Is Heaven a Real Place?—A Guide For Those Over “The Church”
Ready for someone to explain a bunch of quotes from books written thousands of years ago? No!!!
How about instead we explore the answer to the question of, Is heaven a real place? using better tools:
Let’s jump to the end.
Yes, heaven is a real place. But a lot depends on what the word “real” means. Let’s use insights from our own experience to dig a little deeper. We can also invite the spirit within to help us.
Take a moment to really stare into the depths of this image. Galaxies upon galaxies upon galaxies. Even looking up into the stars with our own eyes it's hard to not feel how real the vastness of creation is. If the universe is this vast, what might the heavens of our next life be like?
Maybe it makes sense to have a concept of heaven that is nearly as infinite as the stars.
What Does Our Own Spiritual Experience Teach Us? Is Heaven a Real Place?
For those who have had a spiritual experience, it changes the way they think about life.
The experience confirms that something is real beyond the body or mind. It suggests that there could be a spiritual part of us where ideals or values are real, meaningful, and enduring. This could mean that there's a possibility that there's life after we die, where our spiritual selves continue to exist.
If this quality of a spiritual experience is real, might it suggest that a place like heaven is beyond the material or intellectual? Fluffy clouds and human bodies, or something else? As you keep exploring these questions, reflect on the quality of the spiritual experiences you have had and what that really means for the great beyond.
Haven’t had a spiritual experience? Maybe you have.
See our article on What is Spiritual Growth?
What Does Love Teach Us about Heaven Being Real?
Love is real.
Love expresses itself in as many ways as there are people on Earth. It is the sincere desire to do good to others. It is an expression of unselfish devotion, loyalty, forgiveness, and so much more. So much in fact that when expressed in true relationships, it makes those relationships real too.
Think about a loving relationship in your life and some of the qualities it has. Think about the quality of those connections across time and distance. Have you had an experience of reconnecting with a loved one after many years as if you had just seen them yesterday?
What might this suggest for an experience of heaven? It could mean that there is a longevity to true relationships that we can look forward to in the next life.
Oppositely, does it make sense that you flip a switch and everyone is automatically best friends in heaven? Instead, might there still be work to do applying yourself to grow new and more relationships?
Let’s explore more pieces of this puzzle.
What Do Themes across Major World Religions Teach Us about Heaven?
Because the authors are dead does not mean their source of spiritual inspiration is also dead. Any text is only as true as the spiritual capacity and receptivity of its reader. When spiritual experience can inform our ideals, we can seek insights from spiritual writing in new ways.
What if authors across history also had access to an inner spirit? Perhaps the same spirit as you or me? Writings of the past become less a source of unchanging law. Instead, they become a guide to understand spiritual experience. Across cultures and across history, many have had spiritual experiences that may have informed an understanding of the next life.
Can we learn to trust our own spiritual compass to distill the insights of the past? Reflect on this chart comparing beliefs of the world’s religions. What aspects of the next life resonate with your inner spirit?
How Can My Inner Spirit Aid My Search for More Answers?
The connection with our inner spirit lives and prospers not by sight and feeling, but rather by faith and insight. It helps us discover new and spiritual meanings in already well-known facts. This inner experience does not rely on prior belief, tradition, and authority. It is, rather, a profoundly deep and actual experience of connection with the spirit within.
Using the spirit within, a living tool, we can discover more about what is real in this life and the next.
Feel free to keep exploring. All religions (and no religions) are welcome.
We invite you to check out our other popular articles. Join us on a journey of personal spiritual discovery.
