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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

A Course In Miracles

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See how the conflict of illusions disappears when it is brought to truth! For it seems real only as long as it is seen as war between conflicting truths…

The stillness of your certainty of Him and of yourself is home to Both of you, Who dwell as one and not apart… You are not a stranger in the house of God…

There is no life outside of Heaven. Where God created life, there life must be. In any state apart from Heaven life is illusion. At best, it seems like life; at worst, [it seems] like death… Life not in Heaven is impossible, and what is not in Heaven is not anywhere. Outside of Heaven, only the conflict of illusion stands…

Be not content with future happiness. It has no meaning, and is not your just reward.

In you is all of Heaven. Every leaf that falls is given life in you.

Brother, take not one step in the descent to hell. For having taken one, you will not recognize the rest for what they are. And they will follow. Attack in any form has placed your foot upon the twisted stairway that leads from Heaven. Yet any instant it is possible to have all this undone. How can you know whether you chose the stairs of Heaven or the way to hell? Quite easily. How do you feel? Is peace in your awareness? Are you certain which way you go? And are you sure the goal of Heaven can be reached? If not, you walk alone. Ask, then, your Friend [the Holy Spirit, Universal Inspiration] to join with you, and give you certainty of where to go…

Editor’s note: Trying to get to Heaven is not like planning a trip to Disneyworld. Well, it sort of is because there’s a lot of exciting stuff to do in Summerland. However, if that’s all Heaven is to us, eventually we'll be disappointed.

Heaven, or Summerland, is an actual place that we go to when we leave the mortal body. It’s where we can have every good thing we want. In another article I said this:

Teachers on the other side are adamant for us to know that Summerland is a most substantial world, with no one floating on pink clouds or playing harps. They often say that their world is the full-color "real world" with ours as the pale black-and-white copy.

There, they walk on solid ground, touch solid tables, and possess solid, normal-looking bodies. Summerland is very Earth-like; in fact, it is an idealized Earth, without the social problems:

Summerland is a world of wide, foamy oceans; resort white-sandy beaches; shimmering, placid lakes, and rushing, bubbling streams; vast verdant forests, open unbounded prairies, and fortress behemoth mountains; a world of universities, study, research, and visiting lecturers; of laughing children and gurgling babies; beautiful spacious estate homes and small hide-away lake cottages, filled with artwork, tapestries, statuary, and all variety of fine things; of bucolic farms, horses, cattle, and crops; of glittering, bustling, clean cities with imposing architecture; of sweet-natured animals of every sort, including ones from your earth-life waiting to see you; of recreational activity, of sports, the arts, libraries, museums, social events, galas, music festivals, concerts, stage productions; of private sanctuaries, quiet places, restful oases, dominions of solitude when required - every good thing that one has always desired.
 

All of this is true. And yet, in another sense, Heaven is primarily a state of mind: If we don’t “take it with us” when we leave this world, we’ll feel uncomfortable there. See my lengthy article “the 500 tape-recorded messages from the other side” which discusses how many people in Summerland, if they have not spiritual prepared themselves, eventually drift into states of unreality and materialism.

The Course emphasizes Heaven as a state of mind. Unless we learn how to manage and defuse the dysfunctional ego, we will not be altogether happy, as we need to be happy, in Summerland.