It is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle because the Kingdom of heaven is within

"If those who lead you say to you: See, the kingdom is in heaven, then the birds of the heaven will go before you; if they say to you: It is in the sea, then the fish will go before you. But the kingdom is within you, and it is outside of you.When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will know that you are the sons of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty."

In this saying in the gospel of Thomas lies the key to the meaning of the parable of the rich man. 

The same way what u don't deal with inside will appear outside, what u don't look for outside will show up within. The reason it is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle is because the Kingdom of heaven is within u. We found this in the world of drug abuse. The body can make any psychotropic agent itself...is wired with all possible endogenous receptor systems. But what was found, was that the more it is relied upon externally, the more the body will not make it internally. The rich man in the parable is simply the one who overly depends on external things to provide feelings of happiness and bliss due to which the real inner bliss will not be made and generated within. The less u look for without the more u will find within. 

The Rich Man explained: Rich man Poor man

But as explained below, this cuts on both sides. For the other side of abstaining fully is also looking outside for redemption. The rich man in the parable represents both ways. This is why both those who fully deny it all like those sacred men in india and both the money/power addict are both the rich man.

It is going inward that the true faculties are grown. nature creates from within. We are the tree of life which has grown barren. Cats can see in the dark. The light comes from within the eyes. In the animal kingdom we find these special faculties. Animals are deeply telepathic. 

So should be noted again as stated often in the past that this is not a matter of full abstinence as in depriving oneself fully. Because also in this we find the trap of fully avoiding something is also being fully possessed by it. Going on a virtual starvation diet is just as obsessive as being a food addict. We can only really focus inward when in between attachment and detachment. The eastern concept of detachment is not what we in the West make of it. It is finding the middle way in between too detached and too attached. This is why celibacy in the church couldn't work an why it has lead to mass sexual abuse of minors by priests. The Self which is the kingdom is accessed only in superposition, when we contain the opposites of detachment and attachment. When we fight or deny something the attention is still external. Either way we are still caught on the mental checkered board or reactivity.

 This is why many suchlike sayings have been misread:

“You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.” 

― Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes. Because we get traditions then which will make poverty and suffering the goal. In this sense the camel saying would also go for those who would want to make an aversion of money the new goal. To a large degree this is how the church misinterpreted the teachings.

Non Nondual

Going inward is when we are neither too attached or too detached, but not by denying them. When we touch the shadow we contain either pole and this is what opens the portal to Self. We will not be able to do this via the conscious directly. Only via a confrontation of the conscious with its shadow we get a moment of union of opposites. Anything else is either nonduality or a denial of the poles or a rejection of the shadow.