Audio version read by Rev. Steven Lane Taylor, B.Msc.
“The Kingdom of Heaven Mystically and Psychologically Understood”

Throughout the New Testament, there is more said by Jesus about the Kingdom of Heaven by far than about any other subject of which he spoke. This of course makes sense when one considers that he told the disciples to go forth into the world and teach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. The reason for all of this was that Jesus’ whole presentation of spiritual reality rested upon the concept and the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven.

About 2,000 years ago, during his lifetime on earth, Jesus told people, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He also stated, “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” Above all else that Jesus communicated to people was the importance he placed on the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus put this emphasis on the Kingdom of Heaven because more than anything else, it was the greatest spiritual value that he could bring to people.

Unfortunately, after his passing from this world, the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven became an absurdity in comparison to what Jesus initially meant it to be. Traditional religion, specifically Roman Catholicism, in order to play on the fears of its followers, chose to present the Kingdom of Heaven to them as an after-death place where people went if they were good according to the tenants of the Catholic Church.

With few exceptions, most Roman Catholics, as well as traditional and fundamentalist teachings, still stress or emphasize the Kingdom of Heaven as an after-death place or reward, if one is good according to the teachings of one’s faith. How many tickets to paradise Catholic Priests sold to guilt-ridden parishioners wishing special privileges and priestly intervention in their final days, in order that they might enter the Kingdom of Heaven, can only be surmised.

In his lifetime, Jesus realized that he could never say enough in regard to explaining the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why, as previously stated, there is more said by Jesus about the Kingdom of Heaven than any other subject in the New Testament. While he spoke a great deal on the Kingdom, he also spoke of it in parables, realizing that only a few in his day were at the point of understanding where they could grasp the profound psychological and mystical significance and reality of what the Kingdom of Heaven really is.

Jesus realized that in speaking to the people in his day, he was trying to convey what would only appear to the multitude as a mystical abstract. Rather than have the reality criticized unfairly (“Casting his pearls before the swine…”), he chose instead to speak of the Kingdom in parables, concluding his discourses with: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Even 2000 years later, there are many who would scoff at or be critical of the true meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus had preferred it to be understood.

Yet, in spite of the religious superstition of Roman Catholicism in this regard that persists to this day, and the subsequent parroting of the same ridiculousness by traditional non-thinking or mystically-unaware religions that followed in Roman Catholicism’s footsteps, there is now an opportunity to bring forth the greater reality of the Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus had meant it to be understood.

This opportunity now exists due to the fact that greater numbers of traditional followers in the laity of Roman Catholicism and like-thinking religions are better educated, and thus more apt to ask questions or challenge the so-called authority of Roman Catholic and similar Christian sects. The education spoken of here is not limited to academic pursuits, but also to increasing study by lay persons about the nature of life and spirit found in metaphysics.

Enormous amounts of printed material in book form, and information on the Internet, are available from numerous non-traditional sources. Many of these books attempt to explain more of what Jesus really meant by the Kingdom of Heaven. Mass media, particularly television, has played a major role in bringing into many people’s homes programming that deals with life’s greatest mysteries, thus stimulating the consciousness of vast numbers of people to want to know or to be open to seeking.

A great spirit of adventure, to know what is unknown, to explore and to discover exists in today’s world as it did not 2,000 years ago, except for a very few. This is why Jesus’ real concept of the Kingdom of Heaven can be at hand for countless millions in today’s world who would and do have the openness of mind and awareness of spirit to understand the profoundness of what the Kingdom of Heaven really is.

Entering the Kingdom of Heaven daily during physical life encompasses the following values, which is why Jesus so emphasized it above all else. These include the gaining of direct knowledge that the presence of God, or Universal Intelligence or Spirit, does indeed exist, as well as the gaining of direct knowledge that other planes or dimensions of consciousness beyond the physical do exist, thus making the continuance of life beyond the physical a reality.

In addition, the contacting of the Supreme Creative Universal Intelligence, or God, and through that contact, an intuitively-led conscious mind for living one’s life in this physical world. Finally, a oneness of mind and Spirit with God, which, together with intuitive wisdom, becomes inner unity, and which translates itself into compassion and humanitarian love, or that which can give peace, individually and to the world.

Dr. Paul Leon Masters

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