Most of what we know about life after death is theoretical, and that no place or any kind of existence after death was ever truly proven. But if we were to collate all existing theories and known concepts of what happens after life, at least even just from a theological perspective, we would find a few common qualities and trends we can attribute to a general idea of heaven. A place full of good people, where everyone loves each other, and where everyone is at peace.
I believe that heaven is the state of a perfect community, that it is actually attainable here in life, and that we don’t have to wait for death to find something we weren’t even sure existed somewhere in the universe. Most people believe that heaven is the greatest prize, a secret place that we only get to go to after death. I, however, believe that heaven is the ultimate test in human existence. That our mission in life is to turn everyone good. Not good as in to be better at something, but good as in to give and care for others more than we do to ourselves. That the concept of a family not only extends to blood relatives and to people in our circle, but to everyone in the world. That once every single human has turned good and learned how to live in peace, we would be turning this life into heaven, and that heaven would be here on Earth — palpable and truly existent.
Heaven then becomes our purpose for living. Because life in my understanding is only meant to create itself, and then exist. That the only thing life knows how to do is survive and keep growing until it finally expires and become nothing again. Therefore death is not the opposite of life, but the absence of life. So our purpose as beings who are alive is to do solely what life does. Any form of virtue, logic or philosophy that encourages the creation and existence of life, therefore makes up the quality of being alive. Anyone else that fails to support life or much worse end it, lacks a fundamental understanding of their own existence. Because if every single person in the world is created equal, which they are, then it is inevitable to discredit your own value once you have devalued the life of another who is exactly like you. So the way of life is only to bring goodness to other people, that in turn brings goodness to yourself. In essence, to live is only to do good, which eventually leads us all to a place called heaven. If we didn’t do good, then we wouldn’t be living, we would merely be existing and it would be the closest thing to being dead, like merely staring at a canvas and not painting.
However, indeed it is the ultimate test in human existence. To even get one city to come together and co-exist without devaluing one another already seems impossible. But that’s why it is the ultimate test, because it is the hardest of all to accomplish. I think the key is to start cultivating and living the idea of heaven in your own life. After all, ourselves is the only place we can ever start, because it is the only thing we have control over. Perhaps the most we can ever make out of our lives is how big we can grow our own community of heaven, with the entire human race as the end goal. Family for me is everyone who makes me feel loved and accepted no matter what I am, and whom I love and accept no matter what they are. I feel heaven with my family, and so I want nothing more in life than to treat each and everyone in the world as my family, simply because this was the only way I know life was supposed to work. Perhaps if everyone in my current family keeps fostering this idea of heaven, and keep inspiring their own families to do the same, we’d be one step closer to achieving heaven on earth.
Imagine everyone who loves you in your life right now, and then imagine them being every single person in the world. You would then be loving everyone in the world, and they would all be loving you. That’s heaven I guess. Imagine that.
The Untamed Merino 