I think Heaven and Hell are real. Let me explain:

Humans instinctively believe in good and evil. Toddlers can grasp concepts like "fair" and "nice". There's never been a human civilisation without religion.

There's also never been a civilisation without conflict. You might also say it's instinctive for humans to believe in right and wrong, disagree on the details, then kill each other.

In the Christian tradition, we conceive of "heaven" and "hell" as metaphysical places where humans souls get what they deserve for their actions in life. Goodness is rewarded with peace and joy, and evil is punished with suffering and remorse.

A lot of people are terribly afraid that when they die, their existence will be completely over. Others are terribly afraid of the lack of justice. No punishment, no reward; the world's worst people die happy and satisfied and never learn they were wrong. Do those things frighten you?

They don't frighten me. I know Heaven and Hell are real. I've felt them.

Heaven and hell are real, and I think they're the same place. Heaven – and hell – is a place where every detail of every particle in the universe is known to you. The entire past, the entire future, and every single idea, thought and realisation in existence makes sense.

In the kingdom of my God, you understand perfectly why you did what you did, and what the consequences were.

My God is the truth.

Heaven is a place where you understand who you are and what you did, in its totality. Hell is also, I think, a place where you understand who you are and what you did. Could there be anything more terrible than dying, then learning that – the whole time, your whole life – you were wrong?

The shape of my God is all around us. Humans live and die by the billion, but in that tiny flash of life every person gets a different little glimpse of it. Everything you feel, think, realise, and learn is a part of the truth. The great, universe-sized, maybe infinitely complicated truth.

No single human being will ever get to know the entire truth. A human's brain doesn't have that kind of capacity. It's made of meat.

Isn't that what a 'God' is? A being we cannot comprehend, who leaves no direct evidence on Earth, yet who we obey and serve above all, because they give existence meaning?

We will all die, but we will have carried a tiny part of the shape of God with us. I am not God, and you are not God; but the cells in your body aren't human beings, and the atoms in those cells aren't human beings... yet you are real. It's the only truth you can be sure of. I think, therefore I am.

What do you think human cells would worship, if they could worship?

There's nothing divine about human emotion. There's nothing unique about the sensation of human love. Humans are animals. An animal is just a thing that survives, and animals can love, hate, and have anxiety attacks just like we can.

Humans teach, and learn. We say that corvids, chimpanzees, dolphins, and octopi are like people too, because they are so intelligent. Why do we call them "intelligent"? Not because of what they can innately do, but because of what they can learn. The animals we teach to live alongside us – dogs, cats, pets of all kinds – show us new things. Love is not just a feeling; it can be learned.

We're not just bundles of cells, all living and dying on a ball of rock together. We're figuring things out together. We're having a conversation.

I'm a member of a new church, and here's my doctrine: humanity is divine. Human beings are not. Alone, we are just animals surviving; but each of us contributes to a great, deep ocean of information, one that will last for as long as humans live, love, hate, and die.

God is real. Look into the pool of human history, philosophy, science, and art. Look deeply.

These are the things that bring us closer to the divine. Not following rules, or feeling emotions. Communicating. Learning.

Read, watch, and consume everything that makes you curious. Ask questions you're not meant to ask, and explain to people what you think. Listen to what they say carefully; trust nobody's truth more than your own. It is your own piece of the divine.

Believing things you don't understand is not wisdom, and ignoring your doubts is not a strength. Doubt is not a weakness. Doubt is the feeling that leads to revelation. If you don't doubt the things that matter to you, how can you possibly learn anything about them? How will you know that they mean anything at all, if you don't go find out why?

Let's be free of the notion that obedience and fear are necessary for peace. Nobody needs to be tricked. You deserve the truth - we all deserve the truth. The truth can help you or hurt you, but it will always set you free.

Evil is not the infliction of pain or suffering. Evil is not an act of selfishness or anger.

Evil is the voice that says, "Shut up and stop asking questions."

Good is the voice that says, "Why?"