I recently read a comment on a website that said: “I love the way it
tells you of a relaxing paradide”. That got me thinking – Isnt that what
paradise is supposed to be? A place where one can rest eternally? Isnt
paradise the place where everything is exactly the way one wants it to
be? A place without compromises, suffering, etc etc? A place where a
person can be themselves and have their own after-life?
But
this brings to my mind another issue – surely we cant ALL want the same
paradise. Then that would involve compromises and not having what you
want. So this begs a question - What is paradise?
Is it
that place one (hopefully) lands in once they’ve passed away? Does it
co-exist with hell? Or is it just a single place that once can call
paradise? Is it a place at all? Or is it merely a concept one likes to
hold on to while alive in order to alleviate the fear and uncertainty
that the common man holds of death?
The truth is, I don’t
think we will ever know simple because we are not dead, and that once we
are dead, I doubt if we would be able to tell ppl who are alive (I
specifically choose NOT to enter into a discussion about ghosts or
zombies here).
There’s a film called “What Dreams May
Come”, starring Robin Williams. I really liked the description of
paradise and hell that was given there. It showed how every person
entering “paradise” enters a world of their own creation – their happy
place if you want – will their own abilities and landscapes and
lifestyles etc etc.. I was fascinated by it since it allowed the
existence of individuality and free will after death and also
beautifully evaded the concept of GOD and clouds and halos. Hell was
explained as well, as a prison one keeps oneself in, without realizing
all that one must do is get up and leave. I found this sort of reasoning
very similar to real life itself and therefore appreciated it.
Coming
back to paradise itself, assuming paradise was a place that gives an
individual everything they want - including people, places, comforts,
situations, etc etc for all eternity. So this brings in the fact that in
a given individual’s paradise, there is the presence of more than that
person themselves. So this calls for the intersection of at least 2
paradises, where each person exists in each other’s paradise.
Now
consider a case where A wants B in their paradise, but B does not want A
in his. What is to happen to both their worlds? Obviously A will have B
– since it is paradise, and B will not have A owing to the same rule.
So the B that must exist in A’s paradise will not be real, but will
still have to be according to A. This brings us to a situation not too
far from the minds of persons commonly found in mental asylums.
So
what is this paradise? A place? An illusion? A panacea? It’s obviously
something that cannot be defined, coz if it were, it would be limited
and such a thing is not possible (again a contradiction. I am here
assuming that paradise is “defined” as a place that cannot be limited.)
There’s a Zen story that springs to mind:
A
respected general goes to a Zen monk and asks him “Where do the gates
of Heaven and Hell lie?”. The monk gives the general a mocking look and
replies “A fool like you can hardly hope to understand such a thing. Be
gone moron”. Angered at the monk’s insolence the general draws out his
sword prepares to kill the monk at which point the monk yells out “Here
lie the Gates to Hell”. At that moment, the general realized his folly
and fell to his knees and apologized to the monk and the monk said “And
Here lie the gates to Heaven”.
I guess what the story
tries to say here is that Heaven and Hell are not distant places that
once reaches upon death. They are real and present themselves to us at
every moment and in every choice we make. This is a very real world,
practical way to look at the abstractness that paradise provides us
with.
But I must say one thing. If paradise really did
exist, I wouldn’t wanna go there. I would be far happier being a spirit
and reveling in my birth into the afterlife and explore the infinity for
all eternity. My own “paradise” if you must.