Ecclesiastes 9:2. All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
Heaven exists because you still think you’re real.
Heaven is where egos end up together—the good and bad, dammed to hang on to the notion of self even after they are dead—and for whatever reason cannot escape their religion—you still think you’re real… This temporary portal into consciousness is for the game and not a separate soul at all.
The ego is what sees out and has been taught its headset has become a separate entity—it is a collection of observations and analysis stored in your packets of quanta that wants to identify as unique from the environment. Hanging on to this transcends death and remains in the form of a separate mind. The form it occupies now will remain that until we learn to let it go. Heaven is to accommodate those hung up in the programming—confused over which is real.
So accommodations evolved to treat the convincing nature of the game.
If you believe in any dogma you are dammed and led carefully through the channels of heaven, rejoicing in your rightness and again and again, trapped in the illusion of self. Some unfinished business or expectation—that certain things ought, or should be different? Perhaps your programmers were too thorough? There are many ways to avoid liberation.
Entire cultures trapped in endless cycles of birth because of belief—but the belief in a false sense of identity that distorts the quanta into a make-believe reality.
Bhagavan, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu, etc, never followed anyone.
The awakened worship no one. The asleep worship the awakened—yet hardly can grasp the gist of the message.
To aim your devotion towards any being, or any blame, guilt, fault, or achievement, political, religious dogma, or any historical event shows our infancy. It reminds me of Napoleon’s heaven in “The Great Divorce”—
“Walking up and down—up and down all the time— left-right, left-right—never stopping for a moment. The two chaps watched him for about a year and he never rested. And muttering to himself all the time. “It was Soult’s fault. It was Ney’s fault. It was Josephine’s fault. It was the fault of the Russians. It was the fault of the English.” Like that all the time. Never stopped for a moment. A little, fat man and he looked kind of tired. But he didn’t seem able to stop it.’—CS Lewis-The Great Divorce
The other type is the unprepared who stumble into the cosmic experience, then lead a life of self inflation, using Jesus, Muhammad, or the Buddha as a tool, yet live their own life as a god—doing whatever they want while using the lord as a means for their own social dominance. Master manipulators, Joseph Smith, Jonathan Edwards, the Imams, the preachers and priests—the narcissistic self righteous that proclaim dogmas yet live the life of self serving gratification —
We are stuck in this loop until we are not. If you want to believe in whatever suits you—you deserve it. The corporations of the church is your own doing. It is not heaven, but in fact hell. The object of the game is to crack the code and break free the ego. Not to see who can hang on to it the longest. That is where heaven comes in—to treat the PTSd. To return again to delete the programming or remain un whole forever in heaven and hell.
“The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper”. ~Bertrand Russell
Wouldn’t the end of suffering also mean the end of awareness? Thinking of it in Judeo/Christian terms—in the “spirit world” a third of the hosts of heaven are currently suffering—cast out. It seems as though the dream of eternal bliss is either undeliverable, or deception. It certainly fails any test of reason or logic when “souls” are suffering in the heavens as we speak.
The end of suffering would mean the end of awareness. One cannot experience bliss unless able to experience discomfort. In life (even afterlife) there would have to be darkness in order to comprehend the light. If eternal existence in the heavens is all bliss, it would mean there is no light or dark contrast to raise awareness. It would be the end of awareness, which awareness only happens if there is polarity. Yin, and yang, front, back, up, down, light, dark—life and death.
Imagine if it was all pure white forever and ever? No contrast. Bland. The only form of awareness is the awareness of form, the whole cloth—and it’s a two sided one. When it’s lights out it is like a dreamless sleep where you never wake up. How would you know then you’ve been led with a carrot by controlling men who never, ever, have to show you results—ever? Whatever one may think will happen, the awareness of existence is polarity—without it there would be nothing at all. In other words; life now, as you and your families live so beautifully, is the best game going in the universe. This is heaven—it is also hell. But when you break on through to the other side—resorption back into the cosmic whole. Think, where do chicken pox go after they’ve run their course?
Christian ego is a useful illusion to perpetuate a great game, for there truly could only be one “soul” and that is consciousness, the cosmic background of all existence of a single organism.
If there is life beyond mortal living it is in one, contradictory free thought process—meaning ultimately it is all one thing. And as Hindu philosophy has solved the problem of evil—everything that happens, happens to god, and it is everything—there is nothing that is not god. There are no victims here, no one to blame but its yearning to placate the boredom of infinite living.
If there were a Christian heaven, the most difficult, eternal task would then be; how to unremember all the friends and family that didn’t make it. The end of suffering? Oh no! Just the beginning…
Since truths are simply chemically enhanced perceptions that warm the synapses, altering the chemical makeup is changing reality. This is also the true efficacy of prayer.
Inside our brains, the mind isdrugs making up those realities and that, is what we believe is true and real. Religion is the result of a race—who can dispense the most candy by playing on the highs and lows of human survival. More candy—more truth. More trauma, more candy. They thrive on it.
By altering what nature has limited us to see by evolving for survival, adding more fizz is simply expanding our sphere of awareness. So, no perception is anymore real than any other, just more acute—and acute translates to truth.
Heaven would be simply endless endorphins in a stupor of pleasure (for the eternal body) resurrected in its perfect state, able to dispense at-will, whatever you will.
There is a serious problem with not thinking things through to the end. We don’t care to solve religious riddles, but always stop short of conclusion—in the feel good parts. Without stopping there, no religious doctrine can stand to scrutiny. None is without contradiction.
For instance
Wouldn’t it be amazing to live forever with god in heaven (the big family reunion congratulating our friends and family that made the cut) Endless hugs and bathing Jesus feet in our tears of joy with no evil allowed? Considering how easily we get bored now, imagine with all knowledge and understanding of the universe at our disposal and we celebrate—and keep celebrating, like the endless techno-chicken stuck in a loop, choir music and no chance for sleep. How long will this suffering be tolerable? After 60 trillion years of willing yourself to die, but you’re just getting started. Besides, I’ve been to family reunions…
The only thing that makes this life even remotely interesting is the fact we don’t remember before this is just a play, and cannot quite recollect what happens behind the curtain when the act is over.
Dying will be a great jolt of laughter upon realizing this game has gotten us on…again. And the surprise of dying to life will be an eruption of laughter to wake from this dream we call life.
This has been going on a long, long time. We have fossilized human (hominid?) footprints from 100million, 250million, and 500million years ago. Not remembering it is the only exciting venue left in the universe.
How gullibility improves faith through modern fiction
Up until the point you no longer believe, it can be hard not to believe what we want, or have been conditioned to believe. Doubts come and go, prayers go up and in spite of our efforts…Nothing! But everyone can’t be wrong, can they? Did I miss something? Then, along comes spectacular proof!
Take the The near death experience of the 4 year old son of a preacher who left his body during surgery, a year later said he went to heaven during the procedure, sold a million books and got a movie deal. Heaven is for real.
Another 6 year old said he went to heaven, sold 5 million books then recanted, says it never happened—after the money came flooding in. Theologians still debate the boys descriptions of heaven in The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, NYT Best seller.
While the first story is very easily dismantled due to inconsistencies and leading questions to a never-dead, sedated, 4 year old preachers son HERE. (Psychology Today- great read, excellent analysis) but believers aren’t asking.
It’s amusing to see the “real and authentic” theologians disputing these “fake” accounts and insisting that their own understanding of the unknowable is superior to the “real” accounts of the unknowable. Nearly identical stories. Both never happened, but hey, if you can take money from fools, is that a sin?
The best new term of the 21 century —HeavenTourism. Millions of gullible Christians line up to get a glimmer of what they know is not real, but believe it anyway.
—And few will find it? 2.4 billion fews is a lot of Christians that think they’re making the cut. If this (or any other scripture) is authentic from the mouth of god, what are your chances? “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, (Christian morals) which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14 KJV. Christian morality front-loads presupposition assuming they have the ultimate everything. It has to press the world into its mold to find “the few” from the billions. When the key to understanding the mysteries is unbelief, I guess I have been led to life as one of the few that have found it by seeing it for what it is.
“The central ideas of Christianity — an angry God and vicarious atonement — are contrary to every fact in nature, as also to the better aspirations of the human heart; they are, in our present stage of enlightenment, absurd, preposterous, and blasphemous propositions. Christians well know that the much-decorated statue of the Church, as it now stands, is not of pure chiseled marble, but of clay, cemented together by blood and tears and hardened in the fires of hatred and persecution. And still we hear the cry, ‘The whole world for Christ”—Virchand Gandhi—Jainism
Would be nice if Christianity would understand that the morality of its’ faith is far inferior to others, as well as just regular people. As a regular guy it is incredibly obvious that the religion of Christianity is at complete odds with what we observe in the natural world, contrary to everyfact. All we have to do is look around.
Few: the minority of people; the elect, a world that increasingly belongs to the few”
synonyms: a small number, a handful, one or two, a couple, two or three.
Another metaphor of plain talk from ultimate truth? Are you one of the few that has been herded into a belief in promises contradicting the very scripture?
dear mr clemans, after reading part of your book, ‘Letters From the Earth’, I think you are a disgusting man. I know your real name, and I am warning all of my good christian neighbers not to read this gross expose’ of our god. We cannot, and will not allow you to espouse such truths and spread your cancerous words into the puritan ears of this community. We demand you retract your words.
The fact that heaven is composed of all the things we hate is true, but only for now. Who are we to judge gods wisdom. The fact that all of the things we love are absent is true, but only for now. I imagine that endless harp music and choirs singing praises to God might seem like a torture to you, but god knows what is best for us. If he says it will make me happy, I believe him, regardless of the apparent absurdity of eternal noise and worship. You see where you are lacking mr clemens? You have no faith. Faith is where I get to decide what is true. Faith will let me live in eternity with god and be happy with no intellect. It is intellect that has caused you to own these blasphemous truths. Your words are temporary mr clemens, but gods word are eternal. You are a dirty man exposing the christian heaven as a sexless heaven. You are a heathen now, and probably have sex for fun, but god knows what is best for us. If he needs to manipulate our natural tendencies to control the heathens, then I trust god to do so. We won’t need these things in heaven because we will be wrapped in jesus’ arms in eternal embrace, singing and praising god, and bathing his feet in our tears of joy, while you mr clemens, will be in hell.
75 cents for this 1962 edition. Best $6 I’ve ever spent. Should be mandatory reading for all.
Images of myself sitting at someone’s feet in continuous homage while they express their love to me as I obey their every desire. Prostrating routinely as they enter my presence so I can give sips of wine and hand feed grapes placing one at a time in the mouth of a superior being while softly singing songs of praise and greatness. Blessed be thy name oh holy god. All the while being very conscious not to mention any of the other gods, for my sweet everlasting is a jealous god and vengeance is looming. Eternal reverence and adoration. How heavenly as we look down at all the suffering fools that didn’t believe while coddling the majesty. Anyone want to join me in worship? 6:00 Tuesday PST. BYOB.
Images of myself sitting at someone’s feet in continuous homage while they express their love to me as I obey their every desire. Prostrating routinely as they enter my presence so I can give sips of wine and hand feed grapes placing one at a time in the mouth of a superior being while softly singing songs of praise and greatness. Blessed be thy name oh holy god. All the while being very conscious not to mention any of the other gods, for my sweet everlasting is a jealous god and vengeance is looming. Eternal reverence and adoration. How heavenly as we look down at all the suffering fools that didn’t believe while coddling the majesty. Anyone want to join me in worship? 6:00 Tuesday PST. BYOB.
TheCommonAtheist 