No clouds. No gates. No wings. I'm rather attached to this planet, since it's where all my favorite things are. (No offense, Big Dipper, I'm sorry that you didn't make the cut.) So I like the ideas where we are healed, and become caretakers of the world and those on it.
Now, that whole "healed" thing. By default, we tend to think about the blind seeing, the lame walking, and the terminally ill shedding our disease. But you know how so many of us struggle with mental illnesses on a scale from slight to severe? Imagine none of that. No addiction, no depression, no fires of aggression barely contained behind our decency.
And then remove the Earthly Medium. That strange veil that serves as an obstacle from us clearly seeing one another as fellow souls who all have our own struggles and burdens to bear and share.
Let's lift that veil. To hear about someone in need is the same as to feel their pain in your own heart, and want to help them as much as you would help your own brother. And in that love is work, and love is work. And in that love is joy, and love is joy. In this heavenly earth, you can feel the love of others as easily as you can inhale, and you can express that communal love for all of us as easily as you can exhale.
You breathe in, and the smiles of strangers support you in your own struggle, the words of friends come to mind, and you know you are not alone.
You breathe out, and you nod to someone who looks like they need it, you give encouragement to your friends, and you make everyone's path a little clearer.
A world where the promises of heaven have been fulfilled. We still work, we still play, we still struggle, but we know we are not alone through it all.
Here in the pre-afterlife (let's just call it life), the love for mankind is something that takes work, and lots of it, to feel it and express it. You have to decide if that strange man truly needs money or just wants to get something off his chest or is trying to swindle you. You have to decide what role money plays in your life without abandoning the society you know. You have to decide how much effort you should put into others, when you know at the end of the day that looking out for yourself is the one thing only you can do.
In life, even baking your neighbor cookies takes a path of a million decisions. But here, that's the blessed path that it takes to simply express yourself in ways above words that genuinely say, "I'm here for you."
P.S. How incredible would it be if heaven were established on our planet, and we explored the galaxy with hearts that held the greatest power of our entire human race?
P.P.S. That power? It's LOVE. And man, that's cheesy, but yeah.
P.P.P.S. Yeah, all right, so if earth becomes an afterlife, won't it be a little crowded? And can people die now? Do they just respawn back on earth if they accidentally fly into a sun?
P.P.P.P.S. Well, it's an idealistic thought. Idealism comes with the territory of being religious. And I for one enjoy the idea of an earth where I can play Dungeons and Dragons with Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Theodore Roosevelt, and my kids, all at the same table, fighting fantastical evils in a world where actual evil has been ultimately vanquished from our hearts.
P.P.P.P.P.S. And yes, vanquished by LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE.
