What is Heaven?

Heaven, or the heavens, is a common religious, cosmological, or transcendent place where beings such as gods, angels, spirits, saint, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or live. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate, and 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 terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, heaven is considered as Svarga loka, and the 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. Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, outside the tangible world (heaven, hell, or other) is referred to as otherworld.

Main articles Heaven What is Heaven? Heavenly or Elevated Realms Necessity Of Hell And Heaven Some Of The People Of Paradise Will Be Given A Place As Large As The World Why Worldly Pleasure Included In Paradise Ancient Near East Religions of the ancient Near East Mesopotamia Ancient Mesopotamian religion Canaanites and Phoenicians Canaanite religion Hurrians and Hittites Hittite mythology Abrahamic religions Kingship and Kingdom of God New Testament and early Christianity Heaven (Christianity) Kingdom of God in Christianity Rabbinical Judaism Heaven (Judaism) Olam Haba World to Come Islam Jannah Paradise Garden of Eden Postmodern views Omega Point

Chinese religions Chinese mythology Tian Shangdi (“Supreme Deity”) Indian religions Buddhism Buddhist cosmology Samsara (illusionary reality) Good karma Nirvana Buddhahood Bardo  “intermediate state“ Brahma in Buddhism Hinduism Hindu cosmology Karma Samsara (illusionary reality) Moksha (Turiya, Kaivalya) Jainism Jain cosmology Mesoamerican religions Aztec mythology Polynesia Polynesian mythology Māori mythology Theosophy Theosophy Related articles Son of Heaven Heavenly Host War in Heaven Eschatology