I just read my friend Monica's post where she recounts the "table story" of Heaven vs. Hell. (see comments from original post). This is such a great tale, but of course, it's the attitude of selflessness that I need to bring into these characters to function in their day to day celestial life. I find that stories about Heaven are so "perfect" (of course!) but I can't imagine writing characters who are perfect, when we humans are so clearly not.
Perhaps there is a growth period when one enters Heaven. What does that transition look like? Is it the influence of other angels who mentor you? Is it the absence of earthly needs that facilitates that transition? Is it "peer pressure" from the cultural norms up there? "Everyone else is being so self-less, it will be really obvious if I am not..."
I always wondered about people who are basically good people, but who just have the wrong idea about things. People who carry prejudice or bias with them, but who believe that they are basically good and they have the right to judge. You can't knee jerk and say they wouldn't go to Heaven. Many generally good people have very wrong ideas about things. I mean, look at the Bible belt. Don't try to tell them they aren't getting in. Also, if such people were to suddenly enter the gates of Heaven, where all good people are welcome, what is going to happen when they run into all of those married gay people who, at this rate, will have to wait until they die before their right to be a family is recognized? Are these Bible-beaters suddenly going to be kind to people who in life they condemned as being evil sinners? It will be an adjustment period, that's for sure...
My friend recently quit smoking. He took the new drug Chantix. He had to take the drug and continue to smoke for a week in order for it to work, and it was really hard. He had to force himself to smoke, and he would only last a few puffs before snuffing it. The way he described it, the urge to smoke was just...gone. He would go about his routine, and where he normally would have had the urge to smoke, there was just the small space left behind, with no desire to fill it.
I picture hatred, prejudiced, fear and bias to be somewhat like an addiction. It's a habit that humans get into in life. They hear the comments as children, learn where and how to respond, and suddenly the hatred is growing in their heart. See gay person, insert comment or feeling here. See Mexican immigrant, repeat. What if, upon entering Heaven, such people encountered the objects of their fear or hatred, and just...went blank. The urge to hate would be gone. They may remember that there is something about this person that used to invoke a response, but the response would just not be there. It would take time getting used to, of course. People are going to have to get to know themselves all over again minus all of that anger and negativity, but it will be a nice journey for them.
I guess in Heaven, the mark of a really good person will be how much you as an Angel are like you used to be on Earth.
4 comments:
You should have a whole chapter about the orientation in heaven, Heaven 101. With crabby secretaries.
It is very funny that you mention that, because this is exactly the kind of story I am writing! Some of the teachers will be people like Nuns who mean well, but are really uptight and annoying.
Are you trying to create only one heaven (just like there is only one earth-as far as we know) with certain rules and constructs? How do we know there aren't multiple heavens, individualized for each person? For example, in my heaven Bush and Cheney would have horrible, painful diseases and be ridiculed. In Bush's heaven he's driving his truck on a ranch, and everybody in town thinks he's really smart. Or are you going with the theory that heaven is one place, with consequences, positive or negative, based on your actions on earth. Then who gets to decide? I think you need some ground rules for heaven. I.e., to be an angel you had to be xyz person on earth, etc.
It is one Heaven (please refer back to my first post: Individual vs. Community). Remember, this book is for teens, and teenagers are still pretty concrete and are incredibly peer focused. All fiction about alternate worlds must have rules and consequences, or the characters can't be believeable. It is meant to be a commentary on our society, but the rules and consequences will be very different than here on Earth given the nature of the absence of Earthly needs. This is not a typical afterlife story: these kids have chosen to do something special (i.e. train to be Guardian Angels) and therefore, they can't just hang out. They are learning many new things and un-learning others.
As for who gets in...this is a tricky line that I am walking, and I haven't yet decided how this will be addressed. I have decided, however, that one of my personal beliefs that I am trying to bring into my big picture, is in the grayness of humanity, not the black and white of good and bad people. I think people, and teenagers in particular, rely too much on labeling people as good or bad, and spend les time dealing with the good or bad choices people make. I feel completely unqualitfied to say who is good enough or bad enough to get into Heaven, with a few exceptions, and I think my God and Heaven in the story will reflect that. Arabs and Jews, Conservatives and Liberals, Gays and Homophobes...they are all going to have to face each other in the afterworld. So...what will the difference be? What is it that is going to make it Heaven? The absence of the urge to judge? The absence of the competition of resources? What makes these people get along as proper Angels should, without making them different people upon the time of their death?
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