Reality and Heaven

This is a big topic and I have no hope of doing it justice. You know what? I'm still going to try! The usual warnings apply.

Before I write some specific thoughts, back to my question at the end of "Part One". What is heaven?

From time to time throughout my life, heaven has been escaping from some huge pressure I felt hanging over me. Escape to where? Escape to what? No idea, I just wanted out. I want(ed) to drink, run, hike, ride, swim, race my way out of it. I bet you know what I was running from... Heaven is escaping from myself.

Other views of heaven:

• When I was a kid, I thought it was candies and donuts stacked to the roof.
• When I was a teenager, I thought is was the feel of a lithe, firm body pressed against mine.
• In the first half of my twenties, I thought it was being able to drink all day (every day), never gain weight, have the perfect body and shag at will.
• In the second half of my twenties, it was being able to earn enough money to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, for the rest of my life.
• In my thirties? I've realized that I have no clue!

As you can see, my view of heaven has changed throughout my life. I bet it will continue to change for the rest of my life. I think that is an important aspect to remember about the essence of heaven. For me, it isn't one thing, it isn't a static thing. It is a dynamic state of mind - possibly a state a being.

Maybe heaven is enlightenment. Maybe enlightenment is heaven. Enlightenment is too heavy a word for me. It has all kinds of connotations of perfection and association with people that are above my level of existence (above me). It's not close enough. It's not real. It's doesn't seem to be achievable. Maybe, it's not achievable. You know what? I don't think it matters one way or the other, and that gives me hope.

I am willing that bet that most of us don't need to change our perspective by very much to achieve a significant increase in happiness. If we reach for heaven and make any progress at all, then I bet the effort is worth it.

What is heaven? What is reality? Can I reach heaven by changing my views on reality? What do the books I have been reading have to say about this?

I love this quote. What it says to me is that the world will conform to our thoughts. That doesn't mean that I think about a new Porsche and it rolls into my driveway (although Fox clearly believes that anything is possible). Rather, I think Fox is saying that we are 100% responsible for our situation. If something is not to our liking then we need to either change our perspective or change our position. I see it as a metaphysical extension of the old one about the glass being half full.

Fox says that if we constantly focus only on the positive and do our best to live "right" (whatever that means to you), then the stress and worries of our lives will melt away. To others, they will still be there. We will still see examples all around us. Children will be murdered, trains will crash, friends will have difficulties, people will hate us. However, our reality will be positive and sunny. We will receive everything we want and need. It is the biblical, "ask and you shall receive."

How is this possible? How can we receive everything we want and need? Time for more Lao Tzu...

Man-oh-man, I love this one. The first time I read it, it was like a lightning bolt had hit me. I had everything backwards! I was seeking wealth for contentment. It was so true. Not just wealth. Alcohol is contentment, work is contentment, sex is contentment, peer approval is contentment, a sub-9 IM is contentment, harmony is contentment.

I have been (and probably still am) living backwards. I should seek contentment first. But what is contentment? How do I get there.

Merge Fox and Lao Tzu. I will have everything that I need. I will be a wealthy man. Not because I own 50% of a Fortune 500 company, but because I will have what is truly valuable - wisdom, contentment, perspective, calm, love, whatever it means to you. Whatever heaven means to you?

But what am I saying? How do I get contentment? How do I achieve inner peace? Back to "Part One" - live right, be yourself, accept yourself, love yourself. I think that will provide one's inner-self with tremendous strength. When I have contentment with who I am, when I accept myself, then I am truly wealthy for nobody can take that away.

Contentment may, or may not, be heaven. Still, it sounds like an excellent start.

Next up, Wealth and Joy.

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