By Jay Cradeur

October 25, 2006

Heaven is here among us, right now.  Can you feel it?  Do you know this to be true?

I was driving in my car thinking about a conversation I had with my soon to be ex mother-in-law.  She was born Catholic and still attends mass on a daily basis.  She kept talking about going to heaven, and what one needs to do to get to heaven.   It reminded me of being in college, preparing for a final exam.

Heaven

1. The sky or universe as seen from the earth; the firmament. Often

used in the plural.

2. Christianity.

a. often Heaven The abode of God, the angels, and the souls of those

who are granted salvation.

b. An eternal state of communion with God; everlasting bliss.

3. Any of the places in or beyond the sky conceived of as domains of

divine beings in various religions.

4.

a. Heaven God: Heaven help you!

b. heavens Used in various phrases to express surprise: Good heavens!

5. The celestial powers; the gods. Often used in the plural: The heavens

favored the young prince.

6. A condition or place of great happiness, delight, or pleasure

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

I noticed a feeling of anger arising in me as I was revisiting this conversation.  My anger was directed at all of those institutions that speak with such great and self-righteous authority for god (or divine all, or supreme intelligence, or force – whatever it is that you call it.  I will refer to it as god).  I speak of those institutions that tell us how to live in order to insure our place in heaven with the most divine.  How do they know?  They tell us…  Do this!   Don’t do that!  Do this and you will get into heaven.  Don’t do that or else you will go to hell.  And, these mandates apply to life eternal.  Life Eternal.  We are taught in many religions that there are no second chances.  You blow it buddy, and you are in for some serious damnation, hellfire and brimstone, for the rest of your lowly existence.

“What is BS?  Bull Shit….  Belief System?”

Don Palmer

This to-do list of life is a heavy load to carry.  Take a moment to feel that.  Wow!  When you actually get into that space, that belief that one wrong move may just be the thing that tips the scales out of your favor, and as a result, you will live out the rest of your life in some unspeakable hell, that is one crazy, and unhealthy way to live.  No wonder so many of us are getting sick, feeling depressed, relying on drugs such as Zyloft and Wellbutrin, and dying of this or that disease.  Our physical bodies, our energy bodies, and our emotional bodies can’t handle this much pressure. It seems so unnatural.

So what are you left with?  You either live the life of a saint (and die in the comfort of your beliefs that you are going to heaven), or you wake up to the reality of heaven on earth (and die in the comfort of your beliefs that you are returning home), or you live like everyone else (and die in utter frustration of it all, thinking the worst may lie ahead).

If ever there was a time for Atlas to shrug, now might be it.

During The Bridge event, each man is invited to express his rage in a safe and witnessed environment.  Man’s fear of his ability to kill is powerfully strong.  Wild Man, stay home!  So it is quite remarkable to find yourself in an environment in which you are welcomed to express that ability to kill.  During the ritual, each man is invited to speak who or what he is killing.  I am never surprised to see god and the church take on a nasty beating.  Men who were raised in dogmatic traditions feel a great need to express their anger and let some of that hatred and resentment go.  Being told what to believe and how to behave at a young age, without any real filters, and coming from such powerful authorities, is frustrating at best and completely maddening at worst.

This whole concept of heaven and hell has most people thinking there is something or some place outside of this experience, or after this earth bound experience, for which you work hard to earn a ticket.  The idea that there is a heaven to get to takes all the focus off of this current existence and the heavenly nature of life NOW.  Remember one of the definitions of heaven is – “An eternal state of communion with God; everlasting bliss.”  Instead of focusing on now, we focus on tomorrow.  More pertinently, instead of feeling into each moment and feeling our communion with God now, we are thinking about how each moment translates into our future existence.  And while not always consciously, subconsciously, the fear is always there.

Heaven is here among us, right now.  We have to wake up to the truth.  All you need to do is look around you and realize this is the truth.  And still we think our eyes, our senses, and our common sense betray us, for there are so many who say, do and think something else.  Breaking free of the groupthink takes courage and fearless determination.

How much better do you think it gets?  Logically, why would the experience of heaven be much different than the experience we are having now, on earth?    We have 6 incredible senses.  We have colors, textures, tastes, sights, smells, feelings, and tactile sensations that are simply brilliant.  But we take them for granted, and/or we denigrate them because they are all leading up to a supposed better, holier, purer form of existence, maybe, sometime in the future.

If you lived you life like a saint, just how much fun do you think you are going to have someplace else?  We are, after all, creatures of habit.

If you have a child, don’t you remember the joy and bliss you felt at seeing your child for the first time?  Remember as a child, holding on to your mother or father and feeling safe and secure?  Nothing was missing.  God was right there with you and in you.  Don’t you remember the excitement you felt at just being alive, when all hopes and dreams were fresh and unfettered?   Do you remember tasting an orange for the first time, or a strawberry, or a grape?  I remember one day, my dad was holding me and I touched his unshaven face.  I felt whole and complete.  And I have never forgotten that moment.  That was heaven.  This is heaven.

So what happened?  I believe two things happened.  First, most of us have forgotten everything.  We live our lives like survivors, slogging along to the finish line, to get to a heaven that may or may not exist.  Why don’t we live with the energy of a child, while having all the wonderful experiences available to us as adults?  Why do we forget?  And second, we are taught a bizarre and weird set of rules to follow.  We are led to the altar of our parents.  And we believe what we are told, if not forever, at least for a long while.  And why, why are we taught?   It is a bit presumptuous I feel.  Why are we taught that there is always someplace else that is better?  There is always someplace in the future that we must work to get to.   It is tribe mentality at its worst.

I was raised to believe that heaven is a place in which I get to be with God for eternity.  Now I have to ask myself, don’t I already have that here?  Isn’t God with me all the time, co-existing with me, being a part of me, being me?  Isn’t God transforming me into his likeness, now as I speak?  God is part of me, and I am part of God.   But it is only now, after decades of unlearning and remembering, that many of us begin to realize the joke of it.  Heaven is with us now.  God is with us now.  Live, breath, eat with God and enjoy heaven, which is most assuredly here on earth.

The truth of the matter is that none of us who are living really know what happens upon our death.  Isn’t that why we all have some strong fears about our impending death?  Just what happens? What if everything I believed is complete bumpkiss?   Well, by then it is too late.  I try to live each day with a few different thoughts – If I were to die tomorrow, what would I most want to be doing today?  If I were to die tomorrow and meet God, what would she say to me?  What would I have to fess up to, and what gifts did I leave ungiven?

My beliefs about life after the earth existence are based on visions that I have had.  I believe we are all sparks of energy.  Before coming to this place, we were sparks of energy, and when we leave, we return to our same form, sparks of energy.  In one vision, my body dematerialized, and I was simply spirit and energy.  It was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had.  No body, no physical restrictions, just pure energy, able to move at will at the speed of thought.  All of this leads me to believe we are all still those sparks of energy, but in a physical body with this glorious gravity to play with.

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