A Piece of My Mind

One of the nice things about riding a motorcycle is the sheer silence of it.  Yes, you can hear the engine hum.  Yes, you can hear other vehicles.  But mostly you hear the silence in your head.  No radio (many bikers have them but I prefer the quiet),  no remote, no  mouse,  no commercials, no nothing.  Lots of good time to check out the ridges of your brain and think about things you'd never ordinarily have the time to do.

Thomas Aquinas came up with a list of 5 "proofs" on the existence of God.  Never mind that they didn't really prove anything. It was, nevertheless, the first time any theologian/philosopher attempted to prove His existence let alone use a list - that which we all love seven hundred years later.  10 Best original programs on Netflix.  Two reasons why the Mets are so bad.  100 Best TV shows Ever.  One Good reason why you should never piss in the wind.

As I was going down the highway on the third Sunday while back in Northlandia I began thinking about lists.  And, one thing leading to another, I began to think about heaven.  Since I was riding, on a nice day, with a great friend, to a wonderful place, heaven naturally came to mind.  I thought briefly, "Is this heaven?"  No, this is Illinois.  Far from it.  But was it?  

I, like Aquinas (Tommy as we refer to him when we're sitting around the bar, drink in hand, discussing his Summa Theologiae) began to question the existence of heaven.  

For centuries the Bible, theology, philosophy and any number of disciplines have foisted upon us a vision of a heavenly place where streams run quietly in a wooded area with our loved ones about baking Dutch apple pie while we are either fishing or floating on clouds.  It is a perfect place where the result of good living rewards you with eternal, well, whatever.

I thus came up with my 5 Proofs That a Physical Heaven Does Not Exist.  Hey, me and Tommy have lists!  

1.  As much as we like to believe otherwise, there are immutable laws of nature.  Gravity, relativity. thermodynamics all play a role in our physical lives on earth, on this planet, in this galaxy.  A physical place called heaven would have to play by these rules as well.  Sadly, as I gaze upwards I see no heavenly place.

2.  Hubble telescope.  Launched in 1990 this dynamic and great space eye has been sending pictures of the cosmos in every direction of space, and so far, no babbling brooks or people floating on clouds.

3.  A physical heaven would become boring after a while.  We become bored when we have nothing productive to do, or the sheer repetition of things creates a feeling of apathy.  Golf every day and you will soon grow bored with it.  Have sex every day  nevermind that one. The same with most other fun pursuits.  That's why we call it "fun" - we don't do it often enough.  Put me on a porch in a cabin by a babbling brook and I'd be crazy after two hours.

4.  If there is a heaven, then by definition there would be a Hell, too.  Again, the physical laws of science would intercede to say this is not possible.  Modern science also affirms that there is indeed a hot place inside earth but it is called the inner core.  It is composed of iron ore and other light materials and the temperature is around 5400 degrees.  That is devilishly hot and no life can exist to be tormented.    

5.  In all the people and all the deaths of all time, some brilliant ones, too, not one has been able to return to the living and give irrepressible proof to Heaven's existence.  Perhaps they don't want to.  I guess if I was in heaven and someone wanted me to go back to the chaos and inhumanity of earth, I would balk, too.  One might think the mere bulk of deaths through history would allow one anomaly, one off-the-tracks event that might allow proof.  But, like the Mueller Investigation, that avenue seems locked down tight.

Or maybe they can't.   

I don't know.  No one has revealed to me the Wizard behind the curtain.  

But don't give up hope.  Because there is no physical evidence of a celestial heaven in the skies, doesn't mean that there is no heaven.  One of my favorite philosophers was a guy, a Catholic priest too, who espoused a kind of ethereal place where souls go to be become a collective of other souls.  Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said that when we die our souls join the souls of our ancestors (and everyone else who has died) in one giant glob of good.  Apparently Hubble can't spot this glob either but its a good way to explain a kind of afterlife.     

Plato, way, way, way before Pierre, kind of had the same idea - in death our souls would be free from the imperfect to be its perfect self.  It should be no surprise that the early Christian fathers took a lot of Greek philosophy and infuse it into Christian thought.  Of course, Plato doesn't much go into where the soul goes, just that it becomes "perfect".  Hey, I'm into that.  What a refreshing change of pace for my aging, battered soul.

Want me to blow your mind?  The Islamic Bible, the Quran, speaks of the afterlife being in, ready, Eden.  Yeah, that place.  Kind of a wow crossover like when Happy Days merged with Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley.   Every theology has a Heaven and Hell concept, more or less, similar to each other.  Good and Evil.  Life and Death.  A kind of child-like attempt to present a bigger Truth, with a capital "T".  It was also an attempt to explain to the masses something that was kind of unexplainable.  Jonah and the Whale,  is a perfect example.  Taken literally one might raise their eyebrows in skepticism, but figuratively, a good story relaying an important message.

Of course, the Prime Mover, The Big Kahuna, God-d-d-d-d-d-d, Big Daddy/Big Momma or whatever you name Him/Her/It can damn well do whatever They want.  That's why They get paid the big bucks.  If they want a heaven made of clouds and harps and a Hell with brimstone and pitchforks, well, that's up to them.  Disregard my list   

Maybe this, the here and now,  is our heaven/hell, our strut and fret, our hour upon the stage, signifying nothing.  Perhaps heaven is when we are with, or think of, our loved ones.  Perhaps it is in the smile or laughter of children.  Maybe it is in the reflection of a life lived well.  Maybe Hell isn't a place but rather a feeling.  The kind of feeling when we realize we have been hurtful, mean, or worse.  

Maybe heaven and hell are within us all.  Maybe we shouldn't point Hubble out there.  Maybe we should point it within ourselves.