"But as it is written,
'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him'."
-- 1 Corinthians 2:9
Although I am re-exploring my Christian roots, I hesitate to even believe in an Afterlife. I am agnostic about an ethereal realm called Heaven, or even a state of the soul.
Don't get me wrong; I love God, and I love Christ. I even love the Blessed Mother, Saint Mary. However, I believe in building Zion here on earth, and transforming it into a New Jerusalem.
Christ said that the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven, since Heaven was a Hebrew-Greek covering for God) is within you, and all around you, and not in places of wood and stone (ref. Gospel of Thomas). It is an immediate thing, that transforms people into the better angels of our own mortal nature.
"Jesus said, 'If those who attract you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is under the earth,' then the fish of the sea will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom of God is inside of you, and it is outside of you. Those who become acquainted with themselves will find it; and when you become acquainted with yourselves, you will understand that it is you who are the children of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."
-- Saying 3, Gospel of Thomas
Certainly, Heaven to me is a spiritual state of beatific vision and divinisation on earth, where we are in union with Christ, united with spirit and truth. Where we see all beings as equal and interdependent members of human society, where we seek justice and righteousness like streams of running water.
I can not think of a better realm of God than on building His Kingdom on Earth, where we covenant ourselves with humanity, and build a better world: our Zion, and our New Jerusalem.
"The Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."
-- Moses 7:19