What Is Heaven Like?

yes, we are all here (every species of every world that knows and experiences its own existence, and that would certainly include everything with a cerebral cortex).

what world even, and the form of the creatures of that world, we might next time be born into, i tend to think that most likely a role of the dice.
every prejudice could be born, next time around, as whatever that prejudice is against.
but more likely a complete role of the dice.

so many billions of physical world, a role of the dice, one's next life could be born on an one of them.
born still, as a helpless infant every time, with likely no memory of previous lives. well it wouldn't be memory anyway. only this pattern of being as we've defined ourselves in one life, to be the only continuity into the next and each after each. unknowing now as well, how many and of what sort, may have gone before. only the sense, many of us have, of having done so.

but there could be something between lives. i've had dreams about this too. it need not be as any of us dreamed them, nor as anyone has ever written.

 

I had a deja vu memory once of bing shot out of a space station to here.....weirdest damn reality feeling about it, too....so who knows.....
cerebral cortex? Do you knoew that even blades of grass communicate with each other?

 

communication and awareness are separate concepts. computers can be programed to communicate with each other, without sapient intervention once this has been set up. i believe blades of grass more closely resemble the latter. the sea star is interesting, for consisting of independent cell colonies, which act together as a successful predator, (granted their prey isn't very good at running away) with no obvious or apparent means of communication with each other.

 

I cannot say with any certainty that there is no heaven,but my logical mind tends to find too many logical and ontological inconsistencies to give it credence.I am,for all my faults,a practicing Buddhist,but is gloss over the doctrine of reincarnation lightly as something I beyond my comprehension.It should be said that their is a school or Buddhism that does not believe in reincarnation,but it was something I read on Buddhist forum a long time ago and I cannot remember the name of this sect or provide the original source.That idea of heaven implies eternity,and this is something I wouldn't want to experience.My sincerest wish is for death to be a complete cessation of all bodily sensation and consciousness,which wouldn't even be experienced as such,as one's Earthly vessel would be absolutely and eternally insensate.I also do not want to merge with some cosmic energy floating as a disembodied spirit through the universe,however blissful this would be.That said,I am much more interested in making this life on Earth as heavenly as possible,regardless of material circumstances,by way of creating a beautiful sensorium and cultivating compassion and love in all I do,whilst enduring troubles and pains with a stoical infinite resignation.It is also important to try to help others,in whichever way you can,and be kind to animals.I think it is also a good thing to practice minimal impact living as much as possible and create smaller peaceful waves on all levels.I am basically for making life on Earth as heavenly as possible for as many people as possible,but this doesn't necessarily require material luxury and indulgence.This philosophy is the only thing I can truly grasp,with the knowledge that we are all here now.

 

I'm not sure there's an afterlife, but if there's a Heaven I think it would be like an ongoing Rainbow Gathering in the sky. Those of you who've attended gatherings of the Rainbow Family of the Living Light have had a preview. When the Republican CEOs, Congressmen, and televangelists are raptured, they will go to the great Gathering in the Sky, where they will sit elbow to elbow with gays;toothless, bathless derelicts; drug addicts; alcoholics; prostitutes; etc., and after a prayer for world peace, will enjoy the bounties of Jamba and the heavenly dumpster. And it will be Heaven, but they'll think they're in Hell.

 

Art speaks as much as any other abstract or inanimate thing does. The rings of a tree for example, speak of its age.

But if a tree falls in the middle of a forest, does it make a sound?

If there is no one around to appreciate a work of art, does it speak?

You could imagine what these things would sound like. But that is just your imagination. It's the same thing you would hear if you were present in the forest as the tree falls.

 

Art wouldn't exist in the first place if there were no humans to make it and appreciate it. I don't really see what you're getting at.

If a tree falls in the forest, surely animals living there would hear the sound. It isn't only we humans who have senses.

 

Mother nature is capable of creating things that you and I might call beautiful.

In fact, she is responsible for our capacity to recognize, and appreciate beauty.

Art is expression or application of human creative skill and imagination. And she is responsible for that also.

If you really want to give credit where it is due, give it to everything, and not just humans. Because that's where the universe uses its creative skill.

 

Humans seem to be the only things in the universe that create art. At least as far as we can tell.

Natural beauty is a different thing. Obviously the artist is part of nature. I still don't really see what point you're trying to make here.

 

You can only have 1 of these.

The answer is obvious.

 

What exactly is obvious, because nothing is obvious to me.....

 

Obviously the artist is a part of nature.

In the case of "great art speaking for itself", it is a gross oversimplification of what is actually happening, and a slippery slope.

Art does not communicate a clear message. In fact, the essence of the appeal that "great art speaks for itself" is why so many people think the same thing about the bible, despite the fact that no one can agree on an interpretation or whether or not it is litteral or what is litteral and what is not.

The truth is that art does speak. It says that through us, nature is capable of doing what she has always done.

People thank god in their Grammy speeches all the time, it is not just the artist that creates the art. Technically, everything that influenced the artists life made it, including himself.

 

Yeah, but I don't care about all of that. I paint because it makes me happy...and I try not to overanalyze it to take the joy out of it.

 

beliefs make many baseless assumptions about our world, and ourselves as a sapient species.

no reason at all, to assume there aren't worlds circling other suns, with people on them, nor that they look anything like ourselves.

the image of a creator, should there happen to be one, has nothing to do with physical appearance.

nor is there a one size fits all that gratifies everyone. so a heaven, to exist, couldn't really be any one thing.

i can only describe those conditions, that i personally would consider to be one.

most, possibly all of those, we are completely capable of creating ourselves right here.

we're not very close to doing so right now, but past and future we might be a lot closer.

 

Don't know, but I hope there is beer, beef jerky, ribs, pizza, and Philly steak sandwiches.

 

I say great art speaks for itself.

That is a metaphor obviously. Art doesn't speak, you have to look at it.

 

I like to look at art for pretty much the same reasons in the end. I get a certain joy out of it.

 

Appreciating art reinforces your identity.

It strokes your ego.

It's because when you look at art you're actually looking at yourself. And that isn't even mysticism.

There is more joy where that came from.

 

creating and exploring are at the root of real gratification, well that and the smile on someone else's face when you do something nice for them.
being passively entertained for eternity, i think most people would eventually tire of that.
but give me a forest of endless diversity to explore, and let me make what i can enjoy making out of it, that i don't believe i would ever get tired of.

 

I read in an old psychology journal that any social intercoarse whatsoever is biologically advantageous over no intercoarse at all.

I like to think of social intercourse in terms of exploration and creation.

Heaven to me would be a world full of people who understand what it means to know themselves. Who aren't afraid of deviation. And I am God.