Donkey Heaven?

Susan and Emily from New Jersey ask,

“Do you believe in an afterlife? Why or why not?”

Susan and Emily, mother and daughter, thank you for this question! It’s a doozy.

My search for an answer first sends my imagination careening toward lyrics from Laurie Anderson and David Byrne about the nature of Heaven, which I don’t believe they mean to be taken as scripture.

He says,

Heaven is a place
A place where nothing
Nothing ever happens

and Laurie adds,

They say that heaven is like TV
A perfect little world that doesn't really need you
And everything there is made of light
And the days keep going by

And then typing that out, I am also reminded of this seminal recording by The Pixies, “This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven”:

And if the devil is six
Then God is seven
Then God is seven
Then God is seven

This monkey's gone to heaven
This monkey's gone to heaven

All legitimate guesses.

I usually record these Sunday pieces off the cuff, without giving myself time to do a bunch of homework, and thereby (hopefully) keeping things a bit lighter-hearted for all involved. When answering “the big questions”, I wish we could all try and do the same, since we truly can’t know the answers beyond what people before us have guessed at in their religious texts.

Have a beautiful Sunday.

Love,

PS: Is there a heaven in Lord of the Rings? Let’s turn to Middle Earth Tumblr:

On the continent of Aman, the elves and the Valar founded a nation called Valinor. Valinor is Asgard, and it is Valhalla; it is Heaven, and it is, in some ways, Eden. And within Valinor is the domain of Mandos, Middle-earth's god of the afterlife.

If you want to try and puzzle out all of my ramblings on Hobbits, Valhalla, and dovetails, then by all means send some sugar cubes and an apple to the subscription feedbag.

Photo by Ansgar Scheffold on Unsplash