Nirvana and Pandemonium

I woke up with Heaven and Hell on the brain. Which is not as unusual as it sounds because many conversations I have had as of late that have centered around this topic. Plus, I was listening to the Death Cab for Cutie song yesterday that has the lyric "If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied, illuminate the NO's on their vacancy signs, if there's no one beside you when your soul departs, I'll follow you into the dark", which always lingers long after the song has ended.

I woke up with a desire to look these two words up on Thesaurus.com, because I do not own a paper book thesaurus. I like synonyms and I felt like looking at all the synonyms would perhaps give a picture of how folks around the world and of different faiths view these two places/concepts.

Heaven synonyms: Arcadia, Canaan, Elysium, Shangri-la, Utopia, Zion, afterworld, atmosphere, azure, bliss, beyond, dreamland, ecstasy, empyrean, enchantment, eternal home, eternal rest, eternity, fairyland,felicity, firmament, glory, great unknown, happiness, happy hunting ground, harmony, heights, hereafter, immortality, kingdom, kingdom come, life everlasting, life to come, next world, nirvana, paradise, pearly gates, promised land, rapture, sky, the blue, transport, upstairs, wonderland

Hell synonyms: Abaddon, Gehenna, Hades, abyss, affliction, agony, anguish, blazes, bottomless pit, difficulty, everlasting fire, fire and brimstone, grave, hell-fire, infernal regions, inferno, limbo, lower world, misery, nether world, nightmare, ordeal, pandemonium, perdition, pit, place of torment, purgatory, suffering, torment, trial, underworld, wretchedness.

I really like the word nirvana and the idea of a happy hunting ground, a place where we finally find what we have been seeking all along. The words for hell that are most descriptive to me are torment and pandemonium.

I have never been a heaven and hell kind of person. The kind that was particularly concerned about my eternal destination nor anyone else's for that matter. And since I have become a Christian, I haven't really been an eternal destination kinda Christian either. I have been a bringing heaven to earth kinda Christian. But as I have been engaging in conversations about heaven and hell, I have desired to know a bit more about what they might look like so that I could better bring heaven and cast out hell in the lives of those around me. A friend of mine said something like this, "we have the power to unleash heaven or hell on each other." I like these words, unleashing heaven or hell, like there is a dam holding them both back and we are standing in the middle, a finger plugging up holes in each dam. And if we pull our little finger out of one crack or the other, heaven or hell will come bursting through and flood our world. And we are left with the choice of which we choose to release. Honestly, I don't know what heaven or hell looks like. I like the idea of heaven being with God and hell being separation from God. A picture of heaven on earth that I think is lovely is in Matthew 26, when Jesus is separating the sheep from the goats and He says the people are blessed

"for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me....Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to the least of these My bretheren, you did it to Me"

I think the closest I get to heaven is a) when I am in the midst of loving community and b) when I worship (whether in song or walk or talk). And the closest I feel to hell is when I treat someone poorly or am treated unkindly. When we love and serve each other as though we were loving and serving Jesus, that is heaven on earth.

I used to teach sunday school at a Unitarian Universalist Church when I was in high school. This story, adapted from a Chinese folk tale, was one I really liked to read to the kids. I think it is pretty. and it rings true.

Long ago there lived an old woman who had a wish. She wished more than anything to see for herself the difference between heaven and hell. The monks in the temple agreed to grant her request. They put a blindfold around her eyes, and said, "First you shall see hell."

When the blindfold was removed, the old woman was standing at the entrance to a great dining hall. The hall was full of round tables, each piled high with the most delicious foods — meats, vegetables, fruits, breads, and desserts of all kinds! The smells that reached her nose were wonderful.

The old woman noticed that, in hell, there were people seated around those round tables. She saw that their bodies were thin, and their faces were gaunt, and creased with frustration. Each person held a spoon. The spoons must have been three feet long! They were so long that the people in hell could reach the food on those platters, but they could not get the food back to their mouths. As the old woman watched, she heard their hungry desperate cries. "I've seen enough," she cried. "Please let me see heaven."

And so again the blindfold was put around her eyes, and the old woman heard, "Now you shall see heaven." When the blindfold was removed, the old woman was confused. For there she stood again, at the entrance to a great dining hall, filled with round tables piled high with the same lavish feast. And again, she saw that there were people sitting just out of arm's reach of the food with those three-foot long spoons.

But as the old woman looked closer, she noticed that the people in heaven were plump and had rosy, happy faces. As she watched, a joyous sound of laughter filled the air.

And soon the old woman was laughing too, for now she understood the difference between heaven and hell for herself. The people in heaven were using those long spoons to feed each other.