Within the last two days, two friends of mine have passed away. In a time so overflowing with emotion, I find myself in deep thought more frequently than usual.

Lately, the concept of an afterlife has been a fairly common subject of thought. Are the dogmatic ideals of Heaven and Hell a reality? Or would a philosophical outlook on either of them paint a far clearer picture as to their true nature?

Consider the possibility that, even assuming that at least one of the plethora religions claiming to include an afterlife is true, that the concepts of Heaven and Hell are purely philosophical, abstract ideals involving the impact that a person has made on the planet and the general location of said impact on a proverberial spectrum of positivity/negativity. This impact leaves a mark on everybody that a person comes in contact with, in the form of opinion. In the form of love and admiration. In the form of friendship.

What if, on the philosophical level, Heaven is nothing more than leaving this world having impacted those around you in a positive manner. Heaven is the energy of love and friendship directed towards a person after their passing.

Inversely, Hell would be the emotional equivalent to leaving this world with the people around you thinking, "Finally..." The negative energy of impacting one’s peers in such a manner would be absolute Hell... But which would be worse - the collective sigh of relief that you are gone, or the process of being forgotten?

Even if Heaven and Hell as locations exist, what if the verdict of judgement rests solely on that energy... Consider that the only deciding factor in what a person’s afterlife experience will be is where, on the spectrum of positivity/negativity, that energy would fall. Are there gray areas, or is there only a sense of light and dark? Good or evil? Heaven or Hell?

Imagine if God were nothing more than an entity created by the vast number of emotions felt by the population of the human race... Omnipresent, omniescent, benevolent, malevolent, true and false... Paradoxial in nature, but completely rational... Would this make all religion true? Or would it debunk anything we’ve ever placed on the table and create room for something completely new?

-Lust