“If you don’t break your ropes while you’re alive, do you think ghosts will do it after?”

-Kabir

This line from one of my favorite Kabir poems has always had a special hold on me. There are many theories and theologies about  heaven, the afterlife, the World-To-Come, reincarnation, and all the other answers to the question, “What happens to us after we die?”

The best and truest answer is probably, “Who Knows?” It’s a matter of faith and hope, and all the evidence is anecdotal. Like the existence of G!D herself, there’s no empirical method to prove it one way or the other. That’s why they call it faith, and both the G!D Fearer and the Atheist have it in spades.

But we do know that death is real, and that what we have is living here and now. The Sages did not put too much emphasis on the next world, sensing that it was much more critical to focus on what we do in this one. Kabir agrees. He tells us to jump into the life we are living, that salvation belongs to the time before death, and that what we create and find for ourselves on this side of the veil, is what we will find on the other side as well.

In fact, it may well be that breaking our ropes here will create the freedom and bliss we long for there. Whatever you long for in the next life; justice, peace, serenity, bliss, grace, wonder; the surest way to achieve it is to practice it here and now. As the musicians Tuck and Patti sing, “Let’s Bring Heaven Down Here”….

What can you do today to create a little heaven in your life or another’s?

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Kabir (Kabīr) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism’s Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikh’s scripture Adi Granth. His early life was in a Muslim family, but he was strongly influenced by his teacher, the Hindu bhakti leader Ramananda.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, artist, builder, naturalist, consultant, and EcoKosher mashgiach. He lives with his wife Sara in western Massachusetts, where he serves as head groundskeeper and resident singer songwriter. Send him your favorite teaching quote for commentary. He can be reached at joe.laur@joelaur.com.