Heaven on Earth

On the first day of 2017 I visited a magical place in the company of magical people. Not in a fantasy land of media making, but a real one here on earth. It was the third time I have experienced that feeling of being in a heavenly place in recent times – and I realised that on each occasion, it involved a sense of being above the clouds – and in amazing light. The first time was at Machu Picchu, where the sun rose over a distant peak and spread its glorious rays through a carpet of clouds that rose between the mountains. It was ethereal. The second time was on a plane as I gazed at the Supermoon recently, it shone across a stretch of cotton wool sea, as we flew above it. And the third time was on New Year’s Day at Siurana in Catalunya, where the clouds again rose between the peaks and the sun’s setting light made for an almost surreal view, you know, one that you look at in retrospect in a picture and can’t quite believe that you really saw it?

Each time, the thought crossed my mind, “this is heaven on earth”.

But this time it also occurred to me that contemplating the nature of heaven is just like contemplating the nature of life. Ultimately, when there are no real facts to hold on to (and when you really think about it, very few hard facts actually exist), our experience and understanding come down to what we choose to believe. And that belief is personal to each of us and ours to own. Recent events in my life have brought me to the belief that we – and everything around us, far beyond what our eyes can see - exist of and in light. We are light and our light shines beyond our current lifetime and across boundaries we barely know exist. That belief helps me to now experience life with more gratitude, simplicity and happiness than before. And with less fear.

Heaven is not just a place that we go to when we pass from this lifetime, neither is it just a place on earth, it is wherever, whatever or however we perceive it to be, either real or imagined. We do not have to be constrained by the understanding, beliefs or knowledge of others. We each have our own truth. We can create our heaven with the pure magic of our own belief… and what is even more magical, is that we can choose what we want that to be…