(Search & Sitemap)
> Writing >
Longer Fiction >
Firestorm 2034 >
Chapter Forty-Five: Heaven
Skip Back
Previous
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Next
Skip Forward
Printer-Friendly Version
Taberah walked out of the computer room, thinking loudly. Aed looked at him, and simply waited for him to start explaining.
"Aed, I was doing some reading today on embryology; what your philosophers have thought of is fascinating. Something in my mind was speaking, and I realized another deep difference in belief. Medieval people believe that they're going to Heaven."
Aed cleared his throat and said, "All Christians believe that, Taberah. It's a basic doctrine."
Taberah said, "Then why does your people not act like they believe they're going to Heaven?"
"How does someone act like he believes he's going to go to Heaven? Does he kill himself to get there faster? You should know better than that."
Taberah paused in thought for a moment and said, "How can you believe you're going to Heaven and not know a change in your actions? That's like believing food nourishes you, but not knowing what eating is like."
Aed had no immediate reply to this. He asked, "How does belief in Heaven change your actions, Taberah?"
Taberah said, "In embryology, one studies how a person is becoming ready to be born and live outside the uterus. That is the whole purpose of being an unborn child -- why do the texts leave the word untranslated as foetus? Did the English translators of your texts not know how to render that word from Latin?"
"Later, Taberah. You're getting side tracked."
"Some of the unborn child's motions are useful there -- such as blood pulsing about the body. There are others that have no use in the uterus, such as sucking and kicking. The question is not how to arrange things to most pleasurably remain an unborn child, but to best prepare for birth and the world beyond that.
"Your people does not understand how this symbol reveals Heaven. They think that the point of living on earth is to make as much change on earth, and make earth as comfortable a place as possible, and -- I was a long time in coming to understand political ideology. Authority is necessary, and there are questions about how to best govern, to praise good and punish evil. But political ideology is not just about this -- it is about how to use government to turn earth into Heaven."
Aed said, "I do not understand. Do you mean it is wrong to try to make earth better?"
Taberah said, "All of the saints made earth better. Good deeds are an important part of how a soul is made ready for Heaven. But a centeredness, a focus on making earth better is not possible. Or it is possible, but leaves people more poorly prepared for Heaven, and more poorly equipped for earth. It is -- I do not know how to say it. My father told me, 'Drink wine to live. Do not live to drink wine.' If I were to live to drink wine, I would be disordered. The wine would ensnare me. Trying to live on technology is trying to make technology something it cannot be. It can pacify a spoiled child; it cannot make him well-raised. Your people is concerned with how to pamper and pacify a spoiled child -- and it took me the longest time to understand that not simply did I stumble on a very rich man's house, but that so many people in your society have wealth not only to have as much bread as you need, but as much meat as you want, and you do not even think of it as costly -- while mine is concerned with how to raise him well to grow into a man. In the Great Chain of Being, man lives between the beasts and the angels; it is the beasts who have this life on earth and its pleasures as all they own, and the angels who eternally gaze on the glory of God. Believing in Heaven means becoming more like an angel; here, I have seen heroic efforts to live the life of a beast."
Aed sorted this through. It had been a while since he had thought of the Great Chain of Being, and his thoughts about it moved sluggishly. Apart from that, he began to see -- and more than see, he began to believe and know -- why Taberah would look around and be convinced that Aed's culture did not believe in Heaven. With a chill, Aed realized that he could not remember the last time he had thought about how his actions were preparing him, or failing to prepare him, for the eternity before him. Slightly later, and with an equal chill, Aed realized that he could not remember the last day he had not thought about how to shape the world around him so as to bring pleasure. He slipped too often in thinking of his teaching as a way to prepare his students for the world it would face -- which it no doubt was, but if that was all it was, then... Aed asked Taberah, "Taberah, how can I do something that will prepare me for the next life? What is one thing I can do?"
Taberah thought for a second, and said, "Close your eyes and grow still, and wait."
Taberah waited a second and said, "You're wanting to get this over with. Stop that. Want to do this."
Time passed. Aed's breathing had stilled. Taberah said, "Now thank God for seven things he has given you."
Aed took another breath and slowly said,
Thank you, God, for my wife Nathella.
Thank you, God, for my children, Fiona and Clancy.
Thank you, God, for my professorship.
Thank you, God, for my broken garage door. It means I have not only a house and a car, but even a building to protect my car from the elements.
Thank you, God, for the headaches I have after talking with Taberah. They come from a person for whom I am very grateful, and who challenges me in ways I never thought possible.
Thank you, God, for the hope of Heaven.
Most of all, thank you, God, for yourself.
Taberah smiled, and said, "You have now done one action to prepare yourself for Heaven."
Aed said, "Is it over already?"
(Search & Sitemap)
> Writing >
Longer Fiction >
Firestorm 2034 >
Chapter Forty-Five: Heaven
Skip Back
Previous
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Next
Skip Forward
Printer-Friendly Version