I have long wondered and questioned the idea of the Celestial Kingdom being a sort of status symbol and/or a prize to be won. I see people talking about
it in sacrament meeting like rungs on a ladder or a vertical hierarchy of kingdoms: good, better, best.

It’s like a corporate ladder, with people crawling over each other to reach the penthouse and receive keys to the executive washrooms. ” Those who are
favorably judged receive the Celestial Kingdom as a “job well done. You knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but now you see it was worth it.” In actuality, I don’t see it
in that way at all.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a big fan of the late, great English author and philosopher,C.S. Lewis If this post were fan fiction, it would be dedicated to his
book, “The Great Divorce.” A lot of my belief of the afterlife comes from this literary masterpiece.

Lewis creates a world in which people are living in a dingy village where it rains all the time. Each day, a bus picks up the villagers and transports them to an
enormous plain. Across the way God’s city – heaven – can be seen, glowing with Hisglory. The bus driver tells people they are free to journey to the city, but they have
to be barefoot. They quickly discover that the plain is covered with sharp grass thatcuts their feet. Some people turn back because they can’t endure the pain. Otherstrudge onward but encounter people they despised on earth who now live in God’scity. They also turn back, unable to stomach the thought of living in the city of God
with such despicable and unworthy types. Only a few people “choose” to go on. Themajority of people “choose” to return to their dingy village where they are more
comfortable.

That’s how I see the afterlife – God isn’t going to consign us to some kingdom; he loves us enough to allow us to “choose” where we would be most
comfortable.

“Choose” is the key word. If there is a principle of the LDS faith in which which I have a complete testimony, it is “free agency.” We know that agency
existed in the pre-mortal life, and the exercise of it caused the great war in heaven and the banishment of one-third of our brothers and sisters. “Choose the Right” —
it’s a foundational principle of Mormonism. Wit ,,and no other principle that I know of has found its way onto rings, necklaces and T-shirts.
I want to opine on how life is a process of “choosing” – using our agency – to I shape our afterlife into something remarkably similar to what we experience
on earth. Now hear me out, scripture-mastery star students. According to scripture there are the kingdoms: Celestial, Terrestial, Telestial and something
called “Outer Darkness” for Satan and a very few others. We tend to think of theseas longitudinal, again like a corporate ladder. We tend to think that in consigning us
to the Telestial Kingdom, God is somehow “punishing” us, when, in fact, he is actually allowing us to choose the third kingdom because it’s more to our liking.

After all, we learn from the Doctrine and Covenants that the Telestial is a kingdom of glory above that of anything we’ve had on earth. From that perspective, it’s
actually a “reward” from God because of His intense love for us. It’s amazing that so many Christians believe in a God who blithely sentences his creations to Hell
and an eternal lake of fire and brimstone.

Why not see the kingdoms as horizontal and not good, better, best but simply different with different things happening. When I look at the world we live
in, I feel we currently have access to all of the kingdoms right here on earth. Symbolically speaking, we have the temple with its Celestial lifestyle, and we
certainly know that there are some evil people and evil doings that are outer darkness. We often hear that we’re living in the Telestial Kingdom (as I said, in
actuality, the Telestial Kingdom will be beyond anything on earth.) But, for the sake of conversation, let’s go with earth as the Telestial Sandals resort; I use that
analogy because, frankly, life in the so-called “lowest kingdom” isn’t all that bad.

Think of sitting under the Caribbean stars, listening to a favorite band, all while snuggled up with my significant other and two kids. Whoa, I have to say thiskingdom isn’t all that bad. In fact, if I am being completely honest, I spend a lot of my time in the Telestial and have good days that are a bit more Terrestial. l could and should definitely spend more time in to the Celestial. Here’s the part where I feel like things are a bit more fluid with the kingdoms. Take my life-long best-friend who technically isn’t a Mormon, but is really the best Mormon friend I’ve ever had.

She comes from a solid home with solid morals values. We hang out all the time and to be honest with you, it wouldn’t be heaven for me if she weren’t there.
When I was married in the temple, she couldn’t come to the ceremony (the Celestial Kingdom) but was able to participate with all the rest. I have gone to plenty of bars with friends to enjoy some dueling pianos (Telestial kingdom). While I don’t want to spend all my time there, I do enjoy visiting from time to time. If our Heavenly parents want us to be happy – and I know they do — and ultimately if WE want to be happy, we’ll be moving among the kingdoms, like traveling across Europe. I’m not going to rank countries according to their perceived glory, but eternity would be wonderful if we could visit Paris, Rome and Moscow. We will be visiting friends and family who have chosen a particular locale and lifestyle through our Heavenly Father’s plan. If we have chosen a Celestial lifestyle, then our friends and families may not be comfortable in visiting us, just like there are certain countries and cities that I would avoid at all costs. I love the idea andprospect of creating worlds and little people for eternity as part of the Celestial lifestyle, but it’s not for everybody. And it’s a lifestyle to be chosen through agency as evidenced by our time and heart rather than a status to be won.