A Talk With Émile Gillabert

For The Inner Directions Journal, Summer 1995

By Anne Maroger and Darrell Newberg

Émile Gillabert experienced a serie of transformative experiences between the age of eight and ten. this experience of "inner light" filled his being throughout the early years and later years of his life, while he worked as a publisher in Paris.

When Émile was fifty-five years old, a friend of his introduced him to the Gospel according to Thomas. This was, in his own words, "an unprecedented revelation." Émile continues, "I had found in it the clear confirmation of this presence which enlightens and unites everything. From this moment on I did all I could do to deepen my understanding of this new Gospel."

Émile closely participated in the French publication of The Thomas Gospel, and in 1975, he formed the Metanoïa Association to help deepen and investigate the logia from the Gospel according to Thomas. the word Metanoïa literally means "change of mentality."

In this talk Émile uses the terms Gnosis ans Gnostic with the following meanings: Gnosis refers to the universal and timeless Knowledge or Truth. A Gnostic is one who understands non-dualistic thought and who is dedicated to living the Gnosis. As Émile says, "Gnostics are rare."

Émile Gillabert makes many comparaisons between the Thomas Gospel and Eastern Spirituality. He says, "While Christianity has emerged fron Judaism and has built itself within the context of the Apocalypse, the Gnosis, fundamentally autonomous, forbids any escape towards a space-time 'elsewhere.' The West has ignored the notion of the liberating present which makes up an essential theme in the main Oriental texts, such as the Vedas, Buddhism, Toaism, Ch'an and Sufism. And, another very revealing fact is that the Gospel according to Thomas resembles the Oriental teachings in the way that it puts emphasis on the 'here and now.' To seek outwardly is to condemn one self to not finding. 'The Kingdom of the Father is spread upon earth and Men do not see it." Log. 113

"The Gnosis transcends space and time, which clearly contrasts the typically Christian conviction of becoming in time, or Greek idealism which advocates escape. This notion, which the West has ignored, constitutes a fundamental theme of the main Oriental texts. And, what is very revealing is that this notion is found to be the essence of Jesus' words in the Gospel according to Thomas. It takes a long time and a lot of work to sharpen one's capacity of discernment, which enables one to recognize the importance of the successive alterations which have been made on the Canonical Gospels over the years. In the Gospel according to Thomas, Jesus does not place himself within the Apocalyptic perspective. it follows that everything written in the Canonical Gospels from the Apocalyptic perspective comes from alterations made by differents editors."

IDJ: Could you introduce us to the Gospel according to Thomas? What is its source andhow does it compare to the other Gospels?

EG: The Gospel according to Thomas is part of the Coptic manuscripts which wre discovered at nag Hammad (Upper Egypt) in 1945. It became known in france in 1959 when it was published by Jean Doresse and H. C. Puech Various coomentaries invariably compared the ligia from Thomas with Jesus's words as reported by the Canonical Gospels; this comparaison was done because about half of the 114 logia are in the Canonical Gospels, albeit with a few variations. Thus, the big question: Is this new Gospel older than, contemporary with, or more recent than the Canpnicala gospels?

Only by considering the Gospel according to Thomas from a Gnostic viewpoint can one fully appreciate its depth and originalilty as compared to the CanonicalGospels. moreover,much needs to be reviewed on this subject because the Gnosis has had a bad reputation among Christains throughout the early centuries of Christianity. Gnostice were accused of being heretics by heresiologues (opponents of the Gnosis since the second and third centuries) such as Epiphane, Hippolyte and St-Irenee. The latter, who was bishop of Lyon, left us an important work called Adversus Haereses, in which he refutes the Gnostics' beliefs and points to their frnactic dualism.

Before the discovery of the gospel according to Thomas, the only means by which it was possible to know of the Gnostic works was through those who denounced them. The Nag Hammadi discovery radically altered the image which people have of the Gnostics and of Gnosis. The Gnosis is much more than a heretic branch of Christianity. It is the independent tree of which Christianity is a branch.

The first critics which talked about the Gospel according to Thomas have accused it of being Gnostic, giving to this term the dualist meaning used by the heresiologues to qualify heretic writings. Then, later on, we talked of a Gnostic connotation, for the new Gospel gives much importance to the body as the necessarycraftsman of tilemless realisation; finally the dualist qualification became improper. In fact, everything had to be completely revised. It was ti this task that I decided to devote all my activities.

IDJ: How can one live the teaching of Jesus from the Gospel according to Thomas in everyday life, at home, at work, and especially in the present-day society?

EG: For me, what best characterizes the words of Jesus in the Gospel according to Thomas is both their sense of imminence anf transcendence. in other words, they convey a sense of an intimate link between the divine and man. In the new Gospel, the body occupies a privileged place which it does not in otger texts, whether Oriental or Occidental. Only when the body is unshackled from the mind can the Spirit or the Self recognise itself. As long as one takes oneself to be different from the Spirit, one prevents this revelation; as long as one lives as a separate entity, one deprives oneself of the vision.

In his invitation to take the "meek" as an example, Jesus shows us the simplicity required for the discovery of one's true nature. It is a kind of innocence which remains sheltered from concepts. The presence of this simplicity and innocence invalidates the escape through time and is more easily perceived by simple people, who live an ordinary daily life, than by intellectuals gifted at handling concepts.

IDJ: Do you feel that there are other masters who teach the non-dualistic vision of the Gnosis? Could you saya few words about them?

EG: While they emphasize the simplicity of the non-dualist vision, the great Masters Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, and H.W.L. Poonja also points out the rarity of truly awakened beings. They all bring to light the illusory character of the individual. Now, for as long as the slightest difference subsists between the individual and the Self or the Spirit, awakening cnnot take place. A realised being enjoys the unitary vision.

According to Ramana maharshi, the key to the Gnosis is through asking the question: "Who am I?" the answer comes when one discovers one's inner reality: "I am the Self." Nisargadatta places emphasis on the assertion of our true nature: "One must develop the conviction"I am the absolute"; this is very important." Poonja never tires saying: "I am that, I am that," and he describes the attitude which allows for this spontaneous awareness to reveal itself to itself: "Being without past and without becoming." In other words, being free.

IDJ: Is the teaching in the Gospel according to Thomas non-dualistic? Of so, in what way?

EG: What these Masters say can be found in the words of Jesu in the Gospel according to Thomas. jesus' invitation to make one of the two is entirely within the non-dualist Oriental line: "When you make the two one, you shall become sons of Man, and when you say, 'Mountain, be moved,' it will be moved," Log 106. It goes without saying taht the image of the mountain represents the mind which the Spirit, our true nature, can move. What is particularily brought to light is the awakening process in the context of non-duality. Inother words, the Spirit recognises itself withiut calling to other than itself. If someone like Nisargadatta Maharaj judiciously says and re-says: "I am not the body, I am not hte mind," he does not make clear how this establishment becomes conscious. Amd like him, Buddhist and Hindu Masters do not appear concerned to clarify this "mystery." The Upanishads just say, "The unborn gives rise to the unborn." And the Ch'an Masters states precisely, "Since the beginning no thing is."

On this very topic, the Gospel according to Thomas is surprisingly concise, and what is even more remarkable is that it is contrary to Greek idealism and to judeo-Christian becoming.

IDJ: Could you comment on, "The Gnostics is in the World without being of the World." What does the sentence mean?

EG: One can even specify that the Gnostic is the only one to be in the World because for him realisation cannot teke place "elsewhere" and in the future. To place realisation at the time of resurrection of the body is to condemn oneself to never finding it. One cannot be in the world if one turns to the past or to the future. It is even this escape from the world which prevents one from being in it.

The Gnostic is not of the world because his true nature is not this person to which he was illusory identified. Rather, he is the original Being, the maker of the manifestaion. "I am the being of all things, nothing is my being." sais Abd El Kader. The principle could not be an element of the all.

IDJ: Have you seen God?

EG: If God is to have the revelation of one's own presence, in other words, to be conscious of one's true nature, then I can answer in the affirmative. But, if God is an all powerful being, different from me, then I am foreign to this vision. Only the unitary vision suppresses dualistic perception. If the individual is erased, only God remains.

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Emile Gillabert is the author of several books (not translated in English) among them: Paroles de Jésus et Sagesse orientale, Jésus et la Gnose, Le proçès de Jésus à la lumière de la Gnose and L'Évangile voie de la connaissance.

L'Association Métanoïa organises three day meetings at its headquearters in Marsanne, France and publishes the quarterly Journal Les Cahiers Métanoïa fully devoted to the Thomas Gospel.

Emile Gillabert died shortly before this article went to press in June 1995.

For more details (in French) on his books and his life go to my site: Les passants