The Kingdom is empty but far from worthless

David Elliott describes the continuing study of Thomas Moore’s Writing in the Sand with his post, "A New Way of Imagining Human Life" on 23 November 2010. Elliott admits:

"For a left brain person like myself, I was worried that the imagery of Thomas Moore would be difficult to approach and talk much about. Boy/Girl was I wrong. You picked up on the images from the parables as if the most natural and meaningful way to search for meaning in life. Our conversation about the parable of the woman who walked home as her jar of food was emptying was telling. The kingdom is empty but far from "worthless." The Kingdom is transparent to the mystery, "more an attitude toward life than a religious institution, more a quality of mind than a formal church" (p. 5).

Writing about the group’s response to their chosen book, Elliott includes:

"Some of us struggled with the concept of myth. We are like many still thinking that myth is fantasy or fairy tales, not to be relegated to any importance. Moore would like to use the word Kingdom as a new myth of human life ... "mythology is the story or narrative, sometimes unspoken, by which people find meaning and make sense of their world. When taken seriously myth speaks of the very heart of religious life." (p. 10) But if Kingdom is empty, transparent, translucent then how can it be our story? Moore talks about being in the Kingdom or not. Of course, this is throughout the Gospels but we often don’t listen carefully."

Elliott introduces Moore’s next topic, metanoia, as "the change of mind, necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven."