My next goal: “I” want to go to Heaven…
From the last article on Oneness, we can really see interdependence, that everything relies on everything else to co-exist. This is the higher consciousness needed to realize that “we are not alone.” It is the “You” and “Me” deal that separates.
Granted; when Joe Average keeps telling Joanne about all his great accomplishments in life so she feels proud of him; in that consciousness there is a need to understand their language of separation which brings “having” and “possessing” one another as the “normal” thing to do.
We need to understand that we may need to “speak” the language of separation with them; but keeping a state of consciousness far beyond that moment. If Joe Average felt oneness with Joanne, he wouldn’t need to try to impress her. Who is he trying to impress whom?
“Me” wants to impress “You.”
Is there anything wrong with seeing things in the separation of “you” and “me”?
No. It is just a state of consciousness.
It is in that state of consciousness of separation where most religious beliefs have been created.
There is “heaven” which is the ultimate prize. The “six figure job” in the afterlife. 🙂
Of course, “I” want to go there. That becomes my new “motivation in life.”
What are the requisites? That is the “job qualifications.”
You have to be “good.” You have to follow the commandments. You have to love God. If you don’t follow the above, then you will not get there. You will fail. You will not get the job…
You will miss heaven for eternity… 😦 and that is a long time… 🙂
Then, going to heaven becomes an exclusivity for not everyone could make it; it becomes another competition, which truly reflects the ways of our society.
Just another reinforcement for an ego driven personality. Not everyone can go there. But “I” have to go. “I” have to “make effort” to go there.
As we can see, in the above belief there is that reinforcement of “I” as something completely individual and separated from everything else.
Why do you want to “be good” and “do good”? Please ask this seemingly naïve question to yourself.
Because… “I” want to go to heaven. Because “I” want to be an angel. Because “I” don’t want God to punish me. Because “I” don’t want to burn in hell for ever…
What a bunch of ego builder answers!
When we truly see interdependence, that “I” am everything; then “I” cannot go to heaven unless everyone else does, that is when heaven is important for the sake of the world. That is beyond the “I” want, “I” need game.
Humanity is greater than my “petty” self and all its fears.
That is how, heaven is no longer another belief after “I” die.
“Would you like to liberate yourself from the lower realms of life? Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it seems destined for? Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self-awareness. If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself…”
Hua Hu Ching Ch 75
If “I” do good. I am not good. I just “look” good.
If I am “good” then thanks to “me” there is someone who is “bad.”
It is when “I” go beyond that duality, beyond good and evil, when “I” die alive “now,” then everything can exist without separation. A different “reality.” Awareness. Consciousness.
“To the ordinary person, the body of humanity seems vast. In truth, it is neither bigger nor smaller than anything else. To the ordinary person, there are others whose awareness needs raising. In truth, there is no self, and no other. To the ordinary person, the temple is sacred and the field is not. This, too, is a dualism which runs counter to the truth. Those who are highly evolved maintain an undiscriminating perception. Seeing everything, labeling nothing, they maintain their awareness of the Great Oneness. Thus they are supported by it.”
Hua Hu Ching Ch 19.
Exploring the Depth of Living 
Dear Vvrisor,
The idea of Heaven has nothing to do with Spirituality, whether it exists or not. Religions have used that idea as a “reward” in the future, just as when we tell a little kid that his goal in life is to become a well known doctor and that he has to put up with high school and medical school in the meantime, until he reaches his goal. This only strengthens the idea of self and does nothing for self realization.
By fully relating, by fully being integrated in the totality of life without divisions is how we can experience something different. Witnessing is Oneness. If we believe that there is a person, a witness separated from the thing being witnessed, then there is duality, separation,
By getting rid of that mental personality which has life through our inner chattering, we could experience that unity without words. The word “witness” is just a pointer to the experience of it.
Best wishes!
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Dear avyakt7,
Some how, the word ‘HEAVEN’ or its description never motivated me or influenced me or my thinking process in my SPIRITUAL journey .
Is it not possible by ‘NOT RELATING’ we come out of ‘DUALITY’ and reach a stage of consciousness where one experiences only: ‘WITNESSING’ and becoming part of ‘ONENESS’?
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