now before i get alot of angry self proclaimed religious types destrying their own moral dogma attacking me for calling this a concept, by my doing i am in no way making any claim, this way or that, as to the very actual existence (or non-existence) of such a "place". Heaven, to me these days, at least as it can be considered to exist here on earth, is no more than an extreme state of joy. not to be confused with non-eternal joy states brought about by mental conditioning and circumstances coming to meet those expectations. as i interpret it, this in no way contradicts the concept of heaven from christian roots, as is it not said that heaven is sending their help to us all the time, all we need do is acknowledge and accept it, to be able to say we have? (arguably, you could say you have without acknowledgeing or accepting... but that gets into a muddlement of language) anyone else got any interpretations of heaven they'd like to share?
Another interesting post Digit, thanks Just to throw my own two penn'orth in, the idea of buddhist Nirvana is very often misinterpreted as being a place, a spiritual plane, akin to heavn. But (apart from the rainbow body and its connontations) Nirvana actually means the extinguishing of desires, and the gaining of compassion and bliss after realisationof enlightenment. We regard samsara (here) and nirvana (a state of mind and understanding) as being one and the same thing. MelT
Wouldn't heaven and hell both be a little crowded since apparently souls can enter but they can never leave?
ah, here see we bring up the view that they are eternal states once entered. and if the universe were purely linear, that could indeed be interpreted so. like i said in my first post in the hell thread however, (something like) they would surely destined to be entered [in the extreme] lest intervention was initiated. and if we were to project all potentialities for the future of our universe, surely that would be so. but only in extremes. did that make any sence?
I always think of heaven as not so much a place as a feeling. Like, it's not really a cloudy place where I can walk around and the streets are paved with gold etc. I don't even know if heaven is a conscious place. I mean, maybe it's an eternal state of happiness, and there's no need for conscious thought. I don't know much about different religions and their beliefs, but I kind of think when we die we just kind of become a part of the earth again. Like, we're just an energy. And if we're at peace with ourselves when we die we become a positive energy, but if we're full of conflict we become negative energy, and I guess that would be the equivalent of Hell. I don't know. Spiritually, I'm always a little confused.
I think that as humans we cannot fully understand nor comprehend thoughts outside the laws of logic. We can try, sure, make progress even. But I think we simply must marvel at the idea of heaven. I also think it has been used to justify the world (good/bad) because most people cannot udnerstand different moral systems and often refuse to see shades of grey. Heaven... whos to say really? We all know it comes after death, and what proof do we have that we have any conscious thought after it? Not in the literal sense, but more in the sense of a conscious "spirit" so to speak. Do we have souls? Or do our minds just allow us to think we do? How can you honestly say that we are not illusions and that our physical death is an awakening? The more I think about it, the more I agree... that life is more a trial and is supposed to be a difficult experience and that your goal is to "find" yourself. And that once you die, you are awakened in some other body of existence... Really, i can speculate for hours. But in all honesty, I just don't know.
I have mixed feelings on this subject. Sometimes I choose to believe that heaven doesnt exist, and you merely cease to exist, and have to knowledge of your, or the universes existance, much like when you are asleep in a dreamless state. I say "choose to believe", only because the alternative defies logic. When I smoke however, you all know that your thoughts just go on, and you can't stop thoughts that are too abstact or overwhelming, and I begin to think about the universe, and how can it possibly just go on forever, and that there must be something beyond it. I really have to stop typing about this, in all seriosuness, because thinking about this is just too overwhelming for me, and to a point, almost scares me. Perhaps I'll come back later and share more after I smoke and have a more open-mind free from the restraints I'm putting on it now. Reading my post, it seems I've diverged a bit from the topic. I meant to say that I thought heaven was some physical place, or at least a concious state of being, beyond the boundries of this universe.