If fate were to decree that all of us Dopers had to spend eternity together, in a place called Heaven, and thus each of us were to have an input into how things would be in this very special place, what one thing would you personally most want to see exist there?
By each person sincerely adding there one wish, we should, I would guess, get an interesting and maybe exciting and beautiful picture of Doper Paradise by way of amalgamation. Also, feel free to add an explanation as to why you’d like your particular desire to be there if you think it would help us understand where you’re coming from in the event that it could (to some) seem weird or maybe even disturbing.
Okay, I’ve changed my mind! Let’s say that each person can have up to three wishes (for this place) and no more. (Three guaranteed desires granted for each person is better than one lest one get nervous that those that follow might not add it, thereby creating, in time, a hell where none was intended.)
Here are my three wants for this place:
I want the clouds in this place to quietly move through the sky like dreamy ghost ships that slowly change from one surreal unexpected image to another … recalling fantastic legends and myths from earth’s long, rich history … deeply stirring one’s heart and soul with their haunting beauty.
The oceans, all the fantastic oceans(!), have in them wonderful and mysterious friendly fire-breathing dragons, like those found in children’s story books. And they talk making silly threats to one another, and are full of warts.
Everyone’s IQs are so far off the charts that we naturally and effortlessly speak in beautiful poems and rhymes, as we choose.
There is healing for everyone’s aches and pains and scars (everything from broken thumbnails to limps and weak knees to the effects of malnutririon and ageing to scarred and twisted and guilt-ridden personalities), so that in time we become the best of all our possible selves.
There are landscapes of rich and magical colour and beauty, with green lawns and butterfly meadows and rolling hills and clear refreshing streams. Snowcapped mountains on the horizon invite the traveler to come further in and futher up, alwways towards greater beauty. (That last Narnia book may have had its creepy parts, but the heavenly landscapes described at the end have always stayed with me.)
When we communicate, our words form interactive shared pictures and sculptures of light in the air, if we so desire. (Got that one from a description of the effects of a drug, oddly enough.)
Up in Snowmass, CO there is an event that includes a chili cook-Off, a microbrew festival, and concerts by two of my favorite bluegrass artists, the Del McCoury Band and David Grisman. You can’t get much closer to heaven than that, in my mind!
There would be cats and kittens that never shed and don’t have dander or anything that people would be allergic to. [tangent] One of the things that made me start questioning the religion in which I was raised was being told by a preacher that of course animals didn’t go to heaven. [/tangent]
When you swim in the wonderful oceans, the dragons welcome you and play with you!
There is a huge library of every book ever written. One can browse through what was in the Library of Alexandria and other lost tomes.
There is a huge movie screen with pause, zoom in, rewind, move to another angle, etc…so we can once and for all get answers to the JFK assassination, the Mary Celeste, the colony at Roanoke, and other mysteries.
There is a fantastic restaurant where one can dine with Churchill, Caesar, Douglas Adams, etc. If one is high enough up the cherubim scale, they can even pull in (via webcast) folk who may be…shall we say…spending eternity elsewhere…(Hitler, Arafat, etc.) Those dinners will be held in a private room, of course, and are subject to availability.
(That’s my three. Someone add in the pets on the other side of Rainbow Bridge, please. C’mon, I gave you a library and the answers to life’s mysteries. The least you could do is bring in our late and missed kitties and puppies.)
Since I only used two of my three, I’ll add that one - and I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it!
All of our furry friends who have gone before us will be there, waiting at the base of an impossibly beautiful Rainbow Bridge. They will be healed of injuries and illness and be as they were in the prime of life. If they are one of the kittens or puppies who didn’t make it, they will be round and fuzzy and stubby tailed and healthy. When they see their person they will run to greet them and their people will finally be able to understand everything they say!
That anybody can be whatever they wish to be, for as long as they like, if for some reason they didn’t get the nose or the belly button or the ears they think they deserved, or if they were born with unmanageable hair or a stubborn cowlick, or if they were born the wrong gender or with imperfect teeth, or just because today it would be fun to have blue eyes for a change.
That everybody can sit down to play any old musical instrument they want, in perfect tune, so nobody ever looks in longing at the musicians and thinks with regret, “Gosh, I could’ve done that if I had tried harder and studied more.”
That everybody can dance if they wish, without reserve, as skillfully as they please, without stopping to wonder if people are staring.
At least one Trappist monastery, preferably populated by the Trappist monks of long past, having had centuries to refine their beer crafting skills.
Sunsets on demand.
A small piece of land with a cabin that I could stay at, but didn’t technically own (the idea of ownership in Heaven bothers me). Near a stream and a field, with fireflies at night and somewhere for me to put my feet up.
Libraries would be a lot like TiVo. You could search through an enormous list of every book every written (including those only written in Heaven–I’ll bet the Bard’s done some marvelous plays in the several centuries he’s been up there) and have them sent to you. They would also catalog other books they think you’d like. Once reading a book, you would be able to experience every detail of it as if you were there, even if the author was mightly incompetent with details.
In addition to Fish’s musical instruments and dances, everyone would be able to draw exactly what was in their heads, be it photorealistic or cartoony. Anyone can finish a drawing in a second and, if they so choose, make their own animated movie in a day.
There are copious treehouses in the mighty towering forests, with rope bridges, spire steps winding around the trees, and a gazillion and one (this is an exact number) secret passages.
There would be magnificent open-air food festivals with music and sunshine and laughing, smiling people where everyone can try wonderful dishes and delicacies from around the world and throughout time. Everything would taste wondrous and nothing would ever have any adverse effects. There would be balloons and happy children and a resounding air of deep contentment.
The great teachers of every art and craft, with unlimited time and patience for students whose capacity to learn would be likewise unlimited by petty constraints like fumble fingers, poor attention span and absolutely no ability to translate thought into deed.
World enough and time to study every animal, plant, rock and star in the minutest detail until you know all about all of them.
No waste. Of any sort. No garbage, no body waste, nothing. It just vaporizes, except that it doesn’t, because there’s no waste vapor either. It disappears.
Everybody has perfect memory, and no memories ever hurt.
Everybody feels what everybody else feels, but can distinguish those feelings from their own. That way, we’ll never hurt each other, annoy each other or be in each other’s way.
