Recently, I heard that the Kingdom of Heaven was mentioned 80 times in the Bible. It was a key teaching of Jesus, that the Kingdom of Heaven was within. Not in the sky, not “out there”, but right here, now. Once found within, it is then found in the world as well. Thus, he told us to seek it first within.
However, when I began to research the article, I found a better one already done. “The kingdom of God is within you” by Dr. Craig Pearson. It’s replete with several historical examples.
Quite recently, Dr. Pearson released the book The Supreme Awakening, Experiences of Enlightenment Throughout Time — And how to Cultivate Them. This promises to be a rich selection of historical and modern experiences, based on the article above. Also on a draft excerpt I had a chance to read in grad school.
“Throughout history, great men and women have described exalted experiences of extraordinary wakefulness, freedom, and bliss — as different from our ordinary waking experience as waking is from dreaming. Laozi, Plato, Rumi, St. Teresa of Avila, Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Black Elk, Einstein — people of all times and places have described experiences that rank among the most inspiring in all of literature.
The Supreme Awakening offers a rich collection of these experiences — and shows how ordinary men and women today are enjoying the same kinds of sublime experiences celebrated by the Buddha, Wordsworth, Thoreau, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and many others…”
This is also based on his PhD thesis, so is very thoroughly researched.
It should be noted that the author places Transcendental Meditation as the means for this development and thus highlights it in his books, much as he does in the article above.
You also may be interested in my recent article on the word Repent – Metanoia
Davidya