The Inner Kingdom - Gospel of Thomas | Mysticism

Verse - The Inner Kingdom

Jesus said, "If your leaders tell you, 'Behold, the kingdom is in heaven,' the birds of the sky will go before you. If they tell you, 'It is in the sea,' the fish will go before you. But the kingdom is within you and it is without you. If you know yourselves, you will be known, and you will know that you are the children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, you will be in poverty, and you are poverty."

Comment

The kingdom of God is not 'in heaven', that is, in the outer firmament, just as it is not in the sea or anywhere else outside. It is not a place, but a being to which everyone should and can awaken. And through the human being, who is alive both inside and outside, the kingdom of God is present not only inside, but also outside. Insofar as he reveals and realizes it in his environment through right thinking and acting. As love, goodness, tolerance, benevolence, mercy, justice, helpfulness, light, knowledge and wisdom, i.e. to the extent of his self-realization, which is at the same time the fulfillment of his life's meaning.

The Kingdom of God

Thus the Kingdom of God is both hidden and revealed. It is everywhere and at all times, reveals itself to all who awaken to reality within themselves and manifests itself externally through them. This is also indicated by the second part of the saying, which deals with the knowledge of the divine self, the inheritance of the Kingdom of God and is called to realize it both within and around oneself. "If you know yourselves, you will be known," and this three times, by God as the Son, by the world as the bearer of the light, love and wisdom of God, and by the awakened as their equals and as guardians of the Grail.

Then you will know that you are sons of the living Father and owners of the fullness of God. Thus the Kingdom of God is the fruit and fulfillment of what the wise men of all times called the threefold destiny of man: Know yourself! Be yourself! Realize yourself!

Meister Eckhart

The soul itself is the spiritual and divine heaven, in whose miraculous depths God secretly accomplishes his perfect works. Therefore the soul should turn inward through the eternity of its own being and recognize how it is enabled by the presence of God in it to share in his eternal bliss, to be one with the Lord of Light. Know yourself, recognize your self,

Christ in you, the spark of God's light. Why are you, soul, seeking the living among the dead? Let him arise in you, whom you call the Son of the Father and who you yourself are! Know that in the innermost part of your being the immeasurable one sits enthroned, from whom all creation is far. Here you are beyond all words.

Here, in the unity of the divine being, you, soul, have lost your name. Here you are the immeasurable being yourself. If you want to become one with God in and completely, you must abandon and lose yourself. For God is closer to you than you are to yourself. In this union, God gives you everything that he gave to Christ: the unity of being and the perfection. Everything that the Scripture says about Christ is proven and realized in you and in every soul united with God.