Compassion
"Karen Armstrong, a former nun turned religious scholar...says the afterlife is about preserving your ego 'Eternally in optimum conditions.' It's that sort of egotism that God would have us let go of, and that builds walls between people. Armstrong is right: 'A lot of people see God as a sacred seal of approval on some of their worst fantasies about other people.' And if faith obliges us to do the will of God, we can do nothing but lovingly strive, through humility and selfless compassion, to belong here, pay attention, and take care of one another. If God is nothing but the demand that we live well here, compassion is the way, and compassion, by definition, demands humility and the end of egotism. This may mean finding the real presence of God not in any cup on any altar, where tradition has forever said it is and where we've always looked, but rather in blood donated to a local hospital [and other acts of compassion]"