The Laughing Jesus: Religious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom

This book is a great introduction to non-duality from a western perspective. The irony is it the first half discusses the difference between true gnosticism and literal religion and the us versus them mentality that literal religion can produce, however, in doing so and an in us versus them mentality is produced. The second half focuses on the teachings of non-duality through gnosticism. They get most of it correct, however, they have not learned nor expressed that witnessing is something that the mind projects on the Self. The Self is not a witness. It is pure being and the projection of the act of witnessing by r mind on Self is what causes dual perception.

This is the third in Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy's books about Jesus (The Jesus Mysteries and Jesus and the Lost Goddess having preceded this one). The book is actually 2 books, split almost exactly at the mid line. The first book is an indictment of Literalist religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The second book is an introduction for people who might be interested in Gnosism. In some senses, the first part of this book is a shortened version of their first book, while the second half is a shortened version of the second book. Because I think their first book was one of the most powerful books ever written in this field, all their subsequent books have a hard act to follow (I gave that one 5 stars).Part 1 goes over briefly a lot of the material Freke and Gandy cover in their previous books. This time, however, much of their focus is on Islam and Judasim rather than Christianity. They systematrically dismantle all the pillars of the Jewish and Muslin religions, and show the interplay between the 3 systems. If you're like me, and unacquainted with the Qu'ran and the history of Muhammad, you will find this section particularly interesting.While this is a well written book and represents a good deal of scholarship, there is an angry tone to Part 1 which weakens the merits of their otherwise sound case. In addition I have some disagreements with the authors on a few minor points. For example..."...the Tanakh appeared as an incoherent mishmash of texts cobbled together by a bunch of religious extremists in a few generations." (p. 41). Yet doesn't the very mishmash indicate centuries of development, rather than decades. One would expect more coherence if it were a small group of people over a short period."Why does Paul never mention an historical Jesus in his letters?" (p. 61). In fact he does. Several times. It may not be the types of detail that Freke & Gandy are looking for, and it may come from OT prophecies and ideas, but one can find traces of the historical Jesus in Paul (e.g., Romans 1:3, 6:4, 6:6; Galatians 1:19, 3:13; Cor 11:23, 15:4) . These references may not actually apply to a Jesus figure who lived at that time, as Ellegard (1999) and others have pointed out, but they do talk about Jesus as if Paul had some knowledge of a real life Jesus."...the words 'brother of Jesus' had been added to the inscription [ossuary of James] in the 3rd century." (p. 60). This is by no means a concensually validated point of view. The debate continues."Jerusalem was an insignificant place a long way from Rome." (p. 67). There is quite a bit of evidence and opinion that Jerusalem/Israel was a strategically important area not only for its geographic position close to major trade routes and population centers, but also for its agricultural production.[Constantine] "adopted Christianity as the religion of the empire." (p. 77). I believe that his successor Emperor Theodosius adopted it in 381 AD. Constantine simply no longer made it illegal, and then personally adopted it when on his death bed. Needless to say, this opened the road for Christianity"...Jesus had appeared to Constantine the night before a great battle..." (p. 77). According to Eusebius in the Church History it was the Chi Rho, taken to be a symbol of Christianity (which may or may not be the case) which Constantine saw, not Jesus. In a later work he changed the story considerably, to include the appearance of Jesus and the impending battle.Needless to say, these points are relatively minor. Freke & Gandy show their usual level of scholarship throughout, although in this work there seem to be far fewer and shorter footnotes than in previous editions.Part 2 of the book is a recruitment speech for Gnosism, followed by a brief self-help exercise manual for developing gnostic wisdom. Depending upon your point of view, this part of the book will be viewed with anticipation or gloom. My personal predilictions are on the side of the authors, hence I enjoyed this part. However, I can imagine that for others it may be unsettling.This section of the book is further weakened by a lack of structure, lots of repetition, and a curious lack of mention of all of Jesus' own gnostic sayings. This is not to say that Freke & Gandy completely ignore Jesus' (or Paul's) gnostic wisdom, but I would have expected more references.In summary, Freke & Gandy's book is well worth reading, and the sections on Judaism and Islam add value to the wonderful wisdom of their first book. Anyone interested in the historical Jesus, Gnostics, and early biblical literature will find value here. And for those of you, like me, who have little knowledge of the Qu'ran and its relationship to Judiasm and Christianity, the book is an excellent bridge.

_The first thing to remember when reading or speaking about this book is that it is in no way an attack on the existence of God. What this book is, is an attack on false, literalist dogma that has so dangerously distorted the true Reality of God for so much of Western history. Let me say that I read the authors' first two books on this subject (more than once), and this third volume is a more than worthy culmination._The first half solidly deconstructs and demolishes any claim to historical accuracy or legitimacy for the Holy Books of the Jewish, Christian, and Moslem religious traditions. All Holy Books are the work of men, not of God (including Gnostic books, but Gnostics realize this.) Personally, while I was aware of the Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources in the Tanakh, I was amazed to find that it appears to have been compiled as late as the first century BCE- and by the Maccabees in order to justify a rule so ruthless that it would put the Taliban to shame. Nor did I realize that the Romans were actually allies of the Maccabees against their Syrian Greek foes (which explains much in terms of creating a false religion and history for political ends.) An excellent case is also made for the origin of monotheism among the Greeks and not the Jews (read your Heraclitus, Pythagoras, and Plato.) It is also this first half that emphasizes the difference between the Gnostic and Literalist traditions. The Gnostic is the true and original Christian (or pre-Christian) who sees in Jesus the allegorical ideal of man awakening to his true origin and nature. The Literalist is one who bullies everyone into blind belief in dogmas that obstruct and distort true experience of God. There is an excellent table that spells out the specific differences between the two. As for the critique of Islam, well, how could a copy of a copy of a bad original be anything less than the worst of them all...?_The second half of the book deals with the nature and obtainment of Gnosis. The authors' model holds that Gnosis is a natural state akin to lucid dreaming (dreaming, yet consciously recognizing that you are dreaming.) You experience a shift in consciousness and perspective. Your ordinary world and life does not disappear as you enter some new supernatural state or dimension. No, but your consciousness expands to the point that you realize that your old everyday life, including the your old sense of self, is not the totality of existence. You realize that you are part of a greater "life-dreamer" which is dreaming both itself, as well as, everyone and everything. You realize that we are all part of this great dreamer and are all connected at this higher level. We are all One. The purpose of life is to awaken and personally experience to this knowledge- this Gnosis. This section of the book points the way._Having first touched upon the Gnosis over a dozen years ago, I like to think that I possess an intuition when it comes to teachings on the subject. I am not saying that reading this book will get you to the ultimate goal, but it will put you on the right path. It will plant the genuine seeds that will burst forth from dreaming unconscious.

I enjoyed this book, especially the second part. First half did not hold much new information for me, but I understood the need for it and let's face it, gnostics still have an axe or two to grind with what they call "literalist" christians and admittedly, Time Freke uses the filet knife quite expertly and I always enjoy seeing a craftsman at work.Strangely enough it's not what stayed with me after reading the book, and I suppose that was the intention as he would say, to remember the baby, not the bath water.It was very nice to be reintroduced to the ideas and tradition of gnosticism that had interested me a long time ago but fell to the background.This book, at least for now, had brought it back into my life again and I consider that a good thing, a chance to renew, rediscover which is a gift not as often appreciated as one might think.

I've studied quite a lot of religion and this is one of the best books I've ever read, it is so well researched and really puts the whole notion of the manner in which religion becomes an institution easy to understand. This should be compulsory reading for everyone especially the people who claim to be religious as opposed to spiritual.

A must read book for all interested in human development and spiritual awareness. An easy read and the place of organised religious in the development of our society becomes clearer. It will help those with blind faith to think and question their assumptions, whilst providing an historical context for those who are more discerning. A smashing book

I am really enjoying this book, and feeling very awakened.

Arrived very promptly, beautifully packed! Content looks to be up the Freke & Gandy's usual high quality arguments for questioning commonly accepted myths of literalist religion. Any of their books are recommended for the open-minded reader seeking beyond establishment dogma.