I must give credit where credit is due: my courageous friend Emily has been captivating me with her blog (http://wheelsonthebus.wordpress.com/2007/05/), in preparation for writing her family story, and she has inspired me to look at what stories I might have to tell. Surprisingly, there are some! And I am going to try my best to dodge working evening shift, playdates, ADLs (that's Activities of Daily Living for you non-nursing folk) and the general black-hole of attention seeking that are my children in order to tell them. I would like to use this blog to get your feedback on some tricky Philosophical questions that I have been musing in order to set the stage for this tale...
The story is about an Angel , and it takes place in Heaven. (I don't think that there have been too many stories starring Angels that I am aware of, but please enlighten me if you know of any!) I find that Heaven is a place that most people have a simple concept of, but don't really think about. The idea of Heaven is so ingrained in our society and our psyche, whether or not we believe it is an actual place. We labels things "heavenly," we may believe that our actions will or will not send us to Heaven, and often decide whether we feel specific people deserve to be there or burning in Hell (I've got my list..).
Let me disclose here that I am a Unitarian Universalist, which is a non-denominational Church, and therefore I tend to have a very broad definition of spirituality that leaves little room for specific religious teachings or dogma. I know some of you have been raised with the Churches idea of what gets us into Heaven or Hell, some of you are Jewish, with the belief that there is no Heaven apart from Earth, and many of my more cynical friends are atheistic or agnostic. For the purpose of this exercise, please try to let go of any non-belief in Heaven as a reality, and imagine it as a philosophical concept instead. (Try substituting with "Paradise" to see if it removes some of the religious overtones)
I would like to know what you think Heaven is like. How does it function? Is it an individualistic place, or a community? If it is communal, how can everyone have their ideal afterlife, if two people have conflicting desires? (Personally, I find that being alone is the definition of Hell, and therefore I am working off of a Heaven-as-Community Model). I also see Heaven as being somewhat of an imitation of life, seeing as how people often think of the things that they will be able to do in the afterlife (walk again, see again, experience life with no pain, eat whatever they want and never gain weight, have sex with _____, perfect their golf swing, you name it)
I tried to share some of my ideas with a person (who oddly enough has a Masters in Divinity from Harvard, and he had a very hard time with my questions, but that's another story...), and I gave him an example of the kinds of Philosophical questions I have been asking myself about a communal Heaven:
In the afterlife, do people always win?
Let me explain:
You are a quadriplegic in life, and you have just died. In Heaven, would you not, then, be looking forward to shedding your wheelchair and running your pants off? In order for you to win a race, others have to lose, right? Otherwise, your Victory is empty. Who wants to be patronized after waiting for so many years to run like the wind?! I think, the feeling of winning is only "heavenly" when it is deserved. (the person I posed this too gruffly stated "I think everyone wins in Heaven" before leaving the conversation) But, although that is a nice, tree-hugging-kumbaya-socialist things to say (which that guy is! And no offense to tree-huggers...I have been known to even kiss a few), but is it true? I know if I were in a race where I was sure to win, every time, just like the person to my left and right, I would get bored of that VERY quickly.
So, then, if we sometimes lose in Heaven, what makes it Paradise? Is the difference in how we respond to losing? I mean, when WE win, wouldn't it be ideal to have your peers, who you have just bested, slapping you on the proverbial back in admiration? As opposed to them glowering, accusing you of cheating, screaming at the referee, or mentally doubling their order of steroids in order to get even? In a heavenly state, do we just chalk up losing as necessary means to a glorious end when it is our turn to win?
So please, take all the time you need and share your thoughts. I am hoping that the feedback provokes other threads we can collectively ponder. It should go without saying, but please refrain from simple, base one-liners that go something like, "Heaven is a never-ending cold beer*." Because in all honesty, I think that anything that you would do for an eternity would be Hell after a while.
* The answer from the Harvard Divinity Graduate. No joke.
7 comments:
I don't think you'd want to race in heaven. Release from the need to compete, the desire even, would be part of the change. It's not that we wouldn't want to run, but we'd be freed of the idea of winning.
Similarly, it rains in heaven, but the cold, unpleasant parts of rain disappear. Walking through rain is delighful there, just different from walking through sun.
So, much of what we find unpleasant here, the things that also spice up life, also exists in heaven, but the unpleasant parts of them are removed. Life is still interesting this way without being unpleasant.
You should reset your blog to accept anonymous comments, otherwise those without a Google account cannot comment.
I do think the angel angle will turn off a lot of people. Perhaps instead of making it heaven you should just make it an alternate universe.
Sorry -- last comment was me. I set my handle a while back...
The more I think about it, the more I realize that part of the appeal of these stories is that everything is not perfect. They are like real life with certain elements changed (elements that appeal to kids). Withuot Voldemort, why would you read Harry Potter?
Sorry, Emily, I reset my site to accept all comments. Thanks for the heads up! I am winging this blog thing, as I don't have a 12 year old in my bouse to teach me how to do it...
I see why you would think that Angels may be off-putting, but I am not worried about that. This is the story I have to tell. I have another story idea that I am working on as well (the one you discussed with me before) which has the Good vs. Evil theme. This one is less black and white, much more gray, which is why it is bringing up so many Philosophical issues.
You know, I too thought of rain, becomes sometimes sleeping in on a dark, rainy morning is just the best feeling in the world! I think Angels, who don't need to sleep, can choose to sleep on a rainy day just for the sheer pleasure of it.
In Heaven, people have no physical needs. There is no hunger, illness, tiredness, pain. However, I think people are still people, and they don't change their personality just because they die. Therefore, how much does it change them when the physical needs are gone? No stress or pressure to make a living? No physical pain or exhaustion to make them sad or angry? An eternity to do the things that they want...
Not to give too much away, but in order to provide context, my book is about a teenager going to Angel high school in order to learn how to be a Guardian Angel for people on Earth. (and therin you will find plenty of conflict and drama!)
(yikes! how do you edit in this thing? I clearly meant to write "because" and not "becomes")
heaven vs hell 1 - presbyterian minister ca. late 70's:
we get to hell and it is beautiful, large green trees, meadows, flowers. in a clearing there are tables laden with fresh food and everything delicious you can imagine. all the chairs have people in them, but they are ravaged and starving, nearly skeletons. on there arms are braces that prevent their arms from bending, they cannot feed themselves and so they starve.
then we go to heaven and of course there are beautiful trees, meadows, food on the tables and the arm braces. but here everyone is happy and satisfied, always well fed.
of course you know the difference. in heaven everyone is not selfish and so they feed each other.
i have always liked this b/c it puts the oweness on us still, we are not freed from any responsibility, heaven and hell are just a perception of existence and how we should be in it.
heaven vs hell 2 - the aetheist
why should we require the promise of someplace better in order to figure out how to do it here and now...
heaven vs hell 3 - presbyterian, from john's godmother who believes in all the christian stuff plus multiple lives (reincarnation.
we continue to be reincarnated until we get it right, so...hell is where we are now with all our f...ups, and heaven is where we get to go when we finally learn all our lessons and get it 'right'
heaven vs hell 4 - the aetheist
i only think of these things philosophically since i don't believe either of them exist as anything other than constructs by humans to try and make sense of our existence. the bummer about it is that in christianity we can come to all the requirements for heaven at the end after doing lots of crappy stuff our whole lives and still go to heaven. i think it is so lame that humans haven't evolved enough to be able to reason that we should be good to one another and that the only reward is the best one, a world worth living in! Of course all that wonderfulness would probably just lead us to over population sooner. We always want a second chance, but guess what, maybe you don't always get one. do it right the first time or accept the consequences. take responsibility for your own actions and learn.
Actually we are very unevolved and that's why we suck so bad (don't confuse this with dislike for humans or our existence) it is just that we can somehow develop many ideas of utopia, but not progress towards that.
As for utopia, the geek in me says star trek the next generation, the idea of Q - it was pretty great.
intellectually, didn't you ever see wim wenders film 'wings of desire'? find and read "towing Jehovah", it is brilliant and leaves every door wide open!
any other comments i try and write are too corny. my favorite book in a long time is "the pickup". it is not an h vs h story but "a masterpiece of creative empathy...a gripping tale of contemporary anguish and unexpected desire..."
it is always the human condition, and the best way to write that is to let us feel that condition, understand it and know why we want something more, even though we will never attain it. we can't live our lives as if we will get into heaven, only to be the best humans possible. i say keep us on earth, its so rich already...
Wow, Monica! Worth waiting for!!! These are all wonderful thoughts, and I will certainly grab those two books you mentioned. I thought I had seen wings of desire, but it is not coming back to me, so I need to re-see it.
My favorite of your parables is the table one. I remember hearing that once. It makes a powerful story, but then stranslating those ideals into day to day "living" in order to tell a story in Heaven is much more challenging! That's why it's helpful for me to post the manifestations of these ideals, and try to figure out how it will work.
...please where can I buy a unicorn?
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