We live in a very complex and disturbed world. The nostalgia of the calmer and simpler times is a distant memory. Today, the world is filled with uncertainty, difficulty and division. People are feeling the tension, the shift and it feels as if we lost control. Perhaps it’s always has been like this and now the only difference is that the veil has been lifted? Perhaps now we can see the truth behind the facade? The nostalgia of “the good old times” can simply be “I miss the times of ignorance and complete blindness”. On one hand, we grew up in a society that puts emphasis on ambition and achieving something in the world. On the other hand, the worldly systems are designed in a way to trap you in a constant loop of insatiable appetite of having more, doing more and constant comparison. And the truth is that you can’t win because you are not supposed to win, because it is all an illusion.
When Jesus was on earth, he said a lot that was actually against the world. You could question this, isn’t that God created the world for people to have dominion over and yet Jesus was criticizing the world and calling people out of the world? This was also how in times of early Christianity and the rise of Gnosticism, Gnostics believed that God was this evil being Demiurge who created the material world as a prison for the souls. Gnostics believed Jesus came from a higher God and the God of the world was a lower God and a lesser being. Because highest God is utterly good, all knowing and beyond the material world, whereas creation must be the work of a lesser, ignorant being and humanity is trapped in matter and needs gnosis (knowledge) to escape. They constantly viewed creation as a prison to escape, however Gnostics misunderstood the purpose of the material world and the purpose of the soul development, the development that could only be possible in the human form and not the spirit form. It is true that this world is just a temporary form, temporary garment that after serving it’s purpose it will be changed, and therefore we should not be fully attached to the world and to it’s illusions. However, not many people know that and constantly look for the meaning of their existence and for the ways to be fulfilled in the world.
In the Apocrypha texts that did not get their way to the Bible, Jesus said this famous saying about the world:
“Jesus said: He who has known the world has found a corpse; and he who has found a corpse, the world is not worthy of him”. Gospel of Thomas (Saying 56 )
This saying can be quite unsettling vision of human existence. It suggests that to truly understand the world is not to be enchanted by it, but to see through its illusions—to recognize decay beneath beauty, emptiness beneath ambition, and mortality beneath all striving. The metaphor of the “corpse” symbolizes not only death, but the lifelessness of worldly pursuits once they are fully comprehended. At first glance, the world appears vibrant—full of opportunity, pleasure, and meaning. People chase success, wealth, recognition, and love, believing these to be the foundations of a fulfilled life. Yet, as one gains experience and insight, these pursuits can begin to feel hollow. Achievements fade, pleasures diminish, and even the most intense emotions are transient. What once seemed alive and full of promise can begin to resemble something meaningless and like a corpse, stripped of its vitality.
This realization is not necessarily born of cynicism, but of clarity. To see the world as a “corpse” is to recognize its inability to provide lasting fulfillment. Everything is subject to decay: institutions collapse, relationships change, and even identities evolve or dissolve over time. Beneath the surface of worldly life, lies an unavoidable truth—nothing here endures in the way we wish it would. This is certainly something people come to terms with in their older age, however instead of wasting all this time, Jesus is calling people out of the world earlier and towards the love and relationship with God. Jesus also highlights that being out of the world will cause you to have enemies as you just cannot fit in the world anymore:
“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:19
Once a person perceives the world’s essential emptiness, they can no longer fully participate in it as before. The values that once guided them may lose their hold, and the systems that once seemed important may appear trivial or even absurd. In this sense, the individual becomes estranged from the world—not because they are superior in a conventional sense, but because they no longer share its illusions. The truth is that the systems of the world only exist and thrive because people participate in them. The religious systems only thrive because people see this as the only way of connecting with God, even though Jesus highlighted on many occasions that God is not inhabiting buildings but hearts:
“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17: 24-31
The economic systems thrive because we see them as the only way of providing for the family, the governments and institutions thrive because we feed into an illusion of their power and need of their existence. This is all designed to have control over people, to manipulate and to continue the illusion of power. This then becomes a habit, an inseparable part of the society and an invisible chain of needing to be connected to. The fear of separating and rejecting those systems can stop someone from seeing them for what they are – illusions. Because once you disconnect you stop feeding into them and they only exist because people have been tricked into thinking they have to be here. It’s a perpetual cycle of need, control and illusion.
Once a person perceives the world’s essential emptiness, they can no longer fully participate in it as before. The individual becomes detached from the world and from it’s tactics to trap through fear, distractions, emotions because they no longer share its illusions. However, there is a tension between detachment and belonging. On one hand, detachment can be liberating and freeing from the need to chase fleeting rewards. On the other hand, this detachment can also be isolating and can create a sense of alienation, as if one no longer fully belongs to the world of ordinary concerns.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2: 15-17
“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4
“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12: 25
Apostle John and James are clear in their messages – do not love the world, do not be attached to the world, do not take it seriously, do not get lost in it’s illusions and lusts. Why so strongly discouraging us from from those experiences? Because Jesus kept reminding us that the prince of this world – Satan, designed this world so that you would lose yourself, so that you would forget what is important – the love of God and he would distract you from striving for holiness and from forming the relationship with God.
It is safe to say that we live in times where the world has never been so desensitized from what is true, what is right and holly. This desensitization hasn’t happened overnight of course. This was a gradual process of compromise, allowing small changes in the society, times of revolutions, freedom, and expansion. At it’s core, this wordily curiosity distances a person from what is eternal and divine. The wordily or secular living is rooted in desire and self-exaltation that can quickly loose it’s control as the world is designed that it always wants more, always wants better and is always not enough. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life can be a dangerous game that can be difficult to exit. Those lusts represent the fundamental ways in which human beings become entangled in superficial pursuits. The lust of the flesh points to the craving for physical pleasure and comfort; the lust of the eyes reflects a constant longing for possession, beauty, and status; and the pride of life captures the desire for recognition, power, and superiority. Together, they form a framework of attachment that can dominate human life. Everything that the world offers—pleasure, wealth, prestige—fades with time. Even the strongest passions diminish, and the most impressive achievements are eventually forgotten. To anchor one’s identity and purpose in such unstable foundations is to build on something that cannot endure.
“Whoever has found himself, of him the world is not worthy” Gospel of Thomas ( saying 111 )
On the other hand, Jesus is calling to deeper introspection of oneself. Once you redirect your attention to spiritual growth, the love of God, serving others, growing withing yourself, you will then discover that this world has nothing to offer. It is not that you suddenly feel superior or above others. On the contrary, you realize that the true meaning and true satisfaction cannot be found in anything material or what the world can offer. While worldly attachments dissolve, a life directed toward what is divine participates in something lasting and unchanging. There is a sense of peace and reassurance that when you redirect your attention towards God, you are getting the truth, you are receiving from God who does not change. Nothing can compare to the true experiences and relationship with the Father and there is no disappointment that often wordily experiences or relationships can bring. The problem is not that people experience pleasure, appreciate beauty, or achieve success, but that these become ultimate goals rather than secondary aspects of life. When they are elevated to the highest place, they displace a deeper, more meaningful relationship with what is eternal.
That is why Jesus also said: “Be passersby.” (Saying 42), Gospel of Thomas.
Remember that you are only passing through this world, not committed to this world and this world only. To be a passerby is to be one who has let go of the world and all its things. If a person’s sense of self is rooted in possessions, appearance, or social standing, it becomes fragile, constantly threatened by loss or change. In contrast, grounding one’s identity in something beyond the world offers stability. It frees individuals from the endless cycle of desire and dissatisfaction, allowing them to engage with the world without being consumed by it. It warns against the seductive pull of a world that cannot fulfill its promises, while also pointing toward a path that leads to lasting meaning. Be passerby – do not cling too tightly to what is temporary. We build homes, form identities, accumulate possessions, and establish reputations, all in an effort to anchor ourselves in a world that is constantly changing. Yet the instruction to “be passersby” reminds us that everything we encounter: places, relationships, successes, and failures—is part of a passing landscape. Nothing remains fixed. Even the self we cling to evolves over time, shaped by experience and circumstance. To live as a passerby is to move through the world with a sense of lightness. A passerby can appreciate beauty without needing to own it, can experience joy without fearing its end, and can face loss without being completely undone. This perspective allows for a deeper kind of freedom—one that is not dependent on controlling outcomes or preserving fleeting moments. It’s rooted in the full trust in God’s plan and allowing for God to move you when you need it the most.
On the deeper and spiritual level, this also explains the deeper meaning of soul expansion through reincarnation. When we remember that this life and this body is one of many chapters in soul expansion and development journey, the attachment to this identity takes a lesser meaning. The lives, experiences and lessons we endure shape our soul and our character. This wouldn’t be possible in purely spiritual state, therefore this material world is needed for us to experience all the emotions of loss, rejection, disappointment, suffering, joy, gratitude, love and so on. This body serves us as a vessel and a vehicle to travel through life, however the attachment to the outward appearance, to skin colour, to nationality, to identity, only slows you down in the lesson of detachment. It’s really not about skin colour, because in your past life you might have been a different one, it’s not about your appearance because this is very temporary and fleeting, it’s not about your nationality and traditions, because if you understand oneness, you understand that you are part of everything and connected to everyone. All of this just serves as a purpose of division, distraction and dissatisfaction.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Remember, you can’s serve two masters and this world is under the rule of Satan until Jesus fully recovers authority over the world. Until then we have to be careful to not fall into the traps of illusions, distractions and fleshly desires. And this is very easy to do, because it surrounds us on a daily basis. However once you see the design of the wordily systems, once you recognize the truth behind the facade, you begin to understand that this world has nothing to offer.
By Dagmara Z.