Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryobi
Heaven and Hell
When I was a kid (under 10), I asked my Grandpa about Heaven and Hell. I wasn't sure what to fear or what to hope for. He put it in terms that I have never forgotten and think of often to this day. (He was a wise man, and he read a lot. I'm not exactly sure where credit of thought lies.) This is what he told me:
Heaven and Hell are like two rooms that are exactly the same. In both rooms there are huge banquette tables filled with the most wonderful feast you can imagine. Food doesn't go bad, and there is an endless supply, open for the taking. In both of these rooms, the people don't have elbows. In Hell, the elbowless people are angry and starving, only being fed what they can selfishly mash their faces into. In Heaven, the elbowless people are happy and helping. They're feeding eachother.
In my daily life, I try to feed. And in-turn, get fed. There are days that I'm angry and starving. Those days have become far and few between in my personal growth. I have learned how to get my ass back to Heaven.
How do you view Heaven and Hell? How does it apply to your daily life?
|
I'm an atheist, admittedly, so my views on the two are perhaps similar to AJ's. Specifically, that while notions of heaven may provide (some, limited) comfort to the grieving or dying, notions of heaven and hell are still dangerous--due to the way that so many foolish, short-sighted people have used heaven to justify doing foolish, short-sighted things on the supposed grounds that this life doesn't matter anyway and the afterlife is all we have to be concerned about, and the way that so many (mostly the same) foolish, short-sighted people use the notion of hell to fearmonger.
No, I'm not talking about all believers--but those people are out there, even today, with horrific, even lethal, consequences.
That said, your grandfather's story sounds like an apt description of--or perhaps recipe for--heaven and hell on Earth. Taken as a metaphor for the effects of kindness and selfishness, respectively, in the real world, it is very wise indeed.