Rev. Ben Fowler
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Do you? Really?

10/11/2011

7 Comments

 
My friend Alex Reigel posed a compelling question. It is a question loaded with words and religious connotation which can lend bias to how we see the question, let alone how we might answer it. It is a question meant to be provocative, not in an argumentative sense, but in challenging us to think about what we really believe.

We are not often asked to do this. I know that I think somethings and I believe some other things. That is, there some things I want to be true and my intellect says are possible, and there are others that I believe whether they are actually true or not. Sometimes the line between the two is extremely thin. It is not until I am asked to search my heart for my truth that I have to confront the difference. 

There are some things that I have experienced that are intellectually un-explainable. There are also some things that make sense to me, but are not possible (or at least we are not likely) to experience. It's kind of like all that stuff about known knowns and unknown knowns and unknown unknowns and blah, blah blah, about which Donald Rumsfeld  so inarticulately stammered on. 

And then, of course, there are the matters of definition that come into how we see the world. So for instance, if I say the word heaven, do you think of an actual place or a state of mind or perhaps a state of grace (and what does that mean?)? We can't ever be sure that what we consider to be a profound question might just be defined entirely differently by someone else.

And finally, it is the understanding that it is the exploration of the question, not the answer that is really important. That's kind of the problem with trying to ask a profound question; it is all too easy to just try to answer it and move on. So all that said, here's the question:

Do you believe that the kingdom of heaven is real, or merely an idea? 
7 Comments
Chris
10/11/2011 01:54:24 am

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chrisbatt13@gmail.com link
10/11/2011 01:56:16 am

Heaven is a broad reach, 10-20, with no apparent hardware problems.

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Nancy Willett link
10/11/2011 02:29:47 am

I believe most definately the kingdom of heaven is real just as I believe the kingdom of hell is real. It is a matter of which one we chose to try to belong to, as least most of the time.
Where ever there is justice, loving kindness, support, efforts to mitigate the suffering in the world, generosity, empathy, beauty in nature and human nature, and music, art, the faces of children, beauty of thought, wider vision there is the kingdom of heaven. I do not have to point out the kingdom of hell. We know it when we hear, see, experience it, and perhaps instigate it although often, they know not what they do applies.
Love and blessings, Nancy

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Andrea J.
10/11/2011 12:27:20 pm

Have always wondered abt this, especially when a child and sitting through the Roman Catholic Mass and the priests' descriptions of heaven. Wondered where they got their info from:) At this point in life, nearly 50, I think of heaven as a state of goodness, grace, peace. A place of light for souls to dwell, if you will.

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Kali Plumer
10/11/2011 01:13:28 pm

"Real" is the operative word. Yes, and it surrounds us at every moment, whether we recognise it as it presents itself as bliss, grace, synchronicity, Lila, Indra's net, the Universe.... It is the cosmic dance, the Tao, All That Is. Blessed be! Namaste. Amen and AUM!

My questions:

What are other words people might choose for this?
and
Is the Kingdom of Heaven dual or non-dual? (you can see which way I lean!)

Reply
Bradford Sherman
10/14/2011 02:55:14 am

There is a song by Peter Mayer, and it starts something like this.

"What if the highest destination

of any given human life

was not a place that you could reach if

you had to climb

wasn't up above like heaven

so no need to fly at all

what if to reach the highest place

you had to fall".

I think all you have to do is to look briefly into the life of someone like Mother Teresa to realize that the door to Heaven is right here under our feet. It is close to the earth and to our experience here and yet it is overlooked by most of us. The Kingdon of heaven is real if we just know where to look for it.

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yuri comics link
7/20/2012 01:08:26 pm

Thanks for the post to this page

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    Rev. Ben

    I am an Interfaith Minister. My ramblings are primarily  random thoughts, and commentary on life, love and the pursuit of happiness. See more on the ABOUT ME page (above).

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