Where or what is the kingdom of God?
This is it. Right here. Right now.
It is not a future time. It is not some exalted place in the clouds. It is not even dependent on some set of conditions: perfect peace and justice. It does not appear after peace appears or after justice is established.
Peace and justice and balance and harmony and abundant life are not conditions on which the kingdom of God depends. The kingdom of God is not dependent on any condition. It is already here among us. It has only to be recognized. Peace and justice and balance and harmony and abundant life are dependent on the presence of the kingdom of God. It is in recognizing the kingdom of God, already present, that peace and balance are restored. We’ve been doing this backward for a very, very long time. Trying to create the kingdom of God by establishing peace, by any means necessary, including through war. Totally backward, right?
This is my understanding of why Jesus said, “seek ye first the kingdom of God… and all these things shall be added unto you. Take no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” (KJV Matt 6:33-34).
Seek ye first the kingdom of God, because all else is dependent on it. Take no thought for tomorrow, because when tomorrow arrives, it is today. It is always today. It is always right now. Right here, right now is the only place we ever are. So if the kingdom of God is to be found anywhere, if it has any reality, it must be found right here, right now. It’s presence cannot possibly be dependent on any change in conditions.
So, this is it. This crazy mess called life is it. This is the kingdom of God, right here, right now. This is heaven. It is amazing to be alive. It is only in thinking and acting as if this is something other than the kingdom of God that we make it appear to be something other than the kingdom of God. God’s kingdom is within us and around us at all times. It is what we are. It is life living itself through us and through everything. And it is deeper even than life. It is the source of life. Not an external source but the intrinsic source, the energy within matter. The stillness within energy. The incredible beauty and intelligence and creativity within stillness, within energy, within matter, within life.
The kingdom of God is everything, and it is that without which nothing could be. It is therefore immediately at hand, in everything. Pick up a stone and it is there. Take a breath and it is there. Fall into deep sleep and it is there. Awaken to the rising sun and it is there. It is in every encounter, every sight, every sound, every thought, every feeling, every joy, every sorrow, every happening. It is what makes all of that possible, and it is all of that, the interplay of everything. There is nothing you can do to escape the kingdom of God. You have never been anything or anywhere but the kingdom of God.
We think that we are separate from it, that it is far off from us either in space or in time. It is by believing that thought, by repeating it incessantly, that we make it appear to be true. But it was never true. And if we stop repeating these untruths and turn back to the immediacy of life being lived right now through all of life together, then the presence of God’s kingdom, its beauty and majesty, its wonder and surprise, its creativity and intelligence, its peace and harmony, become immediately apparent once again.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God in the dance of all things. Right here. Right now.
Look! The kingdom of God is right at hand.