ineedtocomeup

From time to time, as mortal beings, our respective faiths and mortalty are called to issue. I'm do not adhere to any particular religious discipline, although I believe in God and that the God of whom I believe is the God of the bible. I don't believe in "labels", such as "Christian", because much too often, at least in my country, labels are used inequitably for reasons other than their intended purpose.

I've read the bible cover to cover, as well as part of the Kuran and have studied the philosophies of many ancillary faiths (i.e., Mormanism, Buddhism, Scientology, Jehovah's Witness, etc.). I have tried to grasp a comprehensive picture of what the afterlife means to people of different faiths. The understanding of "heaven" imposd on me as I was raised was, in general, a time and space of eternal perfection during which happiness never ends and sadness never begins. Being mortal, I have no concept of "perfection" (that is until I saw Dallas and Tea's photo sets for the first time), and of course I have no concept of "eternity" (which I can only explain or understand as a physical/spacial continuum where time is not). Maybe I should dust off my Matrix DVDs.

Now that I am older, and hopefully wiser, the concept of "heaven" is upsetting. It is my sadness, pain and discomfort that has allowed me to experience personal and spiritual growth and gain a true appreciation of what being happy means to me. Additionally, because I know my days are numbered in this lifetime, I have an incentive to live my life to the fullest and make as much of it as I possibly can.

In any event, as yet another form of self imposed punishment, I'm trying to wrap my brain around the concept of what heaven "is." I'd like to hear feedback from others as to what their concept of heaven is, irrespetive of whatever faith to which they do (or don't) belong. Enlightent me, grasshoppers, eh......