Blessed Are the Poor
The Teaching
Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.”
Commentary
In the Gospel of Thomas stripped to its essence, no qualification, no ‘in spirit.’ The poverty that opens the Kingdom is kenosis: the emptying of the constructed self, the ego’s accumulated claims and defenses.
This kenosis is Sunyata in Buddhism, the recognition of the self’s emptiness. It is Fana in Sufism, annihilation in the Beloved. It is the Taoist ‘subtract daily’ of chapter 48.
The Kabbalistic concept of Tzimtzum, divine self-contraction to make space for creation, is the same movement: the infinite empties itself to make room for the finite, and the finite empties itself to discover the infinite.
Themes
Connections 7
Unsure
Close parallels have been argued (Conze 1967; Pagels 1979). A route through Alexandria’s trade with India is possible, but undocumented.
Unsure
Transmission between Gnosticism and Sufism has been argued, not shown.
Arose apart
No known transmission between Gnosticism and Taoism while these teachings took shape.
Unsure
The Gospel of Thomas was lost from late antiquity until 1945, though some of its sayings also survive in the canonical Gospels.
Unsure
Hippolytus (c. 225) reports Brahmin doctrine alongside the Gnostic schools he attacks. Indian influence on Gnosticism is argued.
Travelled
Christianity reached Gnosticism by 100 CE. The same milieu. Irenaeus wrote against the Gnostics (c. 180); the Gospel of Thomas, whose Gnostic character is itself disputed, shares sayings with the Gospels.
Travelled
Christianity reached Gnosticism by 100 CE. The same milieu. Irenaeus wrote against the Gnostics (c. 180); the Gospel of Thomas, whose Gnostic character is itself disputed, shares sayings with the Gospels.