The world did not end yesterday. At least, I didn’t hear about any great earthquakes and I don’t know of anyone who mysteriously disappeared. Anyway, I’m still here. How about you?
However, the idea that the world could have ended yesterday, today or tomorrow offers a wonderful reminder that we must live our lives to the fullest extent possible right now in this moment. And if we want to experience the “rapture”–that connection with God we all seek–we need only find a way to be fully in the present. That’s where God exists. Not in the past or in the future. Not on some cloud in the sky (or in heaven). God is right here with us on this earthly plane if only we become aware, conscious, present.
It’s not so easy. That’ s why we have spiritual and meditative practices and focus our attention on becoming aware of our thoughts. We work hard at being in the now because we’ve let ourselves fall into the habit of being anywhere but right here in this moment.
In this moment, we can experience the rapture. We can experience heaven on Earth and the World to Come. The world doesn’t even have to end. If we can learn to experience that now, we won’t even notice that the world has ended–should that event come to pass.
What if the world had ended and you and I had never managed to be in the now and experience God? I supposed that might feel a lot like being left behind in hell. But it didn’t. We have time to experience rapture right here, right now.
