The Flawed Heavens

In another post, The Monotonous Planets, I go on about how Sci-Fi media lacks creativity when portraying planets and civilizations. Now I’d like to digress into the realms Fantasy and Religion (concepts that for some, they are the same thing, for others not so much).

In every piece of work I have encountered, whether “realistic” like the various interpretations of the Bible, or “magical”, as found in Fantasy books, heaven(s) or hell(s)-like dimensions are pretty much always portrayed as tedious, boring environments that seem unfathomable for the human mind.

Let’s start big, kicking the door, let’s begin with Religion. The most common religions practiced worldwide describe heaven as a place of eternal peace, where one does absolutely nothing. It is an unchanging realm, perpetually serene, and perpetually dull.

Honestly, whoever invented these descriptions of heaven must never have interacted with the average human being. Unless someone ascending to these havens has an extraordinarily high tolerance for monotony (or perhaps a condition like autism that might make repetitive routines tolerable), no ordinary human mind could endure it. Imagine doing nothing for years, like literally nothing, seeing the same views, living the same routine of nothingness every day. The average person would go insane. For this version of heaven to work, it would need to strip away much of what makes us humans, it would need to remove some of our emotions, desires and curiosity, before letting us is. Otherwise “hell would break lose“. Have you seen what happens to someone left in a white room for just a couple of days?

And how about Mythology, once religion and now only an inspiration to modern entertainment, it suffers from similar creative holes. Take the Vikings, for instance. Despite their many gods, their higher realms of existence were very limited. One of the most infamous examples is Valhalla, where fallen warriors wake up every day, go do battle, kill or be killed, return for an evening beer (or mead), and repeat the same cycle endlessly.

For a Viking farmer who saw battel only occasionally during their lifetime, this might sound appealing at first. But would they really endure such routine for eternity? Perhaps they could gamify their eternal retirement with self-imposed little challenges like, “I’ll try to cut off that warrior’s arm today” or “Let’s see if I can last two hours without a weapon”. But eventually, even these activities would become tiresome. (Could they opt to skip the battle and just hit the pub?)

And my beloved Fantasy, particularly modern Fantasy, it isn’t much better. In fact, it may be worse. Many books depicting different worlds, different times, different dimensions, often have multiple gods, each offering a distinct heaven for their followers. Yet, these heavenly dimensions are just as uninspired. Praise a god of war and you are destined to a Valhalla-like afterlife. Follow the god of night and you’ll spend eternity in a sunless forest. Seek solace in the Timeless Halls, and you’ll find yourself in infinite tranquillity, surrounded by whiteness, with absolutely nothing to do.

Perhaps the Endless Gardens are more to your liking? There you can spend eternity plucking fruit, if that’s your idea of fun. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could opt for an eternal labyrinth filled with spiders! The choices may be different, but the monotony is the same. Even the more creatively designed heavens tend to lack action, entertainment or any meaningful progression. They might be tolerable for a few months, maybe even a few years, but they offer little to hold the interest of a curious and active mind over eternity.

Now that thing about resurrection feels more appealing right?

Perhaps it is time for creators, whether religious theologians, mythological storytellers, or fantasy writers, to reimagine these heavenly realms. After all, humanity can’t stay put, we live for goals and growth. A heaven that caters to our innate curiosity, creativity and desire for novelty might not only be more appealing (thus gathering more followers), but also more reflective what what a human mind craves for.