A few minutes ago I was watching a video of a woman who has an NDE and more than one OBE (out of body experience) where she says she was taken to heaven. This woman was moved to tears just thinking about it. As I’ve been trying to put together a picture of what that might be like it’s finally coming into focus a bit for me, but as I was talking to a Christian friend the other day I was reminded of the fact that while we profess to believe heaven is a good place, no one is in a hurry to get there. We want to be here as long as we possibly can.
I think the problem is lack of imagination (actually a lack of the memory of Home). We cannot imagine anything better than being here. Earth is beautiful. Life is good. And, it’s what we know. How can the unknown be better than what we know? “What are these colors you speak of that I’ve never seen? How can that be? Sounds I’ve never heard?” Swedenborg described going to heaven from Earth like leaving a village and going to the city.
I was reading a book last night and the author posited that the ideal level of civilization is around the level of technology of the Native Americans. He might be right. As people have grown more and more advanced technologically and committed to science having all the answers, we have become more convinced we live in a mechanical universe, we are no more than accidents of nature and we are no more than biological robots. We came from nothing and we are going nowhere so we might as well enjoy the day. We have become increasingly tied to the material world. Ironically, we are destroying it partially because we don’t think we’ll be around to suffer the consequences. If you thought you were going to reincarnate in 50-100 years, you might think twice about that. We cling to what we know, the material because it’s all we know and because it’s all we know, we like it and can’t imagine anything better. It’s easy to become less spiritually minded when we live long, comfortable lives. It’s easy to deny the reality that no matter how advanced our medicine has become, we’re all leaving one day.
It’s been a great place to visit and I like it, but I’m looking forward to something even better.
