“I looked in temples, churches & mosques. But I found the Divine within my Heart.” ~ Rumi
Many Christians, Muslims, and some Buddhists imagine a heavenly place as an eternal reward for the faithful. While this place is often described as a garden of serenity and tranquility, we often see the *faithful* arguing about who can and cannot have access to this place in ways that are in no way serene or peaceful. Not only do we argue about the place, we also debate about who can get in, and who won’t.
I own a copy of the book A Thoughtful Faith edited by Phililp L. Barlow, currently out of print. It is a compilation of essays on belief by Mormon scholars. This book was also the inspiration for the name of this group. The following quote is an excerpt from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s essay in that book.
“A number of years ago I read a letter from a young woman who had recently discovered some lusterware on her own shelf. ‘I used to think of the Church as one hundred percent true,’ she wrote. ‘But now I realize it is probably ten percent human and only ninety percent divine.’ I gasped, wanting to write back immediately, “‘f you find any earthly institution that is 10% divine, embrace it with all your heart!’ Actually 10% is probably too high an estimate. Jesus spoke of grains of salt and bits of leaven, and He told His disciples that ‘the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field’ (Matt, 13:44). Thus a small speck of divinity — the salt in the earth, the leaven in the lump of dough, the treasure hidden in the field — gives value and life to the whole. Now the question is, where in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do we go to find leaven? To the Bishop? To the Prophet? To the lesson manuals? Do we find it in Relief Society? In Sacrament Meeting? And if we fail to discover it in any of these places shall we declare the lump worthless? Jesus’ answer was clear. The leaven must be found in one’s own heart or not at all: …the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).”
What if we can cultivate an awareness of heaven not as a place that we must go to after death, but rather as a state of having a tranquil heart that we can — and must — achieve here and now?
What if what we are meant to do is not to get into heaven, but to get heaven into us?