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Heaven and Paradise
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CogentPhilosopher
Philosophy Student
When I was a Christian it was just hope for a good life after death.
what about a good life now and the butterfly effect? what if you were god? creating your own dreams?
“Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.” zhuangzi
CogentPhilosopher
Philosophy Student
That is what I think I should do now that I am a skeptic.
That's what I thought when I was Wiccan.
And that's sorta what I thought when I was a pantheist.
A reward for sacrificing other values for the precepts of God.
Setting aside the materialistic value of this world for the materialistic values of the next. That's the way it seemed looking back at it. Though not all Christian see Heaven in the same way.
As I considered the idea of Heaven myself I was unable to imagine a heaven that would have any interest for me. So I was never motivated and couldn't understand the motivation of others. The idea of not going to heaven didn't seem much of a threat to me.
crowfeather
One
I'd always heard that Heaven was an especially pleasant place, and so, being me, I set about finding out if this was true.
After forty-odd years of extreme difficulty, I chanced upon the keys to Heaven.
It is true.
A place well-suited to eternal life, and without any kind threat or danger.
Visiting it was a preview of death, at least of a death following the overcoming of all fear.
I couldn't say what awaits the fearful, but probably it is something best avoided.
After forty-odd years of extreme difficulty, I chanced upon the keys to Heaven.
It is true.
A place well-suited to eternal life, and without any kind threat or danger.
Visiting it was a preview of death, at least of a death following the overcoming of all fear.
I couldn't say what awaits the fearful, but probably it is something best avoided.
Perhaps it may be that some may find it hard to accept that death is "the end," and they gravitate to the idea of continuing life in some kind of paradise after death. Besides, if one believes that the only other option is hell, then the motivation to want to go to heaven might be pretty strong.
yet the 1st law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created, or destroyed; so doesn't it continue to radiate into some seemingly fleeting form(system) to another?
“The Revelation of Sonmi 451 To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on and are pushing themselves throughout all time.
- Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” - Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
so it wasn't a form of escapism for you? no selfish motivation to save self and flip the middle finger to the rest of humanity?
but what is the motivation?
selfishness? or selflessnes to realize the kingdom here NOW? is at hand?
6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
CogentPhilosopher
Philosophy Student
The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed.
But death with no rebirth or afterlife would not violate that. No energy is lost or gained, it is only now in a form that we do not classify as alive.
1st of all, great movie! One of my favorites.
2nd of all, I agree. I think we die but the consequences of our actions live on.
No, I suppose I'm kind of a drama freak. All the problems that get thrown at you in this life I see as a challenge to overcome. A life in heaven without that challenge of having to struggle to achieve the best possible outcome in a crappy situation seemed boring to me.
in buddhism, there is no absence of matter in relationship to the mind/consciousness as a whole, or Absolute. The Absolute, or Ultimate Reality has a state of formless matter from which all forms arise. suffering is caused by attachments to these forms. The conservation of energy itself applies because buddhism teaches that this actual is realized from a potential. So all things arise from this no thingness and eventually absorbed within it after the sub-system/form disentigrates. Thus nothing exists apart from this because forms are temporal.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.841.4586&rep=rep1&type=pdf
the idea of a mind, body, a spirit can be seen in the first 2 lines of genesis.
Why Physicists Are Saying Consciousness Is A State Of Matter, Like a Solid, A Liquid Or A Gas
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CogentPhilosopher
Philosophy Student
What branch of Buddhism are you referring to? I study a lot of Siddhartha's ideas, but I find them to be at odds with most of the branches of Buddhism.
I frankly only care about evidence or articles that quote evidence.
arthra
Baha'i
For Baha'is "heaven" means being near God. It has nothing to do with a place as such:
The Bahá’í teachings state that there is no such physical place as heaven or hell, and emphasise the eternal journey of the soul towards perfection. They explain that references to “heaven” and “hell” in the Holy Scriptures of other religions are to be understood symbolically, describing states of nearness to and distance from God in this world and in the realms beyond. ‘
Heaven and Hell | What Bahá’ís Believe
Cobol
Code Jockey
The concept of Heaven, or paradise is a doctrine to make sense of death and to keep the mass public in line by using fear. The concept borders on absurd.
There is my atheist’s idea of what heaven would have to be like if such a thing existed, which is does not.
The definition of space is the interval between two places. Similarly, the definition of time is the interval between two events.
Heaven is timeless, eternal. That means there are no events. It is not a place or an event, never mind a series of events. Instead, Heaven would be a state of being. We need the stimuli of active interests, and the not so perfect life. Heaven couldn't continue to be interesting for eternity. Even if you enjoyed the first billion years in heaven, how would you feel after a trillion years? And supposedly it goes on forever.
What makes things good in life is that things have a challenge and sometimes they don't go exactly right.
If things were perfect all the time, there wouldn't really be a point. That leaves out a lot of the simple pleasures we take so much joy in.
There is my atheist’s idea of what heaven would have to be like if such a thing existed, which is does not.
The definition of space is the interval between two places. Similarly, the definition of time is the interval between two events.
Heaven is timeless, eternal. That means there are no events. It is not a place or an event, never mind a series of events. Instead, Heaven would be a state of being. We need the stimuli of active interests, and the not so perfect life. Heaven couldn't continue to be interesting for eternity. Even if you enjoyed the first billion years in heaven, how would you feel after a trillion years? And supposedly it goes on forever.
What makes things good in life is that things have a challenge and sometimes they don't go exactly right.
If things were perfect all the time, there wouldn't really be a point. That leaves out a lot of the simple pleasures we take so much joy in.
Do you believe in a multidimensional universe? or multiverse?
Cobol
Code Jockey
The multiverse idea is provable neither by observation, nor as an implication of well established physics. It may be true, but it cannot be shown to be true. It does have great explanatory power — it provides an empirically based rationalization for fine tuning, developed from known physical principles — but one must distinguish between explanation and prediction. Successful scientific theories make predictions that can be tested. The multiverse theory cannot make any testable predictions.
The multiverse can be disproved if we determine there are closed spatial sections in the universe (for example, if the curvature is positive).
There is not the slightest shred of reliable evidence that there is any universe other than the one we are in. No multiverse theory has so far provided a prediction that can be tested. As far as we can tell, universes are not plentiful.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
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