leo tolstoy was the author of the book the kingdom of god is within you.
leo tolstoy was the author of the book the kingdom of god is within you.
who is the author of the book the kingdom of god is within you?
leo tolstoy
bullet::::- milivojevic, d. "leo tolstoy and the oriental religious heritage." (new york: columbia university press, 1998).









































section::::external links.









































bullet::::- "the kingdom of god is within you" — free, public-domain ebook version from the standard ebooks project









































bullet::::- "the kingdom of god is within you" — complete text in various formats at internet archive









































bullet::::- "the kingdom of god is within you" — complete html text by kingdom now









































bullet::::- "the kingdom of god is within you" — complete html version, with links to wikipedia and to tolstoy's source material
the kingdom of god is within you
book 1 (page 4) argues that words are not the ultimate truth, rather words are symbols, and are open to interpretations. thus the readers are advised to consult their own inner knowing or intuition to determine their own truth while reading the book, or any other book. though the books bear the title "conversations with god" and the author states in book 1 that he is "taking dictation" from god, the 'dialogue' is said to be between god and all people at all times. the question, according to neale, is not to whom does god talk, but who listens. this is clarified by the statement that god can communicate with people in many ways (the next song you hear, the next sunset you experience, the next time you hear laughter, the next movie that really moves you), and not necessarily through words 'spoken' by god to a person. "all these devices are mine. all these avenues are open to me. i will speak to you if you invite me." (cwg1, page 58). jesus is said to have sought to lead by example, which is why he said, "i am the way and the life, follow me". follow me meant that we should follow his example and become one with god - jesus and other living things are/were not one with god presently (everything is happening right now with no space/time difference) - rather than become his followers. jesus is supposed to have said, "i and the father (god) are one and you are my brethren". this means that living things are all one (particles of the collective god) (book 3, chapter20, pgs. 329-330). jesus is said to have said, "without the father (god), i am nothing". the father of all is pure thought which is the energy of life (book 3, chapter11, pg. 180). in book 3 of "conversations with god" (1998), by neale donald walsch, it is mentioned that mahavatar babaji may at one time have resurrected himself from the dead, just like lazarus, jesus and other humans. when neale asks god if reincarnation is a false doctrine, god replies that it is not. neale then asks why some religions do not know the truth about something so basic. in response, god says that we must understand that humans have many fear based religions whose teachings surround the doctrine of a god who is to be worshipped and feared. it was through fear that the entire earth society reformed itself from a matriarchy into a patriarchy. it was through fear that the holy priests got people to mend their wicked ways and heed the word of the lord. it was through fear that the churches gained and controlled their membership. churches even insisted that god will punish you if you did not go to church every sunday, not going to church was declared a sin - and not just any church. one had to attend one particular church - if you went to a church of a different denomination that too was a sin. that was an attempt at control, pure and simple, using fear. the amazing thing is it worked. people will always believe in hell and in a god who would send them there as long as we believe that god is like man — ruthless, self-serving, unforgiving and vengeful. in the past, most people could not imagine a god who might rise above all of that so they accepted the teachings of many churches to fear the terrible vengeance of the lord. it was as if people could not trust themselves to be good and act appropriately, on their own by their own built in reasons. so they had to create a religion that taught the doctrine of an angry, retributive god in order to keep themselves in line. the idea of reincarnation threw a monkey wrench into all of that. the church was proclaiming that you better be nice or else—and along came the reincarnationists saying you have another chance after this and another chance after that and still more chances, so don't worry. do the best you can. don't become so paralysed with fear that you can't budge. promise yourself to do better and get on with it. naturally, the early church couldn't hear of such a thing that did two things. first, it denounced the doctrine of reincarnation as heretical, then it created the sacrament of confession. confession could do for the church goer what reincarnation promised. that is, give him another chance. there was a catch however - this absolution could not come directly from god, it had to flow through the church whose priests pronounced penances which had to be performed. these were usually prayers which were required of the sinner. so now you had two reasons to keep up church membership. the church found confession to be such a good drawing card that soon it declared to be a sin not to go to confession. everybody had to do it at least once a year. if they didn't, god would have another reason to be angry. more and more rules - many of them arbitrary and capricious - began to be promulgated by the church, each rule having the power of god's eternal condemnation behind it, unless, of course, failure was confessed and then the person was forgiven by god and condemnation avoided. that lead to another problem. people figured out that this must mean they could do anything as long as they confessed it. the church was in a quandary. fear had left the hearts of the people. church attendance and membership dropped. people came to confess once a year, said their penances, were absolved of their sins and went on with their lives. there was no question about it. a way had to be found to strike fear into the heart again, so purgatory was invented. purgatory was described as a place something like hell, but not eternal. this new doctrine declared that god would make you suffer for your sins even if you confessed them. under the doctrine, a certain amount of suffering was decreed by god for each nonperfect soul, based on the number and type of sins committed. there were mortal sins and venial sins. mortal sins would send you right to hell if not confessed before death. once more, church attendance shot up, collections were up, too and especially contributions—for the doctrine of purgatory could buy one's way out of the suffering. according to the church's teaching, one could receive a special indulgence but not directly from god - only from an official of the church. these special indulgences freed one from the suffering in purgatory which they had earned with their sins or at least part of it. these reprieves were granted to very few like those who made a huge contribution to the church. for a really huge sum, one could obtain a plenary indulgence. this meant no time in purgatory at all - it was a non-stop ticket straight to heaven. this special favor from god was available for even fewer. royalty, perhaps and the super rich. the amount of money, jewels and land given to the church in exchange for these plenary indulgences was enormous. the exclusivity of this brought great frustration and resentment to the masses. the poorest peasant had no hope of gaining a bishop's indulgence and so the rank and file lost faith in the system with attendance threatening to drop once again. then they brought in the novena candles. people could come to the church and light a novena candle for the poor souls in purgatory and by saying a novena (a series of prayers in a particular order that took some time to complete), they could reduce by many years the sentence of the dearly departed, extricating them from purgatory sooner than god would otherwise have allowed. they couldn't do anything for themselves but at least they could pray for mercy for the departed. of course, it would be helpful if a coin or two were dropped through the slot for each candle lit. a lot of little candles were flickering behind a lot of red glass and a lot of pesos and pennies were being dropped into a lot of tin boxes in an attempt to get god to ease up on the suffering being inflicted on the souls in purgatory (book 3, chapter7, pgs. 126-130).
conversations with god