Heaven Knows (Heaven pt 2)

Gustave Dore’, 1871

"Oh, Lord, Heaven knows, we belong way down below
Oh, Lord, tell us so, we belong way down below
Oh, Lord, Heaven knows, we belong way down below
Oh, Lord, tell us so, we belong way down below "

The Pretty Reckless

Link to part 1 at bottom of page.

Heaven knows. We've all heard it. It might be the single most common phrase containing the word heaven. In general, its meaning is obvious. Heaven knows, if not everything, at least many things unknown to mortals. The Christian god knows everything. But while the phrase "God knows" is also common, this is Heaven knows. It's worth pondering, is this just a reference to the collective, to God and all their angels, all the denizens of Heaven? Or is Heaven personified here? Many entities in Greek myth were both beings and places: Tartarus, Erebus, Styx. (If so, what does that say about the structure we built for Hell? ( https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/who-the-hell-are-these-guys-part-10-king-of-the-pit-hell-pt-16 ) What does it say about the structure we plan to build for the corresponding Heaven?

To be clear, I'm not interested in the linguistic or historical answer to this question, at the moment, though I often enjoy such things. I'm interested in the question itself, the situations it implies, and how that affects worldbuilding.

Heaven knows. In your setting, our setting, what does it know? Does it know everything, causing existential conundrums about free will and whence cometh evil? Does it know our secret hearts? How does it know them? Why? What does Heaven know, why does Heaven know it, and does Heaven share that information with its denizens, or does only the place itself know, if separate from the gods and angels? (Does Heaven even have gods in it, or is it just a place of angels, like the Silver City in DC Comics or the Heaven described in the game In Nomine?)

At the very least, Heaven knows where we belong, as evidenced by the song lyrics above. Heaven, in this case, seems to take the place of the judge of the dead, deciding which afterlife to send us to. But that is, after all, pretty new. Most afterlife judges in human mythology are in the Underworld, not Heaven. Hades doesn't even visit Olympus very often.

So, what does Heaven know, and why does it know it? Is Heaven an entity itself? Is what Heaven knows primarily the mysteries of creation, or does it know all things, past present and future? Does it know everything we hide in our hearts, or can we, in fact, hide things, the way the Egyptians hid their sins from Anubis at the scales? At this stage the questions are more important than the answers, because they make you think about the nature of the world you're building, or have built.

What is the fundamental nature of Heaven? We'll keep exploring that question in this series, but comment down below with your take on these questions.

Read part 1 here:

https://www.ofgodsandgamemasters.com/blog/stairway-to-heaven-heaven-part-1