documents found there, because it, like the "Source Q" - which was processed by the evangelists Matthew and Luke especially in the Sermon on the mountain (Mt) or on the field (Lk) prefabricated - goes back to the historical Jesus, and so even older than the oldest Gospel of Mark. It offers an insight into the teaching of Jesus in his inner circle, whose most important member was Mary Magdalene. His relationship and the meaning of Mary Magdalene, apart from her role as her companion and muse, lies above all in her understanding of his teachings. A similar master-disciple relationship is reported in the following history of Buddha: "When the Buddha was in the Grdhrakuta Mountains, he turned a flower between his fingers and held it out to his listeners, everyone was silent except for Maha-Kashapa Revelation, though he tried to control his face, Buddha said, "I have the eye of true teaching, the heart of nirvana, the true aspect of the non-form, and the flawless flow of the Dharma, not in words, but in words This teaching has been given to Maha-Kashapa. "The teachings focused on personal knowledge (gnosis) and enlightenment were not included in the canonical gospels, either because the church did not seek enlightenment but dependency Mary Magdalene the only one who understood Jesus was sidelined, and the gospel of Thomas was branded gnostic by the Church arctic, thus heretical, although it is neither gnostic nor heretical. It is only more primitive and thus more holistic and experiential than the scriptures handed down to us from the biblical collection. It is a great gift to our time. However, his statements to the untrained mind are not easy to understand because his language is too foreign to speak of a state of mind that goes deeper, wider, and higher than the scattered awareness of the everyday Western spirit. This book by Peter Bernhard introduces the reader to this different way of thinking and understanding. The disciple of this book learns to live in the paradox, to transcend the ego and to find within himself, in the vastness of the inner heart, God. This is just the first step of awakening. The second step is to expand and bring this closeness to God as Jesus wanted it from His disciples. The pupil should no longer spread the "gospel", no longer doctrinal doctrines, but the good news of the unity of the Spirit in God, which leads to compassion, caring, love. In this way, new communities can emerge that are no longer based on ecclesiastical or spiritual hierarchy, but on equal coexistence. This is how human society can be reinvented.
