“DD” THE KINGDOM
(The Gospel of Thomas) If you think the Kingdom of God is above you, then the birds will find it first. If you think it is in the ocean, then fish will discover it before you do. Look… the Kingdom of God is within you and all around you.
At its infancy, Christianity was practiced without a central pillar of catholic dogma, and various areas throughout the world had their own teachings regarding Jesus. These different practices led to writings about the faith which eventually were added together to create the Bible, with many not being included once the cannon was formally established. The Gospel of Thomas is one such book which arose out of a tradition of Christianity not widely chosen to be involved with the actual establishment of the formalized Christian religion as it aged.
The founders of the religion of Christianity did so without knowing Jesus, or his disciples, so in turn, chose (a couple hundred years later) what they wanted the religion to be about. They chose the narrative of a deified and risen Christ as more valuable than the emulation of his life and teachings leading towards knowing God for oneself.
It is in fact true, there is not one singular place where the Kingdom of God resides, unless you can pull back from the ultimate macro view and see that the Kingdom of God is everywhere all at once, all the time, without end, extending out into the definition of infinity, but also subjectively knowable when looking inward into the infinite origin and presence of the Self.
If you place a destination on the Kingdom of God as being only over there, not here, somewhere else, you miss the truth of knowing God and witnessing the truth of the Christ here and now. God is not just over there and not right here -- God is not limited to one place and a different time. The very nature of God demonstrates that no limitations of locale are possible with an infinite creator.
The original framers of the formal religion of Christianity created a religion which recruited converts based out of the fear of death and a desire for salvation, not on knowing God through being a christ for the world around them. Still, to this day, out of fear and because of the original cannon of the religion, most fear God to also be vengeful, wrathful, judgmental, jealous, and condemning. Thusly, if one believes God to be these negative qualities about life, it becomes obvious why someone would hold onto inner fears and future-based desires that require a savior over a teacher.
If you choose to believe that God is known about or appeased through fear and desire, you’ll continue looking for relief up in the clouds, down in the sea, and anywhere else that does not include inside of exactly what you are. God is not singularly transcendent, but universally present. God is knowable, but only when you look past the internal noise and fears associated.
If you desire to know God for yourself, to experience the imminence of the presence of the Creator, stop looking everywhere else for God other than right where you are. Subjective awareness is where you witness and experience God for yourself, and trust me, there’s no fear or religion when in the presence of God, only truth and love.
SPECIFIC DAYS
