(no subject)

Eventually, one of these days, at some point, maybe, kinda, I'll start coalescing all of the scattered thoughts and insights I've been gathering over the past couple of years and write a book -- or, heck, even a webpage or something -- covering some of the stuff I've learned about Gnosticism. Despite the fact that existing Gnostic texts are obscure, unreadable, ancient texts, I think they point to something that is really very relevant to the situation many people find themselves in today.

So far all I have are a bunch of disjointed ideas I've written in small posts or emails and even a couple of sermons. But when it comes to sitting down and actually writing something from start to finish -- so far I'm just too resistant to it. It frustrates me, though, to realize that I can't impose some sort of conscious order on the process. I'm only going to have so much time on Earth, and damn it, I have a lot to say. I can't just let my subconscious continue dictating the way this all "bubbles out." Or can I?

I'm pretty jazzed about this book I just picked up yesterday. A user on Beliefnet made a quote from this book and it so interested me I ordered it right away: The Hidden Gospel by Neil Douglas-Klotz. The author is a student of Sufism and Aramaic and has attempted to recapture what was lost when the teachings of Jesus were translated from Aramaic to Greek for writing in the Gospels. Since the original Aramaic sayings are lost forever there is a lot of conjecture on his part -- he is working from the Peshitta version of the NT which is probably a re-translation of the Greek into Aramaic.

But even so, if even a fourth of what he's presented in this book is accurate, it still forces a total re-evaluation of the way Jesus' teachings should be read.

For example, he takes the famous passage John 14:6 ("I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes unto the Father, but by me"), examines the deeper dimensions implied by each of the Aramaic words, and re-renders the verse as follows:

The "I am" is the path,
the sense of right direction,
and the life force to travel it.
Simple presence illuminates what's ahead,
frees our choices,
and connects us to nature's power.
No one comes into rhythm with the breathing life of all,
the sound and atmosphere that created the cosmos,
except through the breathing, sound, and atmosphere
of another embodied "I"
connected to the ultimate "I am."

This is powerful stuff, and I'm already seeing its influence on my ways of thinking about the Gnostic material.