CONVERSATIONS IN THE PANTHEON - The Truth about God and Religion

The Spirit World

Mary: Today, we will talk about the spirit world. But, where could it be? Animists believe that it is a parallel world and spirits are all around us in living and non-living things. Christians and Muslims believe that it is in the sky, outside our reach. Who is right? Moreover, are there two heavens? One for Christians and one for Muslims? But they share the same Old Testament god!

When the sky was the domain of the eagles, heaven was a good hiding place from humans. Now that the sky is the domain of aircraft and spy satellites, it is vulnerable.

The sky has now been invaded by flying machines of all kinds: helicopters, propeller planes, jet planes and even high-flying military ones; and there's never been a sighting of heaven or the almighty. God's castle in the sky seems to have disappeared along with it.

We have myriad satellites orbiting in space and even humans living in the international space station that circles the earth every 97 minutes, but even there, we have no reported sightings of heaven and the countless souls that we're told reside there.

Today, the Hubble telescope looks deep into the universe and many space probes have generated detailed maps of it. Moreover, several space vehicles have been journeying our solar system. All of these have failed to encounter neither heaven nor any of the gods still worshipped today by billions of people.

Thomas: Luna (the moon), the beloved goddess of the Romans, has been visited by humans many times without a welcoming word, or any display of affection for her worshippers. Was she pleased to see them in her realm?

Eventually, humans will travel to Mars, the ancient Roman God of War. Will they be equally ignored? Will they get a peaceful reception? Or, will he strike them with his mighty sword? To improve the odds of a good reception, the voyage should be planned so that the landing will occur during his honorific month, and specifically on the calends of March, the most propitious day.

Mary: The Church has no idea what the spirit world looks like, where to find it or whether it exists. However, that doesn't stop it from promising heaven as a real place in the sky, god's realm: the place where all faithful will be reunited after death. Churches have no clue of what they're talking about, but it doesn't stop them from making false promises.

How could one have a blissful life in heaven when it's so frigging cold up there? Living in absolute zero for an eternity sounds like the ultimate punishment. That would be my definition of hell!

Mathew: The spirit is invisible and so is the spirit world. How would you expect your satellites and space telescopes to see the spirit world or the spirits residing there? That's illogical.

Mary: Scientists have developed sensors that can pick up radio waves emitted by the big bang 13.8 billions years ago, and many others. If spirits were up there, their energy would have been picked up. The question for you is where have all the ghosts gone?

Thomas: Speaking of ghosts, when we were growing up, everyone talked about them and everyone feared an encounter with them. They were believed to be the spirits of dead people who would come down from the spirit world to haunt the living. People stayed clear of cemeteries at night because they were full of ghosts. Rather than enjoying the benefits of heaven above, the souls of the dead hung around cemeteries ready to pounce on any one that had the courage to go near them!

As you recall, in those days, ghosts were so prevalent and feared that even Hollywood got into the act, by creating a television program called Ghost Busters. The ghost busters were so successful in exterminating ghosts from the North American consciousness that no one talks about them anymore. The ghosts have disappeared, but our belief in the spirit and spirit world persists.