*HEAVEN - also see GOD, PERFECT, JOY, BEATITUDE, BLISS, BLESS, PARADISE, GARDEN, FACE, REWARD, SALVATION, ETERNITY, RESURRECTION, KINGDOM, ENLIGHTENMENT, NOT-TWO, TAO, COMPLETE, MARRIAGE, PANENTHEISM, CONTENT, PEACE, CHRIST-CONSCIOUSNESS, BEATITUDE, UNION, DESTINY, WITHIN
The Kingdom of Heaven Jesus describes as located "within you." It may be the force field which is the divine activity that is being specialized as you. It is what you can be. It is the wholeness that is in you even when you are experiencing limitatiom. (Discover the Power Within You, p51)
Heaven is pure oneness. There are no bodies, no different places, and no separate moments of time. There is only an infinite expanse of unified awareness. Our separate identifies mingle and merge to form a single universal Self or Christ [or mind]. (ACIM Intro, p21)
Heaven lies all about us, but because we are lacking in spiritual perception, we are unable to recognize it or unable to experience it. Heaven is the religious name for the Presence of God. (Sermon on the Mount, p37)
The Bible does not reveal the exact location of Heaven. Many believe that it must exist in another dimension. (Heaven, p71)
Heaven is not a place, but the spiritual presence of Christ. (History of God, p321)
Heaven is a place where men forget themselves and remember only God. (DSB Revelation Vol 2 Commentary, p120)
I wonder if: heaven is a transcendant bliss of both joy and empathy? See EMPATHY. And that must have been Jesus'outlook or out look (out from his own thoughts and desires). (Randy, 3/8/97)
Jesus' compassion was for a way to impact the world that all might come to haeaven (self realization). (Conversations, p52)
The big worry is that somehow we'll mess up and not get to ever see You, be with You. You mean "get to Heaven"? (Conversations, p89)
God does not order what he has created - He merely tells how you will know that you are coming home. There is no such thing as "getting to heaven." THERE IS ONLY A KNOWING THAT YOU ARE ALREADY THERE. There is an accepting, an understanding, not a working for or a striving. Enlightenment is understanding that there is no-where to go, nothing to do, and nobody you have to be except exactly who you're being right now. (Conversation, p97-8)
Difference between heaven hell is about 18 inches, the difference between our hearts and our head. (???)
The tension between God's will and man's, between external regulation and inner inclination, could be dissolved in the love of God, which would unite human and divine in one unitary spirit. To awaken to this state of divine love was to experience the Kingdom of Heaven. (Mind, p149)
Jesus was in a state of heaven here on earth. And we, if we have faith in Him and follow His way, can also be in this state here on earth and now. Heaven is the kingdom of God (see KINGDOM). Heaven is a state of suffering joyously. Heaven is not when we'll be satisfied, but when we will no longer have these selfish desires and ambitions for comfort, pleasure, and materialism. (Randy)
It is only when we escape from time, as well as space, that we can possibly begin to imagine what Heaven will be like. The essence of Heaven lies not in receiving pleasure but in giving it. Just as God created the universe from [love] and for love, so Heaven is its culminating fulfilment and is the place of love, where love is given in its plenitude. God gives us all his love and for the first time we are in a position to receive fully and undiluted. But, at the same time, purged of all imperfections and human limitations, we can reciprocate that love with something of his own power and intensity. We are become vessels of love, and in that instant of loving reciprocation we acquire the ecstasy which is timeless and eternal. (Quest, p182-3)
We are looking forward to entering the Promise Land [too!] of Heaven. (p22, Guide to Reading the Old Testament - Part II)
HEAVEN is a state of union with God. And if we are truly oriented towards God, then it makes sense for our ultimate destiny to be the ONENESS with God which the death of our physical bodies makes possible. It takes both God and human to get us to HEAVEN - it takes our FAITH as well as God's GRACE. (Common Sense, p154-5)
In prayer we open our awareness to the Ultimate Mystery whom we know by faith is within us, the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment. Like the air we breathe, this divine Presence is all around us and within us, distinct from us, but never separate from us. This Presence is healing, strengthening, refreshing, it is nonjudgmental, self-giving, seeking no reward, boundless in compassion. It is like coming home to a place I should never have left, to an awareness that was somehow always there, but which I did not recognize. I cannot force this awareness, or bring it about. A door opens within me, but from the other side. I seem to have tasted before the mysterios sweetness of this enveloping, permeating Presence. IT IS BOTH EMPTINESS AND FULLNESS AT ONCE. We wait patiently; in silence, openness, and quiet expectancy; and we surrender to the attraction to be still, to be loved, just to be. How shallow are all the things that upset and discourage me! I resolve to give up the desires that trigger my tormenting emotions. Having tasted true peace, I can let them all go by. Of course, I shall stumble and fall, for I know my weakness. But I will rise at once, for I know my goal. I know where my home is. (Open Mind, p136-7)
How is heaven attained? The attainment of heaven is the freedom from cravings. (Wisdom, Hinduism, p41)