Moving Mountains
Well, not quite "mountains," but mountains of stuff. . . I'm going to blame my lack of blogging on my having been moving to a new place. However, those of you that know me well might guess that there are other factors involved -- such as, "How can one even write about thoughts that deep in a few paragraphs?" and "Why wasn't I a Philosopy major in college?"

Let's just start with my deep thought of the day. . . This comes from a new agey type website that sends me emails. Regardless of it being an exact quote from Pope John Paul, I like to think it's a Universal truth. And it leads me to larger questions like: "Why couldn't John Paul just get with the program and realize that the Unitarian Universalists have it right?"

The former Pope on "heaven" and "hell" -- the ever popular themes of the Catholic church:

We know that the "heaven" or "happiness" in which we will find ourselves is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. . . .

It is always necessary to maintain a certain restraint in describing these "ultimate realities" since their depiction is always unsatisfactory. . . .

Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.

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The images of hell that Sacred Scripture presents to us must be correctly interpreted. They show the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.

Eternal damnation is not God's work but is actually our own doing.

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
General Audiences
July 21, 1999 (Heaven), and July 28, 1999 (Hell)