Der Weg ist das Ziel.
This life is not about its culmination; it never has been. People continually strive for perfection, but perfection--if we ever reached it--would be terminally boring. Life is and always has been about pushing forward--about the journey, and never about the destination.
Imagine a perfect world: no one need strive for anything, because they already have it. There is no rivalry, no improvement, no challenge, no purpose. For this reason, there are some aspects about heaven that I don't quite understand. We all idealize perfection, but in reality, I don't think anyone would choose a perfect world over one where we have the chance to continually improve ourselves--and one where we can make mistakes. Without mistakes, life would be kind of purposeless. Imagine a video game where you're assured to win every time--no one would play it. We play video games because we want the chance to prove ourselves--we want the challenge. We want the chance to make mistakes, and if that chance is taken from us, we immediately lose interest.
If anything and everything we do brings about the same solution--perfection--then no one will have any motivation to continue. This is, in essence, why communism is a failed economic system.
So then, what is heaven like? Is heaven a place of perfection, where every desire is immediately granted and every whim satisfied, and we long for nothing?
For my part, I hope it's not.
I want the ability to fail. I want the chance to make mistakes and keep trying. Without the possibility of disappointment, success means nothing. Perfection is not the best feeling in the world--instead, it's attaining Perfection against all odds. Once we reach it, we immediately look for the next challenge.Without some possibility failure, success means nothing. Without some possibility of hell, heaven means nothing.
And if we are given, in heaven, the ability to make mistakes, how is it different from our present life?
So my tentative, concluding thought: I hope heaven isn't perfection. I hope it is, like this one, a place where we are offered the chance to strive for perfection and given the possibility of failure. Perfection isn't as sublime as we've heard.
I'm not sure that the perfection experienced in heaven would be purposeless - it may be on a different dimension entirely. CS Lewis described the closest thing to heaven we can experience on earth is this feeling of longing - longing for those we love, for beauty, for that which is beyond. In progressing towards our goals in this life, we catch a glimpse of this longing. Its only a glimpse of a longing of heaven, nothing close to heaven itself - thats the most we can experience at this time. Heaven may be beyond that which we call "purpose", as purpose is itself a concept devoted to achieving a feeling less than heaven. What do you think?
ReplyDelete-j
I disagree with Mr. Lewis. The closest I've felt to heaven is not when I long for something more, but when I enjoy the fellowship of friends and family. And more often than not, it's during some game or competition where all of us have our own purposes--to win the game.
ReplyDeleteHeaven, I think, isn't about perfection. Christianity certainly isn't. Both have always been about love. Both have always been about community and family; and, furthermore, I think a community is formed when the failings of some are answered by the strength of others. I don't think we could have community without imperfection.
Or, as you say, maybe heaven is just so far beyond our ken that it's not even worth hypothesizing about. But I doubt it.