I love comments and questions I receive to my blogs and videos. My video on “involution and evolution” (see below for the video) had an interesting question about a year ago. A viewer asked me how these concepts related to the idea of “heaven on earth”. Just recently “discovered” my response and thought it was worth sharing here on the “bridge”. Enjoy!
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Let’s simply start with the question, what is heaven?
Early on in one’s spiritual development, a person accepts the traditional version of heaven….seeing it as a physical place beyond earth…up in the clouds….a place one goes to after death for a perfect everlasting after life.
As one develops spiritually, they tend to let go of that idea of heaven…the first stage of letting go of that idea is to deny that there is any heaven at all….this is especially the case for those at the materialistic/scientific worldview (orange level in Spiral Dynamics model)….if one is “rational”, then of course there is no physical place called “heaven”.
However, at a certain point along the spiritual journey one begins to recreate the idea of heaven and in doing so realizes that heaven is really a state of mind, a state of consciousness, a way of seeing and being in the world. This realization, this mental state, is anchored by the awareness that there is a divinity, a god-nature within ourselves and within everyone and everything we encounter. Our outer experiences and our inner awareness become melded in this sense of Oneness. We live and act from this sense that we are all One.
A person with this awareness seeks to “show up” on the planet in a way that includes some of the following aspects: (1) recognizing that we are all connected; (2) knowing that each expression of the One (that is, each person) is going through their own path and their own development in their own unique way; (3) realizing that in such developmental growth, people can be at stages where they are expressing their beliefs based on “where they are” and that their beliefs can be stuck in fear and separation and a place of being driven by selfish egoic needs; (4) seeing that the inequities and errors in the outer world are driven by these beliefs of others that “miss the mark” of Spiritual Truth; and (5) acting in our sphere of influence to assist others to awaken to their spiritual truth and to assist all in creating a world that works for everyone.
The process of “involution” was the “fall” from Oneness as the Divine Source created the material world and all that is in it. Yet the Divine embedded within its creation certain aspects of itself, especially a desire to grow and evolve and the power of connection to other aspects of the One through our experience of and call to love. The further we are away from our source (the downward fall of involution), the more disconnected we feel from the rest of the world. The closer we are to our source (the upward development of evolution), the more connected we are to the rest of the world.
The creation of “heaven on earth” is happening at the individual and the collective level.
Individually, as we move (evolve) through the path of spiritual development (which includes this letting go of and recreation of the idea of heaven), we realize our Oneness more and more and live from that state of Oneness. In doing so, our consciousness shifts and we create “heaven on earth” in our own life.
Collectively, as more and more of us awaken to our Oneness, there are more expressions of the One seeking to assist others in both waking up to their unity and showing up in service to a vision of the world that works for all. The more of us that are serving as servants to assist the enlightenment of others (similar to what the Buddhists term a “Bodhisattva”), the faster we create that world that works for all.
And, what is that world that works for all? It includes everyone having their basic survival needs met such that they are open to live a life of thriving….thriving means finding and living their live purpose, seeking a sense of self actualization (being all one can be) and opening to that inner drive to transcendence where we realize we are connected to something that is greater than our sense of being a distinct individual. When our entire world moves to this place, we will truly experience heaven on earth.
So each of us through the process of involution have “forgotten our source”. Each of us through the process of evolution are “awakening to our source”. As you and I awaken, we each are creating heaven on earth in our own lives…..and serving to assist others in awakening. At some point in our evolution, we will experience a critical mass of individual expressions of the One having awakened that we might truly see outwardly heaven on earth. And then, who knows? Maybe we may evolve on our journey to an even greater and grander dimensions of experience of our Oneness.
Thanks again for the question and the opportunity to share these thoughts. I hope they are beneficial.
Mark
If you want to see the video on involution and evolution, then here it is: