Commentary on the Parable of the Talents, by Cynthia Bourgeault and Maurice Nicoll.

The Mirror Principle: Quality Over Quantity

“As you remember the plot of that [parable], the landlord was gone away on a trip so he called his servants and entrusted one with five talents one with two talents, one with one talent. And so at the end when he came back the one who had five talents said hey look, I made five more with them and received well done good and faithful servant. The one with two said hey, I made two more of them well done good and faithful servant. And the third one says I knew you were a hard man prone to reap where you did not sow etc. And so I was afraid and I hid my talent in the ground and here it is. And for which he receives the castigation which is basically he’s cast into outer hell and darkness. But if you pay attention to the one who was given five originally brought forth five the one who gave two brought forth two that there was in some sense a mirror imaging here. So that you made the inside like the outside the outside like the inside. That you brought what was entrusted to you to its completion. So the whole idea in this one is quality not quantity. And the matches are atypical. But we see that for Jesus being in exchange is important.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Claymont 2012 Gurdjieff for Contemplative Christians, 10:52 20 Saturday Afternoon Teaching.

“For to him who is productive, more will be given, and he will have abundance. But he who is unproductive, even what he has will be taken from him. Lynn Bauman likes to call parables hand grenades for the mind. And this one is certainly a hand grenade.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Divine Exchange, 2:19 Divine 01-09.

The Real Talent: Aliveness Itself

“When, particularly in Logia 70, where Jesus says, if you bring forth that which is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you fail to bring forth what is within you, what you fail to bring forth will kill you. And believe me, what you bring forth has nothing to do with your talents, as you usually understand them. It has to do with some quality of aliveness, some flame that burns in you, which wakes up in a certain way. And it’s this that’s the food. It’s not the sort of superficial gifts that you have or don’t have. It’s the gift of your own alive, alert, vulnerable, and yet invincible presence.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Claymont 2019 Oct Gurdjieff-Teilhard, 21:19 11 – FRI PM Teaching.

“Logion 70 is one that can really put the fear of the Lord in you. It says, if you give birth to what is within you, what you give birth to will save you. If you do not give birth to what is within you, what you fail to give birth to will destroy you. That becomes the cosmic miscarriage, if you want, or the failure to terminate. I first was introduced to that saying, incidentally, by the abbot, the Roman Catholic abbot at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, who put it up right over his crucifix, actually, to remind himself of an obligation. So what do you think it is that we’re obligated to give birth to? This is, again, another way of looking at that parable of the talents.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Divine Exchange, 0:43 Divine 04-11.

The Hermetic Dimension: Intelligence Rising to Wisdom

“Those who hold to the tradition of Hermeticism follow the way indicated by the parable of the talents, where the master entrusted his servants with a number of talents, each according to his ability, so that they should put them to good account. Thus, they raise intelligence to a level at which it becomes capable of uniting with wisdom; they render it of maximum account—which is intuition.” Tarot, p585 in pdf, XIX The Sun

Making Your Own Force: The Seed That Must Grow

“Quite often it happens that a man, a woman, meeting the teaching of the Work, awakens a little. That is because the force given them awakens them a little. Then they fall asleep. Why? Because they do not make their own force by working on themselves. They are like those people mentioned in the Gospels who were given talents. It refers, of course, to a school of esoteric teaching. Some were given, say, five talents, and made out of that ten talents, and so on. One was given one talent, and he buried it in the Earth.” Commentaries, p1294.

“Can you understand, without negative prejudice, that the whole symbolic fairy-story or parable means that if you are given force you have to increase it yourselves? The Work is a seed. It can grow in you. This is a subject well worth discussing among yourselves—namely, what have you made of the seed of the Work yourself? And I would add that the word “talents”, which refers literally to physical money, is appropriate. I mean—what talent or ability have you shown as regards making your own force, through the Work, for yourself, and so for others? The Work, its ideas, its teaching, its directions as to what to avoid and so on, can begin to create force in you if you work. In that case, you do not need only the force that the Work gives you, but you begin to find a source of force in yourselves. This means, the seed is growing. Yet, you will have constantly to be reminded of the Work and what it is about. Otherwise you fall asleep.” Commentaries, p1295.

The Danger of Mere Memory

“Let us suppose a person has reached a good intellectual grasp of the various parts of the Work, but does not feel it emotionally. It then lies merely in his memory, like the talent that was buried in the earth. Given a talent he does not turn it into two. He answers questions in the same way as he would at any examination. The usual reason is that he had not thought about the Work or applied the Work to himself, but merely remembers everything that he has heard about it.” Commentaries, p1716.

Understanding: The Greatest Force

“The Work says that there is no greater force we can create in ourselves than understanding. It also says that anyone in contact with the Work must continually seek to increase his understanding of it. It is the parable of the talents over again. For otherwise the Work gets cold and begins to die.” Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries, p1630.

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Logion 70
Yeshua says...
When you give birth
to that which is within yourself,
what you bring forth will save you.
If you possess nothing within,
that absence will destroy you.

Logion 41
Yeshua says...
To the one who has something in hand,
more will be given.
To the one whose hands hold nothing,
even that "nothing" will be taken away.

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The Parable of the Talents

For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’

But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 25:14-30 (NRSV)

Parable of the Talents: Matthew 25:14-30 KJV

14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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More Impressions on the Parables of Jesus.

Page numbers for Maurice Nicoll refer to Psychological Commentaries on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Eureka Editions:2020) unless stated otherwise. 

All quotations from the Gospel of Thomas are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)

Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, Jeremy Tarcher, 1985

Read the Impression introducing the Gospel of Thomas.