WE BELIEVE that heaven is within us, and that we experience it to the degree that we become conscious of it
WE BELIEVE the ultimate goal of life to be a complete freedom from all discord of every nature, and that this goal is sure to be attained by all.
— Ernest Holmes in What We Believe (1927)
In today’s world, relative to the above statements of belief,1 I’m interested in the degree to which we experience heaven on earth—which might look like “freedom from all discord of every nature.”
I don’t know about you, but when I hear people talking about “illegal” immigrants from Haiti eating dogs or cats or taking our jobs or voting without credentials, I feel angry and sad because such dangerous, completely uncredible conspiracy theories are spread from the highest levels. So this certainly doesn’t feel like freedom from discord of every nature.
And when I hear that the U.S. is confirmed to have bombed a girls school in Iran and killed over 100 people, many children, or that a 5 year old in a bunny hat was been snatched off the street by a masked government official without due process or that our entire economy is at risk by the war in Iran, I also feel sad and angry because unfortunately those reports are credible and this stuff has happened in my reality and definitely does not feel like heaven on earth.
So to address my dis-ease with the lack of heaven I’m seeing, I’m reintroducing one of my favorite tools, “the havingness gauge,” which allows us to assess the degree to which we are willing to have what we say we want. In this case, “freedom from all discord of every nature,” which sure sounds like “heaven” on earth to me.
Purpose: A quick and easy mental picture of the degree to which we’re willing to have heaven on earth (which I’d define as a world that works for everyone or “freedom from discord of every nature”).
How to use it: In your mind’s eye, picture an old-fashioned gas gauge on the deck of your car with 0% Heaven on Earth on the left and 100% Heaven on Earth on the right. That’s your “Havingness Gauge.” Ask the gauge to what degree you are willing to “have” (rather than just “want”) a world that works for everyone. What happens to the gauge? Does it go to 30% havingness? 70%? 100%? wherever it is, that’s the degree to which you are willing to have it (or not).
Now, picture the gauge moving from wherever it is now all the way to 100%. Notice what feelings or thoughts come up as you move it to 100% havingness of heaven on earth. Is there fear of change? What would you have to let go of to manifest this change in your consciousness?
[These days, I post first on my Substack newsletter, which, in addition to this post, has reflection questions, a tool of the week, and the latest events. To subscribe to that newsletter, go to the bottom of the home page at https://sarastevensnichols.com/ or find me on Substack at https://substack.com/@sarastevensnichols]