The Kingdom of God & The Inward World of Intuition

The Blue, by Billy Collins*

You can have Egypt and Nantucket.
The only place I want to visit is The Blue,
not the Wild Blue Yonder that seduces pilots,
but that zone where the unexpected dwells,
waiting to come out of it in the shape of bolts.

I want to walk its azure perimeter
where the unanticipated is coiled, on the mark,
ready to spring into the predicttable homes of earth.

I want to stroll through the pale indigo light
examining all the accidents about to rocket into time,
all the forgotten names about to fly from tongues.

I will scrutinize all the surprises of the future
and watch the brainstorms gathering darkly,
ready to hit the heads of inventors
laboring in their crackpot shacks.

A jaded traveler with an invisible passport,
I am at home with this heaven of the unforeseen,
waiting for the next whoosh of sudden departure
when, with no advance warning, to tiny augery,
the unpredictable plummets into our lives
from somewhere that looks like sky.

*Thank you John March!

I love to watch how people perceive/think. Here are some thoughts this poem stirred up. In the end, it is all about the Kingdom of God (and self knowledge) 

You know how, when we chat about our lives in the world, we compare destinations? You may say, "I went to Paris last year." And, if I had gone to Paris, I would say, "I did too!!" And we'd have this common ground for conversations about our experiences in Paris. This is widely and well-accepted practice.

Do you know that we also do that with our inward universe? Say, I read a poem, or a beautiful quote that incorporates a metaphor or simile such as, "I strolled through a pale indigo sky..." My inward experience recognizes that - I remember how it feels to be there. I may even have written a poem at one time about my presence in an indigo sky. I can feel and remember my experience in the implications of those words, just as if I were in that place.

The first scenario is a "Sensor" experience - we all have those. The second is an "Intuitive" experience. We all have those too....if we pay attention to them, we realize there is an inward universe just as vast and beautiful and intriguing, but still very much wilderness. And it is an advantage to have some understanding of this amazing, undiscovered land. In fact, there are gifts here that significantly enrich our travels in the physical world....

I  find it interesting that, because the sensor experience is something we all must have and use collectively, we find it to be a more valid and acceptable platform for socialization. Our culture is more extrovert than introvert, more sensor-biased (77%) than intuitor (23%). The introverts and the intuitor-biased folks have to conform to that - they have to abandon their natural energetic needs and perception gifts to fit in. And it truly causes difficulties for some of them, because they are, in essence, denying them self.

So if we understand the ways we bring perceptive experience to our circumstances, that is, that we BOTH sense the facts (outward) and intuit through memory and feeling (inward) to create the entire experience we are having, we understand our self much better. And we understand those who are majorly introverts and/or intuitors in the ways they approach the world.When it comes to spirituality it is essential that we understand the inward universe.

Here are a couple quotes that illustrate the importance of this point:

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” 

~Carl Jung

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." 

~Gospel of Thomas

What these refer to is subjective experience - intuition and feeling - present in every experience whether recognized or not.

Contemplative practices - meditation and prayer - will cultivate subjective experience. When we eliminate the distractions - the noise - of our outer perceiving, we can tune in (literally) to the inner universe of Self, and get to know who we really are. We realize the Kingdom of God because we are at One, reconciled, with all that is. We reconcile (or "re--friend") our outer:inner person, our sensing:intuiting and thinking:feeling, and bring that balanced person to a more reconciled world experience. 

“If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself, if you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.”
~ Attributed to Lao Tzu ( more likely Hua Hu Ching, Wang Fou, ca. 300 CE)

Peace and "Be Still" to you, Peggy _/\_

Further reading on the Kingdom of God within you and self knowledge: 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/thomas.html