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The Blind

Chapter 34 of the Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

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Jesus said, If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit. (34)
Nancy Johnson: “When the blind lead the blind, they fall together into the ditch.

Everyone in this world needs instruction, from the infant that has to be taught to feed itself and to talk and walk, to those that would scale the heights in any field of knowledge or action. Even the simplest thing requires learning and practice in some form. At the same time we are all called upon to lead others into the same knowing that we possess. This being so, we must be careful in choosing a teacher and in deciding if we ourselves are truly qualified to teach others.

If we follow an ignorant person we will go into greater ignorance. As Jesus said: “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23). Conversely, if we being ignorant presume to teach another we will lead them into increased darkness. It is better to know nothing and be aware of it than to mistakenly think we know something. For example, my paternal grandfather had bought a driving license at a drug store, ordered a car from a catalog, and learned to drive by reading the booklet that came along with the car when it was delivered. After a time he decided that my grandmother should learn to drive also. So out they went and came back with the two of them quite satisfied that she could drive as well as he did. But when the whole family went out one day and he had her drive, he was amazed to see her gripping the steering wheel and moving it back and forth in tiny, quick jerks. “What are you doing?” he demanded, and she told him: “I am giving it more gas!” Something had been missed.

You may not believe it (I hardly do myself, in retrospect), but I had a hymnbook that included a song entitled “The Automobile of Life.” Silly as the symbolism may be, the basic idea is true, and we should learn from my grandparents’ experience and be very sure that we only follow those that can see, and lead only those that can see, while being very sure that we ourselves can see.

Read the next article in the Gospel of Thomas for Yogis: The Secret of Spiritual Security

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Chapters in The Gospel of Thomas for Awakening

  1. The Open Secrets
  2. Seeking Is More Than Just Finding
  3. Seeking the Kingdom Realistically
  4. The One Goal
  5. From the Seen to the Unseen
  6. What Jesus Wants Us To Do
  7. Eat Or Be Eaten
  8. Fishing Wisely
  9. The Inner Field
  10. Guarding the Flame
  11. What Will You Do?
  12. Who Shall Lead?
  13. The Unspeakable
  14. When Virtue is Vice
  15. Father in Heaven; Father on Earth
  16. Divine Discord
  17. The Divine Gift
  18. The Origin is the End
  19. Original Being
  20. A Mustard Seed
  21. Disciples of Jesus
  22. How to Enter the Kingdom
  23. Unity of Vision
  24. Where is Christ?
  25. Love and Protect
  26. Seeing
  27. The Fasting and Sabbath of the Spirit
  28. How Jesus Saw the World
  29. Hidden Treasure
  30. One
  31. The Power of Unbelief
  32. Spiritual Strength
  33. Speak It Out
  34. The Blind
  35. The Secret of Spiritual Security
  36. Live Carefree
  37. Unashamed Before God
  38. At the Source
  39. The Religion of Ignorance
  40. Within God
  41. Spiritual Gain and Loss
  42. Move On
  43. Challenging the Master
  44. The Source of Good and Evil
  45. Great in the Kingdom
  46. Impossible Duality
  47. Peace That Moves Mountains
  48. Back to the Source
  49. Children of the Light
  50. Here and Now
  51. Seeing Yet Blind
  52. Outer Ritual or Inner Growth?
  53. Infinite Transcendence
  54. “Hate”
  55. True Understanding
  56. Wheat and Weeds
  57. Finding Life
  58. Live and Die Not
  59. “Lest Thou Also…”
  60. Who Will Die; Who Will Live
  61. The Path of Unknowing
  62. Awakened by Death
  63. Turning Ourselves Away
  64. Gullibility
  65. The Rejected is Truly Accepted
  66. All–and Nothing
  67. The Blessings of Persecution
  68. Life or Death Lie Within
  69. Admission
  70. Not a Divider
  71. Seeking the Harvest
  72. Thirsting in Vain
  73. Who Shall Enter?
  74. Unfailing Treasure
  75. The All Speaks
  76. Well-dressed Ignoramuses
  77. True Blessedness
  78. A Duplication
  79. Balancing the Inner and the Outer
  80. Near and Far
  81. Seeing the Unseeable
  82. Seeing Your Unknown Side
  83. Our Forefather Adam
  84. Blessed Homelessness
  85. Doubly Wretched
  86. Onward and Upward
  87. Twofold Life
  88. The Yoke of Christ
  89. Knowing the Unknown
  90. Asking and Hearing
  91. Give Not…
  92. Seeking and Knocking
  93. Right Generosity
  94. The Expanding Kingdom
  95. The Fulfilled Universe
  96. Taking Stock
  97. The Spiritual Family
  98. Three Debts
  99. Father and Mother
  100. Exoteric Religion
  101. Ready for Invasion
  102. Penitential Discipline, Anyone?
  103. Daring to Know
  104. Ending Duality
  105. “I Love You More…”
  106. At the Source
  107. Finding the Hidden Treasure
  108. Having Come to the End
  109. Immortal and Above the World
  110. Body and Soul
  111. Where is the Kingdom?
  112. Male and Female?
  113. In Conclusion
  114. Glossary
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