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I heard this today and immediately thought of this forum: “We are reaching for the future; we are reaching for the past –
and no matter what we have, we reach for more.
We are desperate to discover what is just beyond our grasp.
Maybe that’s what heaven is for.”
I’m not sure what direction you were taking or if you just wanted comments, Ray. (Or just wanted to share) Based on many of my previous postings, I’m sure you’d imagine that my take is slightly different.
I do agree that we are often consumed by either the past or the future; why are things the way they are or why can’t things be better.
I personally don’t think we have to “wait” till heaven; I think this mortal journey is where we learn how to maintain “heaven” in the present, everyday.
I humbly reject the notion that somehow things will be better in the next life. Our journey and purpose in THIS life is to discover that “promised land”, wherein peace and joy and happiness are found, even through the difficult trials and devastating losses. How else to learn how to cope and embrace the varied experiences of mortality and humanity then to go through both the good and the bad.
Life is not a marathon of sacrifice and “enduring to the end”, whilst our mansion in heaven is being constructed. We are building the metaphorical “mansion” of mortal life, an interior place in our hearts and minds, where we dwell in peace and harmony, emotional health and interpersonal intimacy, experiential growth and spiritual joy.
Whether there really is a heaven or celestial kingdom or after-life at all, I feel confident that something put us here for a reason, and finding and building that “mansion” in our hearts through personal learning, growth and experience, is that reason.
Iow, stay present.
Love it, Swim!! Thanks. I think it is true we are always reaching, I think because we have a conscience where we do evaluations of how to learn and grow…and we have a need to feel we are improving. I think the next life will be better.
But I really like Swimordie’s comments to stay present, because times in my life I have been too preoccupied with what mistakes I’ve made, or what my judgment will be defining if I was a good person or not, if I’m able to be in the CK, and by being so worried about the past or future, I failed to enjoy the present enough. That is when I started nature walks and waking early to be outside and enjoy the beauty of a new day.
While living in the present with no thought of tomorrow can be too irresponsible, there is value in enjoying the moments, and making the present wonderful and happy while knowing tomorrow is another day.
Of course, I work as a consultant for continuous improvement in my business, so I am programmed to view things in the light of “how can we constantly reach to make it better?” – so I’m tainted by that culture.
It’s fascinating how differently the quote was interpreted by others than how I interpreted it – and I’m kind of happy about that, since it illustrates something about how we each see things differently. I heard the quote and didn’t once think of “that’s what heaven is for” as talking about the afterlife. Rather, I interpreted it to mean that we need a concept of “heaven” – of something beyond our reach – of something for which to strive – of a conscious recognition that there are some things we just can’t know in this life but for which we need to strive to understand somehow – some destination for which we need to reach that is just beyond our grasp. I read the constant reaching as a great thing that keeps us from settling for what we see around us – that drives us to contemplate the unknowable – to strive to “reach the unreachable star”.
I have daughters, so I am familiar with a recent song by Miley Cyrus called “The Climb”. The central theme from that song is,
Quote:“It ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side. It’s the climb.”
I agree with that sentiment completely – that it’s NOT about heaven as a destination. It’s about the growth gained by the reaching.
It makes me wonder how much of the “reaching for something just beyond our grasp” is culturally imbedded in us as Americans. Most of our ancestors came to America for a promised land, a better place, opportunity for work and prosperity, freedoms.
Do you thing we as humans all have the “reaching” desire as part of our nature, or is it the Western culture we live in that promotes that?
Quote:Swimordie said…Life is not a marathon of sacrifice and “enduring to the end”, whilst our mansion in heaven is being constructed. We are building the metaphorical “mansion” of mortal life, an interior place in our hearts and minds, where we dwell in peace and harmony, emotional health and interpersonal intimacy, experiential growth and spiritual joy.
Whether there really is a heaven or celestial kingdom or after-life at all, I feel confident that something put us here for a reason, and finding and building that “mansion” in our hearts through personal learning, growth and experience, is that reason.
I like the way you said the above,, I look forward to the thought that for all those who pass through this life with some degree of personal growth, that a mind, the whole person, will not be wasted, that eternity is as real as the present.
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