INNER CIRCLE: Show Me The Stone

SAYING 66: Jesus said: “Show me the stone which the builders rejected; it is the cornerstone.”

In other words, the ideas everyone else – “the builders” – have all rejected, those are the ideas we need to not only reconsider, but allow to become our foundation for reality.

The common, everyday way of thinking that has become the status quo of our world is what Jesus says we need to reject in favor of that cornerstone idea that almost no one considers worthy of consideration.

In fact, the only reality that actually exists is the one established on the cornerstone. All others are false and imaginary.

BONUS: This saying is fairly short so enjoy this extra saying from Thomas on the house:
SAYING 67: Jesus said: “He who knows the All, [and] fails to know himself, misses everything.”

This saying is widely considered by many scholars to be one of the most difficult – some would say “incomprehensible” – sayings in the entirety of this Gospel.

On the one hand, because there are so many possible ways to translate it. Is it saying that someone who believes they know all things [a know-it-all] knows nothing if he fails to know himself? Maybe. Is it saying that he one who knows the cosmic reality – the All – can still miss everything if they don’t know themselves? Perhaps. Or does it mean to suggest that even one who knows the All – meaning the Christ – misses everything if they fail to see themselves as the Christ? Most likely, at least in my opinion.

But, the very fact that this saying can be taken in so many different ways makes it quite challenging for scholars to agree on the meaning.

To me, the most consistent translation of this saying is the one that takes more of the hyperbole approach. Jesus seems to be saying, even if you gain all wisdom and comprehend the mysteries of the One – the All – you are nothing if you fail to see that you are the Christ; the One, and the All.

In other words, it may be possible to grasp the reality of the Christ without recognizing the Christ in everyone and everything. Most modern Christianity fits this description perfectly. They teach that Christ is the second person of the Trinity and that the Word was with God in the beginning, and that all things were created by, for, and through the Logos. But they stop short of recognizing that the very same Christ who transcends time and space and matter is the same Christ who fills everyone – and everything – in every way, and that any ideas of separation between us and Christ is nothing more than a persistent illusion that covers our eyes.

This saying is not suggesting that knowing yourself is more important than knowing Christ, because that would mean that you and Christ are separate beings. What Jesus wants us to realize here is that knowing yourself IS knowing the All in the most complete and holistic way possible.

Until you see and know the All is you, then you have failed to truly know and understand the All at all. [See what I did there?]

I think that this play on those terms “the All” and “Everything” in this saying are quite intentional. We can paradoxically know the All and yet miss everything at the same time if we leave out one critical piece of the equation: ourselves.

Because if we fail to include ourselves when we consider Christ – who is all and in all – then we have entirely failed to understand Christ at all.

Let the reader understand.

What does Philip K. Dick have to do with the Gospel of Thomas? More than you might think! Philip K. Dick explored many of the same ideas found in the sayings of Jesus from Thomas, including the illusion of separation, our connection with the Divine, and the realization that everything is now.

My self-paced online course on The Gospel of Philip K. Dick starts Monday, August 7th. Learn more about the life, spiritual experiences and major philosophical ponderings of the author whose work inspired the films, Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle series on Amazon Prime.

Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He hosts the Second Cup with Keith podcast, and co-hosts the Apostates Anonymous podcast, and the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast. Find out more about his online courses HERE>