What would we need to do to make the world we live in a happier place for everyone?
What can you do, today, to make a heaven right here on earth? John E. Wade II set out to find answers to these questions by collecting essays on the topic of heaven on earth from 101 great leaders, thinkers, and writers. By reading these essays, we can all come to understand how the little things we choose to do in this world really have the potential to create a heaven on earth.
How To Achieve A Heaven On Earth (Pelican Publishing/ 2010) is a delightful, hopeful book that was a joy to read. I personally have a tremendous amount of faith in humanity. I believe that we each have the power to make changes in our own lives and the lives of others, creating a snowball effect that quite literally can change the world. I don’t believe that I personally will make huge changes by myself, but as a society if every person makes one or two small changes, great results will occur. So I was absolutely inspired by many of the essays I read in this book.
Some of the contributors to this essay collection will be very familiar to the reader: Barack Obama, Nicholas Kristof, Al Gore, Tony Blair, Thomas Friedman, and Ted Turner, to name a few. Others you may not be as familiar with, such as Alice Schroeder, Mike Farrell,Anne Teachworth, and Levi Ben-Shumel. But known or unknown, I guarantee you that every single author featured in this book has something worthwhile to say. I have to admit that I did not agree with every person’s perspective on what a heaven on earth would look like. Some of their political views were contrary to my own, some religious beliefs different from mine, etc., but each essay caused me to really think about the issues presented within. And the book helped me to formulate my own thoughts on what I can do, today, to help create a heaven in my own life.
One other thing I’ll say about this one is that it is a great book to read in snippets. The vast majority of the essays are only two or three pages in length, so I would just read a few essays each time I sat down with the book, stretching it out over a couple of weeks of reading. It isn’t a book I would have wanted to rush, as I enjoyed taking the time to digest every essay I read.
If you are interested in social issues, care about making the world a better place, or just enjoy reading essays, I would definitely recommend How To Achieve A Heaven On Earth. It is a sweet book about the little ways that we can all make a difference.
Spirituality Books How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth
Essays From World’s Greatest Thinkers Edited by John E. Wade II
Feb 7, 2010 Sandra Williams
The essays explore how to promote peace, prosperity, ecological awareness and racial harmony. People from all over the world contributed their thoughts on world peace.
How To Achieve A Heaven On Earth: 101 Insightful essays from the world’s greatest thinkers, leaders and writers are edited by John E. Wade II.
According to John E. Wade, God intended everyone to live in a heaven on earth. There are ten elements needed to achieve this. Each chapter is divided into these elements with essays expanding on each.
Ten Elements to Achieve Heaven on Earth:
- Peace
- Security
- Freedom
- Democracies
- Prosperity – Julie Burtinshaw, the editor for Reading and Literature at Suite101 contributed the inspiring essay “Ending Poverty One Loan at a Time: Dr. Yunus and the Grameem Bank”.
- Spiritual Harmony
- Racial Harmony
- Ecological Harmony
- Health
- Moral Purpose and Meaning
It’s easy to see that all ten elements are necessary because prosperity without world peace won’t feel heavenly, and ecological harmony without racial harmony would still divide people.
People Who Contributed Essays in How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth:
Some of the famous people who contributed their thoughts include: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Marianne Williamson, Al Gore, Ted Turner, Chris Rose, Tony Blair and more.
Essays on Marriage
Anne Teachworth shares her ten commandments for couples in her essay entitled “how to achieve a heaven on earth in Marriage”.
As an example, here’s Anne’s eighth marriage commandment: “Stay open, trusting and pleasant in your communication, reliable in your promises, truthful in sharing your feelings, admitting your mistakes, and giving feedback without criticizing, accusing, intimidating, abusing, lying, insulting or betraying each other’s confidences or secrets.”
Essays from Recovering Addicts
Addicts share their stories about their struggles with addictions along with their inspirational recoveries and how that led them to help others. Todd Crandell founded Racing For Recovery after his thirteen year struggle with addictions and focuses on preventing substance abuse and increasing health.
How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth refers to the U.S. in the preface so that “our” and “we” seems more directed towards Americans. John E. Wade II promotes maintaining a strong military force in order to achieve world peace and combat genocide. Every essay that follows doesn’t necessarily reinforce this stance.
The intent is to achieve world peace, so a reader from any country would benefit from the essays. They are uplifting personal stories from all over the world that offer ideas to everyone about how they can contribute towards creating a heaven on earth in their own communities.
About John E. Wade II
John E. Wade is an author, anthropologist and retired accountant who founded the nonprofit organization Soldiers of Love. Half of all the proceeds from How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth (Pelican Publishing Company, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-58980-597-2) will go towards the charity. Soldiers of Love promote the ten elements to create a heaven on earth. In the past they’ve partnered with Desire Street Ministries, Junior Achievement and Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.
“I will try to love and help create a heaven on earth.” – Soldiers of Love Pledge
Read more at Suite101: How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth: Essays From World’s Greatest Thinkers Edited by John E. Wade II
