(no subject)
So I read a book today.
The book's called "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven". At first the name scared me off a little bit, because I'm not exactly a "religious" person. Don't get me wrong, I'm not running around everyday with 666 scratched into my forehead, chasing people around with horns and a pitchfork, or trying to broker souls to the Devil for a commission. That's not my style. But I'm not a "church-goer" or "bible thumper" either. Just so ya know.
Anyway, about the book.
The book's about a pretty simple guy named Eddie. It starts off about an hour before Eddie dies, and then continues on chronicling his journey into the afterlife. And as the title of the book so eloquently foreshadows.....the 5 people he meets in Heaven. The book covers a number of topics and can get pretty heavy at times.
Personally the book really got me thinking about Heaven and what happens to us when we pass away (just a nice way of saying DIE, personally I always liked the cliche "kick the can").
Is there a Heaven?
Is there a Hell?
Do our "souls" live on after our lives here on Earth conclude? Or does it all end here?
Let me tell you something.......If you're looking for the answer here, you've come to the wrong place. Because I don't have a damn clue. And, well, I guess that's my whole point........NO ONE DOES!
Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. Let's be honest.
They don't know any better than you or I do, and they know it.
Some people turn to religion for answers to questions about life, and the afterlife. Maybe it's just me but most religions seem to try and answer some really difficult questions with some really simple answers. I have a problem trying to have my questions answered by people who lived thousands of years ago, maybe that's just me. These people had no concept of the Earth, or it's many complexities. Heck, these people thought the Earth was FLAT. That's where the whole Heaven and Hell thing came from. You see it's simple. They figured the Earth they lived on was a flat plane, simple logic tells you that the "good" people go upward to the Heavens, and those who are "bad" or "evil" go downward to the depths of Hell.
Why up and down?
Because at that time these were the two places they knew almost nothing about so there was little way of proving these theories right or wrong. People just accepted them because they seemed logical at that point in time.
Okay, enough ranting about religion. I'll save my religion tirades for another (much longer) journal entry. Back to the book. I thought the book was fantastic.
Why?
Because it takes all the common beliefs many people have and throws them right out the window. The book really has very little to do with religion and/or your personal religious beliefs, or those of the author.
What the book really focuses on is something deeper and much more important than that. It focuses on the "circle of life" and it's never-ending story that weaves it's web in and out of the each and every human life. No matter how long/short, successful/unsuccessful, rich/poor that life may be. It gives us a different view of "Heaven". One that gives us a sense of meaning about our lives and maybe gives us an explanation of what it was REALLY all about.
At least that's some of the stuff I got out of it. Who knows....you may get more, you may get less, heck...you might even get something completely different. The bottom line is the book's worth checking out. It's written by a guy named Mitch Albom, and it's been on the NY Times Bestseller list for a little while now, so it shouldn't be hard to find. It's not real long (about 200 small pages) and it'll only take you a couple hours to read. It took my almost 3 hours and that was with a couple short breaks.
You'll think alot more reading this book than you will sitting on your couch watching some retard like Jessica Simpson or Paris Hilton, on some of the truly awful TV that's on nowadays, so check it out.
The book's called "The 5 People You Meet in Heaven". At first the name scared me off a little bit, because I'm not exactly a "religious" person. Don't get me wrong, I'm not running around everyday with 666 scratched into my forehead, chasing people around with horns and a pitchfork, or trying to broker souls to the Devil for a commission. That's not my style. But I'm not a "church-goer" or "bible thumper" either. Just so ya know.
Anyway, about the book.
The book's about a pretty simple guy named Eddie. It starts off about an hour before Eddie dies, and then continues on chronicling his journey into the afterlife. And as the title of the book so eloquently foreshadows.....the 5 people he meets in Heaven. The book covers a number of topics and can get pretty heavy at times.
Personally the book really got me thinking about Heaven and what happens to us when we pass away (just a nice way of saying DIE, personally I always liked the cliche "kick the can").
Is there a Heaven?
Is there a Hell?
Do our "souls" live on after our lives here on Earth conclude? Or does it all end here?
Let me tell you something.......If you're looking for the answer here, you've come to the wrong place. Because I don't have a damn clue. And, well, I guess that's my whole point........NO ONE DOES!
Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. Let's be honest.
They don't know any better than you or I do, and they know it.
Some people turn to religion for answers to questions about life, and the afterlife. Maybe it's just me but most religions seem to try and answer some really difficult questions with some really simple answers. I have a problem trying to have my questions answered by people who lived thousands of years ago, maybe that's just me. These people had no concept of the Earth, or it's many complexities. Heck, these people thought the Earth was FLAT. That's where the whole Heaven and Hell thing came from. You see it's simple. They figured the Earth they lived on was a flat plane, simple logic tells you that the "good" people go upward to the Heavens, and those who are "bad" or "evil" go downward to the depths of Hell.
Why up and down?
Because at that time these were the two places they knew almost nothing about so there was little way of proving these theories right or wrong. People just accepted them because they seemed logical at that point in time.
Okay, enough ranting about religion. I'll save my religion tirades for another (much longer) journal entry. Back to the book. I thought the book was fantastic.
Why?
Because it takes all the common beliefs many people have and throws them right out the window. The book really has very little to do with religion and/or your personal religious beliefs, or those of the author.
What the book really focuses on is something deeper and much more important than that. It focuses on the "circle of life" and it's never-ending story that weaves it's web in and out of the each and every human life. No matter how long/short, successful/unsuccessful, rich/poor that life may be. It gives us a different view of "Heaven". One that gives us a sense of meaning about our lives and maybe gives us an explanation of what it was REALLY all about.
At least that's some of the stuff I got out of it. Who knows....you may get more, you may get less, heck...you might even get something completely different. The bottom line is the book's worth checking out. It's written by a guy named Mitch Albom, and it's been on the NY Times Bestseller list for a little while now, so it shouldn't be hard to find. It's not real long (about 200 small pages) and it'll only take you a couple hours to read. It took my almost 3 hours and that was with a couple short breaks.
You'll think alot more reading this book than you will sitting on your couch watching some retard like Jessica Simpson or Paris Hilton, on some of the truly awful TV that's on nowadays, so check it out.