The Kingdom of Heaven

Golden Thread

Our true home is available in every moment we choose to surrender what we want or don’t want to that which life has brought us.

The Elusive Kingdom

   Do you remember the first time you went to summer camp or spent some time away from your parents when you were a child?  Regardless of how you felt about your family, you eventually became homesick.  Try to remember that feeling.

   All of us are born with an attachment to home—wherever that might be.  In scale this attachment is a reflection of a greater longing for our eternal home, which is often referred to as the “kingdom of Heaven.”  Even if you don’t believe in Heaven as the physical home of God to which humans return when they pass from the earth, you can relate to the concept of an earthly and spiritual home and their relationship to one another.

Developing Awareness

   So, if it’s true that we’re all born with this longing, how do we go about fulfilling it?  The first step is to determine where it is.  Where is this eternal home we call the Kingdom of Heaven?  Does anybody have a roadmap? 

   The New Testament gives us a clue in Luke 17: 20-21.  Jesus is approached by the Pharisees, a group of middle-class Jews who represent people who are attached to obtaining exterior riches (powers and possessions).  They ask him when the Kingdom of Heaven is coming, and Jesus replies, “The Kingdom of Heaven is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is! or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.”  Alternate translations use different prepositions like “within,” “amidst,” or “inside.” 

   The point Jesus is making is that the Kingdom of God doesn’t reside somewhere “out there,” and it can’t be obtained through the usual worldly means of toil and labor. There are no road signs announcing its exact location.  If we want to arrive, we must perceive this elusive destination through interior work of an entirely different order.  This Work belongs to another world, and what is required is awareness.

   Awareness is the product of directed or focused attention.  Its development, which is largely lost in human beings today, is a result of a concerted effort to gather and reclaim our attention, which if left to its own devices will be drawn out and away from us at every turn.

   On the Inner Path, we are asked to awaken and return to ourselves, when we become aware that we’ve wandered off into thought, emotion, or physical sensation.  Instead of allowing ourselves to be drawn out, we attempt to hold the majority of our attention inwardly, while reserving a smaller amount for practical, exterior use.  We are asked to return and remain in this state as often as we must to maintain a sense of ourselves existing in the Presence/present moment. 

   This is another way of describing, what St. Paul was trying to convey to the Romans when he said, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be confirmed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God— what is is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12: 1-2

Someone To Watch Over Me

Golden Thread

The one great love for which your heart longs is the faithful lover who like the bridegroom on his wedding night patiently awaits the arrival of his bride.

The Hungry Heart

Do you know why you’re reading this blog? There are many reasons, but it all boils down to this:  you have a hungry heart.  All of us, in fact, suffer from a hungry heart.  The only difference between us, as fellow aspirants, and nearly everyone else in the world is we’re awake enough to recognize it.  We long for something…anything that will feed our empty hearts.

This fact can be observed all around us by observing the proliferation of music, movies, and books with the theme of the human search for lasting love.  We’re all looking for something or someone we can hang on to.  Someone who’ll be there when we need them the most.  We’re particularly drawn to the blues, jazz, and soul music because the rhythm and lyrics seem to be telling our story.

When I was a girl—and still to this day, but for different reasons—I was stirred by the music of George and Ira Gershwin who were masters at recalling the story of the “hungry heart.”  Nowhere was this clearer than in their hit song from the 1926 musical “Oh, Kay!” called “Someone to Watch over Me.”  If you remember it, feel free to chime in and switch the pronouns to suit your gender!

“…There's a somebody I'm longing to see/I hope that he/she turns out to be/Someone to watch over me/I'm a little lamb who's lost in a wood/I know I could always be good/To one who'll watch over me/Although he/I may not be the man some girls think of/As handsome to my heart he/she carries the key/Won't you tell him/her please to put on some speed/Follow my lead, oh how I need/Someone to watch over me/Someone to watch over me.”

Do you notice the way these lyrics and their minor chord stir up a sort of longing in us?  If we’re honest, it even happens for those of us who are in long-term, committed, loving partnerships.  How can this be?  The answer is found in the golden thread:  The one great love for which your heart longs is the patient lover who like the bridegroom on his wedding night patiently waits for his bride.