Five People You Meet in Heaven

This is a book review and my personal insights in the book the Five People You Meet in Heaven.  I was moved by reading the book “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.”  Even though it is written as a novel, Mitch Albom describes heaven in a way I have read about in several accounts of Near Death Experiences (NDE).   There are a number of points which I found very interesting in Mr. Albom’s observations. 

 

In the book, Eddie, the main character is learning 5 lessons by meeting 5 people after he dies.  By meeting each of these people: the blue man, the captain, Ruby the old woman, Marguerite his wife, and finally Tala, a little Pilipino girl, he is free to move to the higher realms of heaven because he understood more about each of their roles in his life.

 

"You see, death is not the grave as many people think. It is another phenomenized form of life."

~ Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), American Psychic and Healer

 

Here are the five lessons, Eddie learns in Heaven:

1^st - God created us as unique individuals.  That means that we are very important to HIM.  Even though some children are unwanted by their parents, nobody’s life is a mistake.  Once God gives us an eternal spirit (at birth) we are reflecting His Image and His spirit dwells within us.

“No life is a waste,” said the blue man.  “The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.”

  

2^nd - We are all here on earth to learn and grow.  Some of the lessons are painful and lead us through sacrifice and/or physical suffering but they are nothing compared to the agony of loneliness, remorse, and resentment we would feel in the afterlife.

 

“I got to keep my promise.  I didn’t leave you behind.” “Sacrifice,” the captain said.  “You made one. I made one.  We all make them.  Sacrifice is part of life.”

  

3^rd - To fulfill the lesson on Love it helps to train ourselves in forgiveness.  In hearing of Eddie’s dad’s life’s experiences, Eddie has a new view on his dad.  When we take a higher perspective on our life, we can let go of anger, bitterness, neglect, revenge, and eventually forgive the other people involved, including ourselves.  The other people don’t have to forgive us, even though it helps; the important thing is that we release the negative emotions.

 

Ruby stepped toward him.  “Edward,” she said softly.  It was the first time she had called him by his name.  “Learn this from me.  Holding anger is a poison.  It eats you from the inside.  We think hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us.  But hatred is a curved blade.  And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.”

  

4^th - The greatest assignment for us is to learn to love.  We experience about love in different stages: as a child we discover filial love; as a youth we understand about brother/sister love which later grows into conjugal love between husband and wife; and finally we become skilled in unconditional or parental love. 

Love is never lost.  Experiences are never lost.  It is like energy, energy is never lost either.  It can be transformed into another appearance like light into heat or solid into liquid.  Love has many different facets, too, and we store it in form of memories.  See also my blog on the Family is the Basic Unit for the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

“Lost love is still love, Eddie.  It takes a different form, that’s all.  “Life has to end,” Marguerite said.  “Love doesn’t.”

 

 

5^th – None of us lives an ordinary life.  We are all interconnected and affecting each other in so many ways.  In whatever task we choose or just follow by default, we can influence other people’s lives.

“Children,” Tala said.  “You keep them safe.  You make good for me.”

 

In the spirit of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol,” and the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life,” written by Philip Van Doren Stern, this book is a wonderful reminder that how precious life is and how every day reveals new examples of learning and making it right.  When we follow our heart, every moment is special and can make a difference for a life time and beyond.

Who was St. Patrick?

St. Patrick is in very good company in regards to popularity with the other celebrated saints: St. Nicklaus and St. Valentine.

Many people around the country celebrated St. Patrick’s Day yesterday.  He is even very popular in the secular world with parades and parties, people all dressed in green.   While parades and parties have faded, I thought it interesting to learn more about St. Patrick. 

Patrick was born in Roman Britain at the end of the 4^th century, maybe 387.  He passed away on March 17, 461.  His parents were of high social standing but not necessarily religious.  They gave him the name Kilpatrick.  

 

There were two important visions or dreams which guided and change St. Patrick’s life.  When he was 16, he was kidnapped by Irish (Celtic) raiders who took him back to Ireland and sold him into slavery.  He herded sheep in the pasture and lived all by himself in the country.  He endured for six years, after which he freed himself and was on his way back to Scotland to be reunited with his family.  There was nobody else to talk to but God.  He developed a very deep relationship with the Heavenly Father.   In a dream, God told him to go back to Britain to meet his family.

 

"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

~ St. Patrick

 

At his home he had another revelation: he was to prepare for priesthood and go back to Ireland and to convert people to Christianity.   In the year 433 he was ordained as a bishop and was ready to go back to Ireland.  With the help of miracles and God’s guidance, Patrick and his new disciples were able to convert many to Christ, including Kings and tribes leaders.  Together they build many churches.  He worked hard, suffered a lot, following the path of Jesus.  Patrick went the humble course of the servant and could win the people’s hearts. He explained the trinity to the peasants using the shamrock, that’s how it became part of the St. Patrick’s Day tradition.

 

Patrick faced a lot of persecution from the Irish.  There are many legends and accounts of St. Patrick’s life.   The Irish followers integrated many of the Celtic traditions into the new way of worship, one of them being the Celtic Cross. 

The ring around the cross has its origin in the pagan worship of the sun/moon.         

It is interesting to me how a person like St. Patrick is so popular in our secular society.  He lived an exemplary life and helped many people in his time one earth.  It is one way to remember him and honor him.  I guess everybody likes to celebrate and have a good time even if the meaning behind it becomes diverted.

Sincere Prayer by FDR, 32nd President

This prayer was recorded during a Seminar from the Spirit World.  It is one of many communications between Dr. Sang Hun Lee, Receiver, a faithful disciple of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Young-Soon Kim, Reporter

 

The common thread through all the interaction with the lecturer and many public leaders was that: God is the Parent of all Humankind

 

FranklinDelano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) was the thirty-second President of the United States. He served four terms as president (1933-1945). He led the United States during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war.  He showed an unfailing optimism based on his own victory over polio and inspired his countrymen to a renewal of the national spirit.  During WWII he worked closely with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in leading the Allies against Germany and Japan in order to restore the national economy.

His wife was Eleanor Roosevelt.  FDR is often considered one of the top three presidents along with Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Prayer

 

Heavenly Father!

I think I am too bold to call You Father. Dear Father, You are so miserable! You are a God of great grief and bitter pain. What can I say to bring YOU words of comfort, Father? I am Roosevelt. At one time, as the president of the United States, I invested all my energy for the welfare and prosperity of the American people, but I didn't guide them in any way to help them prepare for life in the eternal spiritual world. It is this point that has caused my heart to feel untold suffering. Heavenly Father, please forgive me.

And dear God, please lead the American people today to the right path. Most of them are caught up with excessive self-praise and egoism just because they are citizens of the strongest power on earth. They are unable to display tolerance and humility toward the third world countries, they take their own future lightly, their own view of God is deviating from the true path.

 

Heavenly Father, please shake and wake up America. I pray earnestly for our American people. Heavenly Father, I beg for forgiveness that I was unable to teach them that YOU are the parent of all humankind. Heavenly Father, I will invest all my energy and prayers here in the spirit world until the day when all the American people become God's true children.

 

The new truth of the Divine Principle is moving my heart deeply, and is making me repent about everything in my past life. It is the first time in my life that I have had such deep feelings. I realized so many things through the Divine Principle, and the only thing that I can do at this time is lament loudly with tears of repentance.

Heavenly Father, please protect and preserve the throne of the True Parents, Rev. Sun Myung Moon who worked so hard to find and reveal this new truth. Father, I know that this prayer is presumptuous and impolite, but unless I pray and repent in this way before You, I will not be able to endure. I want to offer this prayer to YOU, dear God.

Please accept it.

God's child, Franklin Roosevelt; July 26, 2003

Messages from former American presidents - 36 Presidents - read all messages:

 

http://www.unification.net/leesanghun/leesanghun20030828.html

 

How to BE Grateful?

 

In this blog I am focusing BEING grateful.  I wrote before about practicing gratitude before.  The emphasis in this blog is on the BEING.  Since being grateful is only possible in the NOW or as a projection into the future I discovered that it is impossible to be grateful when I am full of negative emotions like anger, resentment or fear.  The focus lies on changing habits and establishing empowering thought patterns.  Practicing being grateful allows us to get better over time.  The only one we want to compare to is our yesterday performance.  Wallace Wattles in his “The Science of Being Great” writes: “No man has yet become so great in any faculty but that it is possible for someone else to become greater.  The possibility is in The Original Substance from which man is made.  Genius is Omniscience flowing into man.  Genius is more than talent.  Talent may merely be one faculty developed out of proportion to other faculties, but genius is the Union of Man and God in the acts of the soul.  Great men are always greater than their deeds.”  If we want to be great, we have to focus on being grateful.

The definition of being grateful comes from the Latin word gratus which mean being pleasing, graceful and thankful.

“If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”

~  Meister Eckhart

 

When I am critical, judgmental, resentful, or in any way negative it is very hard for me to be grateful.  I discovered that gratitude can only come when I let go of those negative feelings.  It is an absolute prerequisite for being grateful to empty oneself first, letting go of harmful emotions, depressing thoughts, and unconstructive habits.

 

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of all the virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

~ Cicero 106-43BC

 

How do we let go of Negativity?

à Harmful emotions

There are several methods today such as The Emotion Code (Founder Dr. Bradley Nelson), The Healing Code, http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Alex-Loyd-Healing-Codes/dp/B000NGRVQC (Founder Alex Loyd, PhD, ND), EFT (Gary Craig, Founder), Emotional Release Therapy,  (Walter Weston) etc.  I was watching a very powerful video ontapping where the result of emotional release was visible in Life Blood Cell analysis.  The pictures were compared before and after tapping.  The blood composition was freely flowing after the emotion clearing.  To me it is very encouraging, in that we have now scientific proof to how we can quickly release negativity.

 

“Gratitude is made from two words: great and attitude. If you have a great attitude, you have gratitude.”

~ David Leonhardt

 

à Depressing Thoughts

I am aware that many people today are clinically depressed, and they should by all means seek out a professional therapist.  We have to realize that we are NOT our thoughts.  For occasional repetitive thought patterns, Richard Petty, of Ohio State University suggests to write those unwanted thoughts on a piece of paper and throw them in the trash can.  Just imagining this action is not enough.   The study shows very encouraging results, since keeping those pessimistic thoughts would induce stress and stress in unhealthy.

I read a book “What to Say When you Talk To Yourself” by Shed Helmstetter which made me aware of how much we use negative self talk.  It is not just enough to use affirmations because the ego always objects anything good and positive.  In fact Noah St. John suggests to make statements into ‘Afformations’ which means forming a question such: ‘why am I always so calm?’ “ why am I getting better and better?’ etc.  The ego doesn’t get defensive when we ask questions and can easier cooperate with a new direction.

  

“Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

~ Matthew 9:17

 

à Unconstructive Habits

We all know that willpower alone is not enough to break bad habits.  In this article on ‘Why Will Power isn’t the Answerto Cure bad Habits’ Alex Lickerman, assistant vice president for Student Health and Counseling Services at the University of Chicago, suggests to be realistic with expectations, distract yourself from unwanted behavior, avoid temptations completely, and make good habits easier.  Napoleon Hill explains how we can use the nature of Cosmic Habit Force for our advantage to change or remove unconstructive habits.

 
If you don’t want to deal with any of the above suggestions you can apply good old repentance or confession as a means of letting go.  Many people have a wrong concepts about repentance.  One leader in our church says that the purpose repentance is freedom.   He explains that one can only repent for things which one is aware of.  If we don’t understand that we are all sinners, there is nothing to repent for.  Once we become more mindful we become more sensitive to our mistakes and shortcomings. Repentance is a powerful tool which brings us in direct contact with the living God.

 

By having a good cry and feeling sorry, we don’t even have to be specific; repentance can address a broad area of your life.  We are all interconnected, part of the same human family.  In the Divine Principle we address four sins – original, collective, ancestral, and personal. (#5 SIN)

"A wise person thinks like this: “I have only a short time to live. Within this time I must prepare myself for eternity. The way I live in the next two years will be the model for my eternal life.” Then explode your sense of love. Love God, and love another person as God. For an entire day, 24 hours, pour out your entire energy for someone. If you love a person like this, even though you may die early, you will have made the highest accomplishment in all eternity. Then when God gives you more time to live, your response will be immense gratitude. Push yourself to live more fully. The person who expects death and then is given life dwells in the fullest gratitude."

~ Sun Myung Moon

 

From my perspective that is the whole reason one wants to be grateful anyway.  We are living today at an age where we have an incredible amount of Merit of the Age.   With the development of human history, mankind’s spirituality has become enlightened throughout the providence of restoration.  More people than ever are searching for a deeper purpose of life and exploring the internal spiritual reality.  The world is more and more converging to form a single civilization.  As the Messiah has returned to the earth in form of True Parents we all benefit from a new standard of their leadership.

 

Thinking grateful, feeling grateful, being grateful – being grateful requires action.  The motivation for action can only come when we make room for it. 

Once a person sincerely repents, God's heart is instantly and automatically moved to embrace him. Think of your own heart and how it responds when you hear someone sincerely asking forgiveness. You should always remember the parable of the Prodigal Son.

 

‘The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now."

~ Oprah Winfrey 

Since our whole church community is doing a three weeks condition of being grateful, it is good time for myself to reflect on HOW I AM grateful.

Being grateful is only possible in the present moment or as a future determination by projecting oneself in faith for positive goals and values.

I am determined to embrace gratitude; to feel it as deeply as I can, because in so doing, I am actually increasing the odds that a year from now, I’ll all have more for which to be grateful for. On the deepest, unconscious level, gratitude is really about being grateful for the actions that are yet to come.

 

In conclusion I like to point to some benefits of practicing gratitude.  Here is a link to: The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life.

The ultimate goal of practicing gratitude is to elevates our Life To A Higher Frequency, to tune into God’s heart.  When we are ready to surrender our ego to God, we will find the highest degree of gratitude.  As Mr. Wattles puts it, ‘Genius is the union of man and God in the acts of the soul.’  May we all find that union with our Heavenly Parents.