The dualist traditions posit a heaven and hell, but their own sacred texts insinuate that these are states within a person, and not spatially located 'out there'.

No one has ever really been 'out there' anyway; our accumulated knowledge about it comes from information collected by our senses. That information is then processed, or 'understood', in a certain way which influences and largely determines everything we do in response. Because of this, our opinions about 'out there' have a very direct effect upon 'out there', so much so that one could say how much it thrives or malfunctions is CAUSED by what all of us CHOOSE TO THINK.

This is a responsibility of unbearable proportions. Even as I write this, if I were to believe it 100%, my mind could not bear the implications. This, I think, ...is why I and we don't really want to know 'the truth'. Thus, the 'hell' of unredeemed, incompletely processed information that Creation supplies us with suffers, incapable of ever ascending to the redemption of a 'heaven' which is its birthright.

Aviva Zornberg suggested in a recent book of hers that the biblical tree 'of Good and Evil' could also be translated as something like 'of what is and is not preferred'. By preferring only some of the specific information that we each are uniquely competent to understand and 'elevate', but ignoring or hiding from what we would rather not have to deal with, I and we CAUSE the continued imbalance and damage of Creation.

This can be a bitter pill to swallow. Or I suppose it could be like milk and honey? It may very well be that I even have a choice about whether the unpleasant can actually 'taste' pleasant. It may be that my opinions really matter, whether I like it or not