Heaven would be good

[Vincent]

How do you know?

Eternity means forever. As in, no end. None whatsoever. So any discoveries that can be made, anything that can be done, will eventually. And after that, what then? I wouldn't want to sit around being blissfully happy doing nothing. For the rest of eternity. And to be quite frank, I don't think you would either. I don't think anyone would. But people are just so wrapped up in their fear of death, in their reluctance to die, in their desire to not accept the fact that this amazing thing called life will eventually end, that they yearn towards this idea of eternal paradise.

How do I know? Like I explained, even if we rule out magic (which we technically shouldn't if we are talking about a religious idea of heaven), something like wireheading can be proof of concept. Running an electric current through the right part of the brain produces unremitting bliss. 

The only problem with that hypothesis is that your brain dies when your body does. Unless there's magicy-supernatural mumbo jumbo involved, there ain't a brain to do that to in Heaven. So it could only be magic. Magic mind control. How enticing.

As I said above, I'm not sure being "condemned to be happy" is as bad as it sounds. It doesn't even seem like the opposite of free will. I mean, sure, if you want to suffer, suffer. I don't, though. If I truly had free will, I'd choose to be happy all the time. What is so disgusting about this? I find suffering disgusting, if anything, and I don't think that should be terribly controversial. It's suffering.

What is disgusting about it? The human experience is so much more than just blind, senseless happiness. It is through our sadness and our anger, through our rage and through our despair, through our grief and through our confusion that we can truly experience the universe in all its splendor, that we can truly consider the world, ponder it, connect with other humans, and make meaningful, lasting relationships. Those feelings, though unpleasant, are just as essential to our beings as happiness. A life where you have access to one emotion, and one emotion only, is depressing to me. It is the opposite of free will. You are being denied the right to the full capacity of feeling. Everything you experience is experienced narrowly, without any contemplation but a blissful one. That is not living. That is existing. Existing always with this mindless smile on your face. 

Do my negative emotions cause me to suffer? Yes, at times they do. But the suffering, the struggles, the hardships, are what make me me. How empty and two-dimensional would I be as a person if I looked at everything with only happiness, all the time? I know, sometimes when bad shit hits, the idea of eternal only-bliss seems tempting, but too much of one thing is never a good thing. Without sadness, I wouldn't be filled with appreciation for the good I've lost. Without anger, I'd never learn to compromise and forgive. Without frustration, I would not feel motivation to change my ways. Without despair, I would never learn to pick myself up. This whirlwind of feelings - good and bad alike - make up the human condition. Strip yourself of all but happiness, and you are no longer yourself. It's fucking Matrix shit, like hooking us up to a computer where we are placed on one setting and never moved from it. You're not even human anymore. You're no better than a machine programmed to be happy all day every day.  

Two possibilities seem to exist with Heaven. Either you go in with the mind you have now, and you quickly grow sick of eternity and suffer because of it. Or you are stripped of all emotions but happiness and you live an empty, mindless existence for the rest of forever.

Both thoughts make me sick. I'd rather just die naturally, as nature intended. If you truly fear death so much that you are willing to resign yourself to an eternity of that, of surrendering your humanity and your personhood, then be my guest. But personally, I'd have to say fuck that.