"I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it's not some place you can look for, 'cause it's not where you go. It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something, and if you find that moment... it lasts forever..."
this is the last line of the movie "the beach". the main character is leonardo dicaprio. it is a story about how they found paradise and the price to pay to keep it that way...
i recommend this movie to anyone out there who have nothing to do in saturday night. you know a kind of movie that if you really watch it you actually learn something profound.
growing up as a catholic, paradise is defined as the perfect place. a place where this no hunger, no sadness, no pain...
i remembered when i was young i asked my grandpa if they use the bathroom in paradise. he said you dont have to because you dont feel the pain of your tummy aching when you need to do the number 2.
it was planted to me that paradise was in heaven and where all your good relatives will be. that if we die we go to that heaven with jesus christ. with the angels flying and singing the songs of joy...
this why my mother is so angry at me for not practicing my catholic faith. (i dont go to church anymore). she thinks i'll go to hell or something. she had used guilt telling me i'm a bad person for not going to church...
but as i grow up and understand more what religion is. especially the catholic religion. the more i realize what my paradise is...
isnt the main purpose of all religion? to go to their own version of paradise? this why some people will kill innocent people because they think they can go to paradise if they do this or that or whatever their leaders tell them to do... isnt this why christ died in the cross??? for our sins??? so that we could go to paradise???
hmmmm...
a lot of christians might raise their eyebrows now...lol...
no harm done...
i still believe in christ and what he did for us...
but this really keep me thinking...
what is paradise then?
if a lot of religions have different interpretation of paradise, what is the correct meaning of paradise then???
you know what i realize???
it really depends on you...
you could live your life in your paradise or choose to live in hell...
my version of paradise or pure heaven for some people would call it is when...
the first taste of any food that i like... the moment when you taste that wonderful feeling.. whatever it may be... ice cream, chocolate, french fries... whatever it is... savoring that first taste is my paradise...
the moment where you realize that you did more than what you expected... whatever it may be... like having the high score in an online game or doing something that your boss thought you'll never do or actually being in good in something when people think you suck doing it...
when i'm totally alone or when i'm with full of people and nobody notices me. it may be in a crowded public transportation and i'm alone with my thoughts. thinking and dreaming of the possibility of my life...
if a baby smiles at me or when my dog falls asleep when i scratch his tummy. something so innocent and pure.
where i see the wonder of nature like the mountain, the ocean, the trees, the flowers...
or when i say the words every night before i go to bed to a person i really care about... "good night, i love you."
and so many moments in my life that sometimes i take for granted...
that's my paradise...
it's not a grand event or anything ridiculous that society makes you think it is...
It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something, and if you find that moment... it lasts forever...
that's paradise...
so what is your paradise???
