Will Heaven be Partitioned?

By Dan Barber

There are many beliefs from many theological philosophies, and pretty much everyone has a strong opinion about whatever they believe to be the truth.

Scientists think they have answered the question about how old the universe is with mathematical formulas and observations and they are certain that it came about with a big bang, and they have even speculated that maybe it wasn’t the first big bang nor will it be the last. No human that we know of was around at that time, and the odds are there won’t be any around for the next, so actual observation is impossible. The smartest theoretical physicist around today can’t say what sparked our big bang. They do postulate that one day our universe will probably collapse back upon itself into another speck of nothing, which will once again explode into a new universe.

Some scientists also think we have multiple universes, which might explain why some people have multiple personalities…maybe?

We all have free will unless we live in an oppressed society like North Korea or some select country or Emirate of the Middle East.

Could it be possible that what we believe the afterlife to be will actually happen to us after death? Will the faithful Christian be met at the pearly gate by Jesus Christ and a host of beautiful Angels? Will the lights go out for the Atheist sending him or her into an eternal blackness?

Some Physicians state that what people experience as a “near death” event is just a chemical reaction in the brain… if that’s the truth it would make sense that our own experiences, beliefs and knowledge would be mixed together to justify our own personal belief of what happens after death. I wonder if any of those physicians have done an actual analysis of the “brain chemicals” of a near death patient to prove what they claim, or do we just have to have “faith” in the truth of what they say? I was once told by a health care professional that there is a reason the phrase “practicing medicine” is used because it is just that…“practicing” meaning that medicine is still not an exact science.

I’m sure of one thing, I have read a lot of reports that many Atheists become religious after a “near death” experience.

I personally accept God as real. I get a great deal of comfort knowing that something will happen after my death… I don’t have a death wish, but as a writer I am very curious to find the definitive answer that many of us chase after our entire life. I can sit for long periods of time and dream about what could happen to our conscious being after death. Is our Heaven personalized for each of us where we get to relive all of the joyous experiences of our life repeatedly? Will we be able to spiritually look after our loved ones we left behind? Will we be ghosts wandering the world of the living forever? Will our souls be recycled and sent back as another of God’s living creatures…human, or critter? Or do we spend all of eternity with every righteous individual who has ever lived and believed?

I sometimes worry about what does eternity feel like? Some people want to live “forever,” not me. I knew at an early age that I would try to live my life as best I could for as long as I could, but I knew that one day I would reach a point where I would be so tired or sick that death would be welcomed. I do not wish to survive any of my loved ones and I don’t want them to mourn my passing. I would hope that they would celebrate my life and have the knowledge that I finally found the answer to a life-long quest.

Some who believe in ancient aliens might think that we were planted on this planet for some unknown reason, also might even be right…how can anyone be so presumptuous to actually know the absolute truth about anything as mysterious as life after death. Perhaps an intellectual being implanted souls in every living thing in the universe to gather knowledge which can then travel back to the great Gathering Of Data (GOD) computer to download the information upon death.

For thousands of years people have been searching for the truth of, who or why they are…you can fill in the blank. I don’t have any answers. But one day I will, however I’m not going to tell you so don’t try to contact me in my afterlife, I will be too busy trying to figure out what I’m going to do to fill all the time I have in eternity.

Own the moment

By Dan Barber

If you don’t want to get wet, don’t give your very young grandsons loaded water guns and then tell them not to squirt you with them! Because if you get wet, you can’t get mad when it’s your own fault… you own the moment.

Besides, how can you punish a toddler who is laughing so hard he can’t move? When dealing with children, you have to be prepared to accept whatever fate they decide for you.

If you have a loving family the meaning for your life has already been chiseled into your headstone… here lays a (fill in the blank). Years ago I attended a mandatory Navy training session at my work designed to make us better people. One of the things we were told was, “when people die they probably don’t wish they could have spent more time at work, they probably wish to have spent more time with family. 

What a concept, we spend so much time working to provide our loved ones with the things we think they need, we sometimes forget to provide the things to them they really need… us.

I spent 20 years on active duty in the Navy and I thought that I was giving my children a great adventure with all of the exotic places where they were able to live and visit. Not long ago I asked my adult daughter what she remembered about growing up as a Navy brat, she replied, “I remember you were always gone.” That shocked me, but it made absolute sense… When a toddler is put in time out for 2-minutes it can seem like a long time for them… but it is only 2-minutes. When a parent is away from their children serving their country for just a few months… to the child that can seem like forever!

I have noticed recently that our elected leaders have been hinting about cutting the defense department benefits budget so the Pentagon can buy better weapons systems and provide better combat training for the troops… that is all great except, if benefit programs for the troops and families are cut there will no longer be any volunteer troops entering the military to operate the new weapons systems or to train in the latest combat operations. Then when our nation is threatened and no one shows up to defend her, our children will be subject to the newly instituted draft!

One of the reasons I served in the military was so my children and grandchildren wouldn’t have to if they didn’t want to.

April is the Month of the Military Child… Honor those children by telling your elected leaders to pay the bill owed to them, own the moment!

What have we done?

By Dan Barber

By allowing someone else to feed you, to house you, to provide all of your care can take away your free will.

How many of us have heard the phrase, from a well-meaning parent, “Eat what I have prepared for you or starve!” I’m sure that many of us, who were rebellious teens, heard Dad state, “While you’re living under this roof, you will follow my rules!” Then there is the fashion statement, “No child of mine dresses like that!”

Parents are just trying to provide what’s best for their children, but for most of us we couldn’t wait until we were old enough to gain our freedom from those rules.

Life is funny when we become responsible adults and parents, we remember those life lessons we inherited from our own parents, including the mandatory response to the question of why, with “Because I told you so!”

One might chuckle at those memories, but as a member of the “baby-boom” generation, I must apologize to society for what we have foisted upon you… the lessons of our parents.

A healthy diet will allow you to live longer so give up those big hamburgers and extra large fries, instead spend your long life eating raw fish and vegetables. Besides the farts of cows, pigs and chickens only pollute and it is cruel to eat them… raw fish is OK as long as they weren’t caught in an area polluted with mercury or radio-activity.

Tobacco use has been proven to be a health risk. I fully agree with this statement and support banning tobacco use in public places. I am one of those former smokers who got my exercise by walking to the designated smoking area in some back alley, who now finds the smell of tobacco smoke as disgusting. Also, seeing someone spit a brown stream of tobacco juice makes me want to puke.  

I now see people in line at the grocery store sucking on what looks like a crack pipe, but it is a device that delivers flavored vapors to the user. Some strawberry loving individual back in the 1960s might have been inspired by the song, “Strawberry Fields Forever” so they invented strawberry wine; I get that… now strawberries can be smoked. If someone likes the flavor of strawberries why don’t they just eat a strawberry instead of inhaling the flavor in the form of a vapor? I really don’t get it.

Back in the late 1980s I worked with an aged art director in Los Angeles who was stuck in the 1960s. He was a really talented graphic artist, who wore his long hair in a pony tail, and refused to wear shoes. He was convinced that legalizing hemp would be the cure for many of society’s woes to include many medical problems, he even wrote a book about his ideas. It seems that he and other like minded baby-boomers have gotten their way because marijuana is on the fast track of being legalized across the country, legitimizing those farming jobs in Northern California; creating Indonesian manufacturing jobs for hemp rope, clothing, sandals and water pipes just to name a few of the related industries. And a bonus is our government has another tax revenue source.

Smoking marijuana in public places is also now legally appropriate in some states. But, if you run into one of those individuals who indulge, don’t ask, “My goodness did you get sprayed by a skunk?”

Just yesterday I noticed what appeared to be a sixty-something gentleman walking down the street, probably heading to the “medical marijuana” shop that used to be the tobacco store, wearing black baggy shorts, flip-flops, a tie-dyed muscle shirt and a backward baseball cap most likely covering his bald spot, with the remaining long grey hair on the back of his head pulled into a pony tail… a mixed metaphor describing my baby boomer generation… or a free-spirited individual ignoring his parent’s dress code?

When your own children put you in the “Shady Acres” nursing home, don’t ask, “Why do I have to move in here?” You’ll get the standard reply, “Because we told you so.”