Shining Thru

Heaven…interesting word…I think it means something different to every person on the planet.  Some people don’t believe that such a place exists…some people believe that they can find heaven on earth.  Some people envision fluffy clouds and angels with harps…while others imagine a paradise customized to them.

One of the things that got me to thinking about what Heaven really is, is the movie What Dreams May Come, with Robin Williams.  A very interesting movie that has a different interpretation of heaven and hell…or at least different to what I had grown up hearing for most of my life.  The movie is kind of the same idea as The Lovely Bones as far as Heaven goes…meaning that each person can create their own heaven or they can travel and go to the shared part of heaven and see other people that share a vision of the same things of pleasure and peace.  In both movies, the people have to figure out how heaven operates and they have a guide…I have to wonder if a guardian angel’s (if you believe in such things) job doesn’t end when you die, but rather is just beginning as they have to then guide you through the steps of existence in heaven….

I think that there is a mystery that intrigues a lot of people associated with anything that we can’t see or isn’t found in this life time.  Heaven is one of those things that makes people wonder simply because it is something that wont have an answer until after you die…and even then you might not get to find out, depending on who ends up being right in the long run….Since there is no way to find out until we are indeed dead. Although some people believe that there are “near-death” experiences that reveal at least a slice of heaven or what lies on the way to heaven.  There was even a gospel written by someone who claimed that they went to heaven and were able to see all that lies there, but it was decided that it was not worthy of the Bible.

Heaven can inspire so many thoughts, death, dying, hell, angels, God or gods…..

Death is a part of life that effects everyone differently; some people fear death, while others long for it, some experience the death of others as a part of their job and see it every day, while others can’t bare to watch a movie that has a death scene.  Some people can experience the death of someone close and celebrate because they believe they are in a better place, while others weep and are never the same because part of their soul was just torn away.  Death can take its time in coming, or come suddenly unannounced….Natural death is not something that we have control over.  We can bring death sooner, but we can only hold it off for so long.  Death comes to us all, no matter how rich, or how poor, it is part of our lives and it has to be dealt with at some point, it’s not going to go away if you ignore it. 

I think it’s odd that some people think they know how you should react to a death of a loved one…the steps of grief, as if everyone is wired the same and will have the same emotional responses to everything….although granted most people go through the steps in one way or another, just because it’s not reflecting your idea of what should be happening, does not mean that that person should not feel the way they feel, and should not deal with death in their own way.  As in all things in life, I hate that our society wants to criticize or critique the way some people feel or react…as if they can help those things.