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also Belief, God, Reality, Religion, Superstition Imagination driven by hope drives us to envision an existence beyond what we now perceive. For without ‘life after death’ all that we do, all that we build is meaningless. If there is no God, no Plan for us then all of creation, all human accomplishment has no purpose. Such things as ethics and morality are mere practical considerations devised to maintain a semblance of peace. Brief drives for survival determine what humans do. Nothing else. Life in the cosmos is just an anomaly: matter that somehow gained unusual form and feeling. A unique occurrence that will disappear… forever. So we react to such a prospect with visions of something ‘more’. Something that gives meaning to our lives. A purpose, a reason for creation. But is this idle hope? Are we deceiving ourselves to assuage fear… of the void, of nothingness? Atheists think so. Agnostics don’t know. Just go about the business of ‘living’; don’t worry about it. Kind of sad if not frightening for them. All that matters is the transitory. Get what you can out of it: A little pleasure, some acquisitions, maybe respect even praise. But certainly no sense of accomplishment. For they would have to be deceiving themselves. For what they do ultimately has no meaning. Everything they build will dissolve. Even their own character. But… they try to be ‘realists’. What matters is matter and manipulating it. All else is fantasy. What more can be said? Are they missing something? A reality so obvious that their smug blindness to it can only be attributed to pride. They are above ‘feelings’, above the multitudes and their diverse views of God and Heaven. Above the naiveté of mass conformity. And yes they might be. But these ‘intellectual’ snobs are ignoring one basic fact: HUMAN BEINGS ARE UNIQUE IN THE UNIVERSE. All the abilities that human beings possess must have purpose. Everything has purpose. So when you wonder in awe, when you appreciate beauty, when you chose and consider morality, when you imagine what could be and when you love, truly love… you are behaving in a way that is far beyond what other creatures are capable of. You are exhibiting understandable traits that provide reasonable hope in something beyond, something Infinite. Such awesome talents, such sublime reasoning must be participating in a ‘reality’ far beyond our mortal perceptions. And this gives hope, even expectation, of something ‘more’… of a continued existence.
It is easy to mock the depictions of Heaven and
Hell by such wildly, imaginative minds as Heronomous Bach. He
was informed by religious principles and he expressed views
artistically based on literal interpretations. There have been
and always will be contributions to understanding where we are
heading. Humans are tenacious in their efforts to gain insight,
to unlock mysteries. Witness the past 100 years. Amazing what is
now ‘seen’ that once was ‘invisible’. And so we will continue to
question and contemplate issues that affect us intimately. We
want to know more about our future, our life after death. We CAN
feel confident though that what elevates us now will continue…
that love somehow will come to fruition… for it is the
considered purpose of man.
RETURN TO HEAVEN DEFINITIONS
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