The Five People You Meet in Heaven?

Question

In the Five People You Meet in Heaven, Eddie asks his first person, "How long have I been dead?" The man replies "a minute, an hour, a thousand years." What do you believe the man means?

Answer 1

Time is relative to those who are alive. They have a certain amount of days. The dead have eternity so one minute is barely recognizable let alone one day in eternity.

Answer 2

Oh my goodness, just 5? Be right back... I might not have time right now to finish this right now, Doc. If it is still up when I come back, I will. If not, no worries. =) Thanks. At first, all I could think about was all the happy, loving faces that I remembered from childhood, those aunts and uncles that were all dead by the time I was 9. But... of course I have issues with my mother... I really want to spend time with my cousin Edward again. He was just 2 days older than I, and our families were very close. We were more like twins, and I always wished I had Ed at the house 24/7, like my actual brother was. lol I've written about him before, our daredevil feats as youngsters on the water, and on pavement. My mother and his father had the same adventurous and adoring relationship. As a matter of fact, my mother followed my uncle Ted into the Navy in 1942-43. It's no comparison, but I was nuts enough to straddle the back of whatever dirt bike or ATV that my cousin had, and lived to tell about it. Edward was murdered at the age of 31, and those last few years we didn't see much of each other. I would just like to laugh with him once more.

Answer 3

It could be a sarcastic/dismissive/deliberate remark to show Eddie (and the reader) that bigger concerns await then this artificial construct of time. A minute, an hour and a thousand years are measurements that apply really only to the living on Earth. Death and dying is a universal concept. To ask how long something - anything - is in the state of death would garner multiple answers.

Answer 4

I haven't read that book, but it immediately occured to me that this may be a commentary that the concept of time is purely man-made.

If our planet could think, it would not say to itself every 365 days, "wow, another year has gone by, happy birthday to me." Instead, it would say, "wow, I've gone all the way around the sun again." In other words, the journey would be acknowledged, but not quantified.

For almost as long as I can remember, I have not been a slave to calendars like many people are, including the whole birthday thing. All that stuff about, "gee, do you FEEL older?" always strikes me as idiotic. Someone's birthday rolls around and they groan about getting older. It's just weird to me. I just turned 45, but inside I feel the way I did in my 20s. It's not "Peter Pan Syndrome" -- longevity runs in my family, so I'm fairly certain I'll eventually wind up a creaky 95-year old -- but I'm not going to do a countdown! :-)

Answer 5

That it does not matter how long he has been dead. The story goes on to show that only through his death does he even come close to understanding his life.

Answer 6

Time is irrelevant once we are dead.

Answer 7

It doesn't matter, dead is dead.

Answer 8

GATÉ GATÉ PARAGATÉ PARASAMGATÉ BODHI SVAHA

Answer 9

perhaps reincarnation?

Answer 10

he means that he never died.