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Is That All There Is?

 

This article by John-Roger was previously published in Rod & Staff, Autumn 1986

“If you want to know how you’re doing, determine if you are loving, joyous, and enthusiastic about your life.” – John-Roger


There usually comes a time in an adult’s life when they question the value of their existence. Years ago a song was recorded whose refrain was, “Is that all there is?” As I recall, the song’s conclusion was that, indeed, that was all there is. What is the “that” referred to in the song? Anything you may have based your life on, from marriage to money, from clothes to career. There is a saying, “Watch out for what you wish; you just may get it.”

For those who get everything they wish for, thinking that would be “it,” a great disillusionment probably awaits, often giving birth to the song’s question, “Is that all there is?” When you base your life on goals, objects, Earth-bound relationships, and/or acquisitions, you are like the hound chasing the rabbit. But in this case, the rabbit stops and the hound catches it, goes to eat it, and discovers it is only a piece of metal. Many of us, at different times, have felt like a short-changed hound.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t take care of this area. I’m all for people living in abundance and having fulfilled marriages, successful careers, and anything else that can be accomplished with integrity. It’s when people get attached to their goal and when they put all their energy into the finite world, expressing greed or lust, that they can limit their experience of who they really are.

The expression “on Earth as in Heaven” is the real freedom; it’s the ability to have the cake and eat it, too. Notice, however, that it says “as in Heaven.” This means that it is necessary to first have it in Heaven. In order to have it in Heaven, we must find out how to get there. Heaven isn’t necessarily a place in the sky to which we go when we die. If it were, then we couldn’t have it “on Earth,” could we? Heaven can be another word for Spirit, God, loving, caring, and forgiving. Heaven can be a place within us that evokes kindness, gentleness, and consideration for all human beings under all circumstances.

Some people may do cruel things all week, go to church on Sunday, pray for forgiveness, and then, thinking the slate is clean, go out and do negative things again. That’s not the heaven or Spirit I am talking about. It doesn’t necessarily reside in a church, a synagogue, or a temple. I am referring to the Spirit that is within each human being all the time, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It is the energy that allows you to wake up in the morning. It is the essence that keeps you going, that breathes your next breath, that tells you inside when you know there is something better for your life.

That essence is the divine energy within you. As you awaken to this energy, it becomes available for you to use. As you use it, you awaken to more of it. How much of it exists? An infinite supply. Therefore, it makes sense to participate in a process of constant awakening. Sometimes this awakening to Spirit is subtle, and other times more obvious. If you want to know how you’re doing, determine if you are loving, joyous, and enthusiastic about your life. Yes, all those things are available to you now, “on Earth as in Heaven.”

Baruch Bashan.

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