@gakINGKONG Said
I travel but even when I'm at the house it doesn't feel home. Disease, illness, death, corruption, broken lives. This life isn't pure. Heaven on earth is different than this.
I read once a theologian who interpreted the words from Genesis, of God looking at His creation, "and saw that it was good" as meaning, not perfect in the sense of being one side of all the opposites, but as "good
for purpose "
What was the "purpose"? Christians might say a place of soul making. Eckhart says:-“In giving us His love God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we can love Him with the love wherewith He loves Himself.”
Well, I tend to convert theistic language (or let others do it for me.
) Here is Hiroyuki Itsuki from his book "Tariki: Embracing Despair, Discovering Peace." (Just to add, Itsuki was no cloistered philosopher. His book contains a lot of autobiographical detail drawn from his younger days living as a refugee in conditions of suffering thankfully beyond my own experience. His faith was hard won)
"The Other Power (Tariki) derives from the true and full acceptance of the reality that is within us and surrounds us. It is not a philosophy of passivity or iresponsibility, but one of radical spiritual activity, of personal, existential revolution. Its essence is the spontaneous wondrous force that gives us the will to act, to 'do what man can do and then wait for heaven's will.' Importantly, Other Power is a power that flows from the fundamental realization that, in the lives we live, we are already enlightened. This enlightenment does not come easily. It is born of the unwelcome understanding that, despite our protestations, we are insignificant, imperfect beings, born to a hell of suffering that defines human existence. But in this hell, we sometimes excounter small joys, friendship, the kind acts of strangers, and the miracle of love. We experience moments when we are filled with courage, when the world sparkles with hopes and dreams. There are even times when we are deeply grateful to have been born. These moments are paradise. But paradise is not another realm; it is here, in the very midst of the hell of this world. Other Power, a power that transcends theological distinctions, avails us of these moments. In the endless uncertainties of contemporary life, Other Power confers upon us a flexibility of spirit, an energy to feel joy, and the respite of peace. "
So, this for me is the Pure Land. Not some imagined "other" beyond the horizon of death.