How to Get to Heaven

What even is Heaven and Hell?
 
Dualistic religious ideologies tell us that Heaven and Hell are places outside of this world. These religions tell us that we go to either Heaven or Hell after we die and that we can’t get to either of them as long as we’re here in this mortal, human plane of existence.
 
Heaven is defined as some variation of an ideal, perfected state where what we see as the flaws, discomforts, annoyances, and inconveniences of human life don’t exist.
 
Some people even believe that all the challenge of human life is removed in Heaven and that we would live in a state of perfect ease where nothing is demanded of us and we don’t have to try to do anything.
 
Hell is seen as the opposite. It’s a state of eternal suffering, constant torment, where everything works against us, and we’re presented with a constant state of discomfort, unhappiness, and insurmountable challenge that keeps us defeated, beaten down, and suffering for the rest of eternity.
 
The challenge of Sisyphus is the perfect example of this. According to Greek myth Sisyphus was punished by the gods to spend eternity rolling a massive boulder up a hill, only for it to roll back down to the bottom every time he got close to making it to the top.
 
The rules for how to get to Heaven or Hell vary depending on the philosophy or ideology we’re talking out.
 
Most of these worldviews would have us believe that we get to Heaven or Hell after death by being good or bad during our lifetimes. Others state that you have to follow certain rules during our lifetimes to qualify for Heaven. Breaking any of these rules or failing to follow them is an instant ticket to Hell.
 
Some of these philosophies even attach the reward of Heaven or the punishment of Hell to a single arbitrary act or even a single thought.
 
Christianity falls into this category by stating that believing or not believing in the divinity of Jesus Christ is the only qualification for reward in Heaven or punishment by eternal damnation in the fires of Hell.
 
The non-dualistic view is different. Most people completely misrepresent non-dualism by stating that good and evil are dualistic concepts and therefore good and evil don’t really exist, therefore Heaven and Hell don’t exist, either.
 
Certain people misrepresent non-dualism to mean that, since good and evil don’t exist, there are no good or evil acts and that we don’t get rewarded or punished for any act. They just are. They exist in the plurality of life and we have no incentive to do one or the other.
 
This is a nihilistic view that leads nowhere. It’s a recipe for depression and potentially suicide. It cuts us off from our fellow human beings and deprives us of everything that makes life worth living.
 
I refuse to believe that we’re all just bacteria living on Earth. I don’t believe we would have been created, either by God or by evolutionary chance, with a default need to question everything and find meaning in everything if there was not some answer or meaning to find.
 
The reality is that good and evil do exist, including and especially within the non-dualistic worldview. They just don’t exist there the way most people think they do—which leads to misunderstandings.
 
Every action and even every thought that we have leads to a consequence. The consequence could be a positive consequence or it could be a negative consequence.
 
Every action we take automatically and immediately produces three consequences. The first consequence happens when we take that action. If we performed a good action, we immediately get a boost in our feelings simply by knowing we did a good action. We feel better about ourselves. We feel more connected to others. We feel that everything in life is good and that things are working out for us for the better.
 
If we performed a bad action, we immediately start to feel down on ourselves because we know in our heart of hearts that we did wrong. We feel like we’re letting ourselves and the whole world down. We feel like we’re a bad person and possibly even lost and unredeemable. We think of ourselves as bad people if we can’t even make the right decision and take the right action when it matters.
 
The second consequence comes from anticipating the consequence. If we did a good action, we can look forward to a good consequence. Let’s say we worked really hard to complete a project for work. Let’s say that accomplishing this task was attached to a promotion, a raise, and greater opportunities for advancement based on the outcome.
 
We would naturally feel proud of our work and we would look forward to the consequences of our actions. We would be happy about the promotion, the raise, and continuing to build on our own success.
 
If we performed a negative action, we would dread the consequence because we would know it was going to be bad. We might even feel inclined to perform more bad actions just to avoid the consequences of the very first action that got us into this mess in the first place.
 
This is how people go down a destructive spiral that winds up completely destroying their entire lives.
 
The third consequence is the outcome itself. It’s the raise if we completed the project to the best of our ability and knocked it out of the park. The negative consequence is the arrest or the fine or the loss of social standing if we committed a crime.
 
These consequences have ongoing repercussions in our lives. The consequences of our actions produce ripple effects that cause downstream consequences and effects on those around us and collateral consequences that stem from the very first action or thought.
 
Let’s take a negative consequence,  just as an example. I once used the example of a young man who decided to drink a lot one night. That was the action that led to the result.
 
This young man was barely twenty years old and his altered mental state affected his judgment. He got behind the wheel of a car, lost control, and killed two women who happened to be standing on their front lawn having a conversation. One of these women was eight months pregnant.
 
This was the first consequence of the young man’s actions. He then got arrested and charged with three counts of vehicular homicide because the woman’s unborn baby son would have survived had he been delivered at that time.
 
This young man spent a long time on suicide watch in jail because he realized once he sobered up how badly he had messed up.
 
That was the first consequence. His arrest was the second consequence. The young man then went to trial and I’m quite sure this action caused a myriad of downstream consequences that affected the rest of his life.
 
Good actions can have the same far-reaching consequences and produce profound results no one us can possibly foresee. Consistently doing good actions builds a reputation with those around us, encourages them to trust us, opens the doors to new opportunities, gives people the safety and permission they need to love us, and generally leads to our overall life success.
 
This is what Heaven and Hell really look like. I’m quite certain this young man who killed two women in a drunk driving accident spent many years of his life feeling like he was living in a Hell of his own making.
 
Most people who pursue a consistent pattern of bad behavior live and feel the same way. They’re miserable, alone, forsaken, mistrusted, pushed away, and hated everywhere they go. Their loved ones and closest relatives refuse to have anything to do with them because these people go around hurting everyone they come into contact with.
 
This is the true definition of Heaven and Hell. Heaven and Hell are very real and they aren’t some far-off places where we go after death. Heaven and Hell are right here on Earth. We’re in them right now and no one sends us there. We go there on our own by our own actions and choices.
 
Good and evil do exist. They exist in our actions, our interactions with others, and our conscious decisions and thoughts that either bring us closer and build rapport with those around us—or they do the opposite.
 
Think of the Bible verse, “You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:20)
 
This verse originally referred to distinguishing believers from non-believers, but it applies to everything.
 
Do you want to know if an action is good or evil? The formula is really simple.
 
Does the action, thought, decision, or behavior lead to a good outcome? Does it produce a positive ripple effect? Does it give us a boost of feeling connected to the rest of humanity like we’re contributing a positive influence on society and history? Can we look forward to even more feelings of accomplishment, connection, and the pride in knowing we’re a good person?
 
Or does the action disconnect us from people? Does it push people away? Do the consequences of this action leave our lives in ruins, cost us things we would just as soon not lose, and reduce our standing in the eyes of those around us?
 
There are two paths in life that any of us can follow at any given time. We can choose the path that leads to love, life, and success. Or we can choose the path that leads to destruction and death.
 
If any of us is living in a Hell on Earth, the question becomes—why? What are we doing to create this Hell for ourselves? I guarantee that this is a byproduct of our own actions and attitudes. If you think life is Hell, you think that because you’re making it that way.
 
It would take the tiniest adjustment of your thinking to change it so that you’re living in Heaven right here on Earth. You could be living in Heaven for the rest of your life. You could be enjoying eternal bliss, cosmic love, and the respect and admiration of your loved ones and everyone else around you.
 
You could be living in a world where everything works in your favor and you hardly have to try at all to get everything you want. The whole world could be mobilizing to help you and pour out abundance in front of you. You could be living that way right now.
 
If you do or you don’t is always and entirely your choice. You’re living in a Hell of your own making and you’re doing it because you want to. You’re doing it because you either enjoy these states of suffering or because you refuse to accept that you have the power to change your circumstances.
 
These beliefs are also choices. You’re choosing to see yourself as helpless when in fact your circumstances are the clearest evidence that you are the only person who has any power to make them any different. The people you envy and admire didn’t get where they are because they’re different from you. They’re exactly the same as you. They just make different choices and use different patterns of thinking about how they do things.
 
Isn’t it ironic that Heaven is seen as a place where we’ll have no challenges when challenge and achievement are one of the things that make life worth living? Overcoming challenges and achieving difficult wins is one of the most exquisite pleasures of human life. Why in the name of God would we want to get to a place where that didn’t exist? Why would we want to live in a world without challenge?
 
People who shy away from challenges and avoid doing difficult tasks are setting themselves up for failure, depression, hopelessness, and misery. Everything good in life comes from challenge and hard work. The more we avoid it, the more miserable, disconnected, and useless we’ll feel.
 
Heaven and Hell are not eternal states that happen after we die. The eternal nature of Heaven and Hell happens in the present moment. We experience the positive or negative consequences of our actions instantaneously. We feel and sense instantaneously whether we did right or wrong. We get an instant reward if we did good and an instant punishment if we did bad.
 
The downstream flow of consequences starts immediately. It compounds on itself unless and until we take deliberate actions to change our trajectory.
 
None of us is getting away with anything—ever. Thinking that what we do doesn’t matter—that’s a nihilistic myth that leads to death and destruction. None of us wants to be that person. Those of us who are living that way don’t want to be that person even when we are that person. That’s what makes this existence so hellish.
 
There is an eternal reward or punishment that does happen after we die, but it isn’t something far away or separate from us. If we persist in behaving destructively throughout our lives, we will leave a legacy of people who hate us and continue to talk about how evil, ruthless, and perverted we were long after we’re gone.
 
The same goes if we behaved in a loving, upright, responsible, contributory manner. We build great families. We leave a legacy of love and contribution. We become known as a good person who supported and nurtured others. Those that love, respect, and honor us will continue to do so long after we die.
 
This is a record of our behavior that can never be unwritten after our deaths. That on its own should be one of the most powerful incentives we could ever have to do good in our lives, to help others, to love them as well as we can, and to leave a lasting legacy of goodness behind us.
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