Brian’s Reflection: Friday, February 18, 2011

Death and love are the two wings
that bear the good man to heaven.

Michelangelo, visionary genius; he
died on this date, 1564


Even Jesus courteously put down someone who tried to corner the market on deciding who was “good”. He wouldn’t even accept the accolade for Himself! Point being made? Who is “good”? The Bible makes it abundantly clear that it is not for us human beings to judge. And that if we do judge, we will be judged in return. Secondly, let’s be clear: “man” is the patriarchal clap-trap of the time; to “God”, there is “neither male nor female”, as Paul the Apostle wisely said.

That having been said: on Death as a “wing to heaven”, Il Beatissimo (the divine Michelangelo) was correct. What else, right? You die, you die. You are off onto the next stage of the Journey. And let’s face it: for all the speculation and hope, none of us knows what that next part of the Journey IS ….. if any. It seems perfectly clear to me that the “promise of Eternal Life” is, like the Next Part of the Journey, Unknown. And may I say, I think it is perfectly OK for us to speculate as to the character or nature of the AfterLife based upon what we “know” (or choose to know) about the Mystery we call God.

And “Heaven”. Well, Heaven. We have lovely visions of Heaven, created by the minds and feelings and imaginations of people who have applied their poetic skills to a description of Heaven ….. but that is their speculation, and who really knows? Everything said by “God” in the holy books is said by people who have taken upon themselves to act as God’s mouthpieces ….. and who really knows the state of their Unconscious or their mental health??

“Love bears the good “person” to heaven”. Yes. I have pondered the principles of Christian theology for many decades. In terms of the “revelation” of the nature of God/The Christ, I choose to believe that God is Love. I am sustained in this by many statements in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other religions. Human Love is the other wing that bears us to Heaven. To me it is simple: Heaven (be it beyond death or in the Consciousness) is the homeland of Lovers, and one enters The Homeland not by goodness, but by surrender to the God of Compassion and by God’s Forgiveness, thus embracing our own”larger mind”, or “full Humanity”.

Have you loved? Guilty …..or Not Guilty??

Brian+