What is this place?

This email has been making the rounds.  It poses some interesting questions.  Is heaven a place with gold streets and pearly gates?  What would heaven look like to you?

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.
  He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them. 


After a while, they came to a high, stunning stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble.  At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.
  Standing before the arch, he saw a magnificent gate that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.  

He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.  When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'


Best buddies

The path

“There is only one path to Heaven. On Earth, we call it Love."
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That path to heaven isn't always paved.

 

Heaven and security

Mount Hood, Oregon

My seatmate on the flight back to Chicago lives in pure heaven. Their home is on 500 acres at the foot of a mountain -- with horses, dogs, cats, ducks. Their immediate neighbors are orchards and sheep. Their property backs up to a national forest.

Her husband is a mechanic for a nearby ski resort. She is a vet. They both love what they do.

Then comes the fly in the ointment. They feel tiny earthquake tremors every day. And the mountain, at whose base they enjoy life, is Mt. Hood, considered Oregon's volcano most likely to erupt.

Can heaven really exist on a fault next to a potentially active volcano?

I guess it depends on your definition of heaven. I've loved this one for a long time:

"Heaven. Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul." (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy)

There is nothing here about mountains or rivers or national forests. The definition is all mental and spiritual.

While nature nourishes my deepest self, it's also nice to be able to be in the middle of city traffic and find Principle's orderly government or Spirit's benevolent reign. The atmosphere of Soul is wherever I am, and it's pure, health-giving and health-sustaining. It doesn't tremble and it doesn't erupt.

That doesn't mean I won't love to go exploring around Mount Hood some day. It's just a reminder that security and refreshment are already in consciousness, in that kingdom of heaven within.