Heaven on Earth

…on earth as it is in heaven.

Imagine what that would be like! Whether you believe in heaven or not, you likely have some concept of what heaven could look like. I envision a place where peace and joy rule the land. Where our entire hierarchy of needs are fulfilled, and conflict is resolved through discussion and mutually agreeable settlements. Heaven on earth would mean everyone felt like they belonged and nobody would feel less than. Such a realm could become real if we were only willing to support and encourage one another. 

Evidence shows that helping others can reduce stress, and improve mood, self-esteem, and happiness. The path of achieving such benefits revolve around kindness and good deeds. The good news is that kindness and good deeds needn’t take much time or cost any money. The benefits of reduced stress and improved mood, self-esteem, and happiness are instant and recognizable. We can all appreciate the warm feeling associated with coming to someone’s aid. We also immediately recognize the guilt or embarrassment of behaving badly. We are supposedly intelligent beings, and it is perplexing that we haven’t evolved beyond bad behavior.

Recent advances by populists, nationalists and supremacists are leading many of us to take a defensive posture regarding our willingness to offer kindness. That’s understandable. It has become highly profitable for some leaders and various media outlets to perpetuate dismissiveness, divisiveness, and disrespectfulness. We are continually bombarded with clips of people behaving badly in public. We either find such displays appalling or in a worse case we may even see them as justified. Regardless of how we interpret such actions I fear that they normalize abhorrent behavior and incivility which widens that gap between heaven and earth. Such an environment does not promote benevolence.

We seem to be at a crossroads. Nearly one third of our population resents empathy or inclusion and appears threatened that anyone who disagrees with them may wish them harm. That’s not how it works. The simple recognition that we all share needs and desires requires no exclusion of others or condemnation of those who interpret their needs and desires differently from us. When we respond to expressions of dismissiveness, divisiveness and disrespectfulness with anger or retaliation we then justify and perpetuate the tribalism that got us here in the first place.

Every time we respond to another’s perceived intolerance with anger or vengeance we are only confirming their feeling of isolation and rejection. 

Somewhere along this journey we seem to have concluded that “owning” others is more rewarding than our own peace of mind. We will never know the benefits derived from offering kindness and good deeds to others if we are constantly at war with them. Eventually, if we can manage to be good stewards of humanity, leaders and media outlets will find sewing division less profitable. They might even adopt content that brings us together. I think it’s time for us to work together and share the idea that we can be better and it all begins with how we react the next time we feel prompted to lash out at someone for not agreeing with us.