“How quickly the days clatter by as we age, like a train rushing to some unknown station. Sit back and look to the vision within: the unexplored rooms of your heart, the open ground of your creativity, the hidden dimensions of your faith. Reflect on the reason for your travel and turn time to the will of your spirit. Sit back and look to the vision within, for when you go deeper, you go slower.” —Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook email.
John Sanford’s book, The Kingdom Within: The Inner Meaning of Jesus’ Sayings (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1970), is often one of the first helps recommended to people seeking to begin an inner journey. As his title suggests, Sanford affirms that the kingdom of God is really within us. Sanford, a Jungian analyst and Episcopal priest, was one of the first to apply depth psychology to Jesus’ sayings, discussing personality types and the feminine and masculine aspects of personality. He also addresses the struggle between the spiritual and the physical, becoming aware of our own egocentricities and projections, the struggle to become conscious, and our identification with our outer mask, as each of these experiences relates to the teachings of Jesus.
Sanford talks extensively about the problem of evil and sin in the world, reminding us that Jesus himself had little to say about the sins of the flesh. He was more concerned about the deadlier sins of the spirit brought on by a lack of awareness that causes us to “miss the mark.” Sanford reminds us that when we harbor in our hearts deep hatred toward our enemies, often we are projecting onto them what we really hate in ourselves. Realizing this takes some time dedicated to inner work, often asking a friend to assist in discernment; but the spiritual peace that can result is well worth it.
We will have many guides along the way, and will find ourselves called to practice discernment over and over again. The ultimate hope is at some time to see the Christ, the God within each other. A therapist can help us deal with the shadow side of ourselves. And our spiritual director keeps reminding us to look for the God, the Christ in our neighbor. This is more likely to occur when we learn to stay connected to the Christ within ourselves.
Joanna. Joannaseibert.com
