Through meditation, what I experience "now" of heaven, however is very different and changing as I am immersed into silence, stillness, and the simplicity of the practice. Deepak Chopra describes this changing reality in his book, "Life after Death".
Three worlds: A Map of Eternity
1. Consciousness of physical objects: This is the world of concrete things that we verify through the five senses. It obeys linear time. We appear to ourselves as physical bodies separated in time and space. A life span occupies a limited number of years between two absolute events, birth and death.
The laws obeyed in this dimension are strict. Gravity, the speed of light, and the conservation of matter and energy (which can be neither created nor destroyed) form the foundation of every other natural law.
If this is your primary world, you have certain powers that allow you to explore it. These include physical strength, willpower, reason, emotional expression, sexuality, and personal authority. To the extent that you use these powers fully, you will be more and more successful. At the same time, you are most likely to become attached to this dimension of consciousness as the only reality.
In this world Akasha feels like physical space filled with an infinity of material things.
The soul feels personal but is seen only in short glimpses.
2. Consciousness of subtle objects: This the world of dream, imagination, and inspiration in all its many forms. We verify this world through intuition, detecting qualities like love and beauty, feeling a subtle presence within and without that is not available to the five senses. A life span in this dimension lasts as long as it can be imagined.
The laws of the subtle world are fluid. Events can happen forward or backward. Invisible structures may persist for a long time (for example, as myths and archetypes) but even then, time doesn't bind them as strictly as in the physical world. Gravity and the speed of light are no longer absolutes.
If this is your primary world, you will have certain powers that allow you to explore it. These include imagination, memory, artistic abilities, spiritual sensitivity, healing abilities, and intuition. The more you exercise these powers, the more successful you will be. However, you may also find yourself detached from the physical world and unable to navigate it will as someone without intuition and spiritual sensitivity. This will worry you until you discover that the subtle world is capable of supporting you.
Akasha feels dreamlike, filled with memories and images, archetypes and gods, spirits and etheric beings.
The soul feels like a guiding force leading back to the source. It is sensed constantly.
3. Pure Consciousness: This is the world of awareness being aware of itself. There are no objects, gross or subtle. We verify this world through "I Am". Existence becomes its own end, its own reward. As an experience, pure consciousness begins with a silent mind; this grows in richness and meaning the longer a person has the experience.
The laws of this world apply to creation itself. The seeds of every object and event gestate here. Here is the possibility of time, space, and physical things. There is also the possibility of mind, as yet without thought of images. Although totally free of anything visible, pure consciousness is eager to give birth; mystics tell us it is pregnant with "All That Is".
If this is your primary world, you need no powers to navigate it. The flow of time and the expansion of space are neutral events to you; they come and go within your being. You witness them without attachment, although if you wish, you can call upon any quality -- love, compassion, strength, truth -- and experience it in fullness.
In this world, Akasha feels uncreated. Concepts like birth and death, life and death, have no relevance. There is only existence. To be is an all-enveloping experience.
It must always be kept in mind that the afterlife is not as "after" as we assume. All three dimensions of consciousness are ever-present space.
Akasha enclosing the world of physical objects is three-dimensional. Our eyes can survey the landscape to tell us where we are. Up and down are fixed directions to orient us physically. Before and after are fixed points in time to orient us to where we are in our lifetimes.
Akasha enclosing the world of subtle objects has much vaguer boundaries. These can change in an instant to free-floating dream-space. In the absence of fixed dimensions, experience is measured in terms of intensity. Emotions are heightened, dreams become more vivid, and the presence of angels and other etheric entities is felt directly. With experience, this becomes a comfortable space on its own terms, as it already is for artists, intuitives, and deeply spiritual people.
Akasha enclosing itself is pure existence. It feels incredibly secure because there is unity with everything. Any experience comes from within, a single point from which creation emanates like an energy beam or a flower opening infinitely.
The soul is impersonal. It is "Being", with no added qualities.
From: "Life After Death" by Deepak Chopra
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