Where is Heaven? This is really a good question and the answer may be a surprise. People who die and have so-called Near Death Experiences confirm what the Bible tells us that the Kingdom of God is within us and since Heaven is our reunion with God this also means that we will find the Kingdom of Heaven is the same place: 

Luke 17:20-21;

            Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There is it,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.

   As the Bible tells us that the Kingdom of God is within us, we also find that research of people who have near death experiences tell us the same. In my own study, I found that 80 percent of the people agreed with the statement: “God is within; we are God.” Relating to Christianity again, we could say that if Jesus is the son of God then we are all sons and daughters of God. While Jesus unquestionably was a truly great inspirational figure, if he was God then we are all God.

   Here the statement “we are God” is not meant as we humans are perfect as God, or as great as Jesus, but it is meant to focus on that if God is in everything then God is also a part of us – God is within. The important factor about this insight was as we saw in the beginning of this chapter that locating God within our neighbor makes us understand the Golden Rule at a deeper level.

   However, the conclusion that God is within and that “we are God” also take us into a very interesting part of what I found in my research study. To the question: “Was the core or essence of your experience part of your identity; your true nature?” I found that 73 percent said yes.

   Russ reveals that, “It seemed that I was the light because I felt what was happening to the light entity…I was the light. I knew that because I felt what it was obviously feeling.” Also Michael tells us this in another manner where he explains that, “the Oneness was a very simple knowing that I belonged. It was just the knowledge that I was truly an aspect or facet of God, the Light, and all that is.”

   Now, if God is within us and the Light is our true identity, then it would be very interesting to know exactly what this identity is within us. In my study, I got a clear hint of where to find our true identity through the statement: “Consciousness was at the center of my experience” where 86 percent agreed.

   Of course, consciousness is how we perceive so this would be the logical answer, however, I also asked about the following statement: “The true nature of reality is pure consciousness.” Here I found that 92 percent said that they agreed with the statement. 

   With also 92 percent saying that “what I experienced was non-physical” and 93 percent saying that “God is a form of energy,” there is not far to concluding that God is part of our consciousness or the energy that makes up our awareness.

   While this idea is most predominant in Eastern religions, it is not, however, foreign to Christian religion. In the Old Testament on Mount Sanai when Moses asks about God’s name and who he is; “God said to Moses: I AM WHO AM.” And in the footnote of verse 14 in the 1609 Douay Version of the Old Testament, we are told:

            I am who am. That is, I am being itself, eternal, self-existent, independent, infinite; without beginning, end, or change; and the source of all other beings.

   If we put this together with the Holy Spirit and conclude that the spirit within us is in fact our soul or pure consciousness then things start to make sense. Also if we look at the Greek understanding of spirit, and remember that the New Testament was written in Greek, we find something interesting.

   Greek for spirit means breath as in life, or the sign of life, and it is explained as “the life or spirit of man which survives after death.” This connection is interesting when we know that in 4:24 John tells us that “God is spirit,” which fits with what Moses was told that God is being itself – the source of life.

   But what is really interesting about the Greek understanding of spirit is that it also means both “soul” and “mind.” The same word used for spirit in Greek is also used for both mind and consciousness. This means that we can connect the testimony from the NDE that consciousness is the true nature of reality to the understanding of the Holy Spirit as both soul and mind or consciousness.   

   As John tells us that God is spirit, which can be understood as mind or consciousness, he also tells us where to find God in 14:17; “you shall know him, because he will dwell with you, and be in you.”