The Antibody Network ·The Clearing
Reading 2 of 5 The Veil Thins

And outside, too

The Gospel of Thomas, found buried at Nag Hammadi in 1945, says it differently.

The reading — Gospel of Thomas, Saying 3

The Kingdom Within and Without

If your leaders say to you, “Look, the kingdom is in the sky,” then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you. When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.

Gnosticism c. 140 CE Open this teaching on the Map →
The framing

The kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father.

Thomas, the gospel the early Church chose not to canonize, is more philosophical than narrative. Saying 3 is the same teaching as Luke 17 with the geometry pushed wider: not just within, but within and without. This is the contemplative grammar of the perennial tradition, the ground is at once intimate and ubiquitous. Read this next to the Luke passage. They are pointing at the same thing.

Carry with you
What is one thing today you can attend to both inside yourself and outside yourself, as the same thing?