Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious, cosmological, mythological, or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings (such as a God, angels, the jinn, and sky deities like King or Queen of Heaven, Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother, Son of Heaven, heavenly saints or venerated ancestors) originate, are enthroned or inhabit. It is commonly believed that heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate and that earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven alive.
Heaven is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, a Paradise, in contrast to Hell or the Underworld or the "low places", and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity, goodness, piety, faith, or other virtues or right beliefs or simply the Will of God. Some believe in the possibility of a Heaven on Earth in a World to Come.
Another belief is in an Axis mundi or World tree which connects the heavens, the world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, Heaven is considered as Svarga loka, and soul is again subjected to rebirth in different living forms according to its karma. This cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana.
Read more about Heaven: Etymology, Entry Into Heaven, Bahá'í Faith, Buddhism, Chinese Faiths, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Mesoamerican Religions, Polynesia, Theosophy, Near Death Experiences, Criticism of The Belief in Heaven, Postmodern Views
Famous quotes containing the word heaven:
“There is a high road to Heaven which few people travel; Hell hath no door, but many manage to burrow their way in.”
—Chinese proverb.
“I thank heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler, who built a front line of defense against the anti-Christ of Communism.”
—Frank Buchman (1878–1961)
“God preaches,—a noted clergyman,—
And the sermon is never long;
So instead of getting to heaven at last,
I’m going all along!”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)