Is Heaven/Nirvana Boring?

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I was discussing with a well-respected friend various ideas of Heaven and Nirvana.

He said, "Both places sound kind of boring to me. You just sit around being happy all the time, with everything you need, with nothing bothering you. What's the point?"

Question: Do you think Heaven and/or Nirvana are boring?
Why not?

Challenge:
Can you make a case as to why either place would not be boring?

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Perhaps its the definitions of nirvana and heaven that are lacking.

Anyone have attractive definitions of these states?

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Ever been in a Christian chatroom? That's how imagine heaven to be. It's horrible.

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Everyone is trying to get to the bar.
The name of the bar, the bar is called Heaven.
The band in Heaven plays my favorite song.
They play it once again, they play it all night long.

Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.
Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.

There is a party, everyone is there.
Everyone will leave at exactly the same time.
Its hard to imagine that nothing at all
could be so exciting, and so much fun.

Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.
Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens.

When this kiss is over it will start again.
It will not be any different, it will be exactly
the same.
It's hard to imagine that nothing at all
could be so exciting, could be so much fun.

Heaven is a place where nothing evey happens.
Heaven is a place where nothing evey happens.

-Talking Heads

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It is boring. However it is good as an ideal never attained.
And, in part, your are living in it.

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Well, here's a stab at making it unboring:

What if it was like being in the presence of shimmering love energy, bathed in light and love, and it just keeps coming and coming at you, stronger and stronger.

Kind of like your best ###### ever, multiplied by 1000, never-ending, ever increasing in waves.

And you could handle it and take it all in.

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If you make it you are supposed to find there is no "me" to be bored and no "time" to be bored in ! Smile

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fresco wrote:

If you make it you are supposed to find there is no "me" to be bored and no "time" to be bored in !

Now that sounds good. But what about all the Christians who think, for example, they'll be there with their grandad and uncles, etc.

It appears they think there will be a "me" there...? Maybe you are saying you don't agree with that idea?

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extra medium

If some of my deceased relations are waiting for me I ain't going ! Laughing

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fresco wrote:

extra medium

If some of my deceased relations are waiting for me I ain't going !

lol

That would be pretty funny. You'd get up to the gate and say: "I am honored to be here. But, could I check who's here before I make my final decision?"

If they are there, where you gonna go? Limbo? The bad place? Twisted Evil

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extra medium wrote:

Well, here's a stab at making it unboring:

What if it was like being in the presence of shimmering love energy, bathed in light and love, and it just keeps coming and coming at you, stronger and stronger.

Kind of like your best ###### ever, multiplied by 1000, never-ending, ever increasing in waves.

And you could handle it and take it all in.

Even though I am not religious in any way, that is the best definition I can think of. I doubt heaven is thought of being the same thing neverending, so most Christians would be looking forward to extra medium's definition.

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In heaven everything is fine
In heaven everything is fine
In heaven everything is fine
You've got your good thing
And I've got mine.

- from the film Eraserhead by David Lynch

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If it is so that the Abrahamic notion of Heaven or Paradise serves to preserve the EGO after the death of one's body and situate it in a situation (place?) where all of its DESIRES will be met for all time, it is problematical. Philosophically the ego, as a distinct entity is as spurious as is its gaseous version, the soul. The Zen buddhist notion of enlightenment or liberation is nothing like that. There is no self/soul to be gratified; there are no desires to be fulfilled. It is quite inconceivable from this side of the "gateless gate." But one cannot be bored or gratified because there is no "one" to suffer or enjoy either punishment (Hell) or reward (Heaven).
But if we must consider the Abrahamic notion of a perfectly gratifying Heaven, to me it must be something like an itch that is constantly scratched. The stratch is the heaven and the itch is the hell. How superficial is such a goal of the spiritual life.

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JLNobody wrote:

If it is so that the Abrahamic notion of Heaven or Paradise serves to preserve the EGO after the death of one's body and situate it in a situation (place?) where all of its DESIRES will be met for all time, it is problematical. Philosophically the ego, as a distinct entity is as spurious as is its gaseous version, the soul. The Zen buddhist notion of enlightenment or liberation is nothing like that. There is no self/soul to be gratified; there are no desires to be fulfilled. It is quite inconceivable from this side of the "gateless gate." But one cannot be bored or gratified because there is no "one" to suffer or enjoy either punishment (Hell) or reward (Heaven).
But if we must consider the Abrahamic notion of a perfectly gratifying Heaven, to me it must be something like an itch that is constantly scratched. The stratch is the heaven and the itch is the hell. How superficial is such a goal of the spiritual life.

Yes! Good thinking.

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Heaven is deathly dull. You sit around all day listening to piped in Harp music! No sex or fun of any kind is allowed. Hell on the other hand is where all the fun people go...

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extra medium wrote:

What if it was like being in the presence of shimmering love energy, bathed in light and love, and it just keeps coming and coming at you, stronger and stronger.

Kind of like your best ###### ever, multiplied by 1000, never-ending, ever increasing in waves.

And you could handle it and take it all in.

Oh yeah...bring it on!

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extra medium wrote:

Well, here's a stab at making it unboring:

What if it was like being in the presence of shimmering love energy, bathed in light and love, and it just keeps coming and coming at you, stronger and stronger.

Kind of like your best ###### ever, multiplied by 1000, never-ending, ever increasing in waves.

And you could handle it and take it all in.

Wasn't this part of the 'Barbarella' plot? That evil alien had no clue how human chicks would respond to the Orgasmatron. Heh heh, stupid alien.

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Quote, from Wikipedia:
Gautama:
"Where there is nothing; where naught is grasped, there is the Isle of No-Beyond. Nirvana do I call it -- the utter extinction of aging and dying."

If Nirvana is nothing-ness, like the state of the fire after it's been blown out - why should I want it? I do not want to experience nothing-ness, I much prefer to remain conscious.

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Hold on to your ego; hold on to suffering. Merge into Nothingness, Nirvana and become infinite outside of time and space, and beyond suffering. If happiness is the absence of suffering, then Nirvana is the ultimate happiness. However, to return to Ultimate Reality is better than that because it transcends the duality from which definitions apply.

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1, What JL said,

2, Could we have love without hate, peace without war, Happiness without suffering, or pleasure without sin Question

. Could numbers be positive without negatives? Could success be meaningful without a failure Question

In the perversity that seems to make us human I tend to doubt it. This doubt makes it rather difficult to define a "heaven or a nirvanah".

Asherman, You may have proselytized Very Happy

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Is Heaven/Nirvana Boring?

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