The Kingdom of Heaven is not an unpractical dream.

How do those fare, in the next life, who possess some of the spiritual qualities necessary, for the spirit's progress to higher spheres than the earth plane? 

Where a person lives a life of self-denial on earth, he is pretty certain to be well rewarded in the next life. 

Self-denial, or the suppression of self, is the great thing needed to secure your future happiness. 

Self-denial is not the self-denial of earthly enjoyments, but the sharing of your own enjoyments with others. In short, to find your own happiness in the pleasure of seeing others happy. 

You have a duty to yourself, as well as to others, and the correct performance of your duty involves the correct performance of your duty to yourself because you cannot be happy in doing good unless you are yourself in a good state of health of mind and body. 

You see, therefore, that doing good involves no self-sacrifice, but the highest self-seeking—the attainment of your own spiritual good and the bestowal of that good upon others. 

In fact, you cannot be happy if you keep a good to yourself; you must learn to conquer self sufficiently to sacrifice something for others. 

The sacrifice is, however, not really such at all—it is only a distorted mental vision that makes it appear so. 

If you are going to do what is right—in other words, what you feel qualified for—it cannot involve anything irksome when once you get fairly into it. 

You may lead a true life, without any great hardships to encounter, if you will only take the right road to find your peculiar sphere in life and then strive to fulfil it.

What you should do is to find out where you can be of the most use and try to carry out your dreams of usefulness in the way you are best qualified. 

Do not torture yourself into being, or doing something you feel uncongenial, but pray for enlightenment and a road will be opened up to you for doing good that will make you happy.

Those who lead such a life feel the meaning of the expression, the Kingdom of Heaven is within you. 

For them, no need to wait until the grave closes on the body to appreciate the happiness in store for them in the spirit world. 

It is already within, and around them, and if they are in bodily health, they need fear no trials or troubles in life, though many may crowd around them. 

They are protected by a shield of happiness, which renders all the world a home to them, and all men their friends. 

This is not an unpractical dream.