Most religions include some concept of Heaven, which can be a destination after physical life has ended, or an ethereal state of being, or a relationship with the divine. Both Christianity and Islam traditionally describe it as Paradise with gardens, golden streets, and flowing streams. I am most familiar with the Christian version, based primarily on Revelations 21-22, and John 14, in which Heaven is represented as a place distinct from our earthly existence, accessible after death by the elect. Whether Heaven exists at all, and it will be like in the next life has been the subject of endless speculation, discussion, arguments, and schism throughout history, and I certainly am not going to attempt to resolve any part of that.
But I do have a very present experience of what Jesus refers to as the Kingdom of Heaven, or more generally, as the Kingdom of God. We are told that the “Kingdom of Heaven is within (or among) you”, and that the “Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed”. The phrases seem to be used somewhat interchangeably, some 100 times in the New Testament, and are generally understood to mean “where God has dominion and authority”, which would certainly be true of Heaven whatever else we might ascribe to it. Those living where God reigns can expect to live where love, joy, peace, kindness, mercy, and gentleness abound, and even where pain and death have lost their power – whether in this life here on earth or in a future life beyond the grave. I have no experience of the latter yet, but I have seen and lived in the former. I have walked the high places of the earth and been brought to tears by the overwhelming fact of creation and its beauty. I have seen the power of love, mercy, and grace at work in human lives. I have both received and practiced forgiveness and atonement. I have no better explanation for these gifts than that I live in the Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus promised I could. I believe that promise is available to everyone.
My book does not presume to answer the questions, “What is Heaven like?”, or “What is required to obtain eternal life?” I only suggest that some insights can be gained by living in the Kingdom of God now, while we can.