Teachings from the Gospels of Thomas and Philip on ripening and coming into being.

Threshold of Ripening

“It is necessary to work, and to allow growth; to think, and to await the growth and ripening of thought; and that it is necessary for the magical word to be accompanied and followed by the magical silence. In a word, it is necessary to cultivate and maintain! To cultivate and to maintain…culture and tradition…to will and to dare… to know and to be silent.” Valentin Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p440

The disciples asked Yeshua: “Tell us, what is the Kingdom of Heaven like?” He answered them: It is like a grain of mustard, the tiniest of all seeds. When it falls upon well-plowed ground, it becomes a great tree, where birds of heaven will come to rest.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 20, LeLoup

The Weather

What is harvested in the world is composed of four elements: water, earth, wind, and light. What God harvests is also composed of four elements: faith [pistis], hope [elpis], love [agape], and contemplation [gnosis]. Our earth is faith, for she gives us roots. Water is our hope, for it slakes our thirst. Wind [pneuma] is the love [agapē] through which we grow; and light is the contemplation [gnosis] through which we ripen.
Gospel of Philip, Saying 115, LeLoup

In this world crops are cultivated and gathered into barns using four elements: soil, water, wind and light. Likewise God also cultivates the world through the elements of trust, hope, love and enlightenment. Our soil is the heart where trust takes root. Hope is the water through which we are nourished. Love is the wind by which we grow, and enlightenment is the Light which causes us to ripen.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue 63, W Bauman

Yeshua blessed the waters of baptism, and rid them of their power of dissolution; this is why we can be submerged in them without dying, and in them receive a breath different from that of the world. When the latter breathes in us, it gives rise to winter; when the Holy Spirit breathes in us, it gives rise to spring.
Gospel of Philip, Saying 109, LeLoup

For wherever the winds of the world blow it is always winter, but when the sacred Spirit breathes it turns to summer.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue 60, W Bauman

A grapevine was planted away from its Source where it remains unprotected. It will be torn out by its roots and destroyed.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 40, L Bauman

The Waiting

Those who sow in winter reap in summer; winter is this world, summer is the world of Openness. Let us sow in the world, so as to harvest in summer. To pray is not to prevent winter, but to allow summer. Winter is not a time of harvest, but of labor.
Gospel of Philip, Saying 7, LeLoup

Those who sow in winter, reap in the summer. Winter symbolizes the world system, and summer, the Great Age, the realm of transcendence. Let us sow, therefore, in this world that we may reap in the summertime. For this reason, we are not asked to pray for harvest in the wintertime, but for the summer, which comes from winter. If one tries to reap in the wintertime it only uproots the field, and there is no harvest.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue 3, W Bauman

The works of humans come from their power; this is why they are called energies [dunamis]. Their children are born from their repose [anapausis]; their power is manifested in their works, and their repose in their children.
Gospel of Philip, Saying 86, LeLoup

Deeds come from human power called “abilities,” but another “accomplishment” of humans is the progeny born to them from out of a period of rest. Through power humans are able to govern, and yet children also reveal accomplishment, though they come from this state of repose.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue 52, W Bauman

“When an individual ripens, he or she becomes a person. And we are here on this earth precisely for that ripening. And the great tragedy is that so many of us miss it.” Cynthia Bourgeault, Stonington 2016 June Teilhard, 18:27 2016-06-11d Teilhard Session 3 Saturday Morning Part 2

“Love is a high inducement to the individual to ripen, to become something, to become world, to become world for another’s sake, it is great exacting claim, something that chooses  and calls to vast things.” Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, Letter Seven — Rome, 14 May 1904.

What belongs to the father belongs to the son, but while he is still young, he is not entrusted with all that is his. When he is mature, his father gives it to him.
Gospel of Philip, Saying 37, LeLoup

That which the Father possesses belongs also to the children, but as long as they remain in their infancy, nothing is ever entrusted to them. When, however, they mature, all that the Father possesses he willingly gives to them.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue 21, W Bauman

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.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 41, L Bauman

There was once a rich man with a great amount of money who said: “I will use my money for sowing, reaping, planting, and filling my silos with grain so that I will never lack for anything.” Such was the thought of his heart. Yet that night, he died. Those who have ears, let them hear!
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 63, LeLoup

“The commandment: Thou shalt not steal is still of fundamental importance for the spiritual life. Every school of authentic spirituality owes its continuation to the commandment which preserves its authenticity and which, for the spiritual domain, comes down to a fundamental rule of agricultural labour: you will harvest only after having tilled the earth, only after having sown, and only after having waited for the time when the fruit will be ripe for harvesting. All ‘tricks’ of a technical nature, having as their aim the dispensing with the effort and sacrifice required for normal spiritual growth and development, thus fall under the heading of sinning against the eighth commandment.” Tomberg, Meditations on the Tarot, p299

The Gathering

So then, I must also tell you this: If a householder knows for sure that thieves are coming to steal his goods, he will keep careful watch before they get there to prevent them from tunneling in and taking his possessions. You too, from your beginnings, must keep a watchful eye on the cosmos, binding great power to yourselves so that thieves cannot find a way to get to you… So listen carefully, if you have an ear for this! When the fruit was ripe, ready to burst, the harvester came quickly, sickle in hand, and took it.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 21, L Bauman

This is why I say: If the master of the house knows that a thief is coming, he will be vigilant and not allow the thief to break into the house of his kingdom, or carry off his goods. Thus you should be vigilant toward the world… When the crop is ripe, he comes immediately and harvests it with his sickle.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 21, LeLoup

Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles. Thorns and thistles do not produce fruit. Good people bring goodness out of a storehouse of inner treasure, and evil ones bring wickedness out of the repository of evil collected in the heart. It is from there that they speak. For from the heart’s overflow evil enters the world.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 45, L Bauman

Grapes are not picked from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, for they do not give fruit. The good offer goodness from the secret of their heart. The perverse offer perversity from the secret of their heart. That which is expressed is what overflows from the heart.
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 45, LeLoup

Realization makes a Human Being [Anthropos] impalpable and invisible… Before leaving this world, we must become human beings inhabited by the Breath. Whoever receives fullness without truly welcoming it is not yet in Peace. They will wander in the intermediate world of their incompletion. Only Yeshua knows the end of all that is becoming.
Gospel of Philip, Sayings 106-107, LeLoup

It is crucial, then, to become fully realized before moving beyond this world. Whoever receives this gift without achieving mastery in this domain will have no mastery in any other, moving forward through these transitions in an imperfect state. Only Yeshua knows what the destiny of such a person will be.
Gospel of Philip, Analogue 59, W Bauman

Here for Ripening

There is a season of unripe fruit.
Unclarified, unfinished, still incoherent.
After the tilling, the sowing, the waiting,
harvest comes.

[refrain]
We are here for ripening

What ripens on schedule,
finds the sudden sickle of harvest.
Clutched too early,
goes to thieves.

[refrain]

A crop that misses its season
is lost.
This night, your soul
is required of you.
Know and be silent.

Protect the inner solitude.
Become world,
become complete.

[refrain]

Bring goodness out of
your inner storehouse.
Fruit and heart are the same.

William Britten

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Quotations from the Gospels of Thomas and Philip are from Lynn C Bauman, Ward J Bauman, Cynthia Bourgeault, The Luminous Gospels (Praxis 2008)

Quotations from the Gospel of Philip from Jean-Yves LeLoup, Gospel of Philip, (Inner Traditions: 2004)

Jean-Yves Leloup, The Gospel of Thomas, Inner Traditions, 2005

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

Read the Impression introducing the Gospel of Thomas. 

Read the Impression introducing the Gospel of Philip

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