Heaven on Earth

St. Augustine had a binary view of this world and the next world. Our earthly domain of existence was transitory, illusory, sensory, and sinful to be endured until death, and then we can escape to the next world, which is enduring, eternal, and totally joyful. The next world also has its binary poles — heaven and hell.

Catholic theology added an interim place of purification for those not yet ready for heaven at the time of death — purgatory.

Catholic theology also added another place called limbo for children who die before being baptized. Realizing the lunacy of consigning innocent children to a lonely limbo, the Roman Catholic Church dropped limbo from its teachings in 1992.

Purgatory is rarely mentioned by preachers these days and purely ignored by people. The Augustinian influence on dualistic world view, however, continues to linger and, I believe it is time to replace it with a coherent cosmic view of life.

In his book Love Letters to the Earth, Buddhist spiritual master Thich Nhat Hanh writes:

“There are those of us who walk the Earth searching for a Promised Land, not realizing that we are the wondrous place, we’ve been looking for our whole lives…I do not need to imagine a Pure Land of the Buddha to the west or a Kingdom of God above where I will go when I die. Heaven is here on Earth. The Kingdom of God is here and now. I don’t need to die to be in the Kingdom of God. In fact, I need to be very much alive.”

As American environmentalist Edward Abbey succinctly puts,

“The Earth which bore us and sustains us is the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need.”

It is sad that most Christians seem to be waiting for an escape from this evil world into a better world, through a process called rapture, which is supposed to happen during the second coming of Christ at the end of the world. They seem to be overlooking the first coming of Jesus on Earth 2000 years ago. It is unfortunate that we ignore his life on Earth and overlook the beauty of creation all around us now to go to a fantasy land far away, in the future.

Ignorance about the inherent divinity of creation has robbed us of our current joy and damaged the Earth through our abuse and exploitation of the planet.

(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)