So what had frightened the church so much about these documents that they kept them hidden for so long? Well, not only do they contain many books that challenge Catholic theology, but they present Jesus’s wisdom in a very different way.

Unlike the orthodox interpretation, which insists that there is a great chasm between humanity and God, these gospels proclaim that there is no such separation, only a rift brought on by our own ignorance. Jesus says that knowledge of the self and knowledge of the Divine are identical. “He who understands all, but lacks Self Knowledge lacks everything.”

This path of inner connection with God was called gnosis, and it was the very cornerstone of the great spiritual Mystery Schools. So important was this principle that the command to “Know Thyself” was inscribed over the entrance to the temple of Delphi in Greece.

Rather the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the sons of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves then you are in poverty, and you are that poverty.

Be vigilant, and allow no one to mislead you by saying: “Here it is!” or “There it is!” For it is within you that the Son of Man dwells.

Jesus goes on to ridicule those who believe that the Kingdom of God can be found in an external place. “If those who lead you say to you, ‘Look the Kingdom is in the sky then the birds will arrive there before you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will arrive before you.”

Thus Jesus taught that the Kingdom of Heaven is a state of self-discovery, and access to this kingdom lies within the self.