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knowledge of Self
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knowledge of Self
by Elder Sarah Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:35 am

Shabbat Shalom!

The Grace of the Mother Spirit inpired the following contemplation regarding this beautiful passage
found in Gospel of Phillip

“Should you who posses everything not know yourself?


If you do not know yourself,
You will not enjoy what you own.
But know yourself and what you have enjoy.”

It must be asked here, what does it mean to “posses everything”? and how might knowledge of self
be excluded from this? To say “posses” is to say ownership and ownership hints at the act of
belonging to self. To belong to self is to join to self, to make inseparable from self. If one “posses
everything” then one is inseparable from everything. In truth, we are inseparable from all that
arises, we are interconnected to everything else. To become aware of this though we must include
our self in everything. We must not consider ourselves separate or lacking.

The first sentence in this passage is being put forth as a question, almost saying how did the
knowledge of self ever get separate from all that exists? Perhaps even pointing to the very idea of
the self-separate from all that exist is what causes the lack of knowledge of self. The question
actually presents a beautiful solution to the ability of gaining awareness of inseparability, which is
the awareness of self. If we are willing to know self, we are willing to know others and willing to
know all that exists.

Enjoyment of what is owned can be seen in both a literal and esoteric way. First, if your are never
in self because you don’t know yourself, how could you enjoy self? It takes knowledge of self to
find enjoyment of self. How can we enjoy ourselves if we don’t like to be with ourselves? Also,
“You will not enjoy what you own” points to the idea presented above, although draws in the way
to self-knowledge which is enjoyment. We cannot come to the awareness of interconnectedness, of
inseparability of all that exists until we enjoy all that exist. In order to enjoy all that exist we have
to erase the dualisms created in mind. We have to abandon the idea of good and evil, light and
dark, saint and sinner and so on. It is the dualisms in mind that often prevents enjoyment because
instead of joy arising judgments of self and other arise.

“But know yourself and what you have enjoy”. This last sentence of the passage draws together
both knowledge of self and enjoyment of self. Here the author is hinting at the celebration of ones
own portion, ones lot in life. To come to this celebration though is to come to the awareness of self
and all that arises as inseparable. When this awareness dawns, a sense of joy dawns, which leads
to the celebration of everyone’s portion, hence a celebration of one’s own portion.

May the Mother Spirit Grace us to come into the knowledge and enjoyment of self!

Many Blessings and Shalom,


Sarah+

The Light Presence in All Beings


by Martina Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:07 am

Shalom friends,

Thank you, Sister Sarah+, for this timely reminder. My thoughts were wandering in a similar
direction as you point out here so clearly:

“We cannot come to the awareness of interconnectedness, of inseparability of all that


exists until we enjoy all that exist. In order to enjoy all that exist we have to erase the
dualisms created in mind. We have to abandon the idea of good and evil, light and dark,
saint and sinner and so on. It is the dualisms in mind that often prevents enjoyment
because instead of joy arising judgments of self and other arise.”

It seems as long as we are in judgement of others we have a hard time to acknowledge the Light
Presence in them. In this state we look for the solution of our problem on the outside, not in our
self. Only when we let go of this separation can we “celebrate our own portion” in joy of the Light
Presence in all beings. This seems to speak of the power of the Light Presence in all of us, even
before it is drawn out continously by choosing our spiritual path. In judgement we might not
expect to receive a message from some beings, but in non-judgement it is all of creation that
speaks to us. What a difference!

May we see the Light Presence in all beings!

Gratefully,
Martina

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