An Eternity in Heaven?

Imagine heaven. We (of metaphysical nature) all have our own personal ideal of an end-state, of a final spiritual closure, but there are certain features that most people would buy into. The notion of unity, of becoming one with everything; the notion of being at one with God - and, being in that state, having total understanding of all things - past and present. 

But once there - then what?

Staying in that state for one eternity? Eternity, as Woody Allen famously quipped, is very long, especially the last part. Our subjective impression of time is that it compresses over time. At 66, my current experience of one year, as a sixty-sixth part of my life, is that it is half the length it was when I was 33, and six times shorter than the year I experienced aged 11. (At 11 years old, a year is 9% of one's hitherto experienced life, at 33 it is 3%, at 66 it is 1.5%, at 100 it is 1%). Subjectively at least then, the conscious experience of time in the lead-up to the singularity at the end of Eternity would accelerate, though at a ever decelerating pace to the point where it would slow down to nothingness. 

Then what?

The Singularity having been reached, the Unfolding Universe has finally unfolded. The Cosmic Purpose has been fulfilled. We have become a part of the Deity. We have achieved ultimate unity. We spiritual beings who have quested (presumably over countless lifetimes) have reached our goal, our ideal. We are in heaven, we are finally with God, and in God. 

Then what?

Do we remain in that state of supreme bliss, totally united with everything, all-wise, all-seeing, all-knowing for ever more? If we look at the physical cosmos, it has a lot of life left in it. Science (as of July 2023) considers that the Big Bang occurred a mere 13.8 billion years ago; meanwhile a heat-death of the Universe (Big Freeze), or a Universe that finally collapses in on itself as one black hole swallows another until the last one's gone (Big Crunch) - two putative end-of-time scenarios - are both thought to be trillions of years into the future. 

So, the physical Universe has a long run ahead - and in any case, there is the likelihood that a Big Freeze and a Big Crunch would both lead to another Big Bang, and so a cyclical Cosmos would - physically - be as eternal as a spiritual realm. And why ever not?

But what about your soul, after having reached Heaven? It's there for, like, literally, all time? Wouldn't it become a teeny-weeny bit boring after a while?

It occurred to me while on a twilight walk a few evenings ago that our experience of Heaven might only last an instant - just long enough to realise that you've finally made it, before snapping back to the lowest form of consciousness. This can take the form of either the discrete awareness of being a sub-atomic particle, or being a part of the background conscious substrate that fundamentally underlies the Universe. Two versions of panpsychism there - consciousness as granular in nature - or - the vast cosmic conscious sea in which all matter exists and evolves. I'm still torn as to which I would tend to believe in or consider to be more likely. 

And having tasted Heaven for an instant, one is back at a beginning, armed perhaps with the vaguest qualia memory of having been in heaven; the next round of spiritual evolution begins. From quark to atom, to molecule, to simple life form, to complex life form, to intelligent, technologically enabled life form. Onwards and upwards, once again. On the journey towards God-hood, God-ness another time.

Suddenly, I understand the Christian notion of Lucifer being banished from Heaven by God for being too proud. Although the Bible does not explicitly mention this episode, the idea of fallen angels is rooted in Christian tradition and theology. A turnstile Heaven then? A quick peak of Paradise at the end of an eternity's questing, then out again - Paradise Lost - to work one's way up, evolving spiritually once more - presumably endless times? 

Or an instant that lasts eternity - but an eternity that lasts only an instant?

Something to ponder upon, between now and Lent 2024.

This time last year:
Habit or obsession?

This time two years ago:

Dust to dusk

This time four years ago:

My father's last arrival in Warsaw

This time five years ago:
What makes scenery scenic?

This time six years ago:
Theresa May flies into Warsaw

This time seven years ago:
Announcing the start of the Radom railway line modernisation

This eight years ago:
In praise of the (Polish-built) Fiat 500 

This time ten years ago:
Llanbedrog Beach and a farewell to North Wales

This time 11 years ago:
To the Polish seaside, by night train

This time 12 years ago: 
Accounting for the past - 20 years on from PRL's fall

This time 13 years ago:
An introduction to fine British cheefef

This time 15 years ago:
Over the Peaks by bus