ABOUT: ENTRYWAYS INTO HEAVEN ON EARTH

Let me suggest some possible avenues in which you can participate in creating Heaven on Earth, in which you can move from context to action, from thinking to acting. These are suggestions to get your creative juices flowing. I call them entryways, actually they're action-service entryways. An entryway is an entry-way, a portal into an arena.

Here are some arenas in which you can participate. These aren't the only ones, you may have a unique way of your own that I haven't thought of. If so'great! Just start. I'll list them first then go on to describe each one in more detail.

• Cleaning up the major sufferings confronting the world.
• Institutions take their rightful place in creating Heaven on Earth.
• Taking on a longstanding, unresolvable problem.
• Living your individual values.
• Doing your own thing.

Cleaning up the major sufferings confronting the world:

For thousands of years the world has been confronted with suffering. While many of those sufferings have been eradicated, smallpox and tuberculosis for example, many more remain present. In the new story of Heaven on Earth, they must once and for all be gotten rid of. I'm talking here of problems such as:

• Hunger
• Disease
• War
• Crime
• Illiteracy
• No access to opportunity, therefore no self reliance
• Dirty, undrinkable water
• Environmental pollution & degradation
• Prejudice & hatred
• Slavery
• Non-universal right to vote

Institutions take their rightful place in creating Heaven on Earth:

We've forgotten the true role of institutions in our society. They're here to serve us. For too long we've been making them the target of our anger and the butt of our jokes. If a person is not performing his/her job after a while they would be given either another job, job training, or they would be let go. Yet we continue to rail that institutions are not living up to our expectations. Government is wasteful, slow and too bureaucratic. Education is turning out graduates who can't read. Law enforcement is powerless against drugs and crime. The media focuses on the lowest common denominator, on violence and on sensationalism. And so on and so on.

But in the context of Heaven on Earth, institutions work. Institutions take their rightful place in society and provide society with the benefits that a large number of committed people working together efficiently and effectively to be of service can.

• Religion and Spirituality
• Government and Law
• Agriculture, Labor, Industry, Commerce & Business
• Education
• The Arts, Communication Media, Culture & Sports
• Medicine and Health
• Science and Technology
• Environment/Habitat
• International Intergovernmental Organizations
• Organizations of Civil Society
• The Military
• Relationships:
  • To yourself
  • To another
  • To others
  • To your family
  • To your city
  • To your nation
  • To your world
  • To God

Taking on a longstanding, unresolvable problem:

Years ago my very dear friend Bishop Henry Hill told me I should always carry in my heart one seemingly unresolvable problem.

At the time, the war between Iran and Iraq had been going on for years with no possible end in site. There were terrible casualties on both sides. There was no dialogue between the two combatants. So'I took on the resolution of this problem by carrying it in my heart. Because I had no idea of what to do to end it and because I saw it as being a longstanding, unresolvable problem I 'knew' this was the right way to go about it. My intention, of course, was that by carrying it in my heart, I would be in relationship with it and this would be my way of being responsible for helping to resolve it. The place to start was in my heart.

The war is now over. Did my efforts help? I think so. Can I prove that my efforts helped'only by the result of the war being over.

I took on a world problem, I could have just as easily taken on a personal problem, say of a relationship with a friend or acquaintance that had gone sour.

The content of the problem, what the problem actually is, is not the issue here. The issue is the context of the problem, namely that it has to be something that in your mind is longstanding and unresolvable.

• The armed standoff between Pakistan & India over Kashmir.
• A long time friend with whom you've had a 'stupid' argument and are no longer speaking to.
• The armed standoff between North and South Korea at the DMZ.
• Something from your childhood that is unresolved for you.
• The continuing scourge of AIDS, particularly in southern and eastern Africa.
• Something you've always wanted to do but have been frightened by.
• The inability of the world's economic powers to come up with a currency trading system that does not every once in a while cause national currency meltdowns.
• A problem between two friends of yours.
• A daughter not talking to her mother.
• Two brothers refusing to be together.

Living your individual values:

Each of us has a value or values that we consider of paramount importance. Values which we believe the world needs to publicly express more of. If you're such a person, then your entryway is the blossoming of a particular value in the world.

Here is a partial list of values. One of these may be yours. If it is, begin living an exemplary life in and of that value. If your value isn't included, write it at the bottom of the list.

• Beauty
• Order
• Harmony
• Love
• Compassion
• Forgiveness
• Honor
• Being & doing good
• Generosity
• Graciousness
• Kindness
• Excellence
• Integrity
• Joy
• Dignity
• Respect
• Excellence
• Persistence
• Charity

Doing you own thing:

I've talked about several different kinds of entryways that you could contribute yourself to. If none of them are a fit for you perhaps you have an entryway that is unique to you. It could be:

Your Unique Expression

As you read and think about creating Heaven on Earth you may also instantly know what your unique contribution is. It could be something like:

• Being responsible for cleaning up a stretch of highway and keeping it clean on an on-going basis.
• Paying the bill for someone else in a restaurant.
• Being helpful to a neighbor.
• Participating in a community project.
• Planting flowers.
• Working on your own enlightenment.
• Telling the truth.
• Meditating.
• Going to religious worship.
• Making a new friend.
• Visit someone whose is in the hospital or housebound.
• Do a favor for someone you don't usually get along with.
• Visit or call Mom and Dad.
• Make up with someone you've stopped talking to.
• Find a long lost family member.
• Take you child to cheer up people at a retirement home.
• Buy a gift for your spouse for no reason.
• Hug your kids.
• Beginning Project Heaven on Earth discussion/action groups in your home, office or community.

Prayer:

I remember reading a story about a convent and a particular Sister there who was in her nineties. Her work was to pray each day for others. She spent about 4-5 hours per day doing this. This was her job. What if you spent time in prayer each day. It could be as short as one breath or as long as hours.

"We encourage all to pray daily for Humanity and for the world."
~ SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP, Mother Center

Being aware & present to Heaven on Earth in every moment:

Sometimes we can think that Heaven on Earth is now, is here. Yesterday I was out walking in the morning and I suddenly just stopped and became present to everything. I was fully in the here and now.

We have the ability to just stop and be here now in each and every moment.

Why don't you just do that right now. Stop reading this book. Look up and out into the world. Be present. Notice the sounds, the smells. Notice what's around you. Notice your thoughts, your emotions. Be aware of being aware.

You can do this any time you like under any circumstances.

The Magic Wand Exercise

Suppose you had a magic wand and could create anything you wanted, for yourself, for others, for your work, for your community, for your country, for the planet. And anything you created would be part of Heaven on Earth. Imagine you have this magic wand now. What would you create?

Take a few moments now to use your magic wand. You may want to pick up a pen or pencil or some other similar object and pretend it's the magic wand.

The power of a magic wand is that it relieves you of the necessity to know how something will be achieved, because that's its job. Your only job is to be clear on what you want. You job is to answer the question 'What do I want?' and the magic wand's job is to answer the question 'How will it be done?'

Now what would you create?

Discovering your Life's purpose & vision.

Another possible entryway is the discovery of your life's Purpose & Vision.

To put it simply, 'Purpose' answers the question, 'Why am I here?' and 'Vision' answers the question, "What do I want?'

Two very simple yet very profound questions.

If you've never answered these questions, please take the time to. The answers will transform your life.

One point, the answers to both questions are not necessarily fixed in stone. You constantly have to be re-looking at them to see if they are still true for you.

It is as though they have a life force all their own which has to be continuously looked at.

For a wonderful write up on discovering your Life's Purpose see Richard Bowle's latest version of his book 'What Color is your Parachute?'

Discovering your 'Essence Word'

Your entryway may be the discovery and living of what I call your 'Essence Word.' My 'Essence Word' is 'Harmony'. This word is the resonance of my soul. It's like a tuning fork specifically tuned to one frequency. Whenever I hear the word a shudder of deep recognition and delight travels through me.

What's your word?

The Opportunities for contribution are endless:

The entryways into Heaven on Earth are as endless and varied as the citizens of this planet. Your contribution to Heaven on Earth and what you'll do to make that come alive is up to you. But, by each of us doing our part and more importantly knowing that others all around the world are involved in the same project it gives us all hope, it gives us all the energy, the strength and the courage to keep going. Houston Smith, the great theologian and thinker has a wonderful image for our own Humanity. He thinks of the physical universe as a horizontal line, that represents the 14 billion light years that is our known universe. Since light travels at 186,000 miles a second, this is a pretty long line.
He then sees a vertical line intersecting the horizontal line of the physical universe. And he considers this line to represent our common Humanity, where we've been, our triumphs, our failures, our awakenings, our continual stretch and evolvement toward wholeness, enlightenment, or God. He considers this line even longer that the line that measures the known universe - longer than 14 billion light years.
When I heard this for the first time I was catapulted out of worrying about the minutiae of my daily life and into an intense realization of the magnificence of this incredible human journey we are taking together. What we are creating together is a new and wonderful story of what it means to be human. We are finally allowing this deep resonant heart-felt part of ourselves to be expressed. This emerges as the deep part of ourselves expressing itself through our living, working and being together.

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