is not one of the four standard books in the New Testament. However, there were many more gospels and books on Jesus’s teaching that were lost when the church leaders decided which books to use in the New Testament. “The Gospel According to Thomas” was discovered again in Nag Hammadi and is part of the “The Nag Hammadi Library.”
In our case though, we want books with instructions that can help us to deepen our meditations, and can point us to higher ground. Therefore we welcome the discovery of the “The Nag Hammadi Library.”
So where can you go? Could you understand the essential teachings of Jesus or any other Sage from any religion and not taste death? The answer is an unqualified yes. But before we go into detail on how this is possible, I want to introduce the path of knowledge.
The Path of Knowledge
Most spiritual practices in the United States, where I live, are based on the path of devotion, sometimes called the path of the heart. Devotion is based on faith. It is a perfectly valid practice for transcending death or for finding the place of life and happiness. However, there is another way that although less known is just as valid. It is a way for those who prefer reason and knowledge to faith; a way for those who ask lots of questions; for those who find that belief is accompanied by an equal portion of doubt.
This way is the path of knowledge, or the path of wisdom. In Sanskrit it is called Jnana and in Christianity it is called Gnosticism. In the path of knowledge the tools used are reason, knowledge, and questioning. Maybe this is why Saint Thomas was called “doubting Thomas.”
For Gnostics, those on the path of knowledge, reason and questioning are the fuel that powers them beyond the usual bounds of body and mind. For a Gnostic it is easier to step beyond these boundaries when their doubts get answered.
Gnostics use words as pointers. Their focus is on finding where the words point and not on the words themselves. If I told you that the crescent moon was particularly beautiful today and you asked me, “Where is the moon?” I could point to a tree and say, “See where two trees grow out of one trunk. Look between these two trees towards the hill and follow the hill to the very top. Then continue looking up and just above the peak of the hill you will see the moon.”
If, however, you look at my finger or continue to look at the trees or the hill, you will miss the beauty of the moon. Similarly, if you just look at these words and beautiful logical syllogisms, and forget to look at where they point, you will miss the mysterious beauty that exists right at your own center.
However, even as I was, I think you will be amazed at how detailed the path of knowledge is and how reason can point so clearly to the experience of infinity. Yes, that’s right, infinity, for when you see a path that can propel you to infinity, you can clearly see if there are any limitations to other paths.
You can even follow other paths, or use other techniques, but you will see clearly where these paths will take you and where they won’t. You won’t step on a crocodile to cross a river, or attempt to drink water from a mirage, or attempt to take a hot shower by turning on the cold water. This is the beauty of setting a benchmark of infinity for your meditation practice.
If you set your sights on that which is free from limitation and suffering, you will not stop short. You will continue your climb until you reach the summit. The sign of the summit is in the freedom that you feel.
But how can you ever get to infinity? In the next chapter, “How can I ever get to infinity?” we will show you the surprising answer to this question.
How can I ever get to infinity?
With that being said let’s get to the heart of this thing. What can you do to get to infinity? The answer is that you can’t do anything. There is no way that a person limited by time and space taking limited actions can ever get to infinity. Limitation plus limitation never adds up to infinity.
Then maybe you can stop doing something? A limited person who stops doing any number of actions will also not get to infinity. Why, because limitation minus limitation cannot add up to, or subtract down to infinity. Well then, since you can’t do anything or not do anything, how can you get to infinity?
Can you think something or stop thinking something? No, this still won’t work. A limited person thinking anything, no matter how expansive the thoughts may be, will not get him or her to infinity. Similarly, stopping your thinking can only last for a limited time, so it won’t take you to infinity either.
Fortunately there is a way out of this quandary. If you are already infinity, if infinity is your very core, then you could reach infinity, not by doing anything or thinking anything in particular but by knowing yourself. There is no energy strong enough to blast you into infinity. You cannot concentrate yourself into infinity, or purify yourself into infinity. The only option you have is to discover what’s right before your eyes, your own Consciousness.
Right now we are like a drunken person who was looking for his keys under a street lamp. When an old man came by and asked, “Where did you lose your keys?” he said, “Over there on the sidewalk.” “Then why are you looking for them here?” the old man asked. “Because it’s too dark to see them over there on the sidewalk,” the drunken man said. If you hope to find infinity, you have to look right where you lost it, and you will see that’s right where you actually experience it.
But are you sure of this? Remember this is a path for doubters, so the obvious question is “How can I possibly be infinity?” I am glad that you asked. In the next chapter, “Then who am I anyway” we will show you.
Then who am I?
Here’s the problem: How can you be infinity when you feel like a regular person; a person who goes to work where you’re the teacher or the engineer. You come home where you’re the father or mother to your children. When you visit your mother you’re a son or daughter to your mother. You sit down tired after a hard day and read the newspaper, eat dinner, watch a little TV, do some work, kiss your spouse good night and then go to bed. After work, three days a week you go to various classes where you are a student. In all of this how can you say that you are infinity?
Yes, in the morning you might try to meditate only to end up thinking about what you have to do today. So maybe you try watching your breath, and then you forget after a few minutes. Where in all this could you possibly be infinite?
Right here is the starting point for the person of Knowledge. Without puffing themselves up or putting themselves down they can take an honest look at where they stand. That’s why I think it is said that the ordinary mind is the Tao. Without the need for any special image, you have the potential to stand free without any image at all. I know for sure that without any image to uphold and maintain, life gets very relaxing and you get very free.
I mention this because this investigation is supposed to be experiential. How can it be experiential if you don’t start with what you experience? After a thorough investigation, you get excited as you see that you are in a deeper place than you had ever imagined. Then your experience of life changes, right from the core. Indeed, the amazing thing about Self-Knowledge is that it will change your experience in ways that you never thought possible. Know yourself in a deeper way, and your experience of life changes.
I point out how vast and experiential this meditation is so you don’t take these pointers as intellectual exercises. Rather once you are satisfied that Self-Knowledge is a worthwhile goal, put in the energy to see fully where these words point. This is not physical energy or even mental energy, but the energy to question the things you take to be just normal, and the energy
