“Then the savior continued and said, ‘Oh, unsearchable love of light! Oh, bitterness of the fire! You blaze in the bodies of people, and in the marrow of their bones, blazing in them night and day, burning their limbs and making their minds drunk and their souls deranged. You dominate males and females day and night, you move and arouse them secretly and visibly. When the males are aroused, they are attracted to the females and the females to the males. So it is said that everyone who seeks truth from true wisdom will fashion wings to fly, fleeing from the passion that burns human spirits. And one will fashion wings to flee from every visible spirit.’ Thomas answered, saying, ‘Master, this is precisely what I ask you. I understand that what you say is beneficial to us.’ Again the savior answered and said, ‘This is why we must speak to you, because this teaching is for those who are perfect. If you wish to become perfect, keep these sayings. If not, the name for you is “ignorant,” since an intelligent person cannot associate with a fool. The intelligent person is perfect in all wisdom. To the fool, however, good and evil are one and the same. The wise person will be nourished by truth and will be like a tree growing by the stream of water. Some people have wings but rush toward visible things that are far from truth. The fire that guides them gives them an illusion of truth. And it will shine on them with a perishable beauty, and will imprison them in dark delight and capture them in sweet-smelling pleasure. And it will blind them with insatiable desire, inflame their souls, and be like a stake jammed into their heart that can never be removed. It leads them according to its own wish, like a bit in the mouth.’”

-Book of Thomas

Love of Light

Love of Light is important for those seeking spiritual development. Not the ordinary light of a light bulb, or even the light of the physical sun, but a Higher Light that come from God. If you know of this Light and believe in the effect it has on the spirit and soul, you can’t help but love it. This Light, which is the image of God, is loved just as we love God.

Bitterness of Fire

You might think that Jesus is still talking about love when he starts talking about fire in an obviously symbolic way, but when he continues by adding “ in the marrow of their bones, blazing in them night and day, burning their limbs and making their minds drunk and their souls deranged,” it is clear that he isn’t talking about love. He is talking about the fire of greed that consumes those who fall prey to materialism and the material things that it offers. He may also be talking about those who feel that something is missing in their lives and try to satisfy that feeling with material things when what they really need is to awaken and develop their spiritual Self.

Fashion Wings to Fly

Jesus is speaking allegorically when he advises us to “ fashion wings to fly, fleeing from the passion that burns human spirits.” We don’t literally grow wings in order to develop our spiritual faculties, nor does the passion for material things actually burn our human spirits, but it might as well. When we cling to a life of matter, our spirits stay dormant, and the development of a conscious Soul never happens, except in very rare cases where an accident or personal tragedy may trigger an awakening.

For Those Who Are Perfect

When Jesus tells Thomas that these teachings are for those who are perfect, we might question it since we know that none of us still on the earthly plain of existence (third dimension) are perfect. But He then goes on to clarify that he is talking about those who wish to become perfect and are trying their best to do so through the practice of spiritual development techniques. Developing the body and the mind is good, but we also need to develop the spirit.

Good and Evil

Jesus then says: “To the fool, however, good and evil are one and the same.” This is probably the most important statement in the quote. Based on comments and memes I am seeing on social media, it seems there are spiritual schools who are teaching people that they must embrace their dark side and work with it just as much as with the light, or good side. That is foolishness. Did they forget that it is what got the allegorical couple, Adam and Eve in trouble? When they ate from the Tree of Good and Evil they were cast from Heaven because knowledge of evil inevitably leads to some people doing evil. Yes, we do need to acknowledge that there is darkness (or evil) and it is largely in control on the earthly plain of existence, but we should not embrace evil, we should do our best to avoid it. So embrace the Light, try to make it grow within you, and one day in the not-too-distant future, Earth will be a world of light, as will the whole material universe.

“Clairvoyant consciousness is able to learn something of what will happen during the Jupiter state. The beings and facts observed in this field of consciousness have not the nature of sense-images; they do not even appear as fine air structures from which effects might proceed which resemble sense-impressions. They give purely spiritual impressions of sound, light, and heat. These are not expressed through any material embodiments. They can be apprehended only through clairvoyant consciousness. One may say, however, that these beings which at present manifest on the psycho-spiritual plane, possess a ‘body.’ This body, however, appears like a sum of condensed memories which they carry within their souls.

“One can distinguish within their being what they are now experiencing and what they have experienced and now remember. This last is contained within them like a bodily element. They are conscious of it in the same way that an earthly human being is conscious of his [physical] body.

“at a stage of clairvoyant development higher than just described as necessary for a knowledge of the Moon and Jupiter states, the student is able to perceive supersensible beings and things which are, in fact, the more highly developed forms of those present during the Sun condition, but which have reached stages of existence so lofty as to be quite imperceptible to a consciousness capable of observing the Moon forms only.”

–Rudolf Steiner

Clairvoyant Consciousness

What Mr. Steiner calls “Clairvoyant consciousness,” we in Cosolargy might refer to as simply “psychic consciousness” without specifying a specific psychic ability to associate with it. I won’t bother to get into what he calls “the Jupiter state.” Suffice it to say that what he calls “the Moon state” is the low level of the typical materialistic person on Earth. A higher state of consciousness associated with the psychic level of being, he calls “the Jupiter level,” and still higher is the “sun level,” or spiritual level. He also makes it clear that there are even higher levels of being and consciousness than the spiritual level. We would call the highest level Christ Consciousness or Cosmic Consciousness.

Purely Spiritual

Steiner says the beings that one might observe in a higher state of consciousness have “not the nature of sense-images.” In other words, they cannot be seen by the physical senses of the body, but must be seen by awakened psychic and spiritual senses. He adds that they give “purely spiritual impressions,” which makes sense as we are talking about spiritual beings. He adds that these beings do possess a body, but not one of matter. Steiner says their bodies appear “ like a sum of condensed memories,” an odd description in my opinion as I have no idea what condensed memories would look like. I think it is better to describe the bodies of these beings as less dense than our physical bodies, and made of energy rather than matter. At the highest levels of consciousness, the beings found there would have bodies of brilliant Light and energy.

Supersensible Beings

Steiner goes on to say that beyond this Jupiter State, are even higher developed forms of the being found in the Sun State. This indicates that the beings of the Sun State are even more advances, in a spiritual sense, then those found in the Jupiter State. This makes perfect sense to students of Cosolargy who know that there are beings that exist at all levels of reality, some good, some not good. In order to see and communicate with these higher-level beings, we must raise our own consciousness to their level. That is what the Solar Techniques of Cosolargy help us do.