Heaven and Hell

Heaven:  Any place of great beauty and pleasure; a state of great happiness.
Hell:       Any place or condition of evil, pain, misery, cruelty, etc.


I like the "etc." in the definition of Hell.  Etc?  Etc?  Evil, pain, misery, and cruelty aren't enough?  We have to heap some more crap on top of that?  Yowser.  That's one bad place.  That's one place to be avoided.


I'm going to steer my boat toward heaven.  I spend far too much time trying to escape the licking flames of hell fire.  Some of this is the religion I grew up in.  There was a lot of talk about what a lousy place hell would be to spend all eternity, delivered by confident, stern adults to impressionable children.  It sounds like a lousy place to get stuck for a couple of minutes let alone for a period of time with no beginning and no end.  Apparently, it's easier to fill the church pews with dire warnings than to paint pretty pictures.  I had a pretty good life.  I wasn't tempted by angels playing harps on fluffy clouds, but those burning hot pokers in the capable hands of all of those demons sure got my attention.


I went back to church a few times, mostly to please my religious mother.  I was surprised to find it to be a benign place.  The talks were, I found, largely positive.  I didn't see to much that was threatening or dark.  I have always been drawn to What Is Wrong.  I see blackness before I see light.  You can shine an arc light into my eyes and I won't notice it.


Talk about applying a filter to something.


I still don't go to church, though.  No fucking way.  I did my stint in there.