On the Existence of Heaven
This is a rather daunting idea to truly consider. So much so that when this idea landed in my head it felt like my scalp was ripped off my head. Given the complexity and depth of this topic, I will keep the tone light so you will read with a relaxed mindset that will keep you credulous…
Dostoevsky is responsible for this idea’s seed. In Notes From Underground (1864), his character, the Underground Man, writes,
“Now I ask you: what can be expected of man as being endowed with such strange qualities? Shower him with all earthly blessings, drown him in happiness completely, over his head, so that only bubbles pop up on the surface of happiness, as on water; give him such economic satisfaction that he no longer has anything left to do at all except sleep, eat gingerbread, and worry about the noncessation of world history — and it is here, just here, that he, this man, out of sheer ingratitude, out of sheer lampoonery, will do something nasty. He will even risk his gingerbread, and wish on purpose for the most pernicious nonsense, the most noneconomical meaninglessness, solely in order to mix into this positive good sense his own pernicious, fantastical element. It is precisely his fantastic dreams, his most banal stupidity, that he will wish to keep hold of, with the sole purpose of confirming to himself (as if it were so very necessary) that human beings are still human beings and not piano keys, which, though played upon with their own hands by the laws of nature themselves, are in danger of being played so much that outside the calendar it will be impossible to want anything.” (30)
This argument, at first glance, seems to be a critique of utopianism. No matter how perfect a society’s political system, economy, leader, or community, there will emerge a desire, latent in all of us, to burn it all down. If you don’t think this would be you, just consider your childhood — how great did it feel to break things back then? Consider yourself now. How great would it feel if you won the lottery and could skip work today and drink wine and scroll through Twitter? Depending on who you are it might feel good for an hour, or maybe even days, but at some point this will put you on the brink of depression.
It is easy to imagine that an infinite amount of money and a mansion in the Hollywood Hills would cure all of your problems. But try to just teleport yourself to this mansion right now.
Have you done it? I can wait for a bit…
You are in the mansion. You don’t have a problem with money anymore, but you still feel tired. You still need to call your Mom. You still might not get invited to that party tomorrow. That cookie is still in the pantry (actually, loads more cookies in the mansion). You still hate your ex. Everything is the same, except that you’ve just used life’s cheat-code. What do you do? If you’ve ever done this in a video game, you know that you don’t keep playing. You just switch to a different game, or turn off the console.
The Underground man’s view of humanity, not matter how grimly described, is evident through this thought experiment (you can leave the mansion now, by the way). No matter how good you could technically “have it,” your hedonic mind would adjust, and you would want to pursue novelty, or challenge, or conflict, or even pain. The only thing you won’t do is sit still and eat the grapes being fed to you.
Rather than seeing this as a reflection of humanity’s ungratefulness, one can see it as a reflection of our strength. We are impossible to control, impossible to satisfy, impossible to predict. No matter how great you believe your model of the world is, it cannot account for my ability to understand it, and act against its prediction. You say “jump,” I say “I’ll have four pancakes please.”
“You were supposed to say, ‘how high?’”
What does this have to do with Heaven?
We were told as kids that Heaven is this place of pure joy. It was rather loosely defined, so each person had their own vision of it. But I’m probably correct in assuming that most people see it as a place where they don’t need to work and can indulge in all the pleasures they resisted in life without any of the consequences. When I was 10 it was a place where I could ride my bike all day and not have to go to school in the morning. When I was 16 it was a racetrack and a Ferrari. When I was 22 it was… it was no longer. Thanks Underground Man.
Dostoevsky is teaching that utopia (either heavenly or earthly) is outside the domain of humanity. For you math nerds out there: the function is undefined
What we call Heaven is, quite literally, something we cannot understand. It is much like the fourth dimension, you can attempt to imagine it, but you’ll just bounce of the walls of the room your mind is confined to.
There may be a place where suffering is no longer, and eternal happiness is indeed a possibility, or even a guarantee. However, that place is not for us mortals. If we really do go to this place we go to after we die, we may not even recognize ourselves when we walk through the door, as we’ll have to had left our humanity behind.
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, et al. Notes from Underground. Vintage Books, 1994.