The Gospel of Thomas: The Mystery of the Lion

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The Gospel of Thomas is an apocryphal (non canonical) gospel containing sayings of Jesus. Being a sayings gospel, like the theoretical gospel of Q, the source of the sayings in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the gospel of Thomas is very primitive in nature. Nonetheless, it appears to have been worked over by gnostics, giving it a distinctly non-Christian character.

Saying 7 is most mysterious:

Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man

Many attempts have been made to explain this saying. For example:

Blessed is the wild dynamics in us when digested by clarity and awareness. Cursed is the man taken over by those wild dynamics created by confusion.

I think this is close. I would render the saying as:

Blessed is the animal nature which becomes part of a man when consumed by the man; and cursed is the man who is consumed by his animal nature, allowing the animal nature to become the man