Imagine an endless eternity filled with nothingness. I've seen this hell in the eyes of developmentally disabled people in a sheltered workshop when there's no work for weeks at a time. Some of the adults, who range in age from 22-over 50, color handouts or the pages of coloring books. Seeing this for the eight years I worked in this setting, I was inspired to write my first curriculum guide, MOVING FROM CRAYONS TO CRITICAL THINKING, my best-selling book.
Heaven and hell are all a matter of prefence. A true masochist would consider spending eternity with a pitchfork-wielding tormenter heaven, not hell. The utopian vision of heaven may not be a real paradise to most humans considering Iceland's disparaties. Some years ago there was a story on "60 Minutes" about the idyllic country that has almost no crime but the highest percentages of alcoholism in the world.
Humans seem to thrive on conflict at some level. The title of this post is from the play I just did. If it's true, there's probably one person at least in that sheltered workshop whose idea of heaven is coloring all day; and, apparently, many Icelanders' idea of hell is paradise.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Gary Fandango
OS Readers' Picks
Just Thinking...
clay ball
Darla Carmichael
Brian Carter
Salon.com
Comments
P.S. Feel free to tell me I told you so if that whole heaven thing goes down too.
Doug, you are too funny!
Do humans thrive under conflict? You're damn right we do. How many wait until the last minute to get ready? Take on more of a load at work? Climb Everest?
Rockets and jets came from war. We might not have landed on the moon without WW2. Nuclear power came from atomic bombs. Wagons came from war chariots.
Man!! The list is endless!
The alcoholism stats are off. It doesn't account for Cultural Differences. If you go by the US definition of alcoholic, ie Is there a pattern to your drinking? Then I would be an alcoholic because I have a drink on holidays and when I go on vacation.
Yes, there are true alcoholics who need and recieve treatment. But it's comparing apples and oranges. It would be like saying Italy or France is full of alcholics because of all the wine with dinner.
Iceland has some of the toughest drunk driving laws. Strong beer wasnt legal until the late 1980's. Sales of hard liquor and suicide rates dropped when the law passed.
The crime rate is low because laws are tough. Life can be tougher on the island in the middle of the sea. Earthquakes, volcanos, storms, long winters in darkness. It requires more cooperation than you may see in other areas.
It may seem like hell to some, for me it is heaven.
That's what someone asked me.
BTW your mini tribute will be posted at 245 PST.
rated with hugs
I poked fun at Icelanders and we have an Icelander on OS. I was attempting to work Diva's ass with a little humor, and in my defense I didn't know they had "internet" (did I type that slow enough) in Iceland:o
(my sarcasm is going to be the death of me one of these days)
Thanks again for enlightening me!
Mea culpa, too, Two Thumbs. I forgot and now I feel bad for laughing so hard. I know what it's like to have your wife of life and culture ridiculed and I like Poppi way too much to ever do thatvto her. Actually, I don't approve of putting other people's cultures down regardless of how I feel about them. Shame on me!
Lezlie
Julie, the perception is the key, and lemonpulp, based on our perception and personal preferences, I think each of has the perfect heaven (or hell) tailor-made for us just as you said. L, I think we spend our lives figuring out what we really want and sometimes dies before we do, hence we face hell - but as Julie can tell you, not for eternity because we continue to learn and evolve in the afterlife. If we figure out what gives us bliss before we die, we're already in heaven
Believe it or not, all if this was stated through dramatic dialog in the play I just did, which was written in 1923, the year my father was born. Yet, we are still discussing them 87 years later - the age my father would be if he were alive. I saw him in dreams after he died, three times. The first time he was in a room the color of twilight and showed it to me with pride. He was at peace. The third time he came to a bus or train station where I was awaiting departure to make sure I was all right. I don't remember the second dream and after the third one, I've never dreamed if him again. I also saw my best friend in a dream in a field of wildflowers with all the dogs she and I had owned over the years. That was one of the things we had in common, our love of dogs.
I'm not waiting until I die to find heaven. That's why I've cut people and things out of my life that make it hellish. I don't expect joy, peace, and love constantly. But I plan to get as much as I can of all three while I'm here and even more when I'm not.
I'm sure your dad was off to do some other fabulous things, somewhere where he's not quite as in touch here -- but twilight is always such a Beautiful color of day -- for so long, my favorite, and it must have been nice to Know your dad was looking after you!
Wildflowers are always a dream-place for me, and I'm betting you'll be seeing your friend and the dogs there again! (Such Lovely visions to send you, from both of them!)
Love, Julie
depressed or struggling on this plane.
Thanks for affirming what I feel spiritually.
My grandmother, the woman - a Pentecostal
minister - who brought me back to the Christ
spirit, and my bff were all shamans like you.
I've missed having one in my life since they all departed from this plane. Thanks.
May you feel your Loved ones' presence, especially in the joyful moments!! (They'll just take you, us, all higher and higher!)
Nice to learn about your grandmother, too! My latest post is on Poppi's open call, and I didn't mention that before my friend, John, appeared, as I was reading Sylvia's book on the other side a little earlier that night, that I had a vision of Jesus appear -- warm, smiling, in the brightest golden Light... It surprised me, and I remember telling a friend of mine who's very Catholic (Boston is steeped in Catholicism, with Old World flavor) that I was a little taken aback at how -- sexy, say, he appeared. As in, that pure, magnetic energy flowing through... My friend said, "Oh no. When you hear of the visions of the Virgin Mary, they say the same thing."
When I first went to see Amma of India for her blessing, too, she asked Jesus to clear my burdens. (Oh -- and he did, noticeably, Beautifully.) She was speaking in Malayalam, which it took me a week or so to find the translation for. She knew I had been visualizing Him in the ceremony, since I didn't know at the time who Devi was... (And there were a lot of New England, WASP-y-appearing people like me there who were Hindu, possibly due to Knowing her, so it wasn't a given...)
So I've always had Jesus right there, guiding me to specific areas of more and more Spirit across the spectrum, which is my natural inclination...
Thanks so much for this here! And so much more is coming to you, Diva!! Ask, and it is given!!
human when bringing messages.
There are books about people's encounters with angels or messengers who appear and disappear at will. I think my next post will about my encounter with an angel and one I had with a demon.