 In describing the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus spoke in parables. He made comparisons that most would understand since it is almost impossible to put into words that which is a state of mind and heart. Jesus did not describe a physical place; he described a state of mind. This would make sense since he earlier proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven is here, now and available to all who wish to enter. It is but a thought away. “Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what comparison shall we compare it? A grain of mustard seed is the least of all seeds: is indeed less than all the seeds that be in the earth; but when it is sown in the earth, it groweth up: it becometh greater than all herbs; it shooteth out great branches, and becometh a tree, so that the fowls of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. You have heard it a thousand times—the kingdom of heaven is within you. When given the opportunity, it grows from the smallest seed of truth and provides a home for all of your thoughts, hopes and desires. It is the small fragment of yeast that gives rise to the bread that nourishes our life. “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables.” Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house and his disciples came unto him, saying, declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered, “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” He that sows is all of us. The field is our minds. The good seeds are the thoughts of truth and understanding. The tares are our negative thoughts. Illusion sowed the negative thoughts. The harvest is the end of pain, suffering and want that is the end of the world as you have known it. The reapers are purified thoughts. The negative thoughts are sent to the fire of transmutation—truth. It is then that our negative thoughts cease to exist. Our mind will resist this journey toward enlightenment and they will attempt to keep us in our old mold of thinking. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” The treasure in the field is the light within, the truth, that which connects you to the infinite power of the Universe. When you find that truth that rests at the center of your being, little else matters. This is why so many forget that the Law of Attraction in not just about fame and fortune. It is about finding the true nature of your being that denies you nothing and gives you everything. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Is it not better to have one thing of great value than many things of no value? To know the perfection within is to release that perfection into the world. It is letting your light shine and allowing the inner and the outer to be as one. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” It is said, “Garbage in, garbage out.” So many accept mediocrity and thereby have a mediocre life. Most feel that they have to accept the “good with the bad.” However, the fact is there is no need to accept any bad. Your cup can overflow with the positive. We are exposed to a constant barrage of ideas and images but it is not necessary to accept them all as gospel. Each concept must be examined in the light of our inner being and inner truths. That which rings true can be accepted and taken into vessels, or the mind. That which is deemed inappropriate should be cast away. “Hearken unto me every one of you. Hear and understand. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. There is nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.” Jesus is fairly adamant on this point. He is saying, “Hey, pay attention, I have something important to tell you.” What goes into the body cannot defile the body. What goes into the mind cannot defile the mind. What goes into the heart cannot defile the heart. It is always what you do with what you see and hear that matters. Nothing outside of you can hurt you unless you let it hurt you. It is only the thoughts and emotions and words and intentions that you express which can cause you any harm. You are your own world and you are the master of that world. No one can hurt you. Nothing can cripple you. Nothing can cause you pain or suffering unless YOU allow it to be part of your reality. “Are ye also yet so without understanding? Do not ye yet perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into a man, entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught, purging all meats? It entereth not into his heart; it cannot defile him.” I think that the Master was getting a little impatient at this point. Negative thoughts and ideas that assault your senses need not be a part of your world. You can take these things in but they can just as easily be expelled as nitrogenous waste. If the things that you consume do not enter your heart and do not become part of your being, they CANNOT harm you. This does not mean that you become blind to the troubles in the world around you; but, it does mean that you can see the truth of every situation. The power that Jesus used to heal the blind and the sick was not some mysterious form of magic. He healed with his vision. He refused to accept blindness and disease into his reality and so they ceased to have any existence. The sheer clarity of his vision was transferred to the blind man and thus sight was returned. In fact it was never really gone. The blind man accepted the bad fish and thus they were a part of his world. This does not have to be the case. We do not have to accept pain, suffering, poverty or disease. When we see from the perspective of our inner light, we see all things whole, all people fed and consequently all sadness fades as a distant memory. “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man: for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” There is a distinction between KNOWLEDGE and KNOWING. Knowledge is the accumulation of information. Knowing is the inner understanding of that information. Knowing separates truth from fiction. Here is a KEY regarding The Law of Attraction. Many people have information, knowledge regarding spiritual laws. They can cite chapter and verse, list the steps to be followed, proclaim the grandest of but, when push comes to shove, do not have a clue what it all really means. The secret to the utilization of any law is the knowing of the inner meaning. It comes from the heart that knows and sees and believes in the truth of its nature. If your beliefs are false, your world is false. If your beliefs are true, your world is true. If you believe that the man is blind, he will, in your reality, remain blind. Negative thoughts come from within. When expressed, they defile your life. They create the illusion. “All these evil things come from within.” There is no exterior evil force in the world. All evil, negativity, comes from within and is expressed as hatred, murder, violence, disease and all the ills that we have been able to imagine or have been told has existence. When negative thoughts leave our minds they take on an expression in the outer world, in our reality. Usually, they will take the form of that which we most fear. To eat with “unwashen hands,” or rather, to live in a world filled with negative ideas, does not defile a man. It is only when we accept the reality as truth and we in turn espouse that false truth that it becomes a part of our reality. |
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