Eighth Inquiry [voice] BACKDATED TO 3AM

[nottheanswers]

You now, there are some questions that you'll be unlikely to ever get an answer to you can share. Not entirely impossible, as this place has proven, but the usefulness of the information, how it may apply to anyone else, is always suspect.

I've got one in particular in mind, but the answers will probably be different between here and home, and there's good odds they'll vary from person-to-person.

But I'm using a lot of words to make a very simple inquiry. [sorry everyone, he probably hasn't slept in a few days] What do you think happens when you die? Or, at the very least, between when you die here and when she decides to bring you back?

I have my own thoughts, of course, but my answers aren't important right now. Just the question.

Comments

[bigreveal.livejournal.com]

Well, here's my personal belief.

There's Heaven, sure, and there's Hell, sure. I've seen both Angels and Demons, it's not hard for me to believe that these are real places.

But they're not the only places, of course. So it's hard to say what's going to happen to me. Does it matter what I believe is going to happen, or is it luck of the draw? Do people believing in Hindu reincarnation sometimes end up in a more Christian view of Heaven? Probably.

The one thing I'm absolutely sure of, is that there's no escaping what a person has done. There's only so long they can procrastinate it or cheat it, in life or death, before they have to face it again.

Whether that means Heaven or Hell, well, that part is almost irrelevant, isn't it?

[nottheanswers]

Up until the point when you're staring them in the face, sure.

[bigreveal.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe.

The other thing I don't believe in is Eternal anything.

Torment, love, life... I don't really think much of anything can claim to be Eternal at all.

If you can fall from Heaven, maybe you can build up from Hell.

[nottheanswers]

All depends on who you'd have to appeal to, and whether the task is worth doing.

So, you might say what you've done may just determine where you start, and where you end up from there is dependent on what you do after?

[bigreveal.livejournal.com]

That's right. And Judgment is a tricky thing, anyway.

You a fan of Mice and Men, Vic?

Ever wonder how Heaven would judge Lenny?

[nottheanswers]

Depends on whose take on Heaven is right. There's nothing very merciful or understanding about the biblical one, and nothing simple about his situation.

[bigreveal.livejournal.com]

That's right. Nothing simple at all.

If we wanted to push deeper, we could ask how someone, born deaf and blind, unable to hear or see or really know anything of 'God' or repenting or even the concept of sins themselves, would be judged.

[nottheanswers]

Braille.

But I think the point is, most judgements come from a very simplistic point of view. Very often there's a lot more going on than the judge is willing to recognize. Not always, of course, but there are times.

[bigreveal.livejournal.com]

If they ever get the chance to learn to read it.

That's pretty much it. I think a lot of people make up these judgments, for others in these 'Heaven' or 'Hell', because we want to imagine some... evil, vague but massive, getting its just desserts. We want to imagine our idea of Good and our idea of Bad being met rightly on both accounts.

When really, come down to it, judgment is far more personal than that. Intensely intimate and private.

[nottheanswers]

Of course it is. Those of us raised in it called it good ol' Catholic Guilt.

[bigreveal.livejournal.com]

Catholic guilt looked anything but private to me, once I got a good look at it.

Seemed more like a gigantic black cloud that just hung over a church, swaying back and forth, and making everyone inside hate themselves.

A strange sort of bonding.

[nottheanswers]

That's a pretty accurate summary, really. It's kind of a toxic culture to be caught up in.