Our Heaven Manifests Our Soul; Examining Heaven as a Truth Shaped Within Us
Where is Heaven? Have you ever wondered what the true nature of heaven is? When we pass from this world into the hereafter, exactly where do we step? Is heaven an external place prepared for us in advance, or is it a manifestation of our soul? If we are the inhabitants of heaven, how is this heaven created? What shapes it, and how can it be defined?
Such questions likely come to mind. We are constantly seeking to discover truths about our destiny and eternal place, wanting to know where we are born after entering the hereafter. There are various opinions about why one becomes a resident of heaven. Some believe that following religious rules or being a good person leads to entering heaven and enjoying its blessings. But the truth is that our heaven manifests our soul.
Mystics believe that heaven resides within a believer, not that the human resides within heaven. In this view, they consider heaven to be a reflection of one’s true being, shaped during worldly life. This means each of us will experience the very heaven we built for ourselves in this life. Our heaven is a manifestation of our soul, which appears in its most complete form in the hereafter.
In this article, we will explain how the human soul is the main creator of both heaven and hell. Heaven is not a pre-prepared external place, but the product and result of our inner efforts during our lifetime. Could one possibly be born into a place they did not create? This question, along with those raised at the beginning of the article, invite us to reflect more deeply on the nature of heaven and the role of the soul in its formation.
Birth into Our Own Soul
To understand this belief that our heaven manifests our soul, we use the “law of proportion.” This law explains that the relationship between the fetus and the mother’s womb is like the relationship between the world and the hereafter. Just as the fetus develops in the womb and prepares for birth, humans are also preparing in this world for what they will face in the hereafter.
If we compare the physical health of a newborn to heaven and its defects or illness to a reflection of hell, a question arises: under what conditions and with what kind of body does the fetus enter the world? Can we claim that the fetus’s body is created by others without its own involvement? Can we say that the quality of the fetus’s development in the mother’s womb is insignificant, and that it is born healthy regardless of circumstances? Can we ignore that the quality of the fetus’s life in the mother’s womb directly affects its health or illness at birth?
The reality is that no logic accepts that the prenatal period is insignificant for the fetus. We all agree that the fetus enters the world with a body it has built through receiving proper nutrition, maintaining the structure, growth, and functioning of its organs in the mother’s womb. Its heaven or hell is not something imposed from outside. Rather, its health or sickness is the result of deeds and framework it has built during the prenatal period. Similarly, this world serves as a womb relative to the hereafter, where a person shapes their soul for entry into the hereafter. Every deed, belief, and thought that shapes the human soul builds the foundation of their heaven or hell. Heaven is not an external realm or a pre-made place we enter. it is a reflection of our own existence, and we are constantly creating it in this world. Therefore, our heaven manifests our soul, and each person is born into their own soul.
Everything Lies Within Our Soul
We said that our heaven manifests our soul. But what is the nature of this soul that can produce both heaven and hell? What exactly is the soul? In the article “World of Grave,” we explained that the grave is synonymous with the soul, which we create in this world. If we await a heaven with endless resources, we must build that heaven here in this world. But if we are constantly feeling pressure and we cannot cope with life, then after death and entering the hereafter, we will be hosted by these very assets we have sent ahead and we will suffer the torments of the hereafter.
Imagine you are a gardener given a piece of land with no flowers or plants. Based on your choices and considering the climate of the area, you plan what to plant and how much. If you wish to have a flourishing, beautiful, and abundant garden, you need to plant healthy seeds, water them on time, carefully provide the right conditions for growth, and protect your crops from pests. Such efforts gradually create a vibrant, fragrant garden that you can enjoy. But if the seeds are unhealthy or you neglect the garden, the result will be a dry, barren space full of weeds. The quality of this garden depends entirely on your efforts, choices, and actions, reflecting your decisions.
In the gardener’s example, we proved that heaven is the manifestation of the human soul. In fact, heaven is like a garden we build throughout our life. Every good intention, righteous deed, and virtue is a seed of bliss planted within us. After death, these seeds blossoms into an eternal garden, heaven. Conversely, if we commit wrongful deeds, harbor negative intentions, and develop bad morals, our soul becomes filled with poisonous fruits and weeds. This unhealthy garden is the hell we will face in the hereafter.
This perspective on the hereafter offers a different view of heaven. Heaven is not an external, pre-made place we enter. Instead, it is the reflection of the truth of our soul. We are already building and shaping ourselves now. Every deed, thought, and feeling, bit by bit, creates the world we will live in later. In other words, the hereafter is the moment we face the creations of our own self.
This view clarifies our responsibility in this world. Nothing outside of us is waiting to call us inward. Everything we encounter is a reflection of what we have shaped. If we live a life full of love, goodness, and justice, we will be born into a world filled with beauty and peace. But if we shape ourselves with hatred and resentment, we create a world of suffering and darkness for ourselves.
Therefore, we ponder the question of what the hereafter is or where heaven lies, the answer is that our heaven manifests our soul. The human soul is so important that everything radiates outward from within it. In the end, we will have nothing but what we have created ourselves.