HEAVEN VIEWED THROUGH THE EYES OF A SKEPTIC

The concept of Heaven has always fascinated me.  First, it was written about by people who thought the earth was flat , that it was most important in the then thought to be limited Universe.  I loved the Fitzgerald translation of one of Omar Kayyam's poems:  "I sent my soul into the invisible
                                                      One letter of the Afterlife to spell.
                                                      Bye and bye my soul returned to me
                                                      And answered, "I. myself, am Heaven and Hell."

Granted this was written during the 12th C, most likely.  Interesting to realize that there were Skeptics then as  well as now.  Among the questions I have is:  Whose notion was it that the streets were paved with gold?  Why would anyone even think that is a desirable element for paving?  Christians laugh at the Muslim notion that suicide bombers will be rewarded in their Heaven with 72 virgins and we Westerners laugh at that.  Is it less ridiculous to believe that Heaven exists in the sky somewhere.  When the concept was invented, there was little known about the sky.  Angels flying around from Heaven and moving around on earth is rather far-fetched, is it not?  Teleportation seemed to be invented by Science Fiction writers, but, in fact, the concept is Biblical.

To get a grasp on just how little we could ever actually know what Heaven looks like, search Google and see how few even artist's imaginations have painted their fantasies about what Heaven may look like. Some of us want to live in this life, assuming there may not be another with this consciousness; others deny themselves many earthly pleasures, waiting for their reward in Heaven.  Some of us even believe that Heaven is just a sweet, mindless oblivion.  Those who see a white light towards which they walk, now free of bodily pain, should talk to a neurologist about how we die.  Since the brain stem is the last to 'give up oxygen and  the ghost', you might say it is the explanation for the white light as our eyes are gone and our brain is shutting down.  Whatever, happens to our brains and bodies, we know we have to be dead to get into Heaven.  Thus, we have invented many modes of transpiration (the Grim Reaper being one of the best known possibilities.  I've never figured out why a body coming to take us to the Jury which decides whether we go to Heaven or Hell needs a scythe.

One might say (if one doesn't mind a few rotten tomatoes sent through the air at you) that people are dying to find out about Heaven.  There seems to be no other way.