The concept of heaven is like a sweet blurry dream from last night. We do not remember it clearly but we're sure that it was good. Similarly, There is no accurate description of heaven but we all know that it is the best place to be. There are certain illustrations of heaven in movies and childhood stories that come to mind, like blue skies with dense silver clouds, clouds all around you as if you are walking on one of them, almost blinding light everywhere, beautiful trees bearing fruit, every person in the surrounding in white overalls and calm faces (to show that they have attained "inner peace" - though i frankly think that word was created by people who do not like to have fun)
From childhood, i have been taught, through my religion as well as from other sources, that i need to be good and do good things to be in this bright, beautiful place for eternity. These illustrations do make heaven an attractive place to be, but for how long? The movies and stories do not last for more than a few hours, What would you do in a place like that for whole of eternity?
Then what should heaven be like? what can make it pleasant and joyful for whole of eternity? First requirement would be people. People i love and like to be with. Parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, uncle and aunts, grand parents, friends, colleagues, class mates and some acquaintances. And walking in the clouds all the time would be really boring. I would like to visit different places like waterfalls, lakes, beaches, my native, my house, my room, watch a movie, eat out etc. Speaking of eating out, how long can one just live on apples and oranges? I don't see any chickens walking around in the clouds in those illustrations of heaven. The more i try to draw this picture of heaven, the more it resembles my real life. I'm surrounded by people i love and like to be with. I can visit any place i like, and I think i do that quite often. And there is no limit to the choice of food available these days. Some may argue that when you enter heaven you lose all these worldly desires. You would not want anything. But then, it should not make a difference to such a person if it is heaven or hell. He doesn't want either.
What is it then that would make the difference? A natural desire would be to remove all the negatives in life. That would make the difference. A life without failures, sickness, and arguments would be very close to heaven, one may think. But doesn't failure increase the joy of subsequent success? Doesn't sickness increase the value of good health? Don't arguments and fights help us understand each other and ourselves? So i wouldn't want them to be removed. I would like to feel sad and happy, be healthy and sick, fight and make up. and fight again. The point is that i firmly believe that heaven is here, right here, right now. Right now, the joy that i get from writing this blog and posting it on the internet with a belief that the very few people who would read it, are reading it not just to pass time (if you are reading this to pass time, you have really bad taste) but because they think i'm important enough to them to spend a few minutes of their time on. And it is these people who make this place as heaven for me. It is my duty to make this heaven for them and everyone around which is why one one should do good and be good. not in return for some dream called heaven in the future.
Moral: I love my life. Go hug yours.
From childhood, i have been taught, through my religion as well as from other sources, that i need to be good and do good things to be in this bright, beautiful place for eternity. These illustrations do make heaven an attractive place to be, but for how long? The movies and stories do not last for more than a few hours, What would you do in a place like that for whole of eternity?
Then what should heaven be like? what can make it pleasant and joyful for whole of eternity? First requirement would be people. People i love and like to be with. Parents, brothers and sisters, cousins, uncle and aunts, grand parents, friends, colleagues, class mates and some acquaintances. And walking in the clouds all the time would be really boring. I would like to visit different places like waterfalls, lakes, beaches, my native, my house, my room, watch a movie, eat out etc. Speaking of eating out, how long can one just live on apples and oranges? I don't see any chickens walking around in the clouds in those illustrations of heaven. The more i try to draw this picture of heaven, the more it resembles my real life. I'm surrounded by people i love and like to be with. I can visit any place i like, and I think i do that quite often. And there is no limit to the choice of food available these days. Some may argue that when you enter heaven you lose all these worldly desires. You would not want anything. But then, it should not make a difference to such a person if it is heaven or hell. He doesn't want either.
What is it then that would make the difference? A natural desire would be to remove all the negatives in life. That would make the difference. A life without failures, sickness, and arguments would be very close to heaven, one may think. But doesn't failure increase the joy of subsequent success? Doesn't sickness increase the value of good health? Don't arguments and fights help us understand each other and ourselves? So i wouldn't want them to be removed. I would like to feel sad and happy, be healthy and sick, fight and make up. and fight again. The point is that i firmly believe that heaven is here, right here, right now. Right now, the joy that i get from writing this blog and posting it on the internet with a belief that the very few people who would read it, are reading it not just to pass time (if you are reading this to pass time, you have really bad taste) but because they think i'm important enough to them to spend a few minutes of their time on. And it is these people who make this place as heaven for me. It is my duty to make this heaven for them and everyone around which is why one one should do good and be good. not in return for some dream called heaven in the future.
Moral: I love my life. Go hug yours.
I guess your arguments are very true in a way. For us to realize the importance of the good, it is imperative that we experience the bad. And all the descriptions of heaven that are told to us do sound kinda boring and corny...
ReplyDeletebut there is one thing that i would like to add here. in this life, we experience glimpses of happiness and joy, and then it is taken away from us. The comforts of your sofa do seem kinda regular after a few weeks after you buy it, and you do end up exchanging that cell phone you had so badly wanted for a new one. In this life, we grow weary of good tings, so that we can say that comforts of this life are only so that we may get a glimpse of what comforts God Almighty has in store for us if we believe n Him.
Not just the material things, even your closest pals do many-a-times leave you for better opportunities, or maybe simply better people.
Life on this Earth is just a trailer for what is in store for you in Heaven if you somehow in the end land up there. otherwise, this life aint that bad a consolation too...:D
we can never ever comprehend the good that God can bestow upon us. I choose not to underestimate his promise. Its for each one of us to decide.
It is very true that we do grow weary of the good stuff in life. but i think the moving on is important. only when your old friends leave you, you feel the need to know other people and get closer to new friends, new experiences. school is good, but we move on to college which is also good, then move on to work which is..... not so good. The point is that in all these stages there are so many difficulties that we go through and pain that we experience, but when we reflect back to our school or college life, there is a good feeling about it. it brings a smile to my face. miss my friends and class mates, even the ones that i seldom spoke to. may be thats what happens when we die, we drift into a dream of our life. and the dream depends on the way we have lived. if you die with guilt of something you did wrong the dream will be filled with that guilt and go on for eternity a.k.a hell. If you have done good, loved and been loved, your dream may be filled with those moments and that feeling for eternity - heaven. isn't it true that how many ever times we have the same nightmare, we feel the same amount of fear in the dream. real fear. we do not grow weary of that. May be in this dream after death, we go through the dream and experience constant joy or pain without growing weary or getting used to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not about under estimating his promise. I'm of the view that God has already bestowed all the good upon me in this life. For me, doing good or leading a way of life to attain heaven is like learning something just to pass an exam. the real joy of doing and being good is felt at the very moment itself. we should experience and enjoy that, rather than expecting anything in return after we die.