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Single Idea 23063

[filed under theme 29. Religion / D. Religious Issues / 2. Immortality / d. Heaven ]

Full Idea

Paradise was unendurable, otherwise the first man would have adapted to it.

Gist of Idea

The first man obviously found paradise unendurable

Source

E.M. Cioran (The Trouble with Being Born [1973], 01)

Book Ref

Cioran,E.M.: 'The Trouble with Being Born', ed/tr. Richard Howard [Penguin 2012], p.11


A Reaction

Seems a bit harsh. There was evidently one aspect that was missing (knowledge), and he was surprised to find himself ejected for wanting it. Like a holiday in a Mediterranean hotel, with good food.


The 13 ideas with the same theme [good place where good souls go as a reward]:

Is the supreme reward for virtue to be drunk for eternity? [Plato]
At the end of a saint, he is not located in space, but just ceases to be disturbed [Ashvaghosha]
The righteous shall dwell on couches in gardens, wedded to dark-eyed houris [Mohammed]
Heaven will be reclining on couches, eating fruit, attended by virgins [Mohammed]
Those in bliss have their happiness increased by seeing the damned punished [Aquinas]
In heaven all the interesting men are missing [Nietzsche]
People who disparage actual life avenge themselves by imagining a better one [Nietzsche]
Heaven was invented by the sick and the dying [Nietzsche]
We don't want heaven; now that we are men, we want the kingdom of earth [Nietzsche]
That our heaven is a dull place reflects the misery of excessive work in life [Russell]
The first man obviously found paradise unendurable [Cioran]
Paradise would not contain some virtues, such as courage [Davies,B]
Pious Jews saw heaven as a vast library [Johnson,P]