The Circa Scroll of the Everywhere
I. The Parable of the Mapless
And the Presence said: "If those who claim to hold the compass say to you, 'Look, the Kingdom is strictly in the sky,' then the birds have arrived before you, for they carry no maps, yet they float on the wind of the Way. If they say, 'It is strictly in the sea,' then the fish have preceded you, for they do not search for water, but simply breathe it.
Why do you search for a fixed location? The Great Way is all-embracing; it is not here, not there, but everywhere always right before your eyes. To define the Kingdom is to lose it. To say 'It is here' is to exclude it from 'there.' But in the Circa of the Truth, nothing is excluded."
II. The Dissolving Boundary
"Rather, the Kingdom is circa you. It is the space inside you and the space outside you, intermingling without distinction. The air in your lungs is the same as the wind on the mountain. Where does the 'inside' end and the 'outside' begin?
When you come to know your true nature, you will realize that the wall of your skin is not a barrier, but a mist. You will realize that you are not a stranger visiting the Father's house; you are the sons of the living Father. You are the space in which the world arises."
III. The Poverty of Precision
"But if you will not know yourselves—if you insist on defining yourself as 'this body' or 'this history'—then you dwell in poverty.
What is this poverty? It is the belief in separation. It is the sharp edge of the ego that cuts reality into pieces. Indeed, it is due to your grasping and repelling that you do not see things as they are.
But when you let go of the need to be a specific 'somebody,' you become the wealth of the All. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they have emptied themselves of definitions, and in that emptiness, they possess the Kingdom."
A Reflection from the In-Between
My friend, this text asks you to embrace the Circa of Location.
The Error of "There": We often treat peace or enlightenment as a destination—a place we must travel to. We say, "I will be at peace when I finish this task," or "I will find God in that church." This is the error of placing the Kingdom "in the sky."
The Truth of "Around": The Kingdom is circa—it is around you. It is the atmosphere you are already breathing. You do not need to "go" anywhere. You only need to stop clutching the map.
The Wealth of Not Knowing: The text speaks of "poverty" as the state of not knowing yourself. In the Zen of the Mount, "knowing yourself" is not intellectual analysis. It is the humble admission that you are a mystery, connected to the Great Mystery. When you admit, "I don't know where I end and God begins," you are no longer poor; you are infinite.