...
Let's assume for moment that Heaven exists on a parallel plane and when we align our mortal life and earthly existence with it - boom - it's heaven on Earth.
But we dont get to dwell in it all the time. For some it's a morning (and evening) dog walk, for some it's embroidery after the children have gone to school, for some it's evenings spent with school assignments as we watch a daughter grow.
The beauty in life is in knowing that there is beauty in it in every moment
All we have to do is know that life is beautiful and voila: it is
But knowing vaguely intellectually is soo different from feeling. Will I realize that the reason I had a fracture was so I could spend my grandmother's last weeks WITH HER!
Life is there - always - ready to shower HER BOUNTY on us, but we are so busy searching in all the wrong places. Did my cat know when she kissed my neighbour at this morning's breakfast, that that would be the kindest thing she received all day?
Do I realize a friend is being ill-treated by her in laws and did I help peacefully reconcile their problems instead of outright defending her and making the home situation even worse.
We're so self righteous sometimes, we forget there's 2 sides to a story. And were so certain were being wronged we fail to accept the good.
We're so resentful of a miserable job and yet we waste 2 hours on coffee breaks instead of sneaking in lessons on the harmonica, or some such passion.
HAVE WE FOUND HEAVEN YET?
No, it's not a destination that we arrive at at the end of the speech, besides I'm not some dashing explorer who will make you conjure up visions of Fantasia in your mind and Heavens to set sail for.
But we are in this together, ALONE to the degree we shut ourselves from each other or we numb ourselves to each other's PAIN, BUT TOGETHER when we fight against wrong or for each other's happiness.
I would venture to say that HEAVEN lies where we share what we have with others. It can be food, learning material, good spirits, referrals, reminiscences, a hearty laugh, a reassuring hug during a vulnerable moment.
Some years ago when I had my first close interactions with adolescents, someone used the term "part-time parent" - I guess thats WHAT I'D LIKE TO BE - held in enough regard by a few friends to get to hang out with their children.
Well today I have one student. With him and his peers go all the hopes of our generation.
Will he find a way through life never losing his positivity? Will he be forced to sell out on his dreams like so many of us? Will he find love? Will their's be a peaceful house? Will he make good money? Will he utilize it wisely, giving away some as our Elders request us to? Will he fall into bad company or vice? Will he be a source of delight in the groups he belongs to? Will he be healthy or at some stage fall prey to the madness of the world and into depression? Will his children be twice more blest that we are?
The Bigger Picture
Will he and a few friends take counsels to end the maladies that plague humanity? Did we sensitize and equip them to play this critical role? Do they have an inkling of the damage we have done to Mother Earth?
If everyone is SOOO BUUUSY and noone has time to SEE the big picture, let alone respond to it, then we may just find ourselves with ESCALATING GLOBAL ISSUES, and we don't want that, do we?
Signup here and pledge to make the world a shade better.
Else there wont be a patch of habitable land and we will simple be incable of "Finding Heaven" in it.
5 Mar 2023