Heaven

[Gehennaite]

I was interested to see what people make of this powerful and moving quote, and how it relates to or perhaps changes your perspective on what a heaven could possibly look like, if 'heavenly' at all?

I stopped using the word "heaven" a while ago. I like to say the afterlife or the hereafter instead.

People need to stop looking at the afterlife as some kind of magical solution to all of mankind's problems. Just look at how the Earth turned out. If God never stepped in for us on the Earth, what makes you think It will step in for us in the hereafter? Always assume the worst possible case scenario, for if it's true, then you will have nothing to lose. If you're wrong and the next life exceeds your expectations, then you have only to gain.

In my assumption, I highly doubt we'll find ourselves joyously experiencing some transcendent civilization, unified & glorified by God. Reality will still probably be a subjective experience. Everyone will still probably have free will and express it in a way that offends others. We will still probably struggle with each other from time to time. Expect to be thrown into a confusing and divided mix of various societies & civilizations.

To protect yourself from any kind of pitfall you need to develop rigid character, become independent, seek transcendence. I'd hate to go into the next world feeling overpowered, insignificant, or vulnerable... which is how the person in your OP seems to come off as...

 

[Lyndale]

:run:I believe in Heaven.

 

[Pegg]

In Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Catherine is speaking to her childhood nurse, Nelly. Catherine tells Nelly that if she were in heaven she would be miserable.

“I dreamt once that I was there……heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out, into the middle of the heath on top of Wuthering Heights, where I woke up sobbing for joy.”

This of course flips the conventional notion of heaven that was and is believed on its head. A wonderful reversal of the traditional dogma.

That rather than being a paradise where not having a spot there would make you weep, heaven is a foreign, alien place, not somewhere where you could be happy. Weeping for joy because you have been sent back to the natural world, the world of elements and feelings, your home.

I was interested to see what people make of this powerful and moving quote, and how it relates to or perhaps changes your perspective on what a heaven could possibly look like, if 'heavenly' at all?

it makes perfect sense to me.

Man was created for the earth....and who wouldnt want to live here forever to enjoy it?