Heaven

Theme Overview

Heaven is the general name given to an afterlife that is considered a place of eternal happiness and peace. It may be an actual physical place, or it may be a plane of existence separate from the known world. Heaven has often been described as a paradise of some kind, located above or beyond the limits of the ordinary world, perhaps high on a mountain peak or floating on a distant island. Over the centuries, traditional ideas have changed, and many people now think of heaven more in terms of a state of spiritual existence or salvation than as a precise though otherworldly place.

Major Myths

Buddhist View A version of Buddhism based on Amida or Amitabha (pronounced uh-mee-TAH-buh), the Buddha of Boundless Light, emerged in Japan in the 1100s. Followers of this sect believed in an eternal afterlife in a realm called the Pure Land or the Western Paradise. Anyone could enter the Pure Land through sincere spiritual devotion to Amida, who taught that the road to salvation lay in saving others from suffering. Other versions of Buddhism described the soul's ideal fate not as arriving in a heaven but as achieving nirvana (pronounced nur-VAH-nuh), a state of being in which individual desires have ceased to exist.

Chinese View Traditional Chinese religion and mythology included multiple concepts of heaven. Tian (pronounced tee-AHN), associated with the sky, was both heaven and a deity—or god—who was the supreme power over gods, men, and nature and the source of order in the universe. The Chinese believed that their rulers' authority came from Tian, and they called their king or emperor Tianzi, Son of Heaven.

The Taoist tradition of Chinese mythology spoke of Penglai (pronounced pang-LYE) Shan (Mount Penglai), a mountain with eight peaks. On each was perched the palace of one of eight beings that could live forever. Like many heavens, Penglai was described in terms of precious things: it had trees of coral that bore pearls instead of fruit. No human could enter Penglai because it was surrounded only by air.

Pre-Christian European View Before Christianity became the dominant religion of Europe, earlier cultures had various ideas about the dwelling places of the gods and the destinations of human souls after death. Some of these are comparable to heavens. In Norse mythology , for example, the gods lived in Asgard (pronounced AHS-gahrd), the highest realm of existence. Like the human world below, Asgard had farms, orchards, and estates. The souls of heroes who had died in battle went to Valhalla (pronounced val-HAL-uh), the “hall of the slain,” where they spent their afterlife in joyous fighting and feasting.

Myths of the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe mentioned a paradise called Buyan (pronounced BOO-yahn), described as either a silent and peaceful underwater city or an island washed by a river of healing. The Celtic peoples had myths of an island paradise called Avalon (pronounced AV-uh-lahn). Some legends say that King Arthur was carried there after he fell in battle. The Greeks imagined their deities as dwelling in a palatial heaven high above the mortal world on Mount Olympus (pronounced oh-LIM-puhs). The blessed dead, however, went to Elysium (pronounced eh-LEE-zee-um), or the Elysian Fields, a green garden-like afterworld.

Jewish View The ancient Hebrew religion featured an afterlife, but it did not include a heaven or a hell. By about 200 bce, however, the influence of other cultures had introduced the ideas of reward and punishment after death. Heaven came to be seen as a place where the righteous dead would dwell with God. Certain Jewish traditions pictured heaven as a mountain with seven tiers or layers. According to some accounts, King Solomon's throne, which had six steps leading to the throne itself, provided the model for the structure of heaven.

Christian View The Christian idea of heaven is based on the Jewish one. Although modern Christians are more likely to interpret heaven as spiritual union with God, earlier generations of believers placed that union in a physical setting that was often described in great detail. In the early 1300s, Italian poet Dante Alighieri created a vision of heaven in the Paradiso, the last section of The Divine Comedy, a long symbolic poem about the soul's journey after death. Drawing on both Christian and pre-Christian traditions, Dante portrayed paradise as high above the earthly world. It consisted of nine heavens, one inside the other, rotating around the earth. The tenth heaven, which included all the others, was the destination of blessed souls who were ranked in order of their virtue, the more virtuous being closer to God.

Artists and writers of the Renaissance developed three visions of heaven. The first, the realm beyond the skies, was the source of images of heaven as a place of clouds and winged angels. The second, the garden of paradise, was the natural world raised to the level of divine perfection—an image associated with the Garden of Eden , the lost paradise that once existed on earth. The third vision was that of the heavenly city, a symbol of perfect organization and harmony.

Islamic View Building on earlier Jewish and Christian traditions, Islamic mythology also envisioned a multilayered paradise. Heaven was a pyramid, cone, or mountain rising from the lowest level to the highest. Some interpretations include eight levels, while others specify seven levels. The phrase “seventh heaven,” meaning the highest happiness, comes from this image. The Muslim heavens are garden paradises of shade trees, flowing streams, and abundant pleasure. The various levels are associated with precious substances such as gold, silver, and pearls, but the highest level is made of pure, divine light and is devoted to the ceaseless, joyous praise of God.

Heaven and Immortality

The idea of heaven is bound up with that of eternal life. Descriptions of many heavens make a special point of mentioning immortality, whether of the gods or of human souls. In the Norse Asgard, for example, the gods guard a precious treasure—the golden apples of immortality. The apples of eternal life also grow on the Celtic island of Avalon, a name that means “apple isle.” In Penglai, one of the 108 different heavens in the Chinese Taoist tradition, the Dew of Eternal Life flows through streams and fountains, offering immortality to anyone who drinks it—but only insects, birds, and the gods can ever reach Penglai.

Heaven in Context

Heaven, as a sacred place or a state of being, appears in the myths and legends of cultures around the world. It can be the dwelling place of the god or gods, the place where people find their reward after death, or both. It offers a group or culture the comfort of knowing that some form of existence continues after death. In many cases, heaven is seen as a reward for living according to the standards and laws of the culture. Many religions include the idea of heaven as a place where people are rewarded for living a life of virtue or goodness. Some scholars have argued that, without this incentive for living according to established laws, humans would have no reason to keep from doing anything they desired, regardless of how it affected others.

The reward of heaven is a reflection of the culture in which it arises. For the Norse, the best heaven was Valhalla, a place of feasts that was earned by dying a glorious death in battle. Indeed, the ultimate reward for those in Valhalla was to once again fight, this time alongside Odin (pronounced OH-din) in the final battle between the gods and the giants. By contrast, heaven as found in Christianity and Islam is a place of eternal peace, love, and beauty. It serves as a reward for remaining faithful on earth even when these things were not to be found. For Buddhists, heaven is not an eternal place at all, but an endless sequence of higher levels of consciousness and existence. This reflects the Buddhist ideal of constant improvement and spiritual progress.

Heaven on Earth?

Life has been hard for most humans throughout history. War, disease, natural disasters, and the simple day-to-day struggle to get food all make for a poor quality of life. The suffering of mankind has led many philosophers through the ages to imagine a better world—not after death, but on Earth. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote an influential book called The Republic in about 360 bce that outlined his ideas for a truly just society. In the fifth century, Christian philosopher Saint Augustine wrote The City of God explaining in detail his vision for a city filled with devout Christians devoted to piety. Sir Thomas More's Utopia is, like The Republic, a political work. It describes a sort of communal (in which resources are shared by all) paradise in which money has no practical meaning.

The idea of communal paradise gained popularity among nineteenth-century American thinkers, some of whom tried to put the idea into practice on Brook Farm in Massachusetts. This Utopian social experiment lasted from 1841 to 1847, and required all members to live and work together and share the produce of the farm. The Oneida commune, another Utopian group, existed in New York from 1848 to 1881. The idea of Utopian communes, now called intentional communities, experienced a surge in popularity in the 1960s during the “cultural revolution” in the United States. There are still thousands of such collectives in the United States, most devoted in one way or another to achieving, as far as is possible, a heaven on Earth.

Heaven in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life

The subject of heaven has been a popular theme among artists and writers over the past several centuries. Painters such as Michelangelo and Hieronymus Bosch have painted their versions of heaven, and writers like Dante and John Milton have done the same through their poetry. More recently, Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones (2002) featured a main character who resides in heaven. Heaven has also appeared as a place in many films, including What Dreams May Come (1998), Made in Heaven (1987), and Down to Earth (2001).

Read, Write, Think, Discuss

Do you think the idea of heaven is the main reason people follow the rules of a given culture, so that they will be rewarded after death? Why or why not? Be sure to provide reasons and examples to support your opinion.

SEE ALSO Afterlife; Angels; Eden, Garden of; Hell; Valhalla