If heaven doesn’t exist, believing in it, and even acting as though you want to go there, won’t get you there.
I’m not so sure. My impression is that while dying, perception of time and reality can break down. It might be kind of like falling into a dream state or dropping into an intense psychedelic trip. As the subjective experience of time breaks down, each moment can stretch out until it’s subjectively eternal. If at that point you have a well-developed belief in Heaven, that could very well be what opens up for you, and you could reside there “forever”.
Given that it’s going to feel like something as you die, it sure seems preferable that it be something utterly wonderful. Rather than (say) something horrifying as your animal terror around dying defines the thoughts and anticipations that shape the psychedelic dreamscape you “eternally” fall into. Shaping the dying experience sure seems to me like it’d require some kind of prep work.
Obviously I agree that if Heaven isn’t a place that your eternal soul literally goes to, then what you believe won’t get you there. Because there’s no “there” to get to.
I just want to suggest that maybe that’s a strawman. Depending on your disposition, you might really wish you’d developed faith in Christ or whatever as you watch your death take you. At that point “salvation” won’t be theoretical, I’m guessing. It won’t matter that Heaven/Hell/whatever is “just” a dying brain experience; that’s not much consolation in the middle of it IME.
(This thought inspired by both strange meditative states and some horrific psychedelic experiences. Hence “IME”, not “IMO”. Both are a bit deceptive though: I don’t mean to say that my experiences are for sure equivalent to the dying experience.)
I’m not so sure. My impression is that while dying, perception of time and reality can break down. It might be kind of like falling into a dream state or dropping into an intense psychedelic trip. As the subjective experience of time breaks down, each moment can stretch out until it’s subjectively eternal. If at that point you have a well-developed belief in Heaven, that could very well be what opens up for you, and you could reside there “forever”.
Given that it’s going to feel like something as you die, it sure seems preferable that it be something utterly wonderful. Rather than (say) something horrifying as your animal terror around dying defines the thoughts and anticipations that shape the psychedelic dreamscape you “eternally” fall into. Shaping the dying experience sure seems to me like it’d require some kind of prep work.
Obviously I agree that if Heaven isn’t a place that your eternal soul literally goes to, then what you believe won’t get you there. Because there’s no “there” to get to.
I just want to suggest that maybe that’s a strawman. Depending on your disposition, you might really wish you’d developed faith in Christ or whatever as you watch your death take you. At that point “salvation” won’t be theoretical, I’m guessing. It won’t matter that Heaven/Hell/whatever is “just” a dying brain experience; that’s not much consolation in the middle of it IME.
(This thought inspired by both strange meditative states and some horrific psychedelic experiences. Hence “IME”, not “IMO”. Both are a bit deceptive though: I don’t mean to say that my experiences are for sure equivalent to the dying experience.)