In the first part of this article, we saw how the Biblical verses, particularly those from Isaiah and Revelation, announce a new heaven and a new earth in a manner similar to the theoretical framework of Simulation Creationism. As a vital part of the theory envisioned by Nir Ziso of The Global Architect Institute, simulated worlds come and go. In fact, old worlds disappear while new worlds emerge. In the new world, we will not remember anything from the old one, and our physical matter will be different. Still, our personalities/souls will be preserved, as heaven is the community of individuals. Consciousness is the fundamental reality, and it cannot be destroyed: consciousness will continue to exist beyond all phases of creation.
God our Creator promises us eternity; he has implanted it into our hearts, which means we will feel even inside a simulation His teleology for our existence is clear: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes, 3:11). We will live with Him forever. What does it mean? Some philosophers point to the idea of the new body as a material body, albeit made of a completely different kind of matter. We also know that we will be resurrected in body and soul, not just in spirituality: “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise” (Isaiah 26:19). Decay is the major principle of matter. Does this mean that in a new heaven and a new earth we will exist forever, or is forever just a manner of preservation of souls that go from one simulated world to another? Simulation Creationism would deem it so.
We might turn to the revelation of the Bible and the laws of nature/Simulation to envision an answer to this question. The new creation, which is eternity, is the goodness, the fullness, and the best possible experience anyone can achieve: “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). We can understand this from the boundaries that exist around us at the very moment. Living in time, one of the principle features of The Simulation, we have memories from the past and hopes for the future. Such a temporality must have an enduring effect in eternity as well; but not every temporality in eternity is wanted. Past events are full of tragedies and future events pose danger. The fullness of being temporal, the best way of being temporal, is to live it without such costs. This means we could be God-like, seeing the past, the present, and the future at the same time, while being aware of these temporal stages. On the other hand, God might make us forget the past events and previous simulated worlds and bring us to another challenge of a new world without the burdens of the previous one.
Eternal has two meanings: it may be out of time or it may be everlasting in time. The Holy tradition has been pretty unanimous that eternal life for humans means everlasting life after this life, while eternity out of time is reserved for God. In such a life, we would be happy and blessed, as St. Thomas Aquinas mentions. The Book of Revelation paints a picture of what it means. Here is the worship of God through dances and hymns, serving as ways of knowing an infinitely big number of aspects of God: “Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4). Simulation Creationism could favor eternity as everlasting in time, as human souls travel from one simulated world to another in apparently broad timeframes; and they develop Christ-like character within the special laws of The Simulation.
The new body shall not be limited like our physical body is now. However, it is still physical, made of a new kind of matter that doesn’t decay as on Earth. If it is physical, it must inhabit The Simulation. When we die, our imperfect body will transform into a glorious body, just like Jesus’: “Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:21). Such a body will be able to command the matter, just like Jesus is an archetype of our future body. Jesus was able to command the weather, perform miracles, and change matter. This will be possible for our heavenly body in the next simulated world as per Simulation Creationism.
It is a process of learning, upgrading our souls and making it God-like, in the manner of the Christian Orthodox tradition that explains the eternal yearning of the soul toward God. We will never reach this goal, but we will play, learn, and make; and there will always be new things to do to perfect ourselves. It is a metacosmic change, or metamorphosis, where a kind of merging with the divine takes place, but where our individuality stays intact. Meister Eckhart, the German theologian, called it “fusion without confusion”.
The new heaven is a physical place, but is not yet. It is real but not a special location we see in this world. It exists in a different mode as a backup computer program loading and preparing for us. When we receive our resurrected bodies, there is going to be a new earth. We will be at the same place, but in completely new circumstances, enriched by new matter and new experiences. This new world will give us the opportunity to go beyond our current physical abilities. The universe might be as big as it is now because it will give us the pleasure of exploring and learning. It will be a heaven and an essence in which every single concept and idea of a limited existence is transcended.
The new world might possibly not be the final world. After a period of upgrading within a new simulated world, there may be another step of destroying that world and moving to another one, which would be even more perfected. This may go on forever. Simulation Creationism would not beg to differ on this.
