What is Heaven?

What is heaven? A place without a body, without worry, without traffic, and most importantly, without the fear of death, even death’s remotest possibility. It’s an ideal place to be able to say about death: “been there; done that”.

But we use the word heaven differently in a variety of contexts: a heavenly stress-free vacation, a heavenly taste of chocolate, a heavenly view of the mountains. What on earth (no pun intended) do we mean by this version of heaven, and do the childhood visions of angels, clouds and other ephemeral accoutrements connect to our versions of heaven on earth?

Heaven is sometimes the word used when people describe a peak experience, a moment when time stands still and all the forces of the universe are aligned with your own unique moment of deepest appreciation. The body is there but bears no particular weight of burden; the worry is so sublimated that you may have been just born; traffic is farthest from your mind, and death holds no sway. One could be thinking: If death happens right now, my life will not have been in vain.

Talk to me. What is heaven for you? Both versions.