The invention of heaven, I suppose was inevitable. Saint Peter playing the role of Anubis, where your heart and a feather were placed on scales, and if your heart were light (as a feather of course), you could step into the boat and be escorted across the river – there’s always a river or a gate and there is always a judgement. Ascend or be eaten? Ascend or be tortured? Who really wants eternal life anyway? Among the clouds or on Mount Olympus or hanging out on top of your very own pyramid – without life’s challenges and triumphs, admit it, you would get bored. The great philosophers of the East expect you to perform well while alive – to be kind, to be detached from material things, to be wise, to be respectful. Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, all matter goes on – in one form or another. I prefer goddesses of destruction AND creation, like Kali and Pele (our Hawaiian Volcano Goddess). It’s all humans trying to find meaning in their lives. Reminds me of a Chinese saying I learned while living in Taiwan: Shr hou dwan ku – life is short and bitter. But I believe we were born to luxuriate, to celebrate to be grateful everyday for life’s beauty, sunsets, flowers, clouds, all here for us to enjoy and share. There are days when I cling to that.