HEAVENLY REASONING

8 Copyright 2018, John H. Davidson M.A. (Cantab)

John H. Davidson M.A. (Cantab)

Adapted from The Gospel of Jesus – In Search of His Original Teachings,

John Davidson, 2004.

Available from:
http://www.scienceofthesoul.org/product_p/en–176–0.htm

The teachings of Jesus are often portrayed as esoteric. Although the

orthodox may differ with this point of view, it is substantiated by a study of
early Christian writings. There is even considerable evidence that Jesus,
his disciples and many early Christians were fully conversant with the
techniques of mystic or interior prayer – of what is more commonly
described nowadays as spiritual practice or meditation.

One of the major difficulties in finding references to spiritual practice or meditation in

early Christian writings is that such practices have characteristically been a part of the
secret mysteries only taught to disciples by word of mouth at the time of their initiation.
As a consequence, when they are mentioned in writing, they are presented through the
veils of metaphor and can easily be overlooked or misunderstood. The difficulty is
further compounded by the disinclination of scholars to acknowledge the existence of
spiritual practices and to make appropriate translations.

This is made particularly acute by the fact that there are very few terms which are used
exclusively for spiritual practice. Consider, for example, our own words ‘meditation’,
‘contemplation’ and ‘spiritual practice’. Meditation and contemplation also mean the
quiet consideration of something by means of thought, the exact opposite of the control,
concentration and stilling of the mind in true spiritual practice. And while ‘spiritual
practice’ itself could also be taken to mean various ascetic practices, attempts to translate
equivalents terms from other languages can readily end up as ‘pious deeds’ or ‘good
deeds’ – again, something quite different from true meditation.

Nevertheless, a perusal of the literature of this period provides us with many examples
where the writer would seem to be speaking of meditation as it is understood by mystics,
some of these being more evident than others. Beginning with the gnostic Teachings of
Silvanus, we encounter a word derived from the Greek term Logos (the Word) and
commonly translated as “reasoning”. A study of the context and the rest of this tractate,
however, reveal that the word almost certainly refers to meditation. Speaking of the
human passions as “wild beasts” and “barbarians”, the writer says:

Do not pierce yourself with the sword of sin. Do not burn yourself, O
wretched one, with the fire of lust. Do not surrender yourself to barbarians

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 like a prisoner, nor to savage beasts which want to trample upon you. For
they are lions which roar very loudly. Be not dead lest they trample upon
you. You shall be a man! It is possible for you through ‘reasoning’
(meditation, contact with the Logos) to conquer them.

Normal human reasoning, of course, is incapable of controlling human weaknesses to any

great extent, as the writer must have been well aware. He must therefore be speaking of
something else, as we see in another excerpt where he continues with the military
metaphors:

O wretched man, what will you do if you fall into their hands? Protect
yourself lest you be delivered into the hands of your enemies. Entrust
yourself to this pair of friends, Reason (Logos) and Mind (Nous), and no
one will be victorious over you. May God dwell in your camp, may his
Spirit protect your gates, and may the Mind (Nous) of divinity protect the
walls. Let holy Reason (Logos) become a torch in your mind, burning the
wood which is the whole of sin.

Mystically, the Logos and the Nous are synonymous, both being commonly encountered
terms for the Word of God. Nous, generally translated as Mind, represents the supreme
Intelligence in creation, while the Logos is portrayed as the divine Reason pervading all.
But the two terms refer to the same Power. They both point to the one primary
outpouring from the divine Source which has created and continually maintains the entire
creation. Now many mystics throughout the ages have indicated that the highest kind of
meditation is to bring the soul and mind into contact with this creative Power within
oneself, where it is experienced as divine Light and divine Sound or Music. Listening to
the pure and blissful melodies of this Music cleanses the soul of all its past debris or
karma in a way which no other practice can begin to emulate.

This is exactly what the author of this tractate is saying. It is through this Logos or Nous,
he says, that all negative tendencies can be overcome and by means of which the “whole
of sin” can be burnt up or destroyed. The writer is not referring to human reasoning and
the human mind as powers which can burn up sin. In fact, he speaks specifically of the
“Nous of divinity” and the “holy Logos” to emphasize his meaning. There is little that is
divine or holy about ordinary human mind and reason! ‘Reasoning’ refers to spiritual
meditation.

In another extract from this tractate, the Word is called the “True Vine of Christ” from
which the soul may drink the “true wine”, the divine ambrosia, the intoxicating bliss of
conscious contact with God’s own creative Power. But to do this, says the writer once
again, you must first nurture your ‘reasoning powers’:

Give yourself gladness from the True Vine of Christ. Satisfy yourself with
the true wine in which there is no drunkenness nor error. For it (the true
wine) marks the end of drinking since there is usually in it what gives joy
to the soul and the mind through the Spirit of God. But first, nurture your
‘reasoning powers’ before you drink of it (the true wine).

This “true wine” brings an end to the “drunkenness” of materiality for it brings great “joy
to the soul and mind”, since it stems from the “Spirit of God”. “But first”, a person must
nurture their “‘reasoning powers’”, their ability to meditate on the Logos. This is the only
way by which the drunkenness of materiality can be ended and contact with the Logos

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established. And this practice is not one of merely thinking about the Logos, but of
concentrating the mind by specific spiritual exercises and coming into contact with the
divine Music or Sound of the “holy Logos”. So again, the scholarly translation does not
adequately convey the writer’s intended meaning, though the recipient of this letter or
homily, struggling daily with his spiritual practice, would have immediately understood
it. The writer was using a term commonly employed in their community for spiritual
practice.

The use of such Greek terms is not without its antecedents as well as modern parallels. In
modern Greece, the word used for meditation is dialogismos (lit. by means of logos), a
term having no other meaning or use at the present time. The corresponding verb is
dialogizomai, meaning ‘to meditate’. In ancient times, the verb was similar, logizomai,
and the noun was logismos – and this is the term translated in the Teachings of Silvanus
as “reasoning”.

Like Logos, logizomai also has a spread of meaning including to count, to calculate, to
reckon, to reason, to infer and so on. But in certain crucial passages – as we have seen –
none of these are adequate. The meaning, of course, hinges on the meaning of Logos. If
Logos is understood as ‘reason’, then logizomai can be translated as ‘to reason’ and
logismos as ‘reasoning’. But if Logos is taken in its esoteric, mystic sense as the divine,
omnipresent, sustaining Power, then the verb logizomai should be translated as giving
attention to the Logos or listening to the divine Word within, while logismos will mean
meditation in the sense of spiritual practice.

The term logismos is also used in earlier Greek literature, in places where it is clear that
its intended meaning is indeed meditation or spiritual practice. In Phaedo, for instance,
one of the most mystical of Plato’s dialogues, Socrates says:

She (the soul) will calm passion by listening to the Logos (by logisomos,
by ‘reasoning’ or meditation) and by always being in it and by beholding
what is true and divine and not the object of opinion. And being nurtured
by it, the soul will seek to live in this way for as long as she lives so that,
when she dies, she will enter That which is kindred and similar to her own
nature, and be freed from human ills (Phaedo 84a-b).

Most scholarly translators, themselves predisposed to intellect and rationalism, take

logismos to mean ‘reasoning’, consequently rendering the first line as, “by following
reason...” or “by reasoning...”. Thus, the mistranslation of a single word converts the
meaning from a mystic to an intellectual sense.

Philo Judaeus, a Greek-speaking, mystically-minded, Jewish philosopher from

Alexandria and a contemporary of Jesus, also uses the term in the same way. In On
Monarchy, for instance, he is speaking of the quest for God as the most worthwhile
“employment”, however difficult it may be, for it brings in its train a state of bliss – of
“indescribable pleasures and delights”:

Even if it is very difficult to ascertain and very hard properly to

comprehend, we must still, as far as it is possible, investigate the nature of
His essence; for there is no employment more excellent than that of
searching out the nature of the true God, even though the discovery may
transcend all human ability, since the very desire and endeavour to
comprehend it is able by itself to furnish indescribable pleasures and

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 delights (On Monarchy I:V).

He then goes on to speak of those who have gone beyond mere discussion of this quest
and through “reasoning” (logismos, meditation) have ascended into the realms of the
spirit, becoming drenched in “unalloyed light”, such that the “eye of his soul becomes
dazzled and confused (awe-struck) by the splendour”:

And the witness of this fact are those who have not merely tasted
philosophy with their outermost lips, but who have abundantly feasted on
its reasonings and its doctrines; for the reasoning (logismos, meditation) of
these men, being raised on high far above the earth, roams in the air
(spirit), and soaring aloft with the sun, and moon, and all the firmament of
heaven, being eager to behold all the things that exist therein, finds its
power of vision somewhat indistinct from a vast quantity of unalloyed
light being poured over it, so that the eye of his soul becomes dazzled and
confused (awe-struck) by the splendour (On Monarchy I:V).

Clearly, no normal reasoning processes could induce such an expansion of consciousness,

even in a person of superlative imagination. But meditation or spiritual practice certainly
does. That is a part of its purpose.

In the ancient literature of this period, there are many other direct references, as well as
veiled allusions, to spiritual practice. Writing to a certain Rheginus, the gnostic author of
the Treatise on the Resurrection concludes with an exhortation to practice meditation as
the means of experiencing the true spiritual nature of resurrection and of escaping from
reincarnation in another body:

It is fitting for each one to practise in many ways (to meditate a great
deal), to gain release from this element (the body) so that he may not
wander aimlessly but rather might recover his former state of being.

One of the scholars who has translated this passage points out that the word translated
here as “practise” also means to lead an ascetic life, which we might interpret loosely as
meaning a spiritual life. “Practise” thus refers to spiritual practice. Similarly, says this
translator, the Greek verb rendered as “wander aimlessly” is sometimes used in other
contexts to refer specifically to reincarnation. This reinforces our interpretation, for the
only “practice” which can lead to release from repeated rebirth, “to recover” one’s
“former state of being”, the true nature of the pure soul, is spiritual communion with the
mystic Word of God.

The same confusion is found in translations of Manichaean literature, where, there is no

doubt that the third-century Iranian mystic Mani taught meditation, for the references are
more than a few. Moreover, since Mani taught that his teachings were the same as those
of Jesus, Zarathushtra and other mystics, he must also have presumed that Jesus had also
taught the same practice of meditation as himself. The first excerpt from the Manichaean
literature illustrates the use of such expressions as “pious meditation” and “pious deeds”
in scholarly translations. It comes from the fragments of a letter purporting to have been
written by Mani to his devoted disciple Mar Ammo:

In this time of sin (ie. whilst being in this world), the pure devout one
must sit down in pious meditation, and he should turn away from sin and
increase what is pious, so that....

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 And therefore I have spoken these words, in order that everyone may
himself pay attention to them and carefully listen to them. For everyone
who hears and believes them and keeps them in his head and is active in
pious deeds (spiritual practice) shall find salvation from this birth-death
and be saved from all sins.

Because I, Mar Mani, and you Mar Ammo, and all those people of old and
also those fortunate ones that are born in this time, and likewise also those
that will be born in the future, shall be saved from this birth-death through
this pure Commandment and through this perfect Wisdom (ie. the Word),
through this activity (the practice of meditation) and this humility (ie. loss
of the ego through merging into the Word). Because in this birth-death
there is nothing good except only the merit of the pious deeds (spiritual
practice) that men of knowledge (ie. gnosis) perform.

Those who follow me, Mar Mani, and hope in God Ormuzd and want the
pure and just Elect (the Masters) as leaders, they are the ones that are
saved and find salvation from this birth-death and reach eternal
redemption.

As with ‘reasoning’, no “pious deeds” of this world can lead to “eternal redemption”
from “this birth-death”. The only truly “pious deeds” or “pious meditation” which can
have this result is contact with the “pure Commandment” and “perfect Wisdom”, both
metaphors for the Creative Word of God. This is something which all Masters have
taught. It is meditation on the Word or Wisdom that leads to release from birth and death.
Thus, one of the Manichaean-Christian psalmists writes (Psalm CCLXVIII):

Jesus my Light, whom I have loved, take me in unto thee....

I have constantly practised in thy holy Wisdom,
which has opened the eyes of my soul
unto the light of thy glory and made me see
the things that are hidden and that are visible,
the things of the abyss (this world)
and the things of the Height.

This is no intellectual or philosophical expression, but a statement of experience. The

practice of the Word of Wisdom has “opened the eyes of my soul”. The inner eye has
been opened and the soul has seen both God and the whole of creation, inside and out.
This is the fruit of meditation. This is precisely what is supposed to happen in such
meditation.

Again, in a devotional song praising the Perfect Man (the Master) as the Sraoshabray (the
Column of Sound and Glory, the divine Light and Music of the Word, the refuge, the
“house and covering for all souls”), meditation is called the “pure prayer, living Voice
and divine Song” – clear allusions to meditation upon the divine Music or the Voice of
God:

Blessed and praised be this mighty Power,

the light and beneficent God, the Perfect Man.
House and covering for all souls,

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 road and path for all lights and redeemed souls
may he be blessed so that his radiance of life
may shine upon the elect path
and bring forth peace, health and confidence for us in all lands.
And may he protect us for wonderful joy
and accept from all of us this pure prayer,
living Voice and divine Song.
So be it for ever and ever!

Similarly, amongst the Manichaean-Christian writings from Turkestan, spiritual practice

is referred to as the admonition to “think and consider the real and right Law, day and
night”. The “Law”, like “Commandment” is another term used for the Creative Word:

Stop all sorts of evil doings,

and be sent back to your own Originator!...
Control your thoughts, and rectify
and regulate them constantly;
Think and consider (meditate upon)
the real and right Law (the Word), day and night.

No one can think about a matter “day and night”. But meditation on the Word, the “real
and right Law”, does most certainly lead to the constant experience of its music at all
times, day and night. For the “Law” and the divine Music are the essence of life and
consciousness, itself.

The same exhortation to “meditate in His love, by night and by day” is also found
amongst the Odes of Solomon, devotional poetry so obviously written by one who
understood the mystic path and the ecstatic transport of spiritual practice (Odes of
Solomon XLI):

Let us all, therefore,

become one in the Name of the Lord,
and let us honour Him in His goodness;
And let our faces shine in His Light,
and let our hearts meditate in His love,
by night and by day....

And His Word is with us all along our way,

the Saviour who gives new life to us
does not reject our souls.
The man (Jesus) who humbled himself (came to this world),
but was exalted by his own righteousness (holiness, spirituality).
The Son of the Most High appeared
in the perfection of his Father;

And the light dawned from the Word,

that was beforetime in Him....
that He might give life to souls for ever
by the Truth of His Name.
Let there arise a new song
from those who love Him.

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Now, none of this is religious sentimentality or hyperbole but a description in poor words
of the mystic experience of the writer. Such divine love “by night and by day” is only to
be experienced through mystic prayer or meditation. One who has such love is in a state
of meditative bliss all the time. This is the fruit of spiritual practice.

The early Christian Clementine Recognitions and the Clementine Homilies, used by the
early Judaic Christians in Palestine, descendants of the original disciples of Jesus, are also
replete with allusions to meditation. In one passage, it has been translated as “heavenly
reasoning”, where it is portrayed as something which relates to man’s purification before
God and is necessary in order to worship Him. It is also something which man alone can
practise and which animals cannot. In the story, it is Peter who says:

However, it is necessary to add something to these things which has not

community (normal concourse) with man, but is peculiar to the worship of
God. I mean purification.... But (of) what (kind)? If purity be not added to
the service of God, you would roll pleasantly like the dung-flies.

Wherefore being man, having something more than the irrational animals,
namely rationality, purify your hearts from evil by heavenly reasoning....
For our Teacher also, [dealing with] certain of the Pharisees and Scribes
among us... he reproved them as hypocrites, because they cleansed only
the things that appear to men, but omitted purity of heart and the things
seen by God alone (Clementine Homilies XI:XXVIII).

Animals, like man, keep their bodies clean by washing. Neither ritual ablutions nor
normal daily bathing make us any different from them. The true purity and cleanliness,
therefore, which makes a person fit to come before God, requires a great deal more than
physical cleansing. And the question which every genuine seeker after God must answer
is how that inner purity is to be obtained. Peter says that this purity is to be achieved by
“heavenly reasoning” – by meditation or contact with the holy Logos.

In fact, there are many allusions to spiritual practice in the Clementine literature. One of
the central characters, for example, is praised as being a “man of consideration”, another
scholarly translation that only makes sense in the context if it means a “man of
meditation” – a wise and spiritual man. But the commonest expression used for
meditation is the highly ambiguous “good works” or “good deeds”. It occurs in a great
many places, some more clearly being references to meditation than others. It is almost
invariably Peter who is speaking, as in:

We do not neglect to proclaim to you what we know to be necessary for

your salvation, and to show you what is the true worship of God, that,
believing in God, you may be able, by means of good works, to be heirs
with us of the world to come (Clementine Recognitions V:XXXV).

And:

I counsel every learner willingly to lend his ear to the word of God, and to
hear with love of the truth what we say, that his mind, receiving the best
Seed (initiation, true baptism), may bring forth joyful fruits by good deeds
(Clementine Recognitions V:VIII).

It is through “good works” or “good deeds”, Peter says, that souls can “be heirs... of the

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world to come”, and can “bring forth joyful fruits”. But it is only spiritual practice which
fulfils these conditions, for good deeds in this world may ennoble a person, but they do
not lead to mystical experience, to the true worship of God.

Again, says Peter, it is through ignorance and illusion that the soul has become the slave
of the mind:

By reason of your erroneous judgments, you have become subject to

demons (ie. the mind). However by acknowledgement of God Himself, by
good deeds you can again become masters, and command the demons as
slaves, and as sons of God be constituted heirs of the eternal kingdom
(Clementine Homilies X:XXV).

“By good deeds”, he says, the soul can again become the master of the mind and return to
God as His son and heir. But again, experience itself tells us that simply behaving well in
this world cannot take a soul back to God. Indeed, without the spiritual strength and
awareness given by meditation, a person cannot withstand the tendencies of their mind
and will be unable even to continuously perform good deeds, certainly not without some
thought of egotism entering the mind, thereby annulling all their efforts. Hence, we may
conclude, with Peter:

Therefore do not refuse, when invited, to return to your first nobility; for it
is possible, if ye be conformed to God by good works. And being
accounted to be sons by reason of your likeness to Him, you shall be
reinstated as lords of all (Clementine Homilies X:VI).

When invited to return to God, the invitation should be accepted, for “by good works” –
by spiritual practice – it is possible to be reconciled to God and to regain one’s rightful
sonship. Man has only to make the sincere effort to meditate, seeking God within, for His
grace and blessings to descend.

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