Bring Forth...

What Is Within You

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.”

Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, #70, The secret teachings of Jesus

          According to Elaine Pagels, whose life-long body of research and writing is on the Gnostic Gospels, this is one of the secret teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as conveyed to his disciples. Here is her interpretation:

“I took it to mean that what’s true for you or true for me is something you need to discover for yourself. To believe something, it has to be something that really deeply resonates with your sense of truth, and that’s quite different from what a lot of religious people teach. It has to be experientially true.” (Sam Mowe’s interview with Elaine Pagels in Parabola, Spring 2020, p.79)

          It is not enough, according to her, to memorize, record, and recite scripture. While that may help you to meet the standards of your religious community, it does not make it true, and therefore is an exercise in your ability to memorize only. Experiencing the truth of scripture, or anything else, within your own life and within your own being is what gives it validity.

Some of us have feelings and thoughts about many things that we keep inside of us because they would set us apart from our friends and possibly even our family. We squash them in order to fit in. I think especially of men and women who realize early in life that they are attracted to people of the same gender. Until now, and even now in much of the world, it was unacceptable and even dangerous to express such thoughts and feelings. In order to fit in with the people they loved, they learned to squash them. But, squashing them created a great deal of ambivalence and sometimes even self-loathing within. Such inner dissonance is destructive to body and soul.

There are many such topics and opinions, especially for women in this culture, and in other, more repressive cultures around the world, that are forbidden and require suppression. Women learn early what is unacceptable in whichever culture they inhabit, and they hold their secret thoughts within. Many a woman aborts her grand ideas and suppresses her genius to maintain the peace within her own household. We can do it, but it will stymie our growth and undermine our health.

Pagels expresses it this way:

“The people who thrive and are creative and expressive and strong are the people who allow those things to emerge. I’m thinking of artists, for example, musicians, poets, and politicians. You can see when the work comes out of deep conviction.”

In order to thrive, and to live fully in the world, each of us must bring forth what is within us—what is true to our nature, and expressive of our essence. When we do that, there are no limitations to what is possible.

                                        In the Spirit,

                                        Jane