Dear Spiritual Companions,

Have you given much thought to the Realm of God, better known to most as the Kingdom of God or Nirvana or what happens at the end of this life?  We are human beings so most of us think about what will happen when this life ends.  Most World Religions have some kind of end of the world story.  God comes out as the victor and so it calms our fears of what will happen to us when we die.  In spite of any fear tactics religious leaders might use to control us in this life, God wins in the end for everyone.  I think our thoughts of what happens when this earthly adventure ends actually distracts us from something much more important – what is happening to us right now.  This life is often messy and doesn’t work out the way we plan so we like to focus on something that can be controlled – life after this life.

Jesus was very clear about this topic, as have been a lot of other Christ Consciousness folks.  The Realm of God is in your midst right now and right here!  Disturbing to say the least isn’t it?  Is life all we would hope it to be?  Does everything seem to make sense as related to how things are working out?  Is the lion lying down with the lamb?  Is there no more tears or pain?  When I look around the answer is a loud NO!  So how can the Realm of God be in our midst in this moment?  It doesn’t make sense.  It doesn’t if you are defining the Realm of God as the absence of problems or failures.  It doesn’t if you are defining the Realm of God as life working out perfectly, which means the way we want it to or think it should.  There is the rub – the way we want it to be or think it should be.  Our expectations have created a Realm of God that doesn’t even exist after this life is over.

So what then is the Realm of God?  As my spiritual director reminds me, “Life is what it is.”  We enter nirvana when we let life be what it is.  But what about all the work or service we are called to change injustice or wrongs?  Are we supposed to do nothing?  It depends on what our spirit directs us to do.  Isn’t that just another way to give up?  Absolutely not.  Sometimes individuals and life is not to be fixed.  But what if they are causing great hurt and harm, aren’t we suppose to do something?  Maybe yes and maybe no.  Jesus sometimes challenged the actions of others and sometimes he said or did nothing.  It all depended on what the spirit within Him was directing Him to do or not do.  When a person lives in the Realm of God they become inner driven and not outer driven.  As bad as things are God is still in charge.  All things work for good in God’s Realm, especially if they don’t appear that way.  Only by living with that understanding can we let go of our attachments to the outer physical world and its definition of the way things are.  Remember everything will pass away one day and all that will remain is God and our spirits in God.  So when Jesus died on the cross He could say, “Into Your Hands I commend my Spirit.”

We will find ourselves in paradise when we can say those words right here and right now.  Our perspective changes the moment we turn our entire being over to God.  Like God, in whose image we are made instead of vice versa, we see what is important and spend our lives furthering the work of raising this importance to a world that needs to be saved.  Each one of us will have a different way of doing this and it will come first and foremost from us Being.  As we let life be what it is we discover the Realm of God in being who we are.  Now we are free to simply BE and we leave the franticness of life behind.  Instead of just doing something we can Be in God’s Realm.  Like Jesus the resurrection of a life lived in God will come.

No wonder Jesus could say the Kingdom of God is in your midst right here and now.  Just let it be what it is.

Peace

Gary