Heaven & Hell – warped or perverse concept.
Physicists postulate that the idea of Conservation of Energy;
Nuclear Energy is predicated on Einstein’s formula relating Mass and Energy;
It is said that nothing can travel faster than light;
Einstein postulated that Energy equals Mass time the Speed of Light squared
– Mass accelerated to a speed equal to the Speed of Light times the Speed of Light.
Obviously, Einstein & Nuclear Energy have something in common - they establish that a Mass can travel faster than light, and that the mass will disintegrate into pure energy when the speed of that Mass attains the square of the Speed of Light. This makes it equally obvious that the Speed of Light can be exceeded – but at the cost of the cohesive structure that represents Mass. Thus, we can state that “nothing can travel faster than light” without its defining Mass disintegrating until all that is left is pure energy. An exercise in basic logic – and possibly semantics – supported by the demonstrable existence of nuclear energy.
Why do we assume that our ancestors could not work out the same logic – without having the need to demonstrate the most negative physical manifestation of that logic?
Conservation of energy: Try thinking in terms which assert that “what exists cannot be destroyed – it can only be converted into a new form. Now get a bit spiritual and assert that the soul is pure energy driving a physical form. As such, even though the body can pass into different physical forms (decompose into compost, ashes-to-ashes, dust-to-dust), the soul is pure, indestructible, energy.
If we think in those terms, the idea of reincarnation makes perfect sense – sometime after the decay of a previous host, the pure energy which powered it (represented by the term “soul”) occupies and powers a new physical host. There is no death – only transition to a host most suited to the energy. In terms we can relate to: Consider the various types of electrical Batteries.
Batteries come in different shapes, sizes and power ratings. Now, what if they could be recycled in a manner which either improved their energy (unitized untapped potential, reserves or over-capacity) or disposed of (recycled to other uses) depleted resources and employed remaining reserves. In terms of reincarnation, the soul would occupy a higher, or lower, state of existence based upon its energy. If the energy is throughly depleted, the soul becomes pure mass – dirt, dust, compost – which emerges as the receptacle for energy (a soul).
At one end of the spectrum, there is a finite amount of pure Energy; at the other end there is a finite amount of Mass. For either extreme state to be reached, the other must cease to exist. We define Pure Energy as GOD – any utilization of any portion of that “Divine Energy” would cause a decay that results in the existence of physical Mass. A Thought, A mental Word, is all that is needed to create the physical – and eventually the Universe, with all its complexity, arises from a single electron, or, eventually, an atom of hydrogen whose mass is disrupted in an attempt to release, and recover, the energy which initially created it.
The idea of Heaven and Hell – irrational. But the idea that every action has a reaction – that every action has a consequence – totally rational. It is irrational to assert the pointless expenditure of energy, but totally rational to assert an eternal change of state which is deemed inferior to the one presently occupied.
The ancients spoke of reincarnation and the body returning to the earth from which it arose – totally rational, and a one sentence statement of what it took me many paragraphs to posit before I reached that simple statement. Those who posited the concept of a Purgatory – eternal damnation in Hell – and its corollary, a life in Heaven, were talking to the intelligent fools of their time. The fools were intelligent enough to recognize that there was always the possibility that one could get away with harming others – that crimes went unpunished. These same fools were smart enough to grasp that all energy continues – thus they could believe, regardless of their actions, their soul would continue to reincarnate. There was no rational absolute argument to assert that these souls were expending their energy in a manner which would turn them into compost, so the idea of judgement came into play. The fools could understand the physical judgment they sought to, or assumed they would, escape between their commission of the crime and their eventual death (transition to the next life, or reincarnation). Divine Judgement interjected the idea that they would be reincarnated into an existence more horrific than any current (worldly) judgment they could anticipate. Moreover, the idea of a Divine Judgment added a second level of punishment – you would be killed here, and then, more quickly, be subject to the eternal “reward” for your actions.
Rationally, the theological concept, designed to control the behavior of fools, is irrational. The Universe does not waste energy, and it would be a total waste of energy for there to be a Purgatory, or hell – especially not when there is soil, or the Mass resulting from the full disposition of negative energy in the form of matter which can then be utilized to bolster positive energy resources. There are those who share energy, and those who steal it – the thieves become food for the generous. In one sense, the Productive and Beneficial Meek are powered by the Aggressively Disruptive – and the world of those “Meek” is Heaven; therefore Hell is eternally serving as the dirt upon which thye trod and from which their food is grown.
If GOD is pure Energy, and Hell is pure Mass, than Heaven is the Universe that is equally balanced between the two – it is the ancient Egyptian MAAT judgment of the soul ... so dedicate that the weight of a feather is sufficient to tip the scales toward becoming pure Mass.
