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Imagine there’s no heaven.
—John Lennon
In last Sunday’s post (The Eternal Now) I imagined my former dogs in heaven, bounding toward me over streets of gold, wagging their tails, jumping on my chest, and slobbering my face with licks. That image brought comfort to many readers. A few, however, were perplexed.
I thought you didn’t believe in heaven.
Well, I do and I don’t. I dither a bit on the subject.
But when a child asks me if her deceased dog or mother is in heaven, that’s no time to dither. Yes, of course, is the only right answer. (In a pub over a pint, I’d dither.)
Nearly all cultures and peoples have some notion of an afterlife full of peace, joy, perfect health, and happy reunions. That in itself tells us something about human aspirations. Real or not, the idea of heaven brings comfort to many people.
I know I’ll see momma in heaven someday.
I like the idea of heaven or Nirvana or the Elysian fields. I also like the image of a band of angels swinging low to carry me over Jordan to the other side where milk and honey await me (although I’d prefer chips, dip, and beer). But I’m not counting on it.
I don’t like what Christianity did with the notion of heaven. Christianity turned heaven into a literal locale. Fine. But it also turned hell into a literal locale, scaring the bejesus out of people in order to control and manipulate them.
Do what we say and you’ll go to heaven. Don’t do what we say and you’ll go to hell.
(Other than that how was the church service?)
I can imagine there’s no heaven. (It’s easy if you try.) But I can’t imagine there’s nothing above us, only sky. I don’t know whether there’s more to life than what we can see and touch. But I believe there is.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
I see nothing wrong in imagining perfect conditions to live in forever. That’s heaven. But why wait for heaven? Live it today.
Wage peace. Do justice. Walk humbly. Be kind. Take joy. Love everyone. Romp with your dog like there’s no tomorrow. (It’s easy if you try.)
I’m pretty sure heaven is ready to help us all.
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Click to hear Stevie Wonder’s Heaven Help Us All
The Buddhists speak about bardos — states we go through when we die. The way we are thinking/being determines which one we go through, and that determines our next birth. I’m sorta skeptical about reincarnation; the cosmos is huge and incredibly complex, so why would our spirits stay on this tiny planet? But I do have a sense of Spirit. I suspect we become reunited with Consciousness, and that process can include “seeing” spirits of loved ones who have passed — like that beloved dog.
Yes – live today!
I so love your musings here, woven with lyrics that make my heart sing!
I have spoken to folks, listened to people & read books on “near death experiences “ enuf to entertain the notion that there is life after this one. And nature seems to demonstrate the renewal of life, death, & rebirth… so as my “little brother “ – 6’3” & 15 months younger than me said, when he spoke to his hospice chaplain: “I’m not afraid (to die), just curious…
And as you yourself often mused…”Heaven only knows how it will all turn out”… the implication is there too… we shall all know “by & by”!
I remember, as a child of about 6 or so, being frightened by the priest in sermon when he spoke of “burning in hell” for our sins. I did my best to go to confession and keep my little soul “clean”. I questioned it then [I was a very curious child] and said to myself, a long time ago, forget it!! Talk about mind control manipulation!! As far as our dear critters, I believe they still wander around among us. It’s like, when I talk to my mother, her spirit moves closer in and I can feel her here with me, just like my old furry friends. Example…I was thinking of a deceased feline of mine the other evening…. Pasquale. I spoke his name. Darn if I didn’t find a bit of his fur I had tucked away in an alabaster box sitting on a shelf! Hadn’t looked in that box in years! Go figure!! Heaven? Who knows??? I’m just trying to live and enjoy life here and now. I’ll find out all about that other stuff later!
I find it strange that a culture so deeply involved with entertaining itself with created drama could possibly believe that they seek a peaceful, effort-free Heaven. In my experience, the very minds who are attracted to this visualization of Heaven are busy creating drama.
The small inchings I have made toward Heaven never originated in doctrine, but in glimpses of how wonderfully the planet organism and forces function: complex far beyond our capability to imagine, but readily visible at every close look.
Our redemption (isn’t that when you go to heaven?) begins with our collective attention to our Water, Air, Earth, Fire, and Flux (energy). In our brash presumption of knowledge, we have jarred the relationships of these fundamentals.
We must go back and connect with what we created in our hurry, reckon with what we missed or ignored, and change our patterns.
What a time we live in for those who would choose to Design as an occupation! A time of looping back to revisit human design development for the equilibrium we lost at each breach of principle for the sake of production.
If we are in fact living purely to amuse ourselves or our gods, my idea of Heaven is living right here at the edge of Time.
Bradley
Wow!! Thanks so much, Randy & Bradley. I bow to the wisdom of you both. The Gospel of Thomas quotes Jesus as saying: “The Kingdom of heaven is spread out before you.” There are way too many amongst us for whom heaven would be nothingness. I’ve been there. Survived. Beyond grateful. Since this is the closest physical place to heaven, maybe we should make it possible for more folks to find & enjoy this Earth, the closest place to heaven.
I find it interesting that you felt compelled to provide a citation for Shakespeare, but not for Lennon (you were correct, of course).
This is a passage from Braiding Sweetgrass describing my hometown:
My friend Catherine grew up here. She tells me that her weekly ride to Sunday school took the family along the lakeshore, past Crucible Steel and Allied Chemical, where even on the Lord’s day, black smoke filled the sky and pools of sludge lay on either side of the road. When the preacher talked of fire and brimstone and the sulfurous vents of hell, she was sure he meant Solvay. She thought she drove to church each week through the Valley of Death.
So, I have already experienced that end of the spectrum. Let’s see what the other end looks like.
In all the discussion about the afterlife, it occurred to me that this is ego speaking. As in, I’m too important to die. There must be an afterlife to preserve me!