In this life coaching commentary,
I want to address something that I think,
For many people,
May be somewhat unclear.
It has to do with where God is,
And what the Bible has to say about it.
It seems that many think that God is either somewhere outside of us,
And we must seek him out there,
Externally.
Or they think God is inside of us,
And that we must find a way to connect with him somehow within us.
Now recently,
I heard someone describe what the Bible says in terms of where God is,
And I thought it was probably one of the best definitions I'd heard about our divine connection with our Creator.
So here it goes.
There is a line in the Bible,
It's Luke 17 21,
And it goes like this.
The kingdom of God is within you.
Now it's been translated in a way that completely hides what it's actually pointing to.
It's where Jesus Christ indicates that the kingdom is not a physical place,
But exists in the hearts of all believers.
The passage of Luke 17 21,
The kingdom of God is within you,
Is usually spoken in this way,
As a safe-contained,
Almost etheric idea of where the kingdom of God actually lays.
However,
The original passage used the Greek word entos.
Entos doesn't just mean within,
It means inside,
In the midst of,
Embedded in the field.
These are the truer definitions of what entos is.
So essentially,
What it's talking about when the kingdom of God is within you,
Is that you are the field you are standing in.
So the meaning of Luke 17 21 wasn't just that God is inside of you,
It's even closer than that.
The kingdom of God is already right there inside of you,
Pulsing and beating.
It's in and around and through everything that you are,
In every moment.
And that's quite different than how we've come to know Luke 17 21.
The understanding of entos dispels the idea of waiting on heaven or earning your salvation for later.
It annihilates the idea that God is somewhere else other than being in and around you all the time.
You are the field you are standing in.
Luke 17 21 says you are already inside the thing you've been taught to seek.
Now let's take this a little bit deeper.
In Genesis,
When it talks about the fall,
It's commonly thought that it's about disobedience.
However,
The real shift it's describing is a movement from direct perception to filtered perception.
For example,
Before Adam or Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil,
There was no split,
No constant judging,
No mental overlay of the world,
No separation between self and our Creator.
It was only after Adam and Eve began labeling everything and feeling shame about their bodies and their desires that they hid and saw themselves as separate.
So the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit is not just a story.
It's essentially a description of what happens when consciousness moves from being into thinking about being.
So the fall isn't really about humanity becoming evil.
It's about humanity becoming separated,
Which then leaves the door wide open to doing evil acts.
So when Luke 17 21 says the kingdom is entos,
It's pointing back to the pre-fall perception,
That direct perception,
The state where you're not split from what you are looking at.
You're not outside of life trying to control it.
You're inside the current of it.
Sometimes people read the Bible like it's telling them what to do.
However,
I think the deeper layer is this.
The Bible is in fact describing what you were originally and how you got separated and then how to come back to that inseparable place in the heart of God.
So how does that happen?
How do we really come back to our original place as being one with our Creator?
As they say,
It's simple but not easy.
Essentially,
One has to stop interfering with what's already happening.
The veil wasn't placed over you.
It's something that the individual generated bit by bit,
Layer by layer,
Thought by thought,
And reaction by reaction.
Of course,
This was influenced by dark forces.
Satan's crew is many and mighty.
They are relentless,
And they are legion,
And they are working on us all the time.
So any thought,
Any response,
Any emotion,
Anything that suggests we are not already one with our Divine Creator,
As darkness and evil written all over it.
So returning to the oneness with God isn't about adding or becoming more spiritual,
So to speak.
It's really about removing the distortion that we view ourselves and our lives through.
So how is this done?
We can look at another passage in the Bible,
For example.
It's Matthew 18 3,
Which goes like this.
Truly I tell you,
He said,
Unless you change and become like little children,
You will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Now many interpret this as becoming innocent,
Naive,
And becoming soft in your nature,
Which it definitely is not.
As adults,
It's just flat-out dangerous to pretend you don't have wisdom,
And to keep yourself innocent and naive.
As well,
Having a fire in you that will call up a hardness for defenses when necessary,
Is absolutely something that you must develop as an adult.
Children don't do that.
They don't have that.
They need time to develop that.
However,
The truth of Matthew 18 3 is that becoming like a child means giving up the internal dialogue about your life.
A child doesn't walk around thinking,
Do I look okay?
Well,
What does this mean?
Do they like me?
What do they think of this?
What's gonna happen next?
Oh,
Maybe I'll look silly if I do that.
Children don't really do that until later on,
Until they learn about the separation that so many human beings have,
Who are taken away from God.
Children tend to be inside the moment without a second voice in their head splitting it apart.
That's why everything feels alive to children.
They're not looking at life through layers of analysis,
Judgment,
And negativity.
They're just dealing with life directly.
So then,
How do you return to a childlike state as an adult without losing your wisdom and your intelligence toward self-protection and self-management?
Well,
You start by staying as fully in the moment as possible.
And when you notice the split happen,
Your thoughts or feelings separating you from the now,
From life as it is right now,
Just stop that.
Of course,
This is much more difficult than it sounds.
You've got to be constantly vigilant.
You must watch your thoughts carefully.
You must manage your emotions and that energy very skillfully.
It's the moment you start thinking about,
Gee,
This reminds me of such and such,
Or they shouldn't be doing this,
Or maybe I should be doing that,
Or maybe I should have said that better,
Or whatever it is.
That's the exact point where the field collapses into the thinking mind.
In other words,
That's the moment Adam and Eve took the bite of the forbidden fruit happening in real time.
In the simplest terms,
Being one with God is simply noticing your thoughts and deciding not to follow it,
Not by forcing it,
Not by fighting it,
By not stepping into it,
Not going down that pathway in your mind.
That allows,
Just for a split second,
A gap between your next thought before it grabs you.
That was the same space Adam and Eve were in before the fall.
It's quiet there,
But not empty.
This feeling of being one with the Creator,
Being in the moment with God,
Has been described as feeling like everything is here and happening all at once.
There's absolutely nothing that needs to be added.
You're not outside of it.
You are simply observing that you're inside of it.
That's entos.
Now,
Once you start going down this road and practicing this,
It's important to understand that at first your system,
Your physical system,
Your energetic system,
Your psychological system,
Will not be able to stay in the moment of entos for more than a second or two.
Your mind and body have been so far away from entos for so long,
It will reject it quickly.
It's very much like starting a workout routine after years of being sedentary.
So if you go down this road,
Wanting to discover that feeling,
That sense of deep,
Deep peace and connection with God in the moment,
In entos,
Just know it's not an easy one.
And it's continuous.
However,
At first it will be difficult and a lot of work.
But as you continue your practice,
It will become easier.
You'll start to be in the moment longer.
You'll have times where you'll be more at peace for longer.
And your feelings and your thoughts won't be so intrusive.
The trick is to catch the split in your thinking as quickly as you can over and over and over again.
Always keep coming back to the moment of entos with God,
Simply as recognition,
Not as an effort.
And then slowly,
Something shifts.
When you do,
You stop living in your head about what you think life is,
And you drop down into life itself.
That's what Jesus Christ was pointing to.
Not worship,
Not rules,
Not waiting,
But a direct perception of what already is.
It sounds easy until you try it.
And I can tell you as someone in my 60s who had very little peace as a young person,
It has taken a very long time.
It's still not perfect,
But I do have contentment now.
It's possible.
But if you take it as a life journey,
You understand that it's just part of the work that you do in this life.
That act of recognizing entos is powerful and profound beyond measure though,
And is absolutely worth any price that you must pay externally to find that and to understand that inside of you.
Now,
Just to finish up,
Let me ask you this.
Have you ever had a moment,
Even for a second,
Where everything went completely still and it felt like you were inside of the reality of life instead of just looking at it from outside?
That's the doorway,
And it's always there,
And you can always open it.
I wish you much success and love.
Thank you for listening,
And let it be so.
