A Practical Look at HEAVEN & HELL

Part 3: right HERE, & right NOW
“The Kingdom of God does not come with things that can be observed, nor will they someday say, ‘See it here!’ or ‘See it there!’ For indeed, the Kingdom of God is already within you.” ~ Jesus (Luke 17:20-21)

“Heaven & Hell are both here … around us, and within us … in every action, and every inaction … nowhere exotic or banished, just here.” ~ Chunmun Kamal
In the Gospels, Jesus made it directly clear in his teachings (and just as clear indirectly in all of his parables) that Heaven was, is & forever remains a Here&Now event – a Bliss-full state of Being experienced in all the moments we have the humility & the courage to actively & selflessly place the needs of others ahead of our own. And it therefore makes complete sense that if Heaven was a present moment occurrence for Jesus, then Hell was, is & forever remains a present moment experience as well.

Indeed, Jesus did not utter the word “Hell” as we know it at all in the scriptures, but rather is said to have used the name “Gehenna” to describe the suffering we all ultimately experience when living a self-centered life. As it turns out, Gehenna was the name of a small valley just outside of Jerusalem where children where sacrificed in Old Testament times (Jeremiah 32:35) and garbage was burned in Jesus’ day. It was a well-known place of death & decomposition & maggots & fire — a perfect symbolic representation of what Jesus was teaching at the time: namely, that immense pain & discomfort do indeed accompany our inevitable transcendence – that though we are steeped in the stink of weak-willed self-centeredness, we will indeed rise from the rot of greed & fear that infests our lives; that we will in-deed inevitably come to a point in our lives where we choose to burn off our sins of greed & arrogance & violence by leaping into the purifying flames of selfless, radical Love.

Gehenna was a foul place of pain & suffering, to be sure … it was indeed a form of Hell. AND YET Gehenna was also a place of transmutation – it was also a gateway to purity & calm.

Fittingly, modern-day visitors to Israel can witness firsthand that the valley of Gehenna herself has been reborn. She has come through centuries of existing as a center of torture & disgust, and is today has become quite a lovely garden.

So too, my Friends, can our lives be reborn. So too, can we all – in any moment we choose — move from Hell to Heaven.

But how can we do so, you ask?  Rest assured, it is indeed possible, though not in the ways traditionally believed.  Merely being “friendly” or “tactful” or “polite” or “tolerant” towards others is not enough, nor is doing mere “good deeds” sufficient. No, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is necessary to face your fears in a fashion much more radical — it is necessary to enliven a Kindness that is much more complete.

In essence, in order for us to enter this Kingdom of Heaven, it is necessary to sacrifice ourselves in some way for the betterment others … Let me begin to count the ways:

*When being shunned or ridiculed or rejected or even attacked, we can have compassion for that enemy and openly forgive them.

*When frightened by a stranger, we can look them in the eye and greet them warmly with a smile.

*When made uneasy by a homeless person, we can touch them on the shoulder and ask how they are doing.

*When feeling poor, we can donate to the poor … when feeling hungry, we can give another food … when feeling thirsty, we can give another a drink … when feeling cold, we can give another our coat.

*When feeling down or depressed or saddened, we can announce to another how grateful we are to be alive.

*When feeling angry or enraged or upset, we can reach out to another with an act of open gentleness.

*When hearing negative criticism or gossip, we can openly offer soft reminders about the Goodness of the accused.

*When judged as unworthy or feeling condemned, we can reach out to our accusers and openly forgive them their callousness & their arrogance.

*When bored or annoyed, we can announce to another the raw & miraculous Beauty that always surrounds us.

*When in doubt about the future of our lives or our relationships or our country or the world, we can stride forth boldly into our moment, and Be the Change we wish to See.

These are only a few of the many ways we can fully experience the raw Bliss of our innate Oneness – our intimate & complete Interconnection with everyone & everything around us.

And the Good News is that, regardless of what happens to us after we die, we can all enter this brilliantly Bliss-full Kingdom of Heaven while we are still alive – right now, in every moment we are alive … right here, in every place we already are.

Amen … Let it be so.

“Within every arising second, a second has already died. So, instead of focusing on the end, focus on this moment, this very moment … Live in it … Die in it … Be laid on the cross … Be resurrected. It’s all within. This moment, this place, with these people, with this frame of mind … With all that is and all that is within me. I am my Hell … just as much as I am my Heaven.” ~ Chunmun Kamal

“And his disciples asked him, ‘When will the rest for the dead take place, and when will the new world come?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘What you are looking forward to has already arrived; you simply don’t yet realize it.’” ~ Thomas 51

“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of Heaven is already at hand.” ~ Jesus (Mark 1:15)

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