If you’re searching for heaven, you must be living in hell

(Lyric from a song by Sting)

A Sting song came onto our play list a few weeks ago and both Paul and I were taken by this particular line. One of those AHA moments or moments of insight which got us thinking. What came up for me was that the line points to a paradox I don’t think we think about, but it does on the heart of spiritual seeking; a sense of longing for a different state. If we are longing for a different state, it implies dissatisfaction. I don’t want to minimize challenges, mishaps, distress we often experience in simply living on this planet, especially given what is happening in the world right now. If we look into how A Course in Miracles (ACIM) looks at the world it (And other philosophies) would say the world we see, and experience is the consequence of the ego’s misperception. Believing we are separate from our Source produces a world experienced as fear, lack, and conflict. The very intensity of the search for heaven is a sign that one is still identifying with the ego’s narrative, treating the present as a problem to be fixed rather than a classroom for inner awakening.

The Course teaches that perception is projection: the mind projects its own guilt and fear outward, interpreting the world as threatening. Thus, searching outwardly for heaven — seeking external conditions, people, or solutions to make life "right" — keeps the mind trapped in the same projection. True shift comes not from changing circumstances but from shifting perception through forgiveness and relinquishing judgment. In this sense, "living in hell" is less about external suffering and more about a mind committed to separation and its fearful interpretations. This is not easy again especially when confronted by what we see in the world right now. Yet, if we also understand that our collective minds made this world, we can also see another way.

The Course offers a practical alternative in the form of forgiveness and the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Higher Power). Forgiveness in ACIM is not condoning errors but a correction of perception: choosing to see beyond illusions to the innocence underlying every form. By turning inward and inviting help in seeing differently, we stop reinforcing the ego’s story and open to a direct experience of peace. The search for heaven becomes an inner practice of undoing the belief in separation rather than accumulating better outer conditions. As we acknowledge the power of our minds and are willing to take responsibility for how our own fear thoughts contribute to the creation of war, poverty, violence we can create a different reality.

When we shift our perception from fear to love, relinquish our attack thoughts and choose healing, miracles occur naturally. If we keep searching as if salvation is a distant object, the mind remains in a state of lack and blocks those shifts. When we recognise that the search itself signals an inner contract with fear, we can choose to redirect energy: practice presence, question fearful thoughts, and choose forgiveness in small, consistent acts.

Ultimately, the line in the song invites a radical reorientation: heaven is not a future reward but the recognition of what was never lost. The Course encourages us to stop treating the present as eternally problematic and to begin the quiet work of perception correction. When the mind stops projecting its "hell" and applies the Course’s tools of forgiveness and reliance on a higher power, the experience of heaven becomes available here and now, not as a distant objective to be chased.