What on Earth is Heaven

Ken Ramey takes a deep and introspective look at the parallels.

Courtesy: united4healing.com

(PASO ROBLES, Calif.) - WHAT ON EARTH IS HEAVEN

Most people accept the religious definition that heaven is a wondrous and happy place which is the after-death reward of good and devoted followers who don’t question that definition, but I felt compelled to seek the truth for myself. Hawaii, for example, is touted as paradise, but I prefer the Caribbean. I assume, therefore, that paradise is not the same to all persons, and it occurred to me that what is true of an earthly paradise might also be true of heaven.

All my life I had been told so-called truths only to learn much of what I had been given to believe as true was not. So, I decided to consider life's mysteries logically to reduce my confusion rather than add to it. I recognized my limitations, and freely admitted that truths exist beyond the bounds of reason. Since there was little I could do about them, I decided to believe only that which is believable. If I could not rationalize my way out of a mystery, I would ignore it for the moment and deal only with what I could handle. From this beginning I developed a thesis which accepted that man is composed of two essential parts; his subconscious, and his conscious being. Or, to put it another way, man brain is product of his reality and his unreality.

If Psychologists are correct, children are born with a "fundamental mass of life tendencies" that may be said to be God given and genetically determined. This mysterious bundle seems to be an immortal quality that exists in all beings, but in different and unique proportion. Autistic savants offer the best example, for they exhibit specific and exceptional individual talent in untaught disciplines that could only have come from pre-birth influence, skills they possess but do not themselves understand.

Because of the accident of birth, the vital situation into which babies are born presents the probability of conflict between immortal tendencies and the necessity of reality; not a problem for the lucky ones whose accident combines happily with the reality into which they are born. But tendencies are obscure and need to be discovered by parents seeking compatibility for their child’s expanding consciousness so that rational existence merges comfortably with its unconscious tendencies. .

Coping means managing the disharmonious influences of duality to neutralize conflict so as to conform to the requirements of community or necessity. Without effectively coping true happiness on earth might be difficult to achieve, but by use of compromise and compensating the probability of individuals existing comfortably and successfully within their duality can be markedly enhanced.

Except for what we are taught, heaven might properly be considered a state of blessed oblivion, a state analogous to unconsciousness produced by the effect of a general anesthesia. One minute you are conscious, the next you are not, then you are again. Except for the retrieval of consciousness, time is without meaning, no memories haunt us, we feel no pain. Considering the alternatives, it might not be a bad state to be in.

The mind expands relative to experiences that pour into it tempered by the circumstance of individual vital situations. The mind acts as an antenna and repository for impulses it receives from both sub-conscious and conscious sources. Memory becomes important in that what we receive, and how we react to it, affect how we perceive life. If heaven truly is a state of mind, whether we enter a heaven or hell depends, in large part, upon memory’s content at the moment of death. For, only the mind is light enough to make the trip. The mind is our valise when we travel to the Promised Land, and it would be nice if it contained a portfolio of memories of the very best sort.

Religions base their concept of heaven on the idea of a Holy Community. Christianity speaks of a City of God where reside all the good people of the world, those who subscribe to the doctrine of the Church. All others are considered in league with the Devil. In spite of protestations to the contrary, Universal religions are defeated by community chauvinism. History will show, and current events continue to demonstrate, there is little safety or heavenly repose in the earthly City of God, let alone among it and the other Religions of the Book, each of which has internal-cult squabbles. They defer peace and harmony to the world hereafter, the promise of which exists only if the deceased, so it is said, performed obediently to a common ideology while alive.

Religions are political and self-serving as they strive for dominance. The Republican Party wants to be the permanent majority and make America a Theocracy subject to the will of an Evangelical elite, and the goal often is justified by the means, The more successfully Republicans contests against opposition, the more it presumes to be the instrument of God, and dubious Glory is bestowed upon members for their contribution in pursuit of that goal. Religions create saints, Nations give medals, and the Communists recognized Heroes. Every community forms the basis of a social, economic, or political philosophy and religion appropriate to its perceived need.

True Universality resides in individuals, not their national attachments. Societies differ, and the means of living successfully in each developed according to a particular felt-need. Who is to say which of the choices is superior to another? The pragmatic answer should be, if it works leave it alone, provided each community acts responsibly and with respect for other political and territorial entities,

President Geo W. Bush attempted to impose his will on nations he labeled the “axis of evil,” and sacrificed the wealth of America in an effort that should never have been made. Peoples need to understand that nationalism is not a Universal, and that misguided community and religious leaders use individuals to achieve their goals.

Grace is not something that can be bestowed by man upon his fellows. Man may bestow honor, but not Grace. I echo the conclusion of Martin Luther who objected to the sale of Dispensations by clergy to raise money for the Church. Grace is attainable only by individuals for themselves who recognize commonality with all men, appreciate the Universal aspect of being, and strive to bring the Emotional and Rational aspects of being into harmony. Success will make him a true citizen of the world in deference to being merely a member of a particular community, each with its own sacred cemetery.

I am convinced heaven is a state of mind. A friend, now deceased, and I used to have long discussions on the subject of philosophy and religion. He remarked to me once that heaven must be a very crowded place considering how many deaths occurred since the beginning of time. I countered it was not necessarily so because thought occupied no space. “Think of your deceased mother,” I suggested, and she will appear. To be with someone in heaven, it is only necessary to think of that person, which prompts an interesting question. Do animals go to heaven?

Will heavenly contacts be limited to what we recall? If what we experience in heaven is subject to recollections, and if we can recall only what we know, the quality of our personal heaven could be determined by memory, but because we are products of two aspects of being, the other being our unreality, or our subconscious, some impulses we receive may be beyond our comprehension, and from a source both spontaneous and unknown, as a dream, a day-dream perhaps, or one experienced during sleep.

My friend and I began to appreciate the importance of what we allow to impact upon our consciousness, and concluded there might be some things worth avoiding. We began to realize that, if we could exercise control over the content of our minds, we might also be able to determine, to some extent, the quality of our heaven. My friend took my thesis to heart, and in the short time left to him on earth, sought out beauty wherever he could. I hope my thesis is correct, but, it also poses a problem.

We may suppress conscious memories, but they are etched in our subconscious memory that we carry with us to the grave. If we understand this in time we may be able to overwhelm bad old memories with good new ones.

I began to appreciate the complexity of heaven when mother told me of a lady who was a Missouri Christian of the late 19th.and early 20th centuries. She was a member of the church mother attended, but was imprinted by prejudice. She could not accept having a negro as a member of her church. She had no objection to blacks being saved, "so long as a black preacher saved them." Regarding a member of the church she said, "if that woman goes to heaven, I'm not sure I want to enter." Unfortunately, if my thesis is valid, she might not escape the recollections of any of her earthly experiences. I suspect, however, that she has many better memories and won’t be much bothered. If we were honest, most of us would admit to deficiencies that could interfere with our heavenly expectations, unless we are allowed the luxury of selecting only those memories that please us, but that could be wishful thinking.

People die at all ages, but if the lifecycle is compared with the water cycle, supposing the ocean to be the source of beginning, the answer to why some die young and others do not, becomes obvious. For it rains not only on the peaks, but on the plains and in the valleys, too. The distance required and the work to be done to return to the point of beginning, is variable depending on where the waters fall. Who among us would doubt the benefit of rain, and runoff especially in areas of fertility or greatest need, excepting storms, of course.

Latinos celebrate the deaths of little ones in the belief they are angels returning to heaven. The less removed from their beginning, the more heavenly will be their return. So funerals are attended with gaiety instead of sadness, the body awash with flowers.

Self-actualization, is achieved by seeking and finding for oneself truths by which to live and, having found those truths, living by them. For by understanding ourselves we contribute to that happy coincidence which nudges the whole ever nearer a perfection that ultimately could become a heaven on earth.

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Kenneth G. Ramey was a 79-year old "writer without a Website" who is generating excellent, provocative articles on the subject of religion and world affairs. We are pleased that Ken's "lone wolf" presence as a writer in the world has been replaced by a spot on our team of writers at Salem-News.com. Raised in Minnesota and California during the dark years of the Great American Depression, Ken is well suited to talk about the powerful forces in the world that give all of us hope and tragedy and everything in between. You can write to Ken at: kgramey@sbcglobal.net