why heaven and hell?
In religion, there are continuous overlapping phenomena.
Almost every religion includes spiritual beings that are capable of transcending fundamental laws of the universe, as well as an omniscient consciousness who stands at the pinnacle of this hierarchy, or rather, transcends hierarchies altogether.
Christianity contains within it such a representation of reality, including spiritual beings, however the nature of God Himself manifests differently.
The consciousness of each individual, the physical properties of everything that exists, the spiritual beings as well as the harmonious nature of all of this is tethered and regulated by this omniscient being that is represented in religion everywhere.
One must understand that to interpret the Bible literally is likely not as it was meant to be understood (not until it was inevitably warped and twisted in innumerable ways). The metaphorical nature of many of the teachings, as well as the allegorical structure that the book retains, leads to the conclusion that the fundamentalist proclivity to boil everything down until only dogma is left is obviously, wrong.
The problem with holding this belief is that it inevitably results in moral relativism, as there is no principle set entirely in stone.
Reconciling these two truths is difficult, but regardless, even those who follow Judaism typically believe that hell is not a literal pit of fire in which one experiences physical burning for eternity, but rather the symbolic representation of what it is like to be separated from God.
Being deprived from the connection to meaning or the transcendent, when played out to its end as demonstrated in historical instances of totalitarianism, is hell in every sense of the word.
The symbolic nature of the physical burning (which is evidently excruciating pain), along with the symbolic purification associated with fire ties well into this.
To be separated from God is to have all the pleasures that have been graciously given to you throughout your life, that which you have continually taken for granted, as well as the unbelievable sense of meaning one receives, immediately revoked from you.
There are various other components that one could attribute to this act of separation; however, there are undoubtedly a substantial amount that humans are entirely unable to articulate. This is due to the astronomical nature of reality and the universe, (especially relating to order and harmony) which we are incapable of fully comprehending.
An example of the evident inability for humans to understand would be insanity, as there is a tremendous amount of dysregulation and lack of harmony throughout the systems embedded within one’s psyche.
5-meO DMT gives people an experience described as that of an entire disconnection with absolutely everything. Being one of the most powerful psychedelics, DMT in this form produces a high stress experience in which the person’s present reality is characterized as devoid of everything and anything.
the excellency of art
Without the use of symbolic language or a referencing of other transcendent creations, it is extremely difficult using cold rationalization to describe what makes beautiful art or music so compelling. People understand there is some overarching narrative or connection between great works, but it is so great that a visceral emotional reaction is provoked rather than an attempt at explanation.
One of the things that makes a creative masterpiece amazing is the almost universal inability for anyone to use language to explain why they feel so connected with some arbitrary splashes of color or series of noises.
There is something so uniquely human that intensely creative geniuses are capable of tapping into that mirrors the collective spirit of transcendence while simultaneously giving a coherent personality to the creation. It has just the right amount of chaos or entropy for there to be some semblance of confusion or mystery (room for interpretation even), but retains a structure nonetheless.
The rich symbolism associated with heaven is complex and remarkable, especially as it relates to the innate human desire to achieve paradise. Continually, throughout the history of mankind, it has always been a matter of making things better. Making the chance of dying lower (as that relates to food, water, shelter, protection, social relationships, etc…) is a primary demonstration of this methodology, as that was a significant threat for a long period of time.
The act of preventing snakes from killing us leads to changes in physiology and particularly an expansion in brain capacity and vision. This is why throughout religions (Egyptian mythology in particular) various characters who stand at the pinnacle frequently have some sort of eye symbolism associated with them.
The person who has better eyes is capable of noticing predators lurking, and as civilization became more sophisticated and threats from animals became essentially non-existent, new threats emerged.
This being the human capacity to use this remarkable infrastructure for their own personal gain, and at the worst end to simply harm other individuals for pleasure.
This goes to represent the immense inadequacy of humanity, which directly relates to the story present in the Tower of Babel. This Luciferian proclivity of humans to believe that not only does making circumstances more comfortable result in more happiness, but also that humans are capable of reaching perfection through their own ability is absurd.
Another reason for the inability of humans to create paradise aside from horrible imperfections and malevolence is the psychological state associated with happiness. People experience very little positive emotion from achieving a goal, but rather through the process of attainment.
Throughout the course of history, by continually attempting to create the perfect, ideal living circumstances, the act of trying to achieve this paradisiacal reality has become more important to us than actuality of achieving it.
That is one of the reasons that striving towards God is so heavily pushed in the biblical corpus, as having the highest conceivable goal results in the most progress that can possibly be made.
The Tower of Babel
Through the implicit assumption that a utopia was possible, a symbolic totalitarian state was constructed in this story. The structure continually grew until there was a significant disconnect between the individuals, and finally resulted in the inability for any of them to communicate using the same language.
Through a loss of the concept of the transcendent, (that being something that is impossible to attain yet necessary and essential to strive for and emulate) and a warping of that which those apart of this fantasy valued, a utopia was conceived of.
Through the process of establishing this tower, the collective were turned against each other.
Many would argue that a goal being impossible defeats the purpose and by definition makes it worthless, but the goal being unattainable is precisely what makes it valuable. That is one of the most important aspects of Christianity, is that it has absolutely nothing to do with your own achievements and ability, as everyone is terribly insufficient.
This evidently relates not only to the intrinsic psychological component of humans to continually advance towards something unachievable, but also uses this to assist in the collective move towards good.
Heaven also assists in relieving the unbelievable burden that is human suffering by allowing individuals to understand that all that they do is not in vain.
It is extremely easy to get caught up in the flow of life in an industrialized society and eventually reach a point in which your existential burden catches up to you. Understanding that all of your actions that are done in a way that attempts to increase good and decrease the unnecessary suffering we all experience is essential, and speaks directly to practical application of these teachings.
