Heaven, Hell, or Nothing at All?

I was challenged to write a persuasive essay about why there shouldn't be a heaven. At Costa Vida, me and my father's conversation went a little like this:

"I'm not sure I even want to have kids."
"They'll bring along a more mature side to you, a reason to grow more compassion rather than focus on yourself. If you die without any kids, all that will be left of you are books, which are good, not many people have even that, but you wouldn't have family."
"I don't want my family to suffer the loss of me. I don't want them to go through pain like that."
"Well that's why people believe in a heaven, so that they have an easier time letting go of those they love. I often wonder what it would be like if heaven didn't exist to the human mind."

I made a point that he really liked; a point that deserves to be applied to my following essay. He challenged me to persuade him that humans shouldn't have to have a paradise such as heaven in their hearts to survive. He challenged me to basically devise a world through fact and imagination that supported the beliefs of NOTHING when someone dies. I take it that he wants to know what a world without religion would be like.

The following definition of Religion comes from The Free Dictionary Online.

Religion
–noun

1.

a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

2.

a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.

3.

the body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices: a world council of religions.

 

The first definition defines that Religion is a way for people to cope with phenomenons of this world, and to have something worthwhile to hang on to, even though they may not be completely sure it's what they think it is. Heaven is a good example of this. The average Christian human believes that Heaven is a place after death where their spirit dwells and lives a lighter, more comfortable life after the challenging life of Earth. It's where they meet their loved ones who had passed, and another way for them to be together. It's an emotional healer for grief and misery pertaining to death. 

 

Most people cannot fathom what it would be like after death, because eternity is an intangible thought that the human mind can't grasp for very long without getting weary. It's like holding onto a vertical bar and suspending you in the air for a short period of time until you get tired. Your feet connect with the safety of the earth, and you walk as easily as normal people think about their day.  A man could walk to work, safe and sound upon the ground, and think normally about his business calls and his family at home. Say the man should sit down in his office chair and frown at the blank computer screen, seeing nothing but blue. His current thoughts may be reviewing why it's taking so long to load. This man has no religion. He sits next to a very religious interviewee who believes deeply in the LDS standards and won't open his mind to new experiences and thoughts. The man, upon staring at the screen, suddenly wonders what it would be like if he were to die suddenly and see nothing. What if he felt nothing, heard nothing, tasted nothing and smelled nothing? What if that was how his life would go. He does not believe in a place his soul will go to after this life. Had he told the interviewee next to him about his sudden realization, the interviewee would look at him simply and say "Your soul will peel away from your body and float to a holding place, just before heaven, where you will become a missionary and take a trip to Hell and make the nasty souls there wish they had done better in their lives." For the man with no religion, this would sound absurd compared to the simply blackness after life. Despite either belief, the man would think about this realization more often then not, subconsciously finding himself a lot more cautious of anything dangerous. 

 

If the entire human race hypothetically didn't believe in anything after death and didn't have any religious system to follow; pain, war, and life would be an ocean's width of a difference than it is now. Had people believed in blackness after death, cold and stripped of your senses, with no soul and nowhere to go; life on this earth would seem a lot more worth living for. 

 

The most common situation that happens to us as a human race included something that has to do with pain or depression. We have emotions that have the potential to be bigger than us and control our lives every day. Take the weather, for instance.  The man, who spends most of his afternoon in an office cubical, where the weather couldn't possibly effect him, feels sad when he realizes that it is a rainy day. He could pretend that within his confined office space, it was sunny outside, but the sad feelings still lurk inside him.  He had no control over it, and felt gloomy all day. It was because his emotions are teased by little things in his life that shouldn't be. When it comes to pain and suffering, we are weak. When there is no such thing to look for after death, the pain and suffering are decreased with caution, in hopes to keep living and get enough of the world and life that by the time death is close to you, you will accept the blackness that will swallow you whole. Everyone is different, and if some still take risks and live their life to the extreme, it will only state that they don't have a fear of the blackness that could be so far away, yet so near. 

 

When you see a young man enlist in the army during a time of bloodlust and horror, you wonder why he was signing up for the death and despair that awaits him. People who believed in an afterlife would have an easier time watching this young man sign up, knowing that they would be preserved in a good place until you reached him upon your death. You would be with him. Say there is no paradise after death. Say there is the unrelenting darkness described in this piece that would devour every last bit of you before you had a chance to fully live life. Would you be so quick to allow that boy to sign up for his death? War in general would be given a second thought. If there is no reincarnation and no way to see your loved ones after death, would generals and dictators be so quick to diminish their units of human life? What if there was a limit to the souls entering this world through birth? Bloodlust would seem a lot less desired for. If Heaven didn't exist, neither does a Hell. Committing murder would not be thought of as a sin that you had to be punished for, yet there would be no influence to even do it, if any satanic creature was not devised within the creation of Hell. War would not be so brutal. Temptation could be over scrutinized. Wrong doings in the world would have no meaning unless it brought pleasure to the occasional psychopath. 

 

To be quite frank, without a paradise more grand than life on this earth today, you would think more highly of your job and opportunities that followed when you saved up money for a ski-trip.  You would consider the pleasures of a full stomach and the iPod in your hand rather than the empty feeling of surrounding nothing after you die. Assuming no one believed in Heaven after death, there would be less suicides statistically, and more determination to push through the rough times in life. Heaven is used for weakness. When you cannot handle the challenges in this life, you believe that if you killed yourself, you would lead an easier life, away from financial potholes, abuse, and obesity. You would be perfect and skinny, and your soul would be free so long as you do not kill someone and get yourself planted in the fiery consumes of Hell. Knowing that what awaited you after the painful passing of death was nothing, you would be more careful to say hello to a neighbor one morning and exercise more to keep you feeling the best you can. 

 

A life without a tempting paradise afterwards seems a little less grand, but a lot more worth it. However, as the definition above states that humans use religion to help them explain things that science cannot, it is a cushion for those who cannot bear to be told that death rewards nothing. Sometimes these cushions however, become a cover of clouds that cushions one's entire mind. They think that it is the only way, and that others should believe that way as well. Thus leading to missionary and prejudices against other beliefs. Another mess that would be avoided if the human race had no religion. 

Spiders....

So I got new headphones: that's a very good omen about a good day. But at the same time, I feel as if this will be a very long, very boring day. You wonder why? Well, to be honest, it's because I ate a few cookies and now I'm not feeling so skinny in my bikini. Ah well. I'll suck in while I'm walking around at the pool. Also, I was stung by a bee yesterday. How awesome is that? It looked like this huge welt on my thigh! Bleh!! That is a bad omen. Although...headphones....bee sting....I don't know which one over throws the other. :\ I'm clueless. I'm also bored and I don't feel like writing, which is bad, because I SHOULD write so I can get that stupid book over with, but I'm just not feeling it. I have no idea on what to do with that chapter. >:| Sometimes things frustrates me very easily. I know it shouldn't, but it does. Now I have nothing more to write about other than the fact that I've found three spiders in my room today. (:-( I don't understand what's happening to my bedroom! It is being infested with spiders!

Intense Summer Heat

Okay listen up folks. I am going to describe to you the spirit degrader of summer.

The heat.

Basically my house becomes so hot in the mornings, despite having all the windows and blinds closed, that I sit at the computer, TRYING to write, when I keep having to wipe away sweat every five minutes. This is maddening! I know that AC costs money, but mom said I can turn it on around eleven....except that I forget to do it and then I remember at noon and by then it's already too late. You see how hopeless I am?! I mean, it's so hot that the butter is nearly a puddle of fat.

It's this heat. It is the heat that is distracting me from my writing. I feel lethargic and tired instead, and I ended up falling asleep when I had a pretty good night's sleep last night. You know how frustrating that it? And then going outside doesn't help, because I'll be drenched in sweat in ten short minutes of standing out there. Suddenly I am thankful for the pool, yet unthankful for certain times of the month when I WANT to go to the pool. >:| They say this summer wasn't nearly as hot as other summers, but damn it! It's sooooo hot!!!!! I want to throw water on myself right now. I want otterpops.

Quesadillas Cannot Cook in Spall Pans

I say this because I attempted to cook full torillas smothered in cheese in a small frying pan. Now, the pan was probably an inch smaller than the area of the torilla, so I figured that I could do my best in letting it cook anyway, because it got most of where the cheese lay. That was when I discovered that quesadillas remind me of pie. Or at least this one.

You see, pies have filling. Quesadillas have filling. Pies are cut into triangles. Quesadillas are cut into triangles (If you do them right.). The problem with this logic, however, is the fact that pie is sweet and doesn't give you an after taste, while these gross store-bought torillas do. That's why you put as much cheese in it as you can to counteract the taste. Otherwise, I wouldn't even bother with this post today.

I write this post today, because I do not want to work on Chapter 28 when I really need to. I don't, because I know that it has to be long. I have to, because it is the last chapter of part 2 and the sooner I get it done, the sooner I can crash. :( Sometimes writing a book has its perks, but sometimes it doesn't. I already had my break day (Yesterday) Because it's a Wednesday and Wednesdays aren't good days. So there. :|

The Future Within My Grasp

I underwent something weird yesterday; a feeling I could only describe as a mental meltdown. The stimulating reason as to why it happened is only just: The Utah State University website. I know what I want to do, but I can't get there fast enough. 

 I see what I wish my college life to be like, but I'm afraid it won't turn out. I can picture myself in the American Fork High School hallways, just strolling along to my desired class. I can imagine myself getting good grades and socializing with a lot of new people. I see myself in my Journalism class, making Mrs. Ludwig-Shelton pleased to have gambled with bringing me in. I can even think of myself in the high school bleachers screaming at the football team and having a blast with my friends. I'm ready to feel what its like to be a high-schooler, and then shortly after that, a freshman in my first year of college. I want to learn. I know I said that I hated school all throughout Junior High, but those times took place in Math or Science, or at times when some dramatic problems happens with friends that I don't want to be caught in. I say I like school, or I like learning, because every single day I get to go to a class I chose and learn something new that I don't mind learning. Something that might help me along with my pursuit of career. I think about the three years I get to spend in high-school, and I think to myself, "Hey. If I can't get psychology this year, then I can get it next year, or the year after that." And if I can't get it in high school, there is always college. That is why I am so excited about college. 

Except that when I'm so excited about college, that's all I can think about. That's all I fantasize about. I suddenly want this summer to go faster so I can get to college quicker. I know I can't do that. I have to do things before I get to college in the first place. I have to have money. I have to have a high school diploma. I have to apply for scholarships. I have to drive. I have to work. I have to meet new people and maintain a social life. Last night, all of those thoughts ran through my head. However, the biggest predicament that really depressed me was my hobby. How would I ever have time to continue writing and publish when I'm young? Of course, people would immediately say, "Summer time!" or "This summer, silly!" Yes well, I have been using my summer time wisely, or as wisely as I could possibly make it, but I have also been getting distracted and restless as well. 

Mother told me to calm down and to not stress over any of this right now. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it tonight. I agreed, and went along to finish reading Ray Bradbury's Fahreheit 451. I realized that all I wanted to do, other than my big futuristic desire, was to read, write, sleep, and listen to music. Maybe that's all I should do this summer...although I'll have neighbor's bugging me, brothers bugging me, swimming to do, fat to keep off, exercise to continue, and friends to see. See? Summer isn't always completely lazy.

Stars Don't Fall Update from Little-Miss-Author

Okay, so as my readers know, I'm pretty much writing a book. Well! I finished chapter 26, sat down in my soft chair, pulled the notebook on my lap, and something hit me. The second book to the Fantasy Roleplay trilogy!!!

Really guys. I'm serious. I came up with this big plot for my second book, so now I can't write fast enough to get to it. You guys wanna know what it is? Yes you do.

So basically I'll be giving away the end of my current book....shit. Nevermind. I don't wanna do that! Now what do I write???

Nah I'll just tell you.

Wvern had been destroyed, along with all of its simple technologies. Syrusses is the new ruler of the planet Curzonin with McKenzie as his queen. Syrusses's own hostages escape into the wilderness of Curzonin and experience new challenges they had never faced before: violent animals, ashy rain, and volcanic terrain. Alyshia nearly gives up leading her friends until they discover an abandoned village. They used it as a rest stop, only to discover a girl close to their age who captures all their hearts. They turn around and begin a rebellion to over take Syrusses's capitol city while he was still weak without an army.
Victory feels likely this time. 

And then for a third book, Cyran and McKenzie and them all rebuild Curzonin and use the sword to change the features so it's sort of like Wvern again, and they create a new kingdom and stuff, but the sword is being overloaded with power and is going haywire, and it creates this big monster that threatens to destroy all life on the planet, and then they have to ask Syrusses to help them out, even though they put him in a dungeon a while back, because Syrusses is the only one who may know how to destroy the sword and the monster, and find a new way to keep the planet's life source from dying off without the sword.

It was quite a short period of time to come up with it, but it's only because I had a dream a few months ago. I'll describe it to you:

Something happens to earth where quite a few people die, nearly the whole world, and only a few people had the opportunity to get aboard a spaceship and fly to anew world. Just before they get there,t he ships mess up and they crash land in an undestined planet, scattering people all over the big world. Few survive and moved to high ground from the weird conditions of the planet. From there they and settled and mated, but birth was rare on the planet from weird gases floating in the air.

From there, there is a girl who is left alone at her village just before others were supposed to come with a message. They had all mysteriously died in a rogue animal attack, but discovers something very human that suggests that the attack was human. Now, scared for her life, she fleas to the inside of her village's fortress and barricaded it. She doesn't want the other people to come for her either, so she hides, hoping the other will the traps she laid out. Then new people come along and decide to help her out and get past the booby traps.

I'm working on Chapter 27 as we speak. :D This is so exciting!!!! And you know, I have my entire story so far on my profile, if you're curious. I have a lot of readers who love it so much. ----> Profile


So anyway, there's a good update for ya. I'm pretty excited about this new idea that has come up. Super excited.

Open Your Eyes World

Society decides the rights and wrongs of this life. How odd that we, as individual people, let it control our lives. We live by the expectations that leaders above us set. We are monkeys doing everything that everyone else does. It's the same revolving pattern, always cycling, never ending. When someone says that humans are habitual creatures, they are certainly right. We go to work every morning, drinking a beverage every morning, try to go jogging every morning, sleep every night, and then wake up every morning to start the cycle over again. Sometimes there are people out there who will stand up and do something new. Maybe begin a new sport, like rock climbing, or do more things past eleven at night.

Or maybe discovering a new way to live. Everyone is married; woman to man. Everyone has sex after they're married; man to woman. Today, people are discovering that whatever feels natural to them, they should pursue. Gay marriages are showing up everywhere, but there are some close-minded people out there who are trying to fight against it. What's the harm in letting people marry man to man? It won't bother your own sheltered families. Sure, it means a lot less converting to the church, but just as the Roman Catholic church had been, religion is slowly beginning to control society. Polygamists have a hard time living in this world, despite them actually being religious and following their churches, because it's DIFFERENT from what people who consider themselves "normal" sees. Teenage sex isn't bad, as long as they are careful and know what they are doing. It isn't "wrong" unless you make it wrong. They are just curious, and wonder what the world has to offer when they are adults. Adults who aren't married have sex as well, and people decide that it is perfectly wrong to do so, even though they are adults and know what they want and what they do to be careful. Adults who have sex even after marriage, but with full consent of their spouse is called polyamory. It's beginning to sprout up everywhere, even though not many sheltered people in especially Utah may not know that.

There will always be new things that come up. People will always find new ways to live their lives and be their own person. No one can look at something and say it's "wrong" when they haven't tried it themselves. Until you know what it feels like, natural or unnatural, people need to open their minds and look at the world with a new outlook. None of this brainwash shit that everyone belonging to some sort of church is going through. You can still have religion in your life, but people take it a little too far. It's become a major aspect in your life, when it's merely to bring comfort to you when you see phenomenal things and explain things that couldn't be explained scientifically. It's to bring warmth in your heart when you are down, and to follow life-lessons that should only be achieved without serious judgment or entire life changes. It's there to guide you when you stray too far off course. It's not there to control your life and tell you what you should or shouldn't do.

You wonder why you get sick of church sometimes.