What Jesus said about children who -- do not forget

[Ginger_Mandrake]

Hello,
What will happen to a person who has committed no sin, but has done good persistently, yet has not found the mysteries?


Jesus replies;Such a person before birth, does not drink of the waters of forgetfulness. He receives rather a cup filled with thoughts of wisdom, and soberness in it. He is reborn into a body which can neither sleep nor forget because of the cup of soberness which has been handed to it.


In other words, children who are born 'remembering' have committed no sin. Remembering is intended to be a gift. The gift to "see" so they can search for the Great Mysteries that Jesus so eloquently spoke of.

Wow, what a beautiful concept. When I read it I thought, "I wonder if that is why we forget as we get older, because as we get older we often do a lot more to hurt others and ourselves (the only true sins, I believe), in order to get ahead in life", and then I thought of how this relates to the various stories of the 'Fall from Eden', and the thematic material of a lot of writers during the Romantic period. The 'fall from innocence', in order to gain earthly knowledge, which I suppose would be the equivalent of 'forgetting in order to survive'. That's kind of how I read into it.

 

[deborah]

Hi Ginger,


When I came across it I felt the same way. There is so much more to it than this one small quote though. It is multi-layered; there are hints of the same premise in other cultures and writings.


The Egyptians, Buddhists, even American Indian just to name a few have tried for centuries to teach us how to achieve higher states of awareness and to - remember.

 

[deborah]

An interesting read for newer members. The last post was 2010 but there are some great references in it.

 

[SeaAndSky]

Hi Deborah,


I hate to be a kill-joy, and I have a lot of respect for folks who are exploring the ancient texts that have turned up over the last century or so (e.g., see below). I've spent a lot of time looking into such texts myself, but that really doesn't mean that everything attributed to Jesus in an ancient text was said by him.


Something big happened in the 1st century. Pretty soon everyone was talking about it, and everyone with a theory to peddle was trying to hitch their wagon to the hot new star out of Palestine. Unfortunately, in those days especially, it was easy to put your own words into someone's mouth--as what you think he "shoulda" said.


In many ways I wouldn't mind at all if there were some clearer words on reincarnation in the usually accepted sources. Hence, I wouldn't mind at all in this particular case, but anyhow . . . . that don't necessarily make it so.


Cordially,


S&S


PS--Dr. Thomas Patterson Brown is a bit of a strange character, but still worth reading. He makes some very good arguments for the authenticity of what are referred to as the Coptic Gospels: Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, and Gospel of Truth. There is a downloadable paper on his site in pdf or word that has the results of his studies and translations of these gospels, including some very esoteric philosophical commentary that you might enjoy: http://freelyreceive.net/metalogos/index.html.


PPS--Dr. Margaret Barker is also well worth reading. She has many, many articles posted on line at her site (which is her name) and elsewhere. Her books are extremely dense and scholarly from what I have heard, though she is primarily interested in OT apocrypha and history rather than NT apocrypha, she is still a mind-blowing scholar in the area of "temple theology". I believe her work may become part of a new Reformation that is brewing.

 

[Samsara]

Very interesting. Thank you for bringing this back to the surface.


The reoccurring dream I had started at age 3 for then 15 years solid. As I grew up I started to realise it maybe more than just a dream due to the vast historical detail involved and that it came from the such a young age and remained unchanging. I have always felt blessed to have been able to experience such a thing and it has shaped the way I think.


Historical texts, I guess we will never truly know. I did read somewhere Christianity did speak of rebirth but over the ages it was warped and twisted by the powers that be and removed ? How true that is I don't know.


Buddhist dharma was past down via mouth. It was not documented in text until 500 years after the Buddhas death. However having followed the teachings myself and tried meditation, it cured me of a horrible anxiety condition I'd had for years in a matter of a couple of months.


Whether it's all a lie or real what is clear is that whoever wrote it knew what they were talking about in this instance.


As a child I always felt receptive. Able to predict things and witness a fair bit of paranormal. As l got in to adulthood and life gets heavier these all rapidly vanished.


I believe the "innocence of youth" has merit. Most children are trouble free and this lightens the soul I believe. As we get older and are exposed to negativity, this lightness can be lost and with it the mental capacity to experience certain things. We become all the wrapped up in other situations. The mind becomes to busy and clouded.