Do you know that there is a Ladder to Heaven?
For all to climb, be it man or woman
But we mustn't stop at step seven or eleven
We must go on till we reach our heaven

Many of us want to go to God
But we don't know the truth about our Lord
We just go to a temple, mosque, and church
Instead of going on a quest to search

The first step to God is Belief
For those who don't believe, how can they achieve?
There are some who are atheist or agnostic
A life without faith, they choose to pick

But the ones who believe, they take their first step
The Ladder to Heaven they start to inspect
They know without doubt that God exists
They believe and pray and their belief persists

There is not a day that they don't Pray
With folded hands they go to God and say
Not only to the Lord everything they tell
They also listen to Him, not just ring the bell


The third step on the Ladder is Faith
Without this one cannot reach heaven's gate
Faith is Full Assurance In The Heart
Our journey to God, it helps to start

The fourth step on the Ladder is Hope
Without Hope, how can anyone cope?
Those who believe in God they find
He is there when you reach the end of the rope

And then, the believers in God, they Trust
It is Trust that forms their journey’s ******
Trust is unconditional surrender to God
And always accepting the will of the Lord
After Belief, Prayer,Faith,Hope&Trust
What is it that stands out first?
It is Enthusiasm, that is step six
'Entheos', 'In God,' that gets our problems fixed

Then comes step seven, it's Love for God
We make it a priority, the Love for our Lord
To us, God is not someone who lives far away
Every moment that we live, with us He does stay

It is this Love that makes us seek
Our passion for God makes us climb the peak
Because we want God, we Go on a Quest
And whatever we believed, we put it to test


In our search for God we Contemplate
We spend time in Silence and for God we wait
We don't accept what the scriptures tell
And we find the truth about heaven and hell

Of course, there is Karma and we must do good
As we sow, we reap, we create our own food
But step ten on the Ladder is not to live after we die
But to learn, how to God our Soul must fly

Importance of a Guru is the Ladder's step eleven
For without a Mentor, how can we discover heaven?
A Guru takes us from darkness to light
And to Overcome Ignorance, he helps us fight

As we Overcome Ignorance and discover the myth
We climb step thirteen to Realize the Truth
We realize that we are not the ego, body, and mind
We are the Divine Soul, on realization we find

Realization is not the end of the game
There is a War within that can make us lame
Unless we transcend our enemy – ME
From Mind and Ego, we must be free

Step fifteen on the Ladder is Liberation
Liberation only comes after Realization
Liberation, when alive, is from suffering being free
And from rebirth, to escape and with our Lord to be


The final step on the Ladder to Heaven
Comes after climbing sixteen steps, we reckon
It is Unification of the Divine and our Soul
Which is our life's Ultimate Goal

Climbing this Ladder is the purpose of our life
Not just to live with misery, sorrow, and strife
For those who live on planet earth
They must face suffering birth after birth

Where are you on this Ladder, my dear?
Do you live with faith or do you live with fear?
Have you started on the Ladder to God?
The Ladder to Heaven will make you one with the Lord!

Do you know that there is a Ladder to Heaven?
For all to climb, be it man or woman
But we mustn't stop at step seven or eleven
We must go on till we reach our heaven

Many of us want to go to God
But we don't know the truth about our Lord
We just go to a temple, mosque, and church
Instead of going on a quest to search

The first step to God is Belief
For those who don't believe, how can they achieve?
There are some who are atheist or agnostic
A life without faith, they choose to pick

But the ones who believe, they take their first step
The Ladder to Heaven they start to inspect
They know without doubt that God exists
They believe and pray and their belief persists

There is not a day that they don't Pray
With folded hands they go to God and say
Not only to the Lord everything they tell
They also listen to Him, not just ring the bell

The third step on the Ladder is Faith
Without this one cannot reach heaven's gate
Faith is Full Assurance In The Heart
Our journey to God, it helps to start

The fourth step on the Ladder is Hope
Without Hope, how can anyone cope?
Those who believe in God they find
He is there when you reach the end of the rope

And then, the believers in God, they Trust
It is Trust that forms their journey’s ******
Trust is unconditional surrender to God
And always accepting the will of the Lord

After Belief, Prayer, Faith, Hope & Trust
What is it that stands out first?
It is Enthusiasm, that is step six
'Entheos', 'In God,' that gets our problems fixed

Then comes step seven, it's Love for God
We make it a priority, the Love for our Lord
To us, God is not someone who lives far away
Every moment that we live, with us He does stay

It is this Love that makes us seek
Our passion for God makes us climb the peak
Because we want God, we Go on a Quest
And whatever we believed, we put it to test

In our search for God we Contemplate
We spend time in Silence and for God we wait
We don't accept what the scriptures tell
And we find the truth about heaven and hell

Importance of a Guru comes before step eleven
For without a Guru, how can we discover heaven?
A Guru takes us from darkness to light
And to overcome ignorance, he makes us fight

As we Overcome Ignorance and discover the myth
We climb step eleven to realize the truth
We realize that we are not the ego, body, and mind
We are the Divine Soul, on realization we find

Of course, there is Karma and we must do good
As we sow, so shall we reap, that will be our food
But step twelve on the Ladder is not to live after we die
But to learn how to God our Soul must fly

Realization is not the end of the game
There is a War Within that can make us lame
We must transcend our enemy – ME
From Mind and Ego, we must be free

Step fifteen on the Ladder is Liberation
Liberation only comes after Realization
Liberation, when alive, is from suffering being free
And from rebirth, to escape and with our Lord to be

The final step on the Ladder to Heaven
Comes after climbing sixteen steps, we reckon
It is Unification of the Divine and our Soul
Which is our life's Ultimate Goal

Climbing this Ladder is the purpose of our life
Not just to live with misery and strife
For those who live on planet earth
They must face suffering birth after birth

Where are you on this Ladder, my dear?
Do you live with faith or do you live with fear?
Have you started on the Ladder to God?
The Ladder to Heaven will make you one with the Lord!

When I was young I was told to shoot for the stars
but once I got older I was told to climb a ladder
a tumultuous ladder
with rungs of compromise and concession
some of them just pointless lessons.
Ascenders climb to reach happiness
or escape misery
but I climb to climb
to occupy my time.

I spend all my energy climbing
while jet packs and rocket ships blast by me
their exhaust is blinding and suffocating.
I see bodies fall just as fast in the other direction
reachers who lost their grip
now fall to the bottom
reminding me of the gravity of my situation.

It's hard to say if I'll survive
when some people survive a fall from the top
while others die slipping two feet off the ground.
The fragility and resilience of life
seems arbitrary and random
but everyone ends up in the ground eventually.

Those above me constantly add to the ladder
so I make no progress.
Those below me constantly dig beneath it
so I keep sinking.
Climbing and going nowhere
suspended in air
at a certain point progress
becomes not falling off
and maintaining my grip
through extreme turbulence.

My hands are calloused and ******
the further up I go
the more intense the turbulence
until fear shakes my body
harder than the wind ever could.
The ladder starts splintering into my hand
until I don't know how much more I can withstand
so I devise a plan
to utilize my fellow climbers.

I find companions for assistance
I call them helpers
they're the top shelfers
I want to surround myself with.
They help me up the ladder
lifting me with encouragement
or their arms when words aren't enough
just to help me up.
Whenever I'm knocked down a few pegs
they give me back my legs
and hold my ladder steady
making life on the ladder livable
but they don't hang around forever
because this ladder I climb is mine
and everyone has their own ladder to climb.

I didn't ask for this vertical trajectory
but when my options are die or climb
I choose the ladder.