The after-life according to Nuno

Cupid and Psyche, Louvre, originally uploaded by The Skipping Hippy.

My friend Nuno was raised as a Catholic and he believes in God, but what he really thinks is a creation of his own. For instance he doesn't believe in Hell, because no system of belief holds water that says some people are irredeemable and will suffer forever.

So, I picked his brain and this is the after-life according to Nuno: I thought the idea was you stay sort of asleep until Judgment Day, at which point God decides who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell. But Nuno says that can't be right, because people pray to saints. Saints used to be human just like us, so if we can pray to them now and they are listening to us now they are "awake". Therefore we will also be awake right after we die. We have to go somewhere, so he figures if we're good we go to Heaven; if we're Hitler we go some place temporarily to be "reeducated" until we wise up, but no Hell.

Makes sense to me, but then what's the point of Judgment Day if people aren't judged, what's the big deal? Nuno believes the only thing happening, and the reason why it's such a big occasion, is we will be given a body once more. So in his view the point of the Biggest Day Ever in the Whole of Existence is to have once more something that you and I and everyone we know already has now. Only this time we will be enjoying our bodies in Heaven, where no harm can befall us, and experiencing with it nothing but pleasure forever and ever, with no fear of death or pain. In Nuno's cosmos the ultimate spiritual reward is physical. His religion is totally sensual.

Image: Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, Louvre Museum, France.