Requiem for Heaven

I had an experience a few days ago with the common thread of 'Heaven' running through it. Someone I know was chatting with a friend next to me as I was on my lunch break. She had just lost someone very close to her and she was talking about their belief in them 'going to heaven' when she died. She held the belief of the Christian tradition that God prepares a place for them in heaven when they die. This place is whatever they personally hold dear to them on this earth, being by a lake in the mountains, or a castle, whatever that particular person desires they will have once they die. I was uncomfortable with this view but did not share this as I knew she was early in her grieving period and my opinion is very trivial in the scheme of things.  I listened to her as she shared that it provided her comfort to know her friend was in 'heaven'.
 I left to go back to work and was listening to ckua radio and a song was playing that dealt with the topic of heaven. The song is calledRequiem For Heaven by Baba Brinkman
and this song perfectly resolved the uneasiness I felt about the conversation I had overheard. The song brings up the concept that we can experience heaven here and now and to stop believing that it is waiting for us in the clouds when we die. This line unveils what brings heaven to earth, 'it's called the present and it is the true paradise'. In the present moment time does not exist, the mind does not squirm and twist and twitch with the worries and illusions of the past and future. If the mind can be quiet and the being can be in the moment, this is heaven. When we die, we don't truly die, we just move to another experience of life. Having heaven in the present moment brings me hope for this planet and mankind.