I’ve been reading through Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic. In Letter XLI, Seneca says:
God is near you, is with you, is inside you.
Jesus also speaks of this notion of God being inside of you on multiple occasions:
The kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:21b
Jesus answered, ‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? John 10:34
Seneca goes on to say in this letter that what is of value in us is not what we have, own, or anything exterior, but rather that which is internal to us. There is a connection here, according to Seneca, that the the internal value within us is divine. Jesus said something similar in the sermon on the mount:
‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
Could that which cannot be taken from us – our values, our love, all the things that relate to our spirit, actually be part of the living God?
