"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
I read those words sometime in the mid-90s in Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels (taken from the Gospel of Thomas). I wrote those out and carried them with me in my wallet although, it hadn't taken me long to memorize them.
That book and those words (and the many written by Elaine Pagels in that book) changed the course of my life in the most profound of ways. In 1995 she came out with The Origin of Satan and I was forever shifted from my original religious roots.
I am a happy heretic and have never looked back.
That's one of the best sayings I've ever heard with regards to so called occult or the secret side of Christianity. I believe this lady has got it down.
I believe the basics of her theology. The book of Thomas has many eastern religion like feels about it, if you dig into them. I believe Christ was influenced by the ideas and practices of deep mediation techniques and theory while he was raised for a time in Egypt, probably Egyptian and Greek ancient mysteries too. Its all the same thing, prayer ,quiet the mind , and get some type of quantum connection to the cosmic consciousness that resides outside time and space ; also do good works, be compassionate , do things from the heart, and repent when you fuck up and move on. In Okinawa its call Isshin-ryū , meaning one heart method. Its also a form of martial arts. All of these spiritual/religious and even Martial Art theories train you for one big event, for the afterlife and the joining back of our mind to the cosmic mind, going back home in a way; that's all it is.
I'll put myself in the ring here , and say all this bickering about say Christ vs this theology or that theology is all pointless. It just pleases our ego
to do that. I myself love that arena of combat, but its to knee jerk. Its just like Martial Arts - say karate or stand up fighting; it doesn't matter what style it is and if you believe in it or not , when in the ring it comes down to basically punching and kicking and all styles go out the window. Its like a street fight. Its the same thing in religion and some spirituality , my kung fu is better then yours! It doesn't matter ;it comes down to if you believe in it and if it makes you a better person, and from that you get your mind and consciousness altered in some form. The universe lets says gives you what you want in any case, as long as its with in a certain training model, just like martial arts :) That's one of the best speakers I seen on this site. It truly made me sit down and look into all of this again from a different stand point, not that I give up my beliefs, but knowing its all the same thing.