"Old men ought to be explorers.
Here and there does not matter.
We must be still and still moving
Into another intensity
For a further union, a deeper communion…"
(T.S. Eliot)
"Closely connected with the sense of the 'Presence of God'…is the complementary mark of the illuminated consciousness: the vision of 'a new heaven and a new earth…' It takes, as a rule, the form of an enhanced mental lucidity—an abnormal sharpening of the sense—whereby an ineffable radiance, a beauty and reality never before suspected, are perceived…shining in the meanest things." (Evelyn Underhill)
"The wonder was beyond anything I have ever read or imagined or heard men speak about. I was Adam walking alone in the first Paradise… Every flower spoke to me, every spider wove a miracle of intricacy for my eyes, every bird understood that here was Heaven come to earth." (Katharine Trevelyan)
Introduction
Having traveled with me through the first two Secrets of Aging in my previous columns (Secret 1: "Aging as Initiation"; Secret 2: "Aging as Transformation"), you are ready now for the third and final one: Aging as Revelation. In the Elder’s awakened consciousness, ordinary reality—this place, this time, this situation—is transfigured into a world of extraordinary beauty, wonder, and perfection. More than that, it becomes holy, for mystics from every tradition tell us that reality is Divinity in substance and form. Wake up! Heaven on Earth shines all around you.
The idea that finding Heaven here is one of the principle tasks of aging has never been clearly articulated before. Perhaps few elderly people have yet noticed this divinely radiant world, perhaps our cultural assumption that aging equates to suffering forbids the old to speak of this revelation (you’re supposed to be miserable in old age, right?), or perhaps many elders have simply come to rest in the divine world without needing to name or explain it. Whatever the reason, Heaven on Earth now shines as the crowning realization of our long and winding journey home.
What Is Heaven on Earth?
There are two worlds around us all the time: The World of Man with its problems, stresses, and anxieties, and another world discovered in awakened consciousness that is infinitely beautiful, peaceful and free of anxiety. The mystics from every tradition call this second world Heaven on Earth (Robinson, 2009).
Heaven on Earth is the everyday world transformed and transfigured by a shift in consciousness into an incredibly beautiful, peaceful, and holy place right where you are. Everything becomes brighter, clearly, more lovely, endlessly fascinating, and absolutely perfect just as it is. Here there is no ugliness, corruption or lack; problems and struggles dissolve like smoke; love, generosity, and creativity abound; and life moves effortlessly in a spontaneous flow of being and becoming. Humankind was born to know this awakened consciousness, and the Enlightened Elder is here to show us the way.
How the Enlightened Elder Finds Heaven on Earth
How does the Enlightened Elder find Heaven on Earth? The transformational power of the first two secrets sets the stage, specifically, Secret 1, completing the inner tasks of initiation, releases the past and frees the elder for a completely new stage of life; and Secret 2, silencing thought, removes the beliefs and concepts that veiled the divine world. This opens the perceptual gates for Secret 3, the realization of Heaven on Earth. The Secrets of Aging have been leading us here all along.
How does this shift take place? A variety of natural changes associated with the aging process combine to focus the Elder’s awakened consciousness on this new world, including:
Living a Slower and More Conscious Life. As body and mind slow down naturally with age, Enlightened Elders ease into a more conscious way of life. We move more carefully, reflect longer on the situations before us, and look deeply at life’s meaning and choices. No longer possessed and driven by the workings of the everyday world, we begin to care more about the Earth, life, and all sentient beings. In this loving consciousness, life grows more precious and holy every day.
Surrendering Our Obsessive Future Orientation. As the self-idea and its egocentric motivations disappear from consciousness, so does its future orientation, for in many respects, they were the same thing—a fantasy of how the imagined self might achieve its goals. Now we see the world without imposing the project of self with its egocentric judgments of people, places, things, and events. When something happens, it is not about you; it’s about divine life blossoming like a flower in the mystical consciousness of now.
Appreciating the Present As It Is. Realizing that time is running out, our appreciation increases for the gifts of the present, magnifying their salience, wonder, and value. With only so many sunsets left, we savor the unbelievably beauty of the one right before us. We witness the early morning light, our grandson’s smile, and our mate’s way of brushing her hair. This kind of consciousness—sometimes called mindfulness—changes all it touches and opens our eyes to the Heaven of this world in place of the frenzy of modernity.
Living in the Presence. This cleansed and always-new consciousness also awakens the awareness of God’s Presence. Commonly experienced as an omnipresent consciousness at once gentle, intimate, accepting, forgiving, and patient, it sanctifies the beauty and radiance of everyday life. Like washing a dirty window pane during spring-cleaning, the world now appears fresh, vivid, amazingly clear, and always new —dimensions that reveal the presence of Heaven on Earth as well.
Changing Our Idea of Reality. The beliefs that make up the world of thought, that objectify and explain everything, lead us to misunderstand and misperceive the world as if it were something other than God. As we learn to transcend our dependence on thought and belief, we begin to trust a far more direct experience of reality, one that takes us directly into divine nature of Being.
For the mystics, young and old, one of the most profound realizations is simply: This is God! Everything you experience is Divinity—the grass under your feet, the air you breathe, the ants on the step, your beating heart. What better definition is there of Heaven on Earth?
Why the Enlightened Elder Finds Heaven on Earth
Even more important than how the Elder finds Heaven on Earth is why. We find Heaven on Earth because it is there, because we have longed for it all our lives, and because consciousness of Heaven on Earth is the answer to all our prayers and the world’s greatest problems.
Having known (but forgotten) the magic and joy of the Divine World in early childhood, we unconsciously long to return, to find the hidden gate to the secret garden and come home again. All we need is knowledge and a key—the knowledge of Heaven’s presence and the key of conscious aging to unlock its perceptional gate.
The revelation of Heaven on Earth brings the joy, delight, love, and peace we have sought for millennia. Heaven on Earth would not be present unless we were meant to find it. Heaven on Earth is the new world awaiting humanity, and the Elder’s job is to reveal it.
Conclusions
In the clarified consciousness of awakened aging, the informed, willing and Enlightened Elder will find Heaven on Earth shinning everywhere as beautiful and perfect as the first day of Creation. We embody this consciousness in our increased appreciation of the incredible beauty of all life, our ability to see the world anew through the eyes of our grandchildren, and our enjoyment of the simplest pleasures discovered in the aging experience (fresh fruit, a good sleep, a friend’s touch, the smell of wet leaves in the fall).
This achievement seems huge only because it is so foreign to us—who ever talks about Heaven on Earth as the Elder’s destiny? To the aging mystic, however, Heaven on Earth gleams as the most obvious thing in the world. If the Enlightened Elder symbolizes our potential maturity, then Heaven on Earth represents our collective destiny.
In my next column, we’ll discuss the unique importance of the
Enlightened Elder in the twenty-first century.
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NOTES
Robinson, John. (2009). Finding Heaven Here. UK: O-Books.
