We think that paradise is somewhere else. At least, that is what some of our religions teach us. We are told that this life is ephemeral, and that it is only used as a measuring stick to determine if we deserve to live for an eternity in peace and happiness – or not. We are admonished to live by the laws of our religions, so that we may achieve this great reward, after our earthly life. We live our lives a bit intimidated by this threat that maybe we won’t make it to Heaven. There are, our religions tell us, rather severe punishments if we do not live within the confines of our religious prisons. We are not allotted this great freedom and pleasure if we do not conform fully to the faith of our religions. We will, as a matter of fact, be tortured for an eternity if we do not fully meet these requirements of our religions, whatever they may be. Exactly where this paradise may be remains quite a mystery. It is somewhere, because we are told a select few of us are going there. In the meantime, we are encouraged by this belief in a hereafter, to regard our current lives as rather meaningless, other than holding a few religious beliefs. As a matter of fact, we are sometimes encouraged to throw our lives away early, taking other lives with us, so that we can all get to that judgment day earlier. We are sometimes led to commit torture, since this is what is going to happen to unbelievers anyway. What a tragedy.
Confucius believed in Heaven – sort of. He is quoted as saying, “There are three things of which the superior man stands in awe. He stands in awe of the ordinance of Heaven. He stands in awe of great men. He stands in awe of the words of sages.” The most rational interpretation of this saying is that he was in awe of the power, mystery and vastness of the universe. We can share that same belief in Heaven, should the universe be labeled in this way. Confucius wisely carried it no further. He gave no guarantee of an afterlife. He believed in reverence toward parents and the elderly, study, enlightenment, and expressions of loyalty, courage and wisdom. He taught these values to his students. His later students emphasized that there was not an anthropomorphic God, and that Heaven helps those who help themselves to be moral. Government is for the good of the people, and not the good of the ruler. The people have the right to receive good government, and to revolt if that government is not good. Confucianism is a social order that got it right, as opposed to our religions whose emphasis on an afterlife has gotten it all wrong.
Buddhism also places no emphasis on an afterlife. It is a religion of mysticism. The Buddha taught that each individual should spend his or her life in contemplation and study, gradually evolving in stages, until a final stage is reached of complete detachment from the cares and concerns of life. This enlightened state of Nirvana could, we suppose, in some sense be called a Heaven, since it is a state of peace. Only when this enlightened state is achieved does that individual achieve freedom from the unending rebirth into lives of want, desire and pain. Yet, in the Buddhist religion, it is simply a state of mind, and not a place. Furthermore, the Enlightened One, once that state is achieved, is obliged to re-enter the market place, and teach all others how to reach this state of Divine Enlightenment. Although Buddhism teaches detachment from the miseries of want and desire, it also emphasizes full involvement in this life, and not some mysterious realm that exists after death.
Hinduism also lays no emphasis on an afterlife of opulent pleasure. The Hindu religion believes that there is a heaven and hell, but these are only temporary way stations in an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. It is a highly egalitarian religion, believing that all life forms are manifestations of God. This allows them to remain Hindu while embracing all other religions in any form. Hinduism contains every form of worship, including fetishism, mysticism, advanced theology, female deities, animal worship, all of which it considers appropriate. It believes in a noble class, vegetarianism, devotion to duty, acquisition of knowledge, and devotion to a personal High God. It is, in a sense, a fatalistic religion, since all good and bad things in this life can be attributed to events that occurred in other lives. There are nowhere, however, streets of gold, harps of gold, and angels singing on high.
Judaism believes in Heaven – at least a little bit. It is mentioned as a reward for those who have obeyed God’s laws. Heaven is not emphasized in any part of Judaism, however. There is only one main emphasis in this egocentric religion. The one and only true God has chosen the Jewish people, and only the Jewish people, as his people. He has formed a covenant with them that is eternal. He is a good and compassionate God, who has established strict rules for their living. If they, as a people, emulate their God, obey that covenant and follow their God’s laws and directions in all ways, they will be rewarded as becoming above all other people. If they fail to follow their God’s commands in any way, they will be severely punished. If they are compliant with their God in every way, they will be given domination over all people in the entire world. This is their self-centered Heaven. It is not an ethereal pleasure palace, off in the sky.
Watch out. Here come Christianity and Islam. Both have an eschatology that emphasizes a day of judgment and damnation for all those who have not professed adherence to their particular set of myths. Although they use different Hero figures who sit in judgment on that final apocalyptic day, each stresses the great torture for all beings, living and dead who did not adhere to their certain set of beliefs. Humans who were not willing to profess adherence to those beliefs during this life deserve to be punished, maimed or killed for their infidelity. Only those who fully complied with the mythology of these religions will be granted opulent wealth, food, drink and all pleasures for an eternity. For these select few, Heaven exists somewhere, on a cloud, or in an oasis. This means that all other human life that ever existed will be in tortured pain for an eternity. They carry this ethical apostasy to its grand conclusion: if the most rotten person in the entire world commits, on his death bed, to Jesus as the savior, the only son of God; or to Muhammad as the last and greatest prophet, that person will be given this pleasure for an eternity.
Rapes, murders, invasions, bombing, beheading, torture, destruction are all passively permitted in these wayward religions. The primary thing that matters to them is belief in a certain set of myths. This emphasis on a non-existent Afterlife which rewards true believers only has set our entire world in turmoil. What will it take to stop this insanity? Realizing that we have only one life to live and one chance to show compassion should do it. Our paradise elsewhere beliefs have placed us in a living Hell here on earth of our own making.