I love the idea of Heaven, I wish it was real, but I’m an atheist and believe that once we’re dead that’s it! Oblivion, the void, it’s terrifying.
But, Heaven, Hell and some kind of afterlife is very interesting to think about. I’m going to focus on Heaven though.
Supposedly once we’re there it’s paradise, we get reunited with loved ones, lost family, friends, partners, pets etc. And we can be happy for all eternity. Sounds wonderful.
But if we’re reunited with all these people, surely there’ll be some conflict? Loved ones argue and cause each other problems all the time, that doesn’t sound like a utopian paradise where everything is perfect to me. What if you get stuck on a cloud talking to your kindly, but very boring uncle for all eternity?
Would Heaven then be another version of Earth? But maybe the population would be more enlightened? Fears and prejudices gone? No scarcity mindset and human concerns of food, shelter, money and healthcare made irrelevant?
What would that look like? Sounds a bit like socialism to me. Bloody commie Jesus!
Anyway, forget that version for a minute and imagine you’re there in paradise, everything is great, no arguments or conflict, you have everything you’ve ever wanted and get to do all the things you never got to do when you were alive. Or you can re-live times you loved, do things differently, get the whole wish fulfilment experience.
Sounds like a tailor made experience to me, your own personal Heaven…
Chances are it’s a simulation though, it’s not real, the people you’re interacting with aren’t really the people you’ve lost, they’re an idealised version of them based on your preferences and they behave the way you want them to.
American Dad briefly touched on this, but didn’t explore the implications. When Stan got to Heaven, he was shown to a room and once inside he was transported back to his house and family to a moment where he could make a different choice and redeem himself.
Steve also had a personal Heaven in a different room, where unicorns shit hamburgers.
The characters were happy with this and never questioned the ‘realness’ of their experiences.
So Heaven in those terms wouldn’t be ‘real’ because your idea of Heaven is undoubtedly different to somebody else’s and if that’s what everybody gets, then they’d never meet anybody ‘real’ ever again.
The concept of ‘realness’ opens up a huge can of worms, one which science fiction has thoroughly explored and I love it!
If I was told right now, that I was living in a simulation, I think I’d be ok with it. I would be keen on learning the cheat codes and having access to tailoring my life experiences though.
For some people this would be unacceptable. It’s not real, therefore it’s meaningless. I disagree with that way of thinking. Science fiction usually has a protagonist fighting against the simulation, like humans in the Matrix, unknowingly imprisoned, struggling for freedom and reality. It assumes that ‘real life’ is better than a simulation, but I wonder how many people, like me, would be comfortable existing in an artificial reality?
Those that believe in Heaven would have to consider this, if that’s how Heaven works. In a sense you’d be isolated, imprisoned in a personal paradise and at some point you’d probably figure out that what you’re experiencing wasn’t real. Would you want to leave and could you leave?
We’ve hit philosophy! ‘What is real?’
Reality is subjective and nobody can really explain it. The universe changes state when it’s observed, our senses are limited, there are things beyond our perception, so our view of reality is narrow. It also relies on consensus from other humans to cement these ideas of reality and normality and those things can change! It’s fluid.
Cypher in the Matrix made a deal to go back and live a life of luxury inside a simulation because it was a better reality. He made an understandable choice, but he didn’t need to betray his fellow humans to do it. There were surely other ways? That guy was a dick, but I bet plenty of other people would want the same.
‘Real’ feels to me, like a very individual experience and choice. One which depends on your capacity to question and accept the reality you’re presented with.
Upload, an Amazon Prime original series, deals with digital Heaven. Humans with terminal illness or who have been in accidents where death is the outcome can be digitally uploaded to a server and live in a virtual world.
It costs money to live there and introduces concepts that feel plausible to me. There’s the basic experience, where a subscription needs to be paid by somebody living, as the dead aren’t allowed to work and generate income. Certain foods, drinks and experiences can be unlocked if you pay more, much like gaming now, there are in game purchases. The show has a general anti-capitalist message and it explores a lot of ethical dilemmas without getting too deep, it is a comedy show after all.
But these people that have been uploaded are copies! Are they ‘real’?
They’re not really the person who died, their loved ones are paying a premium to run a simulation of someone they’re not ready to let go. It’s a sad and absolutely understandable premise.
It’s also horrifically exploitative of the company running the simulation.
But to the people inside the simulation, that is their reality, they consider themselves to be real and we’ve suddenly hit on AI, sentience and digital life forms having rights. That’s a whole different topic I’d love to delve into… another time.
I recommend giving it a watch.
I’m reminded of the transporter technology in Star Trek too. I wouldn’t set foot in one! They destroy you and reassemble a copy of you at another location. Copy, after copy, after copy. The first time you go through one, you’re dead, but your clones live on.
If Heaven is real in the Star Trek universe, would it be full of hundreds of copies of anyone that ever used a transporter?
Supposedly, we all have one precious soul and that’s what leaves our bodies when we die. But would our copies/clones also have souls?
What makes us ourselves? Is it our soul and are they even real? (Probably not)
I have plenty of questions, but no answers or conclusions, sorry about that.
The Good Place is another TV show about the afterlife and one that touches on the bureaucratic idea of Heaven, a trope I absolutely love. It’s a Wonderful Life and A Life Less Ordinary spring to mind.
I really enjoyed the philosophy throughout the whole series, it had conflict and things weren’t perfect. That’s partly why they didn’t call it Heaven, people have misunderstood how the after-life really works and it’s not a utopia because… humans. (Is utopia even possible with humans involved?) It was light, silly, intelligent and I think it got something really right at the very end.
Spoilers!
The main characters managed to change things for the better in the after-life. They discovered people had existed there for so long that they were miserable and wanted to leave/die but couldn’t, so an arch was created in the woods that allowed anyone who walked through it to wink out of existence.
This to me is what Heaven would/should be.
One of the many reasons I’m scared of death and angry about the finite time we have is because I want to do so much!
I’m sure I’m not the only one.
The Good Place invents a space that allows people to stay for as long as they want, do everything as many times as they like and stay with the people they love forever. But it also gives them the choice to leave.
We don’t get that choice, our deaths are out of our hands, it’s deeply unfair and cruel.
I think Heaven would be being able to experience everything you want to, spending time with who you want to, reading, watching, writing, creating, resting, travelling, dating, playing and doing absolutely everything to the point where you might actually feel ready to truly disappear. To have that choice and autonomy would be Heavenly.
It also feels realistic to me that people wouldn’t want to live/exist for eternity and would at some point want oblivion. I would take me a looooong time before I felt ready though.
I think that would be fair.
This clip is literally the end of the whole series, so don’t watch if you don’t want spoilers!
Of course there would be heartbreak and loss when loved ones decided they’d had enough, but there’d be no regrets. We probably wouldn’t feel cheated in the same way as an unexpected death.
Heaven/The Good Place would simply serve as extra time on the way to actual death, a comforting concept, but sadly, highly unlikely. Why would we be granted that luxury?
I would love to be proved wrong.
So I assume there is no after-life and use the knowledge of impending oblivion to motivate myself. Eat the cake, drink the wine, take the risk, spend the money, be kind, speak up, enjoy yourself! I describe this as positive nihilism. Some may say hedonism? Just don’t be a dick while you’re here.
In the words of Neil Hannon:
‘And when we die, will we be that disappointed or sad, if Heaven doesn’t exist, what will we have missed? This life is the best we’ve ever had.’
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