Entering heaven alive

Entering heaven alive (called by various religions "ascension", "assumption", or "translation") is a belief held in various religions. Since death is the normal end to an individual's life on Earth and the beginning of afterlife, entering heaven without dying first is considered exceptional and usually a sign of a deity's special recognition of the individual's piety.

For the album by Jack White, see Entering Heaven Alive (album).

Noah's great grandfather (Genesis 5:22–24)^[2]

Enoch

(2 Kings 2:11)

Elijah

daughter of Asher, son of Jacob (Midrash Yalkut Shimoni (Yechezkel 367))

Serah

the servant of Abraham who chose Rebecca to be Isaac's wife

Eliezer

king of Tyre, who helped Solomon build the first temple

Hiram

the Ethiopian^[3]

Ebed-Melech

Jaabez, the son of , who was editor of the Mishnah

Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi

the daughter of Pharaoh^[4]

Bithiah

In the Hebrew Bible, there are two exceptions to the general rule that humans could not go to heaven – Enoch and Elijah – but neither is clear. Genesis 5:24 mentions Enoch as one who "walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away", but it does not explicitly say whether he was alive or dead, and it does not say where God took him. The Books of Kings describes the prophet Elijah being taken towards "shamayim" in a whirlwind, but the word can mean either heaven as the abode of God, or the sky (as the word "heavens" does in modern English), and so again the text is ambiguous.

According to the post-biblical Midrash, eight people went to (or will go to) heaven (also referred to as the Garden of Eden and paradise) alive:^[1]

Mandaeism[edit]

In Mandaeism, the Left Ginza mentions that Shitil (Seth), the son of Adam, was taken alive to the World of Light without a masiqta (death mass).^[20]

Zoroastrianism[edit]

It is believed in Zoroastrianism that the Peshotanu was taken up into heaven alive and will someday return as the Zoroastrian messiah.

was said to have been assumed into Elysium by Philostratus.^[21]

Apollonius of Tyana

of the Mahabharata and Lakshmana of the Ramayana are believed to have been the only humans able to cross the plane between mortals and heaven (Svarga) while still in their mortal bodies.^[22]

Yudhishthira

Yudhishthira's brother, had been to heaven and lived there for five years in his human body.

Arjuna

his grand-uncle, had lived and studied in heaven.

Bhishma

his ancestor, had been to heaven.

Puru

was admitted to heaven in his human body, as were several other kings.^[23]

Nahusha

is believed to have been taken to Vaikuntha on Garuda, an event that is reported to have been witnessed by villagers.^[24]

Tukaram

Ascended Master Teachings[edit]

Members of various Ascended Master Teachings, a group of New Age religions based on Theosophy, believe that Francis Bacon underwent a physical Ascension without experiencing death (he then became the deity St. Germain). They also believe numerous others have undergone Ascension; they are called the Ascended Masters and act as spirit guides to human souls on their spiritual path. The leaders of these religions claim to be able to receive channeled messages from the Ascended Masters, which they then relay to their followers.^[26]^[27]^[28]^[29]^[30]

In , Sir Galahad is returning to Camelot after taking the Holy Grail to Sarras when he is visited by Joseph of Arimathea and is carried into heaven by angels.

Arthurian literature

In 's That Hideous Strength, those who ascended to heaven alive included Melchizedek, Frederick Barbarossa, King Arthur, and Elwin Ransom.

C. S. Lewis

In C. S. Lewis's , Reepicheep the Mouse is permitted to travel into Aslan's Country while alive. He is next seen in The Last Battle where he is the first to greet the protagonists when they arrive at Aslan's Country.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

In 's Middle-earth legendarium, Elves who grow weary of life in Middle-earth may sail west to the Undying Lands. A few mortals also follow this route, including Tuor, Eärendil, the Ring-bearers Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, and Sam Gamgee, and the Dwarf Gimli.

J. R. R. Tolkien

In the of the Stargate franchise, the Ancients have learned how to "ascend" from the physical plane and have moved on to a higher plane of existence, as seen in Stargate Atlantis, season 1, episode 3, "Hide and Seek".

fictional universe

In 's One Hundred Years of Solitude, Remedios the Beauty is said to be the most beautiful woman ever seen in Macondo, who unintentionally causes the deaths of several men who love or lust over her. She appears to most of the town as naively innocent, and some come to think that she is mentally handicapped. However, Colonel Aureliano Buendía believes she has inherited great lucidity: "It is as if she's come back from twenty years of war", he said. She rejects clothing and beauty. Too beautiful and, arguably, too wise for the world, Remedios ascends into the sky one afternoon in the 4pm sun, while folding Fernanda's white sheet.

Gabriel García Márquez

In the world of the video game series , according to the in-universe religion of the Andrastian Chantry, seven magisters of the Tevinter Imperium physically entered the Golden City, the seat of the god known as the Maker, in the world of dreams, the Fade. This entry tainted the Golden City, turning it into the Black City, and were cast back to Earth twisted as monstrous creatures called Darkspawn.