For most humans, death is a difficult concept to grasp completely. We understand that it means removal from our worldly dimension, but, beyond that, it's anybody's guess. While adults understand the affects of death somewhat better, for children it's a real conundrum. Why is this person (or animal) gone and when will they be back?
Religions try to comfort us all with visions of a heavenly destination, a place where the soul goes to live out a blissful existence free from the stress of worldly life.
I remember being told such things as a child. In Sunday School, we had books with beautiful pictures of the kindly God -- a grandfatherly sort -- welcoming loved ones into the pearly gates high in the sky beyond the clouds. It was an idyllic image and, for a brief time when I was very young, made me feel a lot better about death and its consequences.
Maybe I would have stayed in the fold a little longer IF they hadn't fused this picture with another one. Since the various authorities (church, school, parents, etc.) wished to create perfect little beings, we were constantly warned against impure thoughts. Such thoughts, I was told, were as heinous as impure actions.
To drive home this point, I was told numerous times that my dead loved ones were watching me from heaven. If an impure thought just happened to pop into me little noggin, they would see it and I certainly wouldn't want to embarrass myself in that way. So, I needed to be on my best behavior at ALL times -- even in the deep recesses of my mind.
But these two images -- a blissful existence in heaven versus celestial peeping toms -- contradict each other and I recognized this, even as a 7 or 8 year old. How can souls look down on the world below and remain blissful?
Put another way, how could a spiritual being watch incessant human misery, angst and suffering, yet not be affected in the least? "Oh Marge, look. There's a group of people being slaughtered by an army. Would you like more tea and crumpets?"
Even if you don't subscribe to the imagery of spiritual voyeurism, how could any soul be at rest knowing the trials and tribulations of their former residence?
Finally, how could any soul be blissful if there wasn't stress to counter it? We only know what things are by understanding their antithesis. If "heaven" is a place free of all stress, then me thinks it would be very, very boring. Under such conditions, blissfulness would be the same as nothingness.
And nothingness -- in the Christian sense -- doesn't sound like a lot to look forward to.
Religions try to comfort us all with visions of a heavenly destination, a place where the soul goes to live out a blissful existence free from the stress of worldly life.
I remember being told such things as a child. In Sunday School, we had books with beautiful pictures of the kindly God -- a grandfatherly sort -- welcoming loved ones into the pearly gates high in the sky beyond the clouds. It was an idyllic image and, for a brief time when I was very young, made me feel a lot better about death and its consequences.
Maybe I would have stayed in the fold a little longer IF they hadn't fused this picture with another one. Since the various authorities (church, school, parents, etc.) wished to create perfect little beings, we were constantly warned against impure thoughts. Such thoughts, I was told, were as heinous as impure actions.
To drive home this point, I was told numerous times that my dead loved ones were watching me from heaven. If an impure thought just happened to pop into me little noggin, they would see it and I certainly wouldn't want to embarrass myself in that way. So, I needed to be on my best behavior at ALL times -- even in the deep recesses of my mind.
But these two images -- a blissful existence in heaven versus celestial peeping toms -- contradict each other and I recognized this, even as a 7 or 8 year old. How can souls look down on the world below and remain blissful?
Put another way, how could a spiritual being watch incessant human misery, angst and suffering, yet not be affected in the least? "Oh Marge, look. There's a group of people being slaughtered by an army. Would you like more tea and crumpets?"
Even if you don't subscribe to the imagery of spiritual voyeurism, how could any soul be at rest knowing the trials and tribulations of their former residence?
Finally, how could any soul be blissful if there wasn't stress to counter it? We only know what things are by understanding their antithesis. If "heaven" is a place free of all stress, then me thinks it would be very, very boring. Under such conditions, blissfulness would be the same as nothingness.
And nothingness -- in the Christian sense -- doesn't sound like a lot to look forward to.
"Such thoughts, I was told, were as heinous as impure actions."
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