Article October 16, 1978 Issue

Heaven at hand

GERALD STANWELL

Heaven is never beyond reach. God's thoughts are heavenly, and they are coming to us continually. Belief in the unavailability of heaven and God has impelled the illusion that individuals must strive—singly or in religious groups—to be heard by Deity. Jacob's experience in the wilderness exposes this doctrinal mistake. Having cheated his brother of a firstborn's customary blessing, he was expecting no special favors from God. Nevertheless, the vision he had in a dream holds a vital message for all mankind.

The message is that God is ever at hand to bless all. The essence of Jacob's dream was communication: "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it."

In no way could Jacob claim to have set up that ladder. His dream was like a parable describing man's inseparability from God's, Mind's, all-presence. Jacob saw that God's thoughts protect, guide, and bless, in spite of human contrariness.

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