Heaven Reads No Vacancies (Part 4)

This will be my final piece to the "Heaven Reads No Vacancies" series. I have much more to say on the issue, but I don't like sticking to one topic for too long, just in case some of my readers are not enjoying it. I like to spice things up a little, and so, this will be my final note on the flaws with Heaven.

The final point I would like to touch on is the idea of "eternal bliss". Heaven, in almost all religions, promises some form of eternal enlightenment. That means that for eternity, you will have at your disposal all of what is necessary to maintain a level of complete happiness. We're not talking about a half-smile. No, we're talking full blown, stomach turning, face hurting, lip cracking happiness, unmatched by anything anywhere in the known and unknown universe.

There are a number of problems with this picture. The central issue can be discovered when the two words in question are separated and looked at as individuals. We are, of course, speaking about "Eternal" and "Bliss". Eternal implies eternity. As stated before, eternity is a very very very... very... long time. So long, in fact, that my mind can't even begin to grasp just how long it would last. A hundred years seems like a long time to me, and don't even get me started on a thousand, but infinity- now that's just crazy. How can anyone ever stay happy for eternity? I get bored with most things after a few weeks! I'll be damned if Heaven has such a ready supply of everything that I can stay entertained forever. In order for a person to be entertained for eternity, there would have to be an infinite number of things to keep them happy. Perhaps it's just my mortal mind holding me back, but I can't even remotely believe that Heaven could keep me in eternal bliss for more than a 1,000 years, yet alone for all of eternity.

The second problem is born from the word "bliss". Bliss, as I have come to understand the word, is when one is happy beyond all measure, to the point that they can never be more content. It's a climax, and as anyone with any literary knowledge knows, a climax can only be created if it is built up to, and then declined from. You must have a repression and a depression if you are to have a peak. Therefor, bliss can only be reached if you are not at first in a state of bliss, and will without-doubt fall from your state of bliss at a later date. Therefor, experiencing bliss for all of eternity would be physically and emotionally impossible. You would, at some point, be forced into a depression, or else you would never be able to experience this so-called eternal bliss.

I know, it kind of ruins the whole "Heaven is great!" idea, doesn't it?

NOTE: Special thanks to Andrew for assisting me on my poor mental graphing skills. Who would have guessed, I can write, but I can't visualize graphs...