In my book Christianity 2.0, I make a lot of references to another book called Original Christianity: A New Key to Understanding the Gospel of Thomas and Other Lost Scriptures by Peter Novak. First, I want to make it clear that I am extremely grateful for this book. It’s hard to convey how shocking it was to discover that Jesus taught the same thing I had learned during my own spiritual journey, that you can reach advanced spiritual states by releasing the darkness in your unconscious. In addition, Novak’s revelation that there are actually two kinds of salvation along with his in-depth analysis of the Gospel of Thomas enabled me to take my own book to a whole other level.
Novak gets a lot of things right. The problem is that the central idea his book is built around is wrong.
He correctly identifies that there is a “division” between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. He correctly mentions that we all have a great deal of repressed pain in our unconscious that needs to be released and that we will pay a terrible price (i.e. physical ailments, illness, disease) if it isn’t. He correctly says that we can release this pain by bringing it up and making it conscious (via the Letting Go method) and that, if we do this, we can eventually reach an advanced spiritual state in which reincarnation will no longer be necessary.
Where Novak goes wrong is his belief in the Binary Soul Doctrine (BSD), a concept that only calibrates at 198. It is an ancient belief that was prevalent during Jesus’s lifetime which held that a human soul has a dual nature and divides in two after death.
According to the BSD, humans have both a soul and a spirit. The spirit represents the conscious mind (our sense of a personal self) while the soul represents the unconscious mind. At death, these two halves are ripped apart. The spirit loses its memories and is reincarnated while the soul suffers torment in hell.
Saying 1 of the Gospel of Thomas says that the person who solves the mysteries within the text “will not taste death.” Novak believes that reaching a higher level of consciousness is what will allow us to avoid death, so to speak, because we will be able to prevent these two halves from ripping apart. We can avoid losing our memories, avoid being reincarnated again, and go to heaven instead of hell.
The good news is that the Binary Soul Doctrine is very close to the truth. However, instead of having a soul and a spirit, we each have a soul and an ego. When we die, it is the ego (our sense of a personal self) that dies, and our memories are lost with it. The soul goes to either heaven or hell. (Hawkins, 2003, p.230)
The Map of Consciousness offers a more concrete view of the path that the soul can take in the afterlife. Souls that are below 200 go to hell. Souls at 200 or higher go to heaven, but it isn’t until one reaches 540 (unconditional love) that reincarnation becomes unlikely. At 600 (the first level of enlightenment), it is no longer necessary.
Novak also argues that reaching a higher level of consciousness (although he fails to properly define this) will not only allow us to retain our memories but be able to recall memories from previous lifetimes as well. Interestingly, David Hawkins discovered that at level 600 we are able to remember previous lifetimes. This was his own personal experience as his own level of consciousness had reached 980. Based on this, 600 may be the exact level that Novak believes we need to reach.
Jesus in the canonical Gospels seems to be advocating for people to reach unconditional love which is at 540. However, in the Gospel of Thomas, it is possible that he is advocating for 600, at least for those who wish to “avoid death.” He may very well be advocating for both levels in Thomas. Jesus probably did not have a strong preference for either one. What matters is that his followers are able to at least reach 540.
But if the Binary Soul Doctrine is indeed wrong (and muscle testing confirms this), it brings up a serious question. Many of Jesus’s sayings in the Gospel of Thomas appear to affirm the BSD. Jesus also seems to allude to the BSD in the New Testament. In John 3:16, 6:40, 6:47, 10:28, and 17:2-3, Jesus says he will grant eternal life to those who follow him.
Earlier, we said that Saying 1 of the Gospel of Thomas promises to show the reader a way to “avoid death.” A way to avoid death, presumably, by gaining eternal life. So Jesus is indeed acknowledging the Binary Soul Doctrine not just in Thomas but in the New Testament as well. Therefore, we must ask the following: Why would Jesus speak of the BSD if it isn’t true?
It has been said that you need to meet people at their own level. Otherwise, they will reject you. If the Binary Soul Doctrine was indeed the prevailing belief system at that time, Jesus likely would have met great resistance if he had tried to refute it. But even though the BSD wasn’t true, it was close enough to the truth that Jesus didn’t need to refute it. He simply co-opted it to deliver his own teachings.
In conclusion, despite whatever flaws it may have, Original Christianity is still a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it. The book’s chapter on the Gospel of Thomas is incredibly compelling as Novak examines every single one of Thomas’s 114 sayings. For anyone interested in a detailed look at the Gospel of Thomas in its entirety, you won’t find a better book than this.
Novak, Peter. Original Christianity: A New Key to Understanding the Gospel of Thomas and Other Lost Scriptures. Charlottesville, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2005.
Hawkins, David R. I: Reality and Subjectivity. Sedona, Veritas Publishing, 2003.
Novak gets a lot of things right. The problem is that the central idea his book is built around is wrong.
He correctly identifies that there is a “division” between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. He correctly mentions that we all have a great deal of repressed pain in our unconscious that needs to be released and that we will pay a terrible price (i.e. physical ailments, illness, disease) if it isn’t. He correctly says that we can release this pain by bringing it up and making it conscious (via the Letting Go method) and that, if we do this, we can eventually reach an advanced spiritual state in which reincarnation will no longer be necessary.
Where Novak goes wrong is his belief in the Binary Soul Doctrine (BSD), a concept that only calibrates at 198. It is an ancient belief that was prevalent during Jesus’s lifetime which held that a human soul has a dual nature and divides in two after death.
According to the BSD, humans have both a soul and a spirit. The spirit represents the conscious mind (our sense of a personal self) while the soul represents the unconscious mind. At death, these two halves are ripped apart. The spirit loses its memories and is reincarnated while the soul suffers torment in hell.
Saying 1 of the Gospel of Thomas says that the person who solves the mysteries within the text “will not taste death.” Novak believes that reaching a higher level of consciousness is what will allow us to avoid death, so to speak, because we will be able to prevent these two halves from ripping apart. We can avoid losing our memories, avoid being reincarnated again, and go to heaven instead of hell.
The good news is that the Binary Soul Doctrine is very close to the truth. However, instead of having a soul and a spirit, we each have a soul and an ego. When we die, it is the ego (our sense of a personal self) that dies, and our memories are lost with it. The soul goes to either heaven or hell. (Hawkins, 2003, p.230)
The Map of Consciousness offers a more concrete view of the path that the soul can take in the afterlife. Souls that are below 200 go to hell. Souls at 200 or higher go to heaven, but it isn’t until one reaches 540 (unconditional love) that reincarnation becomes unlikely. At 600 (the first level of enlightenment), it is no longer necessary.
Novak also argues that reaching a higher level of consciousness (although he fails to properly define this) will not only allow us to retain our memories but be able to recall memories from previous lifetimes as well. Interestingly, David Hawkins discovered that at level 600 we are able to remember previous lifetimes. This was his own personal experience as his own level of consciousness had reached 980. Based on this, 600 may be the exact level that Novak believes we need to reach.
Jesus in the canonical Gospels seems to be advocating for people to reach unconditional love which is at 540. However, in the Gospel of Thomas, it is possible that he is advocating for 600, at least for those who wish to “avoid death.” He may very well be advocating for both levels in Thomas. Jesus probably did not have a strong preference for either one. What matters is that his followers are able to at least reach 540.
But if the Binary Soul Doctrine is indeed wrong (and muscle testing confirms this), it brings up a serious question. Many of Jesus’s sayings in the Gospel of Thomas appear to affirm the BSD. Jesus also seems to allude to the BSD in the New Testament. In John 3:16, 6:40, 6:47, 10:28, and 17:2-3, Jesus says he will grant eternal life to those who follow him.
Earlier, we said that Saying 1 of the Gospel of Thomas promises to show the reader a way to “avoid death.” A way to avoid death, presumably, by gaining eternal life. So Jesus is indeed acknowledging the Binary Soul Doctrine not just in Thomas but in the New Testament as well. Therefore, we must ask the following: Why would Jesus speak of the BSD if it isn’t true?
It has been said that you need to meet people at their own level. Otherwise, they will reject you. If the Binary Soul Doctrine was indeed the prevailing belief system at that time, Jesus likely would have met great resistance if he had tried to refute it. But even though the BSD wasn’t true, it was close enough to the truth that Jesus didn’t need to refute it. He simply co-opted it to deliver his own teachings.
In conclusion, despite whatever flaws it may have, Original Christianity is still a fascinating read, and I highly recommend it. The book’s chapter on the Gospel of Thomas is incredibly compelling as Novak examines every single one of Thomas’s 114 sayings. For anyone interested in a detailed look at the Gospel of Thomas in its entirety, you won’t find a better book than this.
Novak, Peter. Original Christianity: A New Key to Understanding the Gospel of Thomas and Other Lost Scriptures. Charlottesville, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, 2005.
Hawkins, David R. I: Reality and Subjectivity. Sedona, Veritas Publishing, 2003.