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What is it like in heaven? I bet that is something the majority of people have at least given a thought of once or twice in their life. But I am willing to bet that the majority of people really do not have any idea. But I actually do, so let me tell you about it.
Heaven vs Hell
There is a classic dichotomy, or jin and jang if you will where heaven and hell are portrayed as each other's direct opposite. On the hell side of things, there is hellfire, brimstone, and eternal suffering. And on the heaven side, on the heaven side... there are small chubby babies with bows and arrows or harps and a lot of clouds? A big faceless beard in white robes and a golden GATE that looks like it is stopping no one from either climbing it or just walking around it.
There are a lot of depictions of heaven, but I would argue that none of them really portrays what it is like to be in heaven. I mean the only way those pictures of heaven are the opposite of hell would be if the air was swapped for some ecstatic hallucinogenic drug. But let us take a closer look at hell and see if we are not able to use that as a basis for figuring out what it is like in heaven.
"Hell no, do not go" ?star -Tripp Advisor
For some strange reason, people seem to be way more confident about what it is like in hell compared to what heaven is like. If this is thanks to that eternal sin thing the pop is going on and on about I am not sure. But I will use what we have and work with it.
One of the key features of hell is the fire and brimstone thing. Then there is the whole burn in hell, or when the odds are really against you people like to use the "a snowball's chance in hell" metaphor. All of these are pointing to one and the same thing. It is hot as hell in hell. I mean the naughty kids even were given their own coal as Christmas gifts for crying out loud. I mean if we disregard the whole thing where pore people were freezing to death and probably would be very happy to be given some coal as a gift. I would say that giving naughty kids coal simply is a nice Christian way of preparing the children for their inevitable future.
Perilaus is forced into the brazen bull that he built for Phalaris. Ironicly it was Perilaus who was the inventor of the brazen bull. Source: WikiCommons / Public Domain
If you like me have been burned either by someone you like, by accident, or in some other way. I think we all can agree that it hurt, in like a really bad way. There is also the fact that it was used as a severe form of punishment. There are actually a few different ways this was done. There is the old Greek or Roman way called the brazen bull. In which a big life-size bull was created out of bronze, but hollow. Then you simply put the person inside of it you wanted to kill. Lit a fire under the bull and waited. According to the "legend", the original bull was apparently constructed in such a way that the screams from inside were changed into sounding like the sounds a bull made. Whether this device really existed is however up for debate.
Burning of an offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church, Avvakum by Pyotr Yevgenyevich Myasoyedov, Source: WikiCommons / Public Domain
What is not up for debate however is being burned alive, or immulation as it is known if you want to be a bit more fancy. This was for an extended period of time used as capital punishment. There were even two different ways you could be burned alive. The most known is the one where you take a stake and put a big pile of wood at the bottom of it. Then tie the person to the stake and light the word below. This often results in death by asphyxiation as the flames and heat suck the air out of the lungs of the victim. Not that the person would have lived either way, just saying. The far worse way is the second less known way. And that's where instead of putting the wood or fuel under the person you put it on a ring surrounding the person. Takes much longer to die this way apparently as you more or less die by cooking.
And while it is only the likeliest form of torture, I mean given the location is actually hell. I think it would be a fair assumption that fire would play at least a part in this. But of course, the goal of torture, in hell, is to inflict suffering. Not so much the way some tend to use it today, as a substitute for googling.
Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan Source: unsplash.com
It is also more or less common "knowledge" that when referring to hell it means a place down below or underground. This is also in opposition to one of the few things that seems to be agreed upon about heaven, that it seems to be situated above us. This also seems to be supported by the assumptions about the several places that are often referred to as "the gates of hell" or something similar. Of these places that are either natural or man-made that goes under this name or something similar. Probably the one that best fits this description is Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan.
Cave of the Sibyl, Italy, Source Marcus CyronCreative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
Another such place that looks the part is the man? made Cave of the Sibyl in Italy. While a very impressive construction, no matter who made it, it is more on the eerie side and less hell-inspiring. At least for me.
Something that also seems to support the place of hell is the fact that the further you dig down the hotter it gets. If this is what inspired people to assume hell is hot or not, I will leave it to others. But it at least seems to lend credence to the general direction of hell being downwards.
To summarize hell we can say it is most likely located beneath and it is hot, like hot as hell there, literally. We also know that people there are suffering in eternal pain and whatnot, and fire is most likely involved in some way. Now let us use these more or less facts to see if we can not figure out what heaven is like.
Heaven, one-way ticket, please!
I mentioned briefly before that one of the few things that seems to be commonly known about heaven is that it is located above us. Many say that the angels descend to earth and that the dead are looking down upon us. No not the snarky way, the loving well-wishing way. It is also mentioned that the tower of Babylon was built as a way for man to "cheat" the system and gain access to heaven directly. And in a similar way to "hot as hell" there is the "up in heaven" phrase that's used commonly. Also, there seems to be nothing conflicting about the general direction or heaven's location. Just like there seems to be no dispute over the general direction of hell.
How then is it up in heaven? One thing we know for a fact is that just as we dig deeper it gets hotter. The further up we go the colder it gets. And I therefore postulate that it is freezing in heaven. And I will go through more things that all are indicating this to be the fact. And I will not even go with the heaven and hell is the exact opposite bit. Because that is not necessarily a statement that is true in all regards, but only in regards to the experience of being there. So just because one is hot the other is not necessarily cold. Just as if one is white the other is not black and so on. But let us move on to the next thing that suggests that heaven in fact is frozen.
Santa with some more cole for the naught? children? Source https://pixabay.com/
We took a look at some of the possible ways fire can be used to torment people and inflict suffering on the inhabitants of hell. And one thing I assume the majority of people know is how much it hurts to get burned. But what if we take a look at what happened if we got cold, I mean like really cold? If we take a look at hypothermia we can see that as it goes from mild, to moderate to severe people will have some if not all of these symptoms: "Behavioural changes such as impaired judgment, impaired sense of time and place, unusual aggression and numbness can be observed in individuals with hypothermia, they can also deny their condition and refuse any help. A hypothermic person can be euphoric and hallucinating".
They can have numbness and be euphoric. Something they also can do is refuse help as they do not think they are in distress. Around modered hypothermia, they can also stop shaking and shivering. Some can also paradoxically undress themselves. There are also accounts of people saying they just felt numb and no pain whatsoever. And gently were slipping away.
Just like Led Zeppelin sang about the stairway to heaven, this might be a good depiction of what to expect if you get there. A long stairway leading to who knows, presumably with a lot of frozen people around it. If you truly read everything, this will show you a hidden gem I managed to generate with AI before this one. Source PrismGPT
To me, this all sounds like things that would be opposite to the very core thing hell is. You feel numb, even euphoric. You do not perceive to be in distress. And if you indeed are going to heaven why would you need any help? I have to say I feel pretty confident in declaring that heaving is most likely one of the coldest places you will find. Or at least cold enough for you to lower your body temperature low enough. It would be full of people who are just sitting or lying in a euphoric state, presumably naked, feeling eternal bliss being able to hallucinate anything to their heart's desire. And as they are already dead there is nowhere for them to go. Meaning that it will go on forever. Or at least long enough until global warming starts to thaw them up. I am willing to bet some money that we will have a bunch of very cold not very happy and dead? people then.
Oh and this is simply made for entertainment and to start some thoughts. I do not in any way shape or form suggest that people should go and freeze to death as a way to get into heaven. Also apparently suicide is frowned upon, so you will most likely go down rather than up if you were to do that.
I would really like to hear what your thoughts are on this, do you see any flaws in my logic or have I made any erroneous assumptions along the way? If so please let me know in the comment section below. I would love to hear your thoughts on my take on what heaven is like.
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Thumbnail modified by me, source: https://pixabay.com/
