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I thought you might like to read something that doesn’t include death, riots, and gloom but hope and enlightenment.

Here it is. Have you ever gazed up at the night sky and wondered if there's something more out there—maybe even heaven itself? In a captivating opinion piece, physicist and author Michael Guillen invites us to imagine just that. He gently suggests that the Bible's descriptions of heaven might line up beautifully with what we know from modern science about the universe.

Picture this: There's a distant boundary called the "Cosmic Horizon," about 273 billion trillion miles away (that's a mind-boggling distance!). Beyond it, galaxies are racing away from us at the speed of light, and thanks to Einstein's theory of relativity, we humans could never reach them. Guillen wonders whether this hidden realm could be heaven—a timeless place that existed before the Big Bang, suited to spiritual beings rather than our physical bodies. It echoes those ancient scriptures that describe heaven as God's eternal home "up" in the skies, a spot beyond our everyday reach where time doesn't tick the same way.

This isn't just one person's wild idea; it's part of a bigger, heartfelt conversation where science and faith dance together, trying to make sense of age-old questions about what comes after this life. Guillen uses real astronomical facts, like Hubble's Law, to paint this picture, but he's not alone in exploring the mysteries of a heavenly realm.

Think about near-death experiences (NDEs)—those incredible stories that pop up in books and conversations. Back in 2014, Time magazine reported that around 8 million Americans had had them, often describing a warm tunnel of light, reunions with loved ones who'd passed, or an overwhelming sense of peace. These moments can turn even the biggest doubters into believers, leaving them forever changed.

Take neurosurgeon Eben Alexander's book Proof of Heaven. He recounts slipping into a coma and waking up in a lush, loving world filled with butterflies, cascading waterfalls, and heavenly songs from angelic beings. To him, it felt like solid evidence that our consciousness lives on, even when the brain checks out.

Of course, not everyone sees it that way, and that's okay—science encourages us to ask questions. Kind-hearted researchers like neuroscientist Andrew Newberg suggest these visions might come from the brain's natural responses during tough times, such as when it's shutting down and firing signals in unusual ways, creating those vivid, dream-like scenes. Even things like the drug ketamine can mimic these experiences, hinting they might be rooted in our biology rather than something supernatural.

Skeptics, such as Sam Harris, gently remind us that while these stories are touching, they often lack hard evidence we can verify. For instance, a piece in Psychology Today points out that real proof might involve bringing back something new and testable, like a solution to a tricky math problem, instead of personal insights that are hard to prove. Writer Michael Chorost dives into deeper thoughts, like a "tenseless universe" where every moment exists at once, which could ease our worries about suffering—but he wonders why a kind universe would let pain linger if it's all heading toward something good.

Then there are the intriguing ideas from quantum physics that add a spark of wonder. Some thinkers, like Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, explore how consciousness might linger through tiny structures in our brains called microtubules. Others dream up multiverses where heaven and hell could be parallel worlds, or even black holes as doorways to other realms. And don't forget the simulation hypothesis—the fun notion that we might be in a super-advanced computer program, where uploading our minds could lead to a kind of digital forever.

When it comes to where heaven might actually be, history offers some charming guesses. An old 19th-century article in Scientific American playfully suggested it could be tucked inside the sun's core, a peaceful globe hidden beyond its blazing surface, accessible only to spirits. More faith-inspired views, like those on HeavenExplained.org, point "upward" toward the northern skies, maybe tied to a huge cosmic void that's 1.8 billion light-years wide—an empty space that's got astronomers scratching their heads. Sites like Explore God remind us that heaven might be a spiritual place we can't detect with telescopes, proven more by the quiet longings in our hearts and words from scripture, much like C.S. Lewis said: Our deepest desires whisper of a bigger reality waiting for us.

All these views create a colorful tapestry—from Guillen's starry speculations to heartfelt NDE tales and quantum daydreams, balanced by thoughtful scientific caution. A piece in Fountain Magazine wraps it up nicely, saying heaven's true spot might be beyond what our minds can grasp, so perhaps the best we can do is live kindly while marveling at the universe's beauty.

In the end, science hasn't handed us undeniable proof—surveys show just 16% of scientists believe in an afterlife, compared to over 70% of everyday folks—but that's what makes the chat so enriching. Whether heaven hides at the edge of space or in the quiet corners of our souls, it's a gentle invitation to keep wondering, where facts and faith meet in the vastness of eternity.

Final Word: I don’t have one. He does! “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea." Revelation 21:1