The TARDIS of Heaven

Today I want to pause for a moment and look a little closer at a description of the Realm of Heaven about which I have been recently writing and preaching. I use the term “Realm of Heaven” as a translation of the Koiné Greek expression, basileian tōn ouranōn (βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν), which is often translated as “kingdom of heaven.” There are those who object to the use of hierarchical and monarchistic descriptions of God and heaven, redolent as they are with references to human despots, dictators and tyrants. This attitude is in keeping with the teachings of Jesus when he told his disciples:

“Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20: 25-28). 

The term “Realm of Heaven” is meant to indicate the basic idea that a realm is that region or state of being that is influenced or controlled or guided by something or someone, in this case, God, or heaven.

So Jesus is talking about living under the influence of heaven, which is that realm in which God resides. Another way to describe it is the state of being that shares in the bigger mind of God. On Monday, I discussed how Jesus said that our righteousness is to exceed that of those who merely observe the externalities of religious faith. This distinction between the externalities of faith and the inner life of faith is crucial to understand what Jesus was all about. 

In order to understand this, I can’t help but think of the Tardis in the BBC television series, Doctor Who. My daughters and I are big Doctor Who fans, so for those who are not familiar with the series, I will summarize the basic conceit behind the show. The Doctor is the (supposedly) last surviving Time Lord who hails from a distant planet called Gallifrey, which was home to a race of human-like beings whose advanced technology had developed ways to travel through time and space.

The means by which they traveled was through the use of a Tardis, which is an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. The Tardis of the BBC series is depicted as looking like an ordinary blue Police Box that was common in England at the time the series began in 1963. The interesting thing about the target that is germane to this discussion is that it was bigger on the inside than on the outside. In addition, the Tardis itself possessed sentience, and required the presence of a Time Lord to operate it, due to a special link of consciousness between the two.

As I have thought about the promises and perils of religious faith, I have come to think of the idea of the Tardis as a helpful way to understand how faith works. Externally viewed, faith can become a small, constrictive container. Just as the Tardis looks like a cramped box barely big enough for one person, faith can become a closed-in set of rules and restrictions that serve more like a straitjacket than the means to an abundantly rich life. But when internally experienced, it is expansive and multi-dimensional, just like the Tardis, which actually contains many rooms and passageways.

The Realm of Heaven is this internal expansiveness of awareness and consciousness. Just like the external appearance of the Tardis can do nothing, mere external observance of religious behavior cannot lead to the realm of heaven. It must be entered into and participated in from the inside. It is what is on the inside of faith that moves us through the various dimensions of the universe, and our lives.

But finally, just like the Tardis, faith is still empty unless one has a direct encounter and relationship with the Lord (not just a Time Lord, but the Eternal Lord). This is ultimately what it is all about: faith, like the Tardis, is simply a conveyance into a deeper reality and relationship with the Source of All Reality, whatever you choose to call it.

Image sources: Alex Grey image of prayer from http://api.ning.com/files/id5vWXtIMbO3R9O9gplFXMJW8fyA0DqZmT1J7KYGkhA_/Prayer.jpg;    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Versions_of_the_Doctor.jpg;   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TARDIS1.jpg;  http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100410204941/tardis/images/thumb/9/91/Vortex_back.jpg/640px-Vortex_back.jpg;    http://thedivineiswithinus.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/God-in-sky-297x300.jpg