Heaven, Hell and the Afterlife
Nietzsche once said, through his character Zarathustra: “When (man) invented hell . . . lo, hell was his heaven on earth; he could put up with suffering now, by contemplating the eternal punishment of his oppressors in the other world.” If that definition is too Old Testament for you, would you agree with these two definitions? The first one is by the group, Talking Heads : “Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.” Nick Carr took that definition to its logical conclusion and wondered: “If we further assume that hell is the opposite of heaven, then the distinguishing characteristic of hell is unrelenting eventfulness, the constant, unceasing arrival of the new. Hell is a place where something always happens.” I am guessing the Buddha would have added a very important point to Carr’s definition: “That’s hell only if you choose to react to every such occurrence.” What would you consider this description of one version of the afterlife by David Eagleman in Sum: Fo...