A Place Called Paradise Concept & Theory

 A Place Called Paradise

 Somewhere you have ultimate spiritual fulfillment, somewhere that balance and harmony is maintained, somewhere suffering and pain doesn’t exist, somewhere something means nothing but to exist. This place is called Paradise. If you knew that life could be truly free of pain, guilt and sorrow in a place that you had to find…….. would you seek it out? In our state of mind as of today this is not a physical place among us. Many believe that this place only exists in the mind or after death, but the ancient people believed that there was a physical place truly like this. In these times that we live in, that place to many of us is called heaven or based on your belief, some kind of reference to a good afterlife, and this place can only be reached if you live a virtuous life in the manner of your belief system. Paradise can not be reached in this life, but it can be reached in the next. That is a pretty fictitious but understandable concept to believe in when you take into account that no proof has been given upon the notion that death leads to an everlasting peace for you where you will instantly live again. Now, if we took out the part that says “you will live again” in my last statement well then it makes more of a realistic sense because of course you will have everlasting peace if you don’t have to deal with the matters of life anymore and you are cast to an everlasting unconscious state. Most of us believe that if you are abiding by the moral compass of your belief you reach paradise, but if you do not, you reach a bad place or if you simply do not place your beliefs in anything higher than yourself you will also reach that bad place. So that bad place is the opposite of paradise, a dystopia. So, it is safe to say that the common belief is that we are in between those two realms. Like a venn diagram where the middle represents similarities and the outer layers represent differences. If that is the notion then it is inevitable that we are bound to live in between a state of acting or thinking in a paradisical manner and also acting or thinking in a dystopian manner each being 50% of the time not one more than the other. It is in our DNA at that point just like your parents you get 50% of each. Now, you could be more susceptible to show more qualities of one parent, but the exact genes are random which means it can vary on the embodiments that are shown with also an influence of environmental factors. I explained all of that to say that paradise is just the twin of dystopia. We would essentially have no meaning to this word paradise or heaven without suffering, pain or dystopia. These are ideologies that we create today for ourselves, mental concepts that guide us to either seeking more enlightenment or fleeing from accountability. Believing that there is a paradise land or world means to believe that things can get better and to believe in a dystopia land or world means to believe that things can get worse. The belief of these two concepts is according to your belief system. It may be following a religion or whatever you are religious about, but at the end of the day you are running from one and seeking the other, vice versa. To seek enlightenment through the belief in paradise evading dystopia is to wish and hope to find a way to flee from the matters that you must face currently, you seek to have no account for responsibility, liability or obedience. To go towards dystopia evading paradise is the same thing. I don’t make these statements in full belief that I am correct in my philosophy, but I make these statements based on the circumstances surrounding widely agreed upon human thought, activity and customs throughout ancient and modern beliefs along with traditions. See me personally I do believe in an afterlife, I can’t for sure say that I know what it consists of, but as for a present physical paradise here right now……I do not know. But I do believe that it is achievable.

   We will now go through some myths that relay information about what paradise was to our ancient ancestors. We will start with the Aboriginal myth of paradise.

 

Aboriginal

  Before the world as we know it took form there existed a sacred island in the far east beyond the horizon where the sun is born each day called Baralku. Baralku was not a land of flesh and decay, but a land of spirits where there is no suffering, pain or death, only peace and harmony. Every human spirit is said to sleep in Baralku before birth, dreaming of the life they will walk on Earth. In the time of the Dreaming (Wangarr), three great ancestral beings lived upon Baralku. Djanggawul the elder sister, Djanggawul the younger sister, Djanggawul the brother. They were beings of immense creative power bearing sacred dilly bags, sacred digging sticks, the first names, the first songs and the first kinship laws. These items were not objects, they were the blueprint of existence. The Morning Star, Barnumbirr (Venus), appeared and spoke to them as a guide-ancestor.
“Go across the great sea. There is land waiting for song, and people yet without Law.” So the Three left the paradise island in a canoe crafted of spirit-wood and light. They followed Barnumbirr, who shone before them, leading the way. They came ashore at a place called Yalangbara. When they stepped on the sand, the world shifted. Their footprints became stones, their tears became springs of water, their laughter summoned birds and the marks of their digging sticks formed billabongs and rivers. Everything they did created the land. The Djanggawul walked across Arnhem Land, performing the first Ceremony. They sang the names of plants and animals giving them identity. They divided the clans into their moieties “Mwah-T” (Dhuwa and Yirritja) giving them kinship and social law.
They taught humans marriage rules, the cycles of ceremony and the responsibilities to land, water, song, and ancestors. Wherever they went, they left songlines which are pathways of spirit memory embedded in the earth. These songlines are still sung today, unchanged. When their work of shaping the world was complete, the three stood upon the coast once more. They looked to the horizon and saw Barnumbirr rising. She called them home. So the Djanggawul returned to Baralku,
but they did not take the songs with them. They left them here, for humanity to carry. Before departing, they said “When each person’s journey is finished, their spirit will follow Barnumbirr back across the sea to the Island of the Ancestors.” So when a person dies, the Yolngu perform the Morning Star Ceremony. They sing sacred songs accompanied by the Morning Star Pole,
which guides the spirit like a map from Earth, across the sea, back to Baralku to rejoin the ancestors in the eternal dawn. Baralku is the eternal homeland of the spirit, and the Djanggawul are the creators who brought law, identity, and ceremony from that paradise to humanity and then returned to it, leaving the path open for all to follow.

  It doesn't seem like Baralku is a place like heaven that is only meant for those who do good. It seems more like a timeless place separated but inseparable from this one

Sumerian

  The Sumerian paradise is most clearly described as Dilmun — a sacred, pure land that existed before death, disease, and decay entered the world. Dilmun is described in the Sumerian creation tablets as a land where no one grows old, no one cries, no one becomes sick, no one suffers, no one dies, no predator hunts and no venomous creature strikes.“In Dilmun, the raven does not croak. The lion does not kill. The wolf does not seize the lamb.” This land is bathed in sunlight, always warm, always lush. It lies far to the east, across the waters. Enki, god of fresh water, fertility, and wisdom, claimed Dilmun as his dwelling place but Dilmun, although pure, was dry. There was no water, and therefore no life. Ninhursag (Earth Mother) spoke to Enki, “Dilmun is pure, but lifeless. Let it drink the waters of life.” Enki opened the subterranean waters (the Apsu) and sent living rivers flowing into the land. Palms sprouted, fruits ripened, animals multiplied and gardens grew in endless bloom and Dilmun became paradise fully. In Sumerian tradition, paradise becomes fully alive through union. Enki and Ninhursag met in Dilmun and loved one another there, producing the first line of divine life that would populate the world. This is why Dilmun is remembered as the birthplace of gods and the womb of creation. From their union comes Ninsar (“Lady of Green Plants”), Ninkurra (“Lady of the Pasturelands”) and Uttu (“The Weaver of Growth and Order”). Every generation creates a new layer of paradise. This is the Golden age. In Dilmun, Uttu plants eight sacred plants, born from the union of earth, water, and joy. These plants are not just vegetation, they represent the divine balance of creation. But Enki, god of curiosity and desire, sees them and says, “Let them be eaten! For are they not gifts of the land?” He does not ask Ninhursag, who planted them. He eats the plant of life, the plant of joy, the plant of birth, the plant of strength, the plant of wisdom, the plant of perception, the plant of healing and the plant of understanding. By doing this he takes creation into himself rather than letting it blossom outward. This is the Sumerian version of our modern day “forbidden fruit.” But unlike the bible there is no sin. There is only an imbalance. When Ninhursag sees what Enki has done she does not scream, she does not curse the land she simply withdraws. The Sumerians believed when the Earth withdraws her spirit, life collapses. So the waters started to dry, fertility weakened and Enki fell terribly ill. His body began to fail one organ at a time because he consumed the powers of life, and those same powers were consuming him. Ninhursag is the only one who knows the medicines of creation and without her  Enki will die. If Enki dies all fresh water will cease and the world will wither. Paradise is endangered so the gods gather and say, “Mother of all Life, if Enki dies, the world will die.” Ninhursag hears their grief and her anger dissolves. She returns to Enki not as a lover, but as a healer. She kneels beside him, places his head in her lap, and whispers “I will not let the world be undone.” She draws out the sickness from each of his organs, and for each organ she removes, she creates a new healing deity. From his jaw Ninti (“Lady of the Rib / Lady of Life”), from his heart Ninsutu (Healer of the flesh), from his throat Ninkasi (Lady of Beer, fermentation, transformation) and so on… Eight gods are born each representing restoration, not punishment. Paradise is not destroyed, but it is no longer effortless. After this moment humans must now grow crops, not simply gather them and life includes cycles of growth and decay while death becomes part of the world, not as a punishment, but as a balance. Paradise becomes a memory considered the first age. Dilmun remains, but now the living may only glimpse it in visions, rituals and dreams. The dead do not return to Dilmun. Only a chosen few were granted access to paradise not through death,but through righteousness. The thought of the soul returning to Dilmun is more of a philosophical understanding that the ancient Sumerians may have depended on to help them through the death process, but ultimately the wide belief was that the soul goes to the land of Kur (Underworld) no matter the earthly deeds.

Egyptian

  In ancient Egyptian tradition, the closest concept to paradise is called Aaru or The Field of Reeds. It is the eternal homeland of the blessed dead, a perfected version of Earth, restored to balance, beauty, and abundance. It is Egypt perfected basically the Nile Valley as it was meant to be, without hunger, war, illness, death, corruption and injustice. This paradise was earned not by faith, but by living within Ma’at which is the cosmic principle of truth, balance, harmony, and righteousness. Ancient texts describe Aaru as golden sunlight that never burns, endless green reed fields, clear running waters and branching canals, fruit orchards in perpetual season, barley stalks as tall as the gods themselves, soft breeze and perfect air along with no aging, no suffering and no shadows of grief. People live in villages near the water by lush fields with beautiful open skies. The soul fishes, plants grain, makes music, feasts, and walks among the gods. You are not alone there.
You join your family line, your ancestors, and your ka (soul double). The realm belongs to Osiris, Lord of renewal, rebirth, cycles of nature and the just dead. Osiris does not judge alone. Judgment is held by 42 divine assessors in the Hall of Ma’at. This is where the weighing of the heart occurs to enter the Field of Reeds. Your heart is placed on a scale against the Feather of Ma’at. If your heart is light (you lived in harmony, truth, justice), you pass. If your heart is heavy (selfishness, cruelty, imbalance) your heart is devoured by Ammit, and your soul ceases to exist.
There is no eternal punishment, just existence or non-existence. Life in the Field of Reeds is joyful, free, and peaceful. The paradise is active, embodied, communal. It is not escape from life, it is life perfected. Egyptians believed that Earth is sacred, but temporary. Paradise is this world, restored to divine balance. If you lived within Ma’at, you did not change upon death, you simply returned home. Aaru is not imagined as a cloud-realm or distant heaven. It is a real landscape because to ancient Egyptians heaven was not a different world, it was this world in its ideal, eternal form. The world is paradise if it is in Ma’at. When Ma’at is broken, paradise fades. When Ma’at is restored, paradise returns.

 

Toltec

  The Toltec (and later Aztec) tradition preserves one of the oldest and most profound paradise myths of Mesoamerica. Their “paradise” is not one place, but two closely-related sacred realms. Tamoanchan is described in Toltec and Central Mexican myth as a lush, eternal garden full of ever-blooming flowers, butterflies, colibris (hummingbirds), quetzal birds, trees dripping nectar, a soft pink-gold sky of eternal dawn, and a place where no one ages or suffers. It is not on Earth. It is a divine realm, half in the sky, half just above the clouds. Tamoanchan is The Paradise of Creation (the place where humanity and gods were born). Tamoanchan is the place where the gods created the first humans, the calendar, music, poetry, and knowledge that came into the world. Blood and breath were given to matter and the souls of children originate. The Toltec said “All souls begin in Tamoanchan.” It is the pre-life paradise. It was a realm of eternal spring, eternal dawn and eternal flowering. There was no death. There was no separation between worlds. The divine and the human were close, not different. The fall begins with Mayahuel, a young goddess of life sap, tender growth and flowering vitality. Quetzalcóatl, god of breath, spirit and order looked down at the world and said “Humankind is incomplete.They live, but do not flourish. They hunger for something not yet given.” He wished to bring divine nourishment to Earth so humans could feel joy and soul-beauty (in xochitl, in cuicatl — flower and song). To do so, he needed Mayahuel. Quetzalcóatl took Mayahuel from Tamoanchan to Earth. They hid together in the branches of a great maguey tree. They were lovers, but not of flesh. They were the union of breath and bloom, spirit and life-sap. Together, they planted joy into the material world. Mayahuel’s grandmother, one of the Tzitzimime (star demons of the void), discovered their escape. The Tzitzimime cannot exist in a world where life and beauty grow. The Tzitizimime were primordial star-spirits, once creative, now devouring. Beings of the sky before order who fear the rise of life and beauty. To the Tzitzimime, the world of life is theft. They believe the cosmos should return to the dark stillness before creation. So she tore Mayahuel apart. Her body fell to Earth, fertilizing the soil. Mayahuel’s death is the first sacrifice, the first time something gave itself to the world so that life could continue. Quetzalcóatl wept, gathered her remains, and buried them with tenderness. From her grave grew the first maguey plant, the plant that gives pulque (sacred drink of poetry, prophecy, and ecstatic communion), nectar, medicine, cordage, fiber and food meaning life continues through transformation. Beauty is born from loss. Paradise is not gone, it is remembered. The gods realized to bring divine joy into the human world, they had to accept death, separation, sacrifice, and change. The Flowering Tree in Tamoanchan split, the bridge between realms cracked and the gate closed, not as punishment, but because once life enters time, it cannot remain untouched by death. Tamoanchan did not fall; it withdrew, becoming a memory in the soul. Humanity now carries a longing for beauty and longing for meaning. A longing for the paradise we came from. 

  I will briefly mention the other paradise type of belief associated with Toltec myth. 

  Tlalocan is ruled by Tlaloc, god of rain, abundance, and renewal. It is described as the realm of Eternal Life, a land of eternal spring, warm waters, waterfalls, and mist. Green mountains wrapped in clouds, fruit trees heavy with sweetness, dance, laughter, feasting, and music also no sickness or sorrow.

 

Norse

  The closest description of paradise is ÍDAVÖLLR. Before the world was shaped, there was Niflheim (Mist, Cold, Stillness) and Muspell (Flame, Movement, Potential). Their meeting created the first life, Ymir, the proto-being. But, what matters for paradise is what came after Ymir’s body was shaped into the world. When the gods Odin, Vili, and Vé formed Earth from Ymir the rivers were pure, the seas were calm, the trees were always green and the world was young and unbroken. There was no death, there was no winter of despair and there was no war. The gods were new, curious, playful, unified. This age is called ÍDAVÖLLR, the Plain of Everlasting Harmony. It is described in the Völuspá (the Prophecy of the Seeress) “There the gods met in the early ages, they built temples and altars, they forged tools and crafted treasures and they played in laughter in the meadows.” There was no greed, no rivalry, no deception, no hunger and no aging.
They created the first arts, music, poetry, runes, and crafts. This was the golden innocence of the cosmos. Paradise ended not because of sin and not because of war. Paradise ended because of knowledge. Specifically Odin’s hunger for wisdom and the arrival of the norns (fate). Odin saw that all things were temporary, even paradise. He wanted an understanding of  what sustains the world, what breaks it,
what lies beyond death? So he hung himself upon Yggdrasil for nine days and nine nights. Wounded himself with his own spear, refused food and water, died and was reborn. He gained the runes (knowledge of form, destiny, structure) and the vision of Ragnarök (the end). With knowledge, came the loss of innocence. Paradise cannot exist where knowledge of endings exists. Once Odin gained wisdom, the Norns appeared: Urd — what has been, Verdandi — what is becoming and Skuld — what must be. They began weaving fate at the base of the World Tree. When fate begins, time begins. When time begins, paradise must end. Paradise is timeless, no growth or decay. Time brings change, movement, death, memory and meaning. The gods realized the world would not remain perfect, but it could remain beautiful and beauty is more precious than perfection. A land where no sickness exists, where youth does not fade, where the grass glows with inner light, where long-lost loved ones walk peacefully. This place still exists, but only the pure of heart or the chosen heroes may glimpse it. It is not gone, it is hidden.
It is remembered in the soul. The Lost Norse Paradise is the world in its first golden dawn, before time and death entered, a place of unity and joy that was not destroyed, but transformed which will return in the world reborn after Ragnarök.

 

Greek

  We have The Golden Age of Kronos in Greek civilization. Before Zeus ruled Olympus, the world was ruled by Kronos (Cronus), the Titan of time in its gentle circular form (kairos, the eternal now), fertility, cosmic harmony and natural abundance. This is before time becomes linear, before aging and before growth leads to decay. The world was young, green, soft, and timeless. This age is described by Hesiod, Ovid, Pindar, and the Orphic hymns, all telling the same truth. The Golden Age was a time when humans lived like gods. During the rule of Kronos no one worked while the earth provided food freely. Fruit fell from trees on its own, rivers were sweet with honey and milk, grain sprouted without farming, the climate was always warm, no one aged beyond their prime, no war, no politics, no ownership, no poverty, no greed, no crime and no death, only gentle transformation like falling asleep. Humanity lived in peace, ease, and innocent joy. This was paradise through innocence. In this age humans and gods walked together. There was no hierarchy, no temples because the divine was everywhere, no offerings because nothing was lacking and no fear of death because death did not exist. Paradise did not end because humans failed. It ended because Zeus overthrew Kronos. The loss of paradise in Greek myth is not a fall of man, it is a change in cosmic leadership. Kronos represented time without change, life without loss and innocence without awareness. Zeus represents growth, choice, change, awareness, mortality, civilization and struggle that leads to wisdom. When Zeus takes the throne, time begins to move forward. This is the beginning of work, memory, aging, desire, achievement, death and story. Paradise ends, but meaning begins. Unlike some religions that long for a return to the first paradise, the Greeks believed the Golden Age was beautiful, but incomplete. In the Golden Age people did not create because the world already provided. People did not grow because life was effortless and people did not choose because innocence is not wisdom. The goal was not to return to innocence. The goal was to earn wisdom. We began in paradise, but without awareness. We enter life to gain awareness through struggle. We return to paradise, but now with wisdom. The Golden Age of Kronos was the first paradise, when humanity lived in effortless harmony with nature and the gods, before time, death, and struggle entered the world. A paradise not lost through sin, but surrendered in order for consciousness and purpose to be born.

 

Hebrew

  Gan Eden or Garden of Eden. “Eden” does not mean “paradise” originally.
It means delight, ease, harmony. So Gan Eden means the Garden of Delight or the Garden of Natural Harmony. This was not simply a location, it was a state of perfect unity. In Eden there was no concept of time as aging or decay. There was no fear, because there was nothing to fear. There was no death, because life was self-renewing. There was no “mine”, because nothing was owned. The earth provided without labor and existence was effortless. Food grew freely: figs, dates, olives, pomegranates and wheat already formed into nourishing grain. No one hunted, stored, or planned. There was no future, only ever-blooming present. The text says Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed.. It could literally mean naked or no ego, no self-consciousness, no division between observer and observed or no sense of “I” separate from “World”. They were one with existence, like newborn infants, animals in their natural freedom, mystics in deep meditation or lovers who lose the sense of separateness. They did not think about their existence, they lived it directly. This is the essence of paradise. There were two central trees: The Tree of Life = Unity and The Tree of Knowledge = Separation. Both trees are said to be in the middle. The Tree Of Life was not forbidden initially. The man could eat from it before the exile.The ban is only imposed after the transgression. Eating from this tree sustains life indefinitely. Continued access to this tree equals eternal physical life. After the transgression, God blocks access to this tree to prevent immortality. The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil was specifically prohibited by direct command. Eating from it results in death 

  (Gen 2:17). Genesis 2:17: 

  “But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat from it, you shall surely die.”

  Before eating, the experience was direct. There was no concept of right/wrong, good/bad or beautiful/ugly. After eating the mind categorized and the self became separate from the world. This is the birth of ego, judgment, self-consciousness, time-awareness and the question of meaning. This is the birth of the human condition. The text says Eden was closed, not destroyed. The flaming sword guards the way to the Tree of Life. Once consciousness awakens, innocence cannot be regained by going backward. We cannot “return” to unawareness. To return to Eden, we must transform, integrate and awaken fully. This is the essence of Hebrew mystical tradition (Kabbalah). Eden still exists, but now we return through wisdom, not innocence. The Garden of Eden is the first plain, the beginning, when the lord god made the heavens and the earth, there were no fields, no crops, and no rain yet. The lord god shaped a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. The lord god planted a garden in a region called Eden, in the east, and placed the man there. In the garden, the lord caused every tree to grow that was pleasant to the sight and good for food. In its center was The Tree of Life and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, then divided into four rivers: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The lord god placed the man in the garden to work it and to guard it. And the lord commanded him, “You may eat of every tree in the garden, but not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” Then the lord god said that it was not good for the man to be alone. He formed all the animals and brought them to the man to see what he would name them, but none among them was a suitable companion. So the lord caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and took one of his sides (ribs) and made it into a woman, and brought her to him. The man said “This one is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” The man and the woman were both naked, and were not ashamed. A serpent, more subtle than the other animals the lord had made, asked the woman “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree?” The woman replied “We may eat from the trees,
but not the tree in the middle of the garden. We must not eat it, or touch it, lest we die.” The serpent said “You will not surely die. God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman ate the fruit, and gave it to the man, and he also ate. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together to make coverings. They heard the sound of the lord god walking in the garden and hid among the trees. The lord called “Where are you?” The man said he hid because he was naked. The lord asked “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit.” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me.” The lord god said to the serpent “You are cursed among animals. You will crawl on your belly. There will be enmity between you and the woman. Her offspring will strike your head, and you will strike his heel”. To the woman, he said “Greatly increased pain in childbearing. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you”. To the man, he said “Because you ate of the tree the ground is cursed. You will eat by toil and sweat. Thorns and thistles will grow. You will return to dust, for from dust you were taken”. The lord god made them garments of animal skin and clothed them. Then he said “The human has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. Now he must not reach out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life,
and live forever.” So the lord god sent them out of the garden to work the ground. He placed cherubim (winged guardians) and a flaming, turning sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Paradise, a state of pure unity before self-awareness, lost not through sin, but through the awakening of consciousness, and destined to be regained not through innocence, but through understanding.

 

A Place Called Paradise Theory

  There are more descriptions and mythologies of what paradise could have been, but I wanted to focus on the closest depiction of paradise that would be welcome to all. Now through all of these mythologies we can see that paradise refers to an aspect of human quality without any suffering. The golden ages of human civilization seem to be the first segment of the start of humanity and all living things. The ideologies tell us that at one point humanity did not succumb to the lifestyles that we are forced to live today. Paradise was not simply a place that you go when you die, and looking through all of these mythologies it seems that paradise was not lost but forgotten. As if we forgot who we actually were and how we should treat this realm that we live in. We seem to leave and forget paradise when our relationship with the land becomes an afterthought when we stop listening to our spirit and natural rhythms of life, when we seek domination. Being expelled from paradise seems to not be punishment, but a decision that we humans made for ourselves to disconnect. We often may think of paradise as an escape from this life that we now live, but I think we have it all wrong right now. Paradise is described through the text as the aspects of our world in a cohesive relationship itself. Every tradition says we began in a state of harmony. We fell out of harmony. We must find our way back. But, the return is not to a location, it is a way of being. Remembering how to listen to the earth, honoring our ancestors, recognizing spirit in all things, living gently instead of aggressively and creating instead of consuming without end. Paradise can not be an afterthought if we wish to live in it. To return to paradise is to return to our responsibility, return to reciprocity, return to balance, return to the rhythm of nature and return to remembering who we are. Paradise existed on earth before imbalance entered the world. You can make your world a paradise but you alone can’t make the world paradise. It’s like the phrase we all know “ It takes a village” One alone can not change anything but themselves. Maybe we need to stop this notion that once we die we will be able to escape responsibility and accountability. We should not be seeking the afterlife so fast for an escape because that is not the way. Finding comfort in the unknown is not the way, but there is nothing wrong with believing everything will soon get better in this life that we live. We must learn more not only through our innovative physical ways but also through the spiritual embodiments that we already carry, but both of these characteristics that we carry need to advance further. Immortality would not be thought of as suffering if we all had it. Imagine a life where you don’t have to lose loved ones, where you don’t have to worry about pain, where you don’t have to worry about the next meal. This is all achievable I believe but that will never subside the fact that responsibility and accountability must be in place to achieve this type of lifestyle. We have to stop running from what we know needs to be done for one another and all living things. It’s never going to be easier for you if it is not easier for your neighbor, if it's not easier for the earth. Imbalance tortures this world in the days that we are living. The only odd thing is that it is truly not hard to achieve balance with the knowledge that we do possess right now; the only hard thing is getting people to come together. People are born with the capacity for good and bad, but naturally you are born good and bad is a learned behavior. Studies have shown Infants show a natural, unprompted tendency to engage in helpful, or "prosocial," behaviors, such as giving a toy or food to someone in need, even at a personal cost (e.g., giving up a desired snack while hungry). This suggests a basic, inborn inclination towards kindness and concern for others. Even before they can speak or have received significant formal instruction on right and wrong (social conditioning), babies can distinguish between helpful and harmful actions in others. They tend to prefer individuals whom they observe acting in a prosocial manner (helpers) and show aversion or negative reactions to those who act in an antisocial or obstructive way (hinderers). I believe that there are bad people , but there doesn’t always have to be bad people, because that can be changed through learning of the next to come after us. If we adapt to a lifestyle of widespread love and care we could create a more supportive environment, which is a crucial foundation for well-being. However, true balance and the resolution of mental health issues and global challenges require a multi-faceted approach involving scientific understanding, effective policy, medical treatment, and systemic change, in addition to improved human relationships. But before this can even be reached we must find that connection and try to remember paradise in order to advance our civilization to the foretold golden age and make sure that we do not fall again, because the stories of the past tell us that this lifestyle was our lifestyle. Immortality, abundance, sacred law, purpose, peace, connection and freedom of suffering was our paradise.