The Other Shore

人可以走向天堂，不可以走到天堂。走向，意味彼岸的成立。走到，岂非彼岸的消失？彼岸的消失即信仰的终结、拯救的放弃。因而天堂不是一处空间，不是一种物质性的存在，而是道路，是精神的恒途。

——史铁生《病隙碎笔》

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People can move toward heaven but cannot reach heaven. "Moving toward" implies the existence of the other shore, while doesn't "reaching" mean the disappearance of the other shore? The disappearance of the other shore signifies the end of faith and the abandonment of salvation. Therefore, heaven is not a place, nor is it a material existence; it is a path, an eternal journey of the spirit.

— Shi Tiesheng, “Fragments Written in the Gaps of Illness”