For those of us who have been struggling our entire life without this understanding, this is a very bold statement. Please take the time to reread it once or twice again, and when you do so, do your best to listen to what your mind is telling you.
It may be telling you something like, "This is preposterous! How dare you tell me that Heaven is right here and now! My life is difficult. My life is full of struggle, and unhappiness. This is not Heaven - no way, no how!" You may even find that there is a hint of anger in your reaction to this statement which is certainly understandable, as it is easy to see how living our entire lives without this piece of information can bring much confusion and frustration.
The cause of all of our frustration is living according to an understanding of ourselves and of life that is not consistent with the way that things truly exist.It is very easy to see how thinking things to be one way, and acting accordingly, can bring about much suffering and frustration if the way that things actually exist and function is very different than the way that we believe it to be. It is no wonder then, why things from time to time do not turn out the way that we had planned, wished or hoped for.
There is nothing wrong with reality. Reality is not the problem. The only problem that ever exists is our view, our understanding of reality.Once we correct the inconsistencies between our view and the way that things truly exist, there are no longer any problems. If we want to solve a problem, we must first look deeply at our view, at our fundamental understanding of the true nature of all of the elements that make up the problem. Most importantly, we must take a good look at the view that we have of ourselves and of our relation to each of the elements.
Even though Heaven is right here and right now, and immediately before us, we must increase our understanding of the way that things truly exist, and develop specific skills in order to perceive it.
It is not Death, but rather the development of Deep Understanding combined with the daily practice of Specific Skills that allow us to enter and enjoy the fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven in the here and the now. What's even better is that it's not too difficult, and the skills to be practiced are all very enjoyable.This is the primary message being taught now by the accomplished scholar and Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (or Thay). With over seventy years of research and training as a monastic, this is his message. And in my opinion, it is very good news!
Well, OK - but what about all of the Suffering??
In the Western, Christian tradition we are raised to believe that life "here" is difficult or that something is inherently wrong with us, or that we are even unworthy to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. But if we perform certain "good" actions while we are here, then when we die we will go to another place called Heaven where there is no suffering, and where we will then be happy for the rest of eternity. We are taught that God can be wrathful and should be feared, but that overall God is good and even perhaps that God is Love.
One of the issues that many people struggle with under this belief system is the question of suffering. For example, "If God is good, and if we do our best to be good then why would he let us suffer? Or put another way, why do good things happen to good people?" There is, after all, suffering going on all around us. In fact, running from our own suffering, the suffering of others, and the collective suffering of our society and the world that be live in is the foundation upon which many highly profitable, commercial industries are built within today's society.
Escaping our fears, sadness, anger and any other uncomfortable emotion has become the main content and preoccupation of many people within our modern society.And so we ask the question, "Why do I not see or experience the Kingdom of Heaven in my day to day life?" And yet, this question has already been answered.
We have developed the habit of always running away from the present moment. We run from our feelings that make us uncomfortable. We run because we have not developed the understanding and skills to deal with them effectively. We may feel overwhelmed by them, or reject them as "not us" and want them all to simply go away, to just leave us alone. But they do not, so we keep running.Our perception is that the present moment is uncomfortable, too uncomfortable, or even overwhelming. Our perception is that the present moment is a dangerous place, where dangerous monsters of awful and ugly emotions are hiding and waiting for us to enter so that they can devour us. However, the exact opposite is true.
What we find as we begin to move closer and closer towards the present moment, embracing our painful emotions along the way, is actually more peace, joy and happiness than we ever could have imagined. What we find is the Kingdom of Heaven. We find that it's been here all along waiting quietly and patiently for us to see it, and come on in.
"We don't have to die to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, in fact we must be Very Alive," is one of my favorite quotes from Thay.It is quite natural for us to seek comfortable circumstances. There's nothing wrong with this at all. The problem arises when we seek comfort by cutting off portions of ourselves through denying or rejecting the uncomfortable feelings that are naturally part of who we are.
When we reject ourselves by denying or running away from our painful emotions, we automatically move ourselves away from what is real - from what is immediately before us. We remove ourselves from the present moment, and enter into a world built purely by our mind - a world of pure fantasy.When we focus our attention on the past or the future, we enter the world of fantasy. We believe that our impression of what has happened to us in the past - is actually what happened. But it is not.
What happened to us in the past is what we "made up" about what happened. It is not what actually happened.The creation of a memory within our mind is based on a) very little information, b) comes from a highly restricted, singular perspective, and c) is heavily colored by many false impressions, expectations, etc. On top of that, our memories are often highly charged by automatic emotional reactions, sometimes referred to as "triggers", that evoke prerecorded, habitual reactions from past situations that have nothing at all whatsoever to do with the actual situation at hand. And all of this goes on without any conscious awareness of the process.
In addition, because of human pride, we strongly believe that our recollection of the past is an accurate version, or even the most accurate version, and will often hold on to this view at all costs. Because we cannot let go, and we suffer a lot.
Upon close inspection, we can see that both the creation of our memories of the past and our recollection of those memories is not very accurate.Even so, we often choose to give up so much happiness in order to justify or defend our particular version of whatever happened in the past.
By not having a clear understanding of how we create the past, and choosing to hold on to our particular version of the past we create a lot of suffering for ourselves and others.It seems to me that thoughts about the future would be easier to understand as pure fantasy, but this is not always the case. Worry, for example, is easily justified within the minds of many people. The problems or issues that they worry about are not fantasies to them at all - they are very Real. And because they are so Real, they must be worried about. They must be dealt with. Something must be done Now in order to avoid whatever the fear or tragedy is that is being worried about. Constantly worrying about the future is a form of "habit energy". Habit energy is something that continues within our minds over and over again without any effort. Habit energy is an easy trap to fall into.
More on Habit Energy, the Future, and the Kingdom of Heaven to come...
