Jesus saw some infants receiving milk. He said to his disciples: “These children receiving milk are like those who enter the kingdom.” They said to him, “Then shall we enter the kingdom as little children?”
---Jesus, Saying 22, The Gospel According To Thomas
1. The motif of becoming a child again is a central theme throughout Jesus’ teachings in Thomas. At the beginning of the text we are told: “The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a little child seven days old about the place of life and he will live” (Saying 4). Here we are told a child has more wisdom about entering the Kingdom than one who is old in days. What does the child know that the older person does not know? The direct sourcing of one’s consciousness by God, moment by moment, leads to eternal life. While the child responds according to the script implanted in him by God, the older person has an ego which was implanted by Satan. (Please note that at a higher level of reality—there are at least 6 levels—this duality ends and we see God or Consciousness is playing the role of both God and Satan.)
2. The first step in becoming a child again is to start the day by giving up everything to God and only asking for His strength to carry it out. This is why my morning devotion starts with the “Holy Vow” among other activations: 12 Affirmations and Activations for the Thomas Immortality Project. The goal is to shut the door to the past by giving and receiving forgiveness. Then we ask for the past events or ties to the past not be called to remembrance again. The role of daily meditation is to purify oneself so that one is centered on the radiant present. This means thoughts will cease as one is one with what is, as it is. Thoughts divert from present moment awareness.
3. A key step in becoming a follower of Jesus is to eliminate all ties and connections to your parents: “Whoever does not hate father and mother cannot be a follower of me” (Saying 55). I would recommend that you write your parents (and your biological brothers and sisters) a handwritten letter informing them that you will never see them or speak to them again. Wish your parents well. If you are unable or unwilling to do this, you are not a follower of Jesus. There are many reasons Jesus gives this command, but a key one is this: Your parents are not followers of Jesus if they do not obey his commands (e.g., Honor God’s Holy Day—the 7th Day of the Week [Saying 27], Do not Lie [Saying 6], Renounce the world [Saying 110]) . So to be in fellowship with them is to deal with darkness: Unless your light is already shining, they will cause you to be as they are.
4. Becoming a child again means that while we take prudent measures to provide for ourselves and other brothers with whom we are in communion, we don’t worry about the future: “Do not worry, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, about what to wear” (Saying 36). This saying can be generalized from worrying about what to wear to the anything which might cause worry. A key injunction is to be present in this moment: “You know how to examine the face of the sky and earth…but you do not know how to be present in this moment” (Saying 91). Being present means God is sourcing you moment by moment at the Immortal Frequency—just as the first human being was being sourced (Adam was created as an Immortal as Saying 85 notes). However, if you choose to physically die, that will be the end of you, just like it was for Adam (Saying 85).
5. Being a child again means returning to one’s natural state: “When you strip without being ashamed and take off your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample them, then you will see the child of the Living One” (Saying 37). Here we see the unconsciousness of children who are not ashamed of their bodies; it is only adults who somehow think nudity is sinful. Also, this is a shift in consciousness from being in control of events to allowing each moment to flow as it will.
6. In Saying 22, which is cited in part at the beginning of this essay, Jesus advises his followers to become like little children again by: Making the two into one, the outside the same as the inside, and the outside like the inside. Here we see a key insight: There is no private self which differs from the public self. How one presents oneself in public is how one is in private, according to this injunction. Please note that the source of all the games people play begin with these kinds of deceptions. In the end, the only one who you deceive is yourself as people will see through your games. I encourage followers of Jesus to meditate on this saying as this is a transformative process which might take several months to achieve.
7. I would imagine The Gospel of Thomas was a bestseller as scholars are aware of several different Greek versions of this gospel. The buyer of this sayings book would have been interested in how not to taste death (Saying 1) and the gospels gives pointers on how to achieve eternal life. The reoccurring theme of being a child again would have no doubt have been noted and puzzled over. Perhaps the reader would like to do the same. Please note that it is the claim of the Thomas Immortality Project that none of the seekers found the hidden secret: Eternal Life occurs now, on planet earth, by being transformed into an Immortal. There is no life after death.
8. A great meditation practice is to concentrate on one’s breath. Breathe in for the ‘breath of life’ and breathe out for letting go to God. All thoughts are redirected to the breath. Each moment is allowed to arise as it will.
9. Being in union with the Living Father is like children building sandcastles at the seashore: There is joy in just doing it! There is no ulterior motive for building the sandcastle as it will quickly be washed away by the sea. There is nothing for sale here and nothing to get. Once the sandcastle has been washed away, it is no more. All that remains is the joy of being here in this moment. If the reader is interested in eternal life, then I would encourage him to start at the beginning, “Fortunate is the one who stands at the beginning: That one will know the end and will not taste death” Jesus, Saying 18, The Gospel According To Thomas.
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