Heaven Is A Place On Earth, If You Know Where To Look
I stood by the sink, glancing into the backyard through the window above it. Dandelion wishes danced in the wind, so light and fluffy – perfectly designed to keep its kind going.
In the corner of the yard, a squirrel popped out of the foliage, dark fruit in its mouth. Its body and poofy tail forming a perfect wave each time it hopped.
Some time ago, I read a book about a universe in which animals were all monstrous-looking and hostile. If science didn’t work the way it did on earth, animals could’ve all looked like monsters. (Would we still find them adorable?) Instead, since that first fish successfully left the water, some animals lost their slimy scales and grew furs. We got lucky.
Turning my attention away from the squirrel, I resumed washing my thermos. It’s a Starbucks replacement my sis bought me when I was leaving them again, and so upset I forgot my original thermos. The thermos isn’t special, but I love how it reminds me of my sister.
Spots of water splashed onto my favorite t-shirt, and my memory traveled to that day I visited Bondi Beach a lifetime ago. Blue sky, sunny day, cool breeze, beautiful beach. Australia has stellar beaches.
The shirt says “Applecrumble and Fish” – a playful poke at A&F, and was made in Bangladesh with good cotton. I’ve worn it so many times it’s like a second skin.
Now, I’m wearing it standing in a kitchen in the US, 10,000 miles from Singapore. Talk about a well-traveled shirt! Of course, these days, most things are well-traveled. It’s called globalization, duh.
This chain of thoughts made me realize I’ve been given so much. The gifts of sight, cognition, family, the privilege of living on this beautiful planet, and material things.
Heaven is a place on earth
Once again, I thought “heaven is a place on earth”.
Not like the pop song, obviously. Heaven is a place on earth not because of romantic love, though it can be.
A few days ago, Anth and I were enjoying some Ben & Jerry’s Half-Baked ice cream. We got them on sale at Rite Aid. I’m not a fan of ice cream, but even I love Ben & Jerry’s.
He started saying how if he goes to “a good place” and they don’t have ice cream, he’ll know it’s not at “the good place”.
In that moment, it struck me how amazing it is that so many good things are available to us.
So I said, “you know heaven is a place on earth when you can walk into a drug store and get Ben & Jerry’s ice cream”, as I scooped a ball of cookie dough into my mouth.
“In heaven, Half-Baked would be free,” he replied.
Can’t argue that. That said, I think $4 per tub is a fair price to pay for good ice cream. I started thinking about all the good things we can get here on earth.
Some simple but good stuff (to me anyway):
- Cool and sunny days
- Quiet nights
- Affectionate animals
- The sounds of crickets and birds
- A favorite song
- Good stories
- Our own beds with freshly changed sheets
- A bath
- Bag of chips
- Chocolate chip cookies (and milk?)
- Hot chocolate on a cold night
- San Pellegrino sparkling water on a hot day
- Juicy watermelon
- A steaming bowl of good instant ramen
Ah. These things are either free or cheap, but they’re animals/things that make me feel happy or satisfied. The list can easily be 4 times longer too.
To be fair, maybe I’ve simplified my life so much that little things spark a lot of joy in me. (If that’s the case, I’ll urge you to simplify your life too!)
But I think that no matter how rich you are, you’ll still enjoy changing out of constricting office attire into beat-up lounging clothes. Right?
Sometimes we can’t see what we have
With all these wonderful things easily available, why am I complaining so much? If I set aside all my worries, I can see how blessed I am. What’s there to get in heaven, assuming there’s one?
(At this point, I’d like to say that if you believe in an afterlife, please know that I mean no offense and I respect your beliefs.)
Maybe heaven is a place without debt, worries, or feelings of lack. Then a lot of people should be in heaven on earth.
Scooping up the last of the ice cream, we came to the agreement that earth is like heaven for the rich. They can pretty much have anything they want. Anything. Good food, good living arrangements, good education, frequent vacations, good opportunities, and good healthcare.
Provided they realize it. But they don’t always realize it.
Sometimes, it’s as if there’s a hole in their lives so big that even millions of dollars can’t fill it. They need more, more, and more.
Then again, the same can be said of us whichever socioeconomic status we’re in. There’s always a feeling we need to become more, better, and wealthier. In cases of poverty, this feeling is legitimate for survival.
In others, it’s a distraction that blinds us from what we have.
Everything we have here is a gift
Neither Anth nor I believe in the notion of heaven and hell as a place we go to after death. Heaven and hell, in our minds, are states of mind, or dire situations on earth.
Dire situations aside, everything here is a gift.
I may have exchanged time (worked) for the money to purchase the B&J ice cream, but it exists because of the farmers and the cows who provided the milk, the people who manufactured the machine, made the packaging, the workers at the factories, and the two men who started the company in Vermont. (And everyone else who made the company and distribution of the ice cream possible.)
Everything that exists in this creation exists because of a team effort. In a very practical sense, everything is magic – collaboration magic. Or plain old economics.
Still, it’s cool to look at how far we’ve come, though we’ve taken it too far and now we’re paying for it. Think environmental and labor exploitation, and climate change.
If heaven is a place on earth…
Naturally, if heaven is a place on earth… So is hell.
Imagine being one of those people in Zimbabwe who has to pick through plastic trash to salvage plastic that isn’t worth much. Or the child in the Republic of Congo mining in dangerous caves for precious metals used in our smartphones.
They’re risking their lives every day to make ends meet. They can’t quit their jobs because of the work hazards, they don’t have a choice.
Closer to home, a patient dying from cancer is in a type of hell. A single-mom working two jobs to feed her kids and keep them under a stable roof is in another. That lonely neighbor who keeps to himself may be in his solitary hell as well.
Hey, even a super rich person may be suffering internally too. I think wealth can be isolating.
It pays to be kind. For we never know what battle someone is fighting.
Yet, even in these hellish scenarios, there’ll be things to be grateful for, and times when it feels like things would work out just fine — like a little glimpse of heaven.
Gratitude
At the end of the day, finding heaven on earth all boils down to having gratitude and not taking anything for granted.
- Read about how to start a gratitude journal
Life will always be a roller-coaster of ups and downs, or cycles of heaven and earth. If we can look at the bigger picture and focus on what we do have, maybe life will be easier.
That’s why gratitude journals work. It encourages you to scrutinize your life and magnify your blessings.
With gratitude, maybe you’ll find too, that you’re in heaven more often than you realize. The sooner we realize this, the better.
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