We spend our lives waiting for heaven.

We spend our lives waiting for another place - a pearly gate, a fishing hole, a country club, an all-you-can-eat buffet in the sky - a place in which we will finally realize some long-awaited joy.

But heaven doesn't exist as another place.

And we spend our lives waiting for another time - a future moment at which we'll be rewarded for adhering to some behavioral code during our time our earth - a moment in which we will finally realize some long-awaited satisfaction.

But heaven doesn't exist as another time.

We made up these myths of heaven.  The human being often makes up myths to accommodate for his lack of mature understanding.

So if heaven doesn't exist as another place, heaven must exist here.  And if heaven doesn't exist as another time, heaven must exist now.

Heaven is a state of consciousness which is to be practiced and achieved by you - right here, right now - in the face of your circumstances, exactly as they appear.

So don't think of heaven as a reward for suffering.  Think of heaven as a vehicle for healing.

Don't think of heaven as what you get in your next life.  Think of heaven as what you take to your next life.