PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Make Your Heaven!
August 31, 2007 on 12:31 am | In Spiritual Practice, Theological Reflection |I’ve been doing billions of reading for the upcoming year in worship and have particularly enjoyed both Krista Tippett’s Speaking of Faith (I’m a big fan of her radio show of the same name) and a big anthology by Bob Abernethy and William Bole (of PBS’s Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly) called The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt and Reparing the World.
I think it was in the latter book where I came across the idea by some scientist-guy that near-death experiences are a neurological event and therefore it may follow that our experience of heaven is also a kind of brain-oriented phenomenon. He was suggesting that what you believe about heaven will BE your heaven.
Before you traditional religious folks drag me out to the parking lot to beat me up, let me just say that I’m not saying I AGREE with this concept — I am a firm believer that if God wanted us to know what happens after we die we’d be equipped to know that — but I’m saying that someone HAS this concept and I find it rather interesting.
I mean, part of what I get from the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is that the great goal of meditation is to free yourself from mara (illusion) so that you don’t have to go into the Bardo state of confused consciousness when your soul leaves your body. Buddhist people, please don’t drag me out into the parking lot and beat me up if I got this wrong– I am not an expert on the TBOLAD, I’m just a FAN of it and have read it a lot and try to understand it because I think those Tibetans are ONTO something.
I’m not saying that Jesus doesn’t try to prepare us for death by teaching us to be brave, pure and loving with our lives, but he doesn’t give us any mental exercises for transitioning to the afterlife the way the Buddhists teach.
ANYWAY, if it’s true that you can somehow shape and mold your consciousness in preparation for the transition from body to spirit, and that your concept of the afterlife may be your most important chance of experiencing that afterlife, boy, it’s worth working on, huh?
I think mine would be full of kick-lines and great overtures, and choirs of angels singing old-timey gospel and lots of people I love standing around laughing and talking and other angels passing around really yummy appetizers. After that we all go swim in a waterfall and play with hundreds of golden retriever puppies and when we get done with that we lie on the pristine beach to dry off in the warm sun. Jesus is on the beach giving teachings and you get to finally really understand everything about them, and you cry and cry over how badly you did at following them while you were alive. There are angels there to pat your back and give you tissues while you cry. After awhile Jesus comes up to you and says, “Honey, you don’t have to cry about that ever again.” And that’s when you know it’s really Heaven.
Then you have hot chocolate and tuck the children in and then go to sleep yourself curled up next to a big warm mommy lion. The next morning first thing you have choir practice, and you pass Ralph Waldo Emerson and Gene Kelly and your great-grandma Sophie and your father on the way to breakfast. Whenever you want you can go to the chimp part of heaven and swing around with them.
I’ll be working on this in case it turns out to be true.
13 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^
Dang it, that’s a beautiful picture of heaven, PB.
Regardless of whether or not “what you believe about heaven will BE your heaven,” there’s a lot to be said about having confidence that Whatever’s-Next is wonderful. Your image speaks loudly of God’s love for us, and THAT, dear lady, is a fantastic thing to meditate on.
Comment by Mrs. M — August 31, 2007 #
“Whenever you want you can go to the chimp part of heaven and swing around with them.”
Hey! I’ll see ya there! I’m off to pick up some of those excellent books you keep passing on to us lost souls…
:^)
Comment by Kyle — August 31, 2007 #
I want to know whether she’ll let her congregation in on preparing to be one wth the chimps, or whether she’ll be doing that in private.
Comment by fausto — August 31, 2007 #
My conception of heaven is pretty idealistic, I have to admit. Everyone speaks in words of three syllables and reality TV shows are replaced by group workshops.
Comment by Comrade Kevin — August 31, 2007 #
‘After awhile Jesus comes up to you and says, “Honey, you don’t have to cry about that ever again.”’
This made me cry. And since I know that crying is God’s way of whupping me upside my head to pay attention, thank you for channelling the Whupping Hand o’ God for me.
Comment by Louise — August 31, 2007 #
I wanna go to your heaven, peacebang.
Though I like Mary Chapin Carpenter’s alot too. “In My Heaven” check it out on itunes.
Comment by marcia — September 1, 2007 #
just dropping in the middle of unpacking a thousand boxes to say that I heart peacebang. thanks for a great post.
Comment by juniper — September 1, 2007 #
I get hung up on the issue of justice, so I can’t see everyone making it through the wide open door of heaven after, since some in this life do love their evil so. So that means that these poor wretched souls have locked themselves into a hell here on earth that may be what they “choose” at death. Thus, there is as Rauschenbusch suggested, a hell where the doors are locked from the inside.
Still being hung up on the issue of justice I continue to agree with Rauschenbusch that at least part of what we do in heaven is following our leader, Christ the liberator, in some sort of assault on the gates of hell so that everyone enjoys the blessings of heaven eventually.
I think picking the locks of hell comes after swinging with the chimps and is followed by snuggling with mommy lions, but I could be wrong.
Comment by Ian Lynch — September 1, 2007 #
I’m going to YOUR heaven.
Comment by Tracie — September 1, 2007 #
I’m also quite interested in the neurological aspects of near-death experiences. But the way I see it, the brain is not the mind, merely the tool that generates thought and filters data. The brain is limited; the mind is not. For example, there are many things that we cannot see or hear (frequencies of light and sound) because our brains are not capable of translating that data, or even of “noticing” it. I think that near-death experiences are our physical brain’s way of trying to interpret and understand data that is completely non-physical. It is of the mind, in other words, not of the brain, and the interpretation is only as good as the limitations of the brain.
Thanks for a thought-provoking blog.
Comment by Suzanne Jubenville — September 1, 2007 #
Hmm. I haven’t thought much about what happens after death after some 20+ years of thinking that I knew exactly what happened after death. Maybe I will get around to it sometime again (before I die)!
Comment by h sofia — September 5, 2007 #
Hi PB — recently discovered you (thanks for the referral, Miss Conduct), and am catching up on past blogs. I’m a Baptist, but with a much different understanding of heaven than what most Christians believe. I had a hard time explaining what I believe (and I believe the Bible really says) until I came across an article in Time (Christians Wrong about Heaven Says Bishop) from the Archbishop of Durham (Church of England). Thought you might like to read it: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1710844,00.html
He summarized his position by quoting John Polkinghorne, a physicist and a priest: “God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.”
Comment by Lynette — April 2, 2008 #
Oh, and meant to add, that since God Is Love and the Great I AM, being downloaded onto his hardware I think would pretty much be your description of Heaven. He created all of that and all of them, so why wouldn’t it all be part of Him? (Forgive the “Him” — don’t you wish English had a non-gender specific term other than “it?”)
The more I read of your blog, PB, the more I think you’ve got your head (spiritual, religious, theological, emotional, philosophical, “Important Thinker”) screwed on straight. New England is better for you being here.
Comment by Lynette — April 2, 2008 #