The intention of this theory is to simultaneously include all perspectives on the big question in life – why are we here, what is the nature of God, how should we behave – and explain why none of them, ultimately, matter.
My Theory
There exist four planes of existence. You can believe in them as literal places, or allegorically. They’re Heaven, Hell, the Mortal Plane, and the Astral Plane.
The Mortal Plane is the universe we live in. I believe it’s the universe described by Leonard Susskind’s string theory – made up of many dimensions, some flat, some curved in on themselves, all sandwiched into an entity called a membrane (shorthanded to “brane”). It operates based on conventionally-held physics, namely the Laws of Thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics dictates that our ordered system constantly strives for a state of homogeny, neither too ordered nor too entropic. Thus, energy is neither created nor destroyed, only redistributed into different forms. Energy can take on the form of either light, radiation, or mass. In that respect, we – as beings of mass – are just energy in alternate form.
All ordered systems inevitably descend into chaos. When the universe began at the moment of the Big Bang, which was caused by branes in alternate universes – and yes, those are conjectured to exist as well – impacting with our own, the impact generates a ripple effect on the “fabric” of this brane. This is all of the energy that has existed, currently exists, or ever will exist; we call it the observable universe. These ripples expanding across the brane explain why our universe is said to be “expanding,” based on Hubble’s Law.
When the cosmic microwave background of the universe reaches a temperature of absolute zero – that is, all energy ceases – the ripples smooth out, and existence ceases.
Another ripple will be generated when the branes impact again, causing a second Big Bang, and a universe a lot like our’s. Thus, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth continues ad-infinitum.
The expansion of the universe toward this Heat Death is also representative of the ordered system of the universe as it existed seconds after the Big Bang – within a span of space-time no larger than an atom, and containing no mass, only pure energy – descending into entropy.
Heaven is a theoretical place of pure order; a system that does not devolve into entropy. Because it is a highly ordered realm, no systems in it would be subject to entropy over time. There would be no illness, no aging, no pain, no death, no conflict. Relative to us on the Mortal Plane, this would be a perfect state of being. To the beings in Heaven, it is a state of apathy; because they know no suffering, they also know no happiness. They have traded empathy for pure objectivity, and therefore the ability to see all things. Their justice revolves around an opposition to all things entropic, and their purgative methodology is rarely discriminating, due to the lack of empathy; this is “God’s wrath.” Homogeny, being relativistic, is only applicable within the narrow sphere they command, including Heaven and the theoretical Garden of Eden, which we were cast out of for accepting the Gift of Knowledge. Any decision that exercises personal ambition also exercises entropy — such as sex, which is the choice of two creatures to create another. Thus, all creatures born from sex are tainted by “Original Sin” and do not fall under God’s domain, unless they make the conscious decision to live according to his rules. This is how one would, theoretically, ascend to Heaven upon death.
Hell is a theoretical place of pure entropy; a system that contains no order. Gravitational wells – dents made in space-time by sufficiently massive objects, such as planets or stars – push us closer to Hell. Black holes, which represent areas of extreme disorder in the Mortal Plane, puncture holes in space-time deep enough to reach Hell. Because it is a highly disordered realm, every energy-being within Hell is motivated solely by personal ambition, and lacks any appreciation of themselves as being part of a larger system. In fact, this constant clashing of wills is what causes the entropy to continue eternally. When areas of order come into existence, they are quickly eradicated, the way miniature black holes manifest and dissipate in less than a second when they manifest in the Mortal Plane. Beings in Hell, unlike beings in Heaven, are designed to interface with Mortal Beings; they are parasitic of their entropic potential and encourage its preponderance. They are highly empathetic, representing baser instincts without inhibition or structure, but they use this empathy for manipulative purposes.
Leonard Susskind proposed that information that entered black holes did not disappear, which violated the first rule of thermodynamics, but rather, spread across the edge of the observable universe like a hologram. This is analogous to the concept of the Astral Plane. It is an area upon which all concepts and ideas, real or unreal, manifest. It is accessible through meditation, ritual magic, dreaming, death, trance-states, drug highs and extra-planar (that is, originating from some place other than the Mortal Plane) creature visitations.
Thus, on the Mortal Plane, we have three options. We can attempt to: ascend to Heaven by behaving in accord with ordered beings, rejecting all things pertinent to base desires; descend to Hell by behaving in accord with entropic beings, embracing all things pertinent to base desires; or we can embrace the concept of Nirvana, absorbing into the current universal consciousness instead. While we’re here, the ideas and concepts and information we create are superimposed upon the edges of the universe in the Astral Plane, where we can access them – and create more of them – at will. As energy-based beings, we are capable of influencing the energy surrounding us in a metaphysical way; that is magic, the imposition of one’s spiritual will upon the universe. As it is the exercise of personal ambition, it is also a form of entropy. The path of Heaven represents the Judeo-Christian-Islamic camp; the path of Hell represents Satanism; the path of the Astral Plane represents polytheistic religions, shamanism, and pagan gnosticism; and the path of Nirvana represents Eastern religions and atheism.
A diagram of my metaphysics