Going To Heaven?

The greatest confidence trick ever played.

Heaven, or nirvana, is not in a realm ‘above’; it is where we are, now.

Nothing is as pure as pure consciousness. Pure consciousness = heaven = nirvana = paradise = enlightenment = here now. If we think that heaven is something to achieve or believe in, then we are not in reality.

If we think in this way, then our practice remains a half-hearted theory and realisation becomes a gentle fantasy. Our spiritual practice is remembering our true nature and cutting through those fixations we have become.

False confidence is belief.
True confidence is knowing.

In all sorts of ways,
we have given up our authority of knowing.

Even if we are told that we are enlightened right now, there is always someone ready to dress it up in a religion and culture. It is because of our attachment to religion and culture that we feel vulnerable and doubt our sanity, and so we keep going back to the teacher for more instructions. Why? Because we still believe that we do not know, and they fulfil our neediness.

On reflection, the best teaching I had from a lama was,
“Sod off!”
It hurt, but made me review everything.

“But if we are in heaven now, shouldn’t there be angels, dakas and dakinis, bodhisattvas and the holy ones all around us?” There are … and it’s all in the way in which we see. Sure, we live in a very messy illusion, but inside, we are all in contentment: we just doubt and fear because everyone one else does.

If you are not in heaven, where are you?
Purgatory?
The place to be purified?
Purification is just a matter of letting go.

Try it and see.