The Man Who Went to Heaven—and Came Back

Where do we go when we die? Maybe you believe that there is no place to go, that when this life is over the light goes out for good. But if you’re like me, you believe that the body is merely a vehicle for the soul—and that after the death of your body, your soul lives on in a world beyond this one. It’s a place that some people refer to as heaven.

In the book Regaining Paradise, Forming a New Worldview, Knowing God, and Journeying into Eternity, Paul Corson tells us that heaven exists. He should know as he claims to have visited heaven on more than one occasion. First, at the age of 10 years old when a visionary experience showed him the “Other Side.” Then again, at the age of 50, when a near-death experience (NDE) allowed him to “enter the white light of heaven.”

Corson believes that the “causative force” behind life, or what many of us know as God, has sought him out for reasons he can’t explain. As time has passed, his connection to this divine source has grown stronger. For Corson, who is now is in his 90s, this includes his ability to visit heaven at any time, a journey that takes place in his mind. He sees heaven “as a transitional stage in which we greatly expand our knowledge and spiritual growth” and he taps into it at will.

The topic of heaven is just one aspect of Regaining Paradise. Corson’s book is sprawling, he seems to have crammed all he has learned in his 90-plus years into its 417 pages. He delves heavily into consciousness and quantum physics among other subjects, expounding on his own theory of how life works, mixing science with spirituality. But ultimately, I found most fascinating his explanation of what happens to us after we die and his detailed description of heaven.

The words below are Corson’s though I have done some editing and strung together several different passages to form a loose narrative. His introduction to heaven starts with this notion:

 When you die, you don’t really die.

When your spirit is freed from its home at death, you will proceed to the next chapter of an infinite number of chapters in your life. You will be transported from a materially restrictive existence to one that is many times more blissful and radiant than anything you have experienced on this Earth.

You will be bathed in light, a magical light that reaches us only dimly during our lives. The light will greet you and embrace you. You will be in a timeless place beyond our universe.

In this egoless, enlightened state, the force of gravity will appear suspended. You’ll experience weightlessness as your sense of self separates from your physical body.

In heaven, you’ll no longer experience time as you know it.

In real life, moments pass quickly. Often too quickly. You may have a moment of bliss, but time takes you to the next minute, distancing you from the awe as one moment follows another.

Yet imagine the wonder you would feel if, instead of experiencing such awe as a fleeting event, your sense of wonder continued endlessly, becoming ever more profound. That’s what it’s like in heaven.

In this realm, you feel yourself deeply rooted because your experiences unfold at your own pace. You can slow time down, quicken it, or stop it altogether, prolonging any moment for as long as you want.

The wall of time that confines you now will be replaced by an ever-expanding sense of time. Heaven endlessly, boundlessly expands before you.

How we lived our lives determines our experience in heaven.

Whatever you can visualize that is affirmative and feels ethically right on Earth, you will be able to experience to a far greater degree in heaven. What you appreciated most in this life is a foreshadowing of what you will experience in heaven.

As real as this current moment is to you, the same sense of realness will continue on the next level, but in a much grander fashion. Your mind will be expanded.

Your imagination will create your experiences in heaven, but your experiences are a privilege that you earned through good deeds here. You will still be the person you are now but without the shortcomings of fear, anxiety, or dissatisfaction that are inherent to the human condition.

The causative force known as God allows your belief system to stage the setting of your new home in heaven.  You’ll find yourself in a setting that is comfortable to you, representing what you most appreciated on Earth.

You’ll be reunited with those who have departed.

You’ll recognize individuals in heaven through a sense of higher, keener knowing. Each of us will have an unmistakable aura that reflects who we were on Earth and what we’ve become in heaven.

You will be gloriously reunited with loved ones and feel their loving embrace. Or perhaps you turned away from the love of your life while on Earth. Could you find that person in heaven? Yes. For the most part, you will receive what you longed for on Earth.

You will experience an ongoing state of ever-increasing bliss. Your consciousness will enter states of connectedness with others in which you will soar. The closeness, the warmth, and the love you will feel is beyond description.

You’ll be stunned by a realization that will hit you with the force of thousands of lightening bolts. Fully awakened, you will have an absolute understanding that this is not a dream. This miraculous place is your new home.

Is Corson a crackpot? Is he simply an elderly man with a good imagination? Or has he really established a connection with another world beyond this one, provided with visionary experiences by the “causative force” so that he can share them with those of us on Earth? I’ll let you be the judge.