heaven and hell are not different places.

Imagine a room. It’s filled with color, with people, with love and with God. It’s everything you could hope for. As long as you can see it and experience it and as long as your eyes aren’t closed. 

The same room, with your eyes closed, or the lights off, is dark, empty, alone and frightening. 

I think we need to stop trying to get some place or do something other than open our eyes to what is here. That’s what we’re supposed to be learning: How to see the world, the trees, the animals, the air, the food, how to see the people in it, those we love and those we hate, and how to see ourselves… with all the color, love and God that is there. 

When we learn that, it doesn’t matter where we are… it’s Heaven. 

And, on the flip side, if you’re in Heaven with your eyes closed, it will be Hell. 

Sadly, many of the people waiting the most for Heaven are only learning how to be unaware of it, when they are there. And thus, they will find themselves in Hell, saying, I thought it would be better than this when I died and everything finally took care of itself.

I can imagine God coming along and saying... oh you’re in Heaven alright, but you’ve got to open your eyes. And they will say, but how? 

And God could say... well, that was how you were created but you just spent 70 years learning how to close them to everything. 

That might be why Jesus was so tricky when he talked about the people who would be there (and are there now) and the people who wouldn’t (and aren’t there now). 

It had very little to do with “performing miracles”, “casting out demons”, and “prophesying” and everything to do with seeing the world, the people in it, and ourselves in a certain… light. 

It also had a lot to do with love.