What about Heaven?

[Raptor95]

I have had plenty of different experiences to lead me to believe in other worldly happenings. And I know I have had past lives even if I do not recall them like some on this post. I have a glimpse here and there. But they do not add up yet.
1st of all I am enjoying this life with my son, my family and my friends.
Yet what I want to know is, when do we get to stay in Heaven? I have heard and read about people that experience accidents and die for short times. And they speak of
Heaven and how our loved ones are there. So do we have a choice to stay in Heaven or do we have to come back over and over till we figure some thing big out? I want to figure it out so that the next life will be eternal with God and our loved once. I will wait till it is my turn, but I would like to make this one the final one.
From what I have heard and read of Heaven, Heaven would be awesome. :freak:

 

[stardis]

Nobody really knows the answer to your question and this is just my opinion.


I suspect that Heaven is sort of like a vacation and you get to chill out in the spa of your choice until you are ready for something else to get involved in. Your idea of heaven is probably different from my idea of heaven and the reality will probably be that heaven is what you want it to be or perhaps what you need it to be.


Probably we don't ever get to have a Heavenly Life that is static and unchanging - no matter how wonderful it is. Change - through exploration of who we are and our purpose in the universe may go on forever.


You may, and probably will, get to see your loved ones in the "timeless now" beyond this veil and that is indeed something to look forward to. But they will also be learning and exploring their purpose in the universe and it could be that you and they together will be eager to try something new, perhaps a new physical incarnation or an existence beyond the physical limitations that we now endure.


I have read that we may eventually to get merge with the Source and become a part of it but I don't really believe it is like that, strictly speaking. I think that we can merge with our Source but that we do so only for a time and then move on to our next challenge. It is hard to imagine that we will all become one with our Source and remain that way because I think the Source is eternally creating the Universe and our role in that eternal creation is to experience it - eternally.


Here is the good part. No matter how tired and beat up we may get in this life, when we pass through the veil we will become our true selves, reinvigorated and ready for whatever comes next.

 

[Nightrain]

...what I want to know is, when do we get to stay in Heaven?

Hi Raptor!


The subject of heaven, or the "afterlife", has stimulated many threads on this Forum, in which many of us have mentioned repeatedly how we long for extended vacations among this seemingly endless round of incarnations. But, no matter how much pain, frustration, angst and sorrow we suffer during each lifetime, I suspect that boredom would set in if we spent too long away from the process of spiritual refinement.


How many times in your life have you looked from your car window at certain houses along your way while wondering what it would be like to live within those walls? And, how many times have you looked back at your own life and wished that you had taken a different route? If you've ever had a personal dream, or a healthy curiosity; I would bet that you would continue to wonder at the many things there are to enjoy or learn from. Why should anything be any different in heaven?


One of the great failings of religions which speak of heaven is the fact that not much real thought goes into describing what heaven means. When they describe it as a place of happiness or contentment, what do they mean? For one person it may be a place where all the cops have wooden legs, and the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft boiled eggs...The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay!

"In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin. And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in. There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks. I'm a goin' to stay where you sleep all day. Where they hung the jerk that invented work, in the Big Rock Candy Mountains."


-

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/b/bigrockcandymountain.shtmlThe Big Rock Candy Mountains by Harry McClintock

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/b/bigrockcandymountain.shtml


When we really think about the afterlife, we might realize that it would be only a matter of moments before we are looking forward to our next adventure, where there is an element of mystery and the unknown.

 

[dobsd]

I was wondering about this the other day. I'm not religious at all but I won't say I don't believe there could be a God, Heaven etc because I'm still young and there's plenty of time (hopefully!) for me to figure things out. But for some reason, I find myself more and more believing in reincarnation and past lives.


Anyway, I was just pondering in my head the other day about if people have a 'final' life and get to stay in 'Heaven'. And if this was to happen, that some did get to stay in Heaven, how would there be enough souls to create new people/lives? Are new souls created somehow?!


This is all getting very philosophical for me! :laugh:

 

[stardis]

I was wondering about this the other day. I'm not religious at all but I won't say I don't believe there could be a God, Heaven etc because I'm still young and there's plenty of time (hopefully!) for me to figure things out. But for some reason, I find myself more and more believing in reincarnation and past lives.

The reality of God, Heaven, etc. exist independently of religious cultures. I like to think that religion is more like a suit of clothing that I can put on when I want to join with a community and experience their perspective of reality. It has seemed important to not lose oneself in any specific religion but to reserve that special communion with our Creator as a strictly personal one-on-one act in a way that feels right and good.


I was born into a Lutheran community this time and I believe that I was born into a Native American community in a past life but it is the same Creator that we worship in both cultures.


Here are some interesting threads about new souls:


new souls


New Souls?

 

[Truthseeker]

I suspect that boredom would set in if we spent too long away from the process of spiritual refinement.

I've heard the analogy before that it's kind of like being an athlete playing in a game. You can only tolerate sitting on the sidelines for so long before you're anxious to get back in the game. I also like the vacation analogy. It's awesome going away on vacation to relax and recharge your battery, but eventually you're going to get anxious to get back home and get down to business.
As far as if there is a "final life," I figure that I'm far enough away from that happening that it isn't worth me worrying about at this point.

 

[Nightrain]

...if this was to happen, that some did get to stay in Heaven, how would there be enough souls to create new people/lives? Are new souls created somehow?!

Hi dobsd!


There is no counting the number of times this question arises. There is an argument used by skeptics that implies a mathematical contradiction concerning how many souls there must be now, in order to accommodate the very large population that exists in the world today, when compared to the sparse human populations that existed in pre-history.


In spite of such logic, one must bear in mind that so many other realities could be in play here. Some philosophers and scientists suggest that there are many levels of existence and an infinite number of universes, each with an infinite number of worlds that are crawling with life forms of one kind or another. For all we know, there may be more features of existence than we could ever be aware of.


Our simple logic cannot begin to explain the world we live in. Ours is more than the physical world we perceive with our senses. What we see, hear, taste and feel is only a very tiny percentage of the world that can observed by our instruments, let alone what has been observed by our souls.


The question of whether new souls are created is one that cannot be answered within the limited constraints of one physical lifetime. This should not keep us from asking such questions. However, it should keep us from doubting that anything is possible.

 

[Hannah]

How many times in your life have you looked from your car window at certain houses along your way while wondering what it would be like to live within those walls? And, how many times have you looked back at your own life and wished that you had taken a different route? If you've ever had a personal dream, or a healthy curiosity; I would bet that you would continue to wonder at the many things there are to enjoy or learn from. Why should anything be any different in heaven?

This is a really great way to sum it up! It feels right to me.

 

[Raptor95]

My picture of heaven is green rolling hills. Rivers full of fish, people visiting with loved ones and children playing and laughing. (And me fishing with my dad hehe)


I guess you all are right about getting bored after while. I know that even now, when all is will I get bored. No struggle no stress. Then some thing happens and it is stress time again. I joke that God has a sense of humor.


I just passed a house after work. It is empty and grass all grown. I just made a u-turn and went and parked in front of it. I know I can not afford it. And it looks like it needs a bunch of work roof-siding and no telling the inside. But I see what you all mean. I did wonder what it would be like to live in it. And wondered what it looked like in its heyday. I guess if I recall more about my past lives I will come to terms better. It drives me nuts not knowing what Heaven is really like and not knowing anything about my past lifes.

Quote fromNightrain1
There is no counting the number of times this question arises. There is an argument used by skeptics that implies a mathematical contradiction concerning how many souls there must be now, in order to accommodate the very large population that exists in the world today, when compared to the sparse human populations that existed in pre-history.

When you put it this way, then you it seems to me that we need to keep coming back to fill those spaces.


Did anyone see the movie “Knowing” with Nicholas Cage? I think it leaves you wondering.


The place where the kids are dropped off at the end is what I have always thought Heaven to look like.


I have had pleasure in reading all the different views from all of you.