“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”
Revelation 21:2
Jerusalem is an inner experience, and one that can be experienced wherever we are. This article is dedicated to awakening to the new Jerusalem which is inside each person. It is a sacred place, a place of peace and one that can enrich your life beyond the physical walls of the Holy City.
Peace is a concept that is embodied in the very name Jerusalem, and yet the outer reality of the city too often reflects just the opposite of its name. There is a story of Jesus, when he came across the carcass of a dog and commented on what beautiful teeth it had. This demonstrates our choice of where we place our focus. We can focus on the violence (the carcass), or we can focus on peace (the beautiful teeth). Jerusalem can be experienced as a peace-full city when we return to that reality inside, even when the world and news media present to us a different image.
The Christian Bible refers to a “new Jerusalem”, and we have found that by turning our focus inward, we can experience this true City of Peace. The value of awakening to your own inner experience of the new Jerusalem, is that it can be experienced even when you are not in the physical city.
We have found a simple method for living in the sacredness of this inner city. We encourage you to use and adjust it so that it works best for you.
To begin, close your eyes. In your imagination, you can envision a particular place in Jerusalem where you had a profound experience, or you can see the new Jerusalem as you imagine it. Be as detailed as you can. See the cracks in the walls, the color of the sunlight and where the shadows are. Hear the sounds of the city. Feel the ground beneath your feet and the temperature of the air. As you experience the vibrations of the city, you allow that inner peace, that loving feeling to rise up inside of you. See and hear the people in your life, your family, friends and even those whom you consider enemies. In the new Jerusalem, all people act with respect and loving towards each other. Here, you can make peace with those who have struck at you. You can forgive them, which means to let go of whatever is stopping you from loving them. In the Holy City, you find that you are connected to all events and people, because God created all things. The same essence of creation that was in the beginning is present right now. When you have completed your inner journey of Jerusalem, you may once again open your eyes.
With practice, it will take less and less time to establish this connection. The ultimate goal is to live each moment in the sacred inner Jerusalem, and at that point, the holy land becomes wherever you are.
In our travels, we’ve experienced the tremendous peace that the City of Peace, Jerusalem, has for us. We pray that no one leaves that peace in Jerusalem, but takes it with them. We pray that we may open to the new Jerusalem inside of us, and that we take time to create it by using the physical reference point, the vibration and the love. We pray that we let the new Jerusalem become so familiar, that we can walk on holy ground, in the Holy City, with Jerusalem inside of us as home base no matter where we are. At that point, the concept of the new Jerusalem may become the reality that it is in the scripture, and in Spirit we can have it inside of us as awareness.
