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…..
Recently watch “What Dreams May Come” In retrospect, I think it should be called “What Heaven May Come.”
I figured the movie would be an intricate portrayal of a man’s personal hell. It’s really a portrayal of how a man’s customized heaven readily became his personalized hell.
What would my personal Hell be? My personal hell would involve dying and waking up to realize that I wasn’t done yet. My personal hell would involve everyday things like night stands and couches. There would be annoying people and stupid people. In fact, my personal hell would pretty much be like Life, with the oppressive addition of Eternity. That’s what would make it a hell for me. As individuals, we tolerate existence because we hope beyond all reason that our lot in life will improve and then End. It’s the Goal that drives us. Progress is built into our genes and to be robbed of the possibility of progress, to be reduced to slow degradation, is the epitome of hell. It’s not the burning part that scares people, it’s the fact that it could last forever.
But you needn’t worry. Your God is a wuss. Seriously. My God could beat up your God My God is a lot tougher than yours. He could prolly bench more weight. He’s prolly killed more Indians (and Afrikaans, and… and…). He expects more and His punishments are a lot tougher.
My God would shiver ye timbers.
Though, for the life of me, I can’t imagine what my perfect heaven would be. I can’t even imagine a God that gives a damn. I can’t think of a single scenario in which I’d chose to spend eternity. The idea of heaven is really counter to what we as humans are bred to be. It works against our souls and our basic nature and desire for progress. In this regard, Heaven doesn’t exist.
Conversely, I know that any Hell crafted by the God of my understanding would be a hateful insidiously evil place designed to make one regret every second of one’s miserable afterlife. A hell crafted by Him, would be a place of great woe.
Ponder heaven and reference it against eternity and then ask thyself: what dreams may come? What dreams, indeed.