History Main / HeavenAbove

* Although Nirvana in UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} is a state and those has no geographical place, Pure Lands are often represented as heaven-like places locate in the sky and with clouds around. Pure Lands are realms where devoted practicioners can reborn to practice freely and attain Nirvana easily. Also most representations of Buddhas and Boddhisatvas locate them in high places or in the sky.

* In ''Film/HouseOfCards1993'', the dead go to live in the cradle of the moon. Sally's attempts at communicating with her father involve climbing into the roof and building elaborate towers of cards.

* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Bajoran religion states that their gods, the Prophets, live in the Celestial Temple above the skies of Bajor. In the pilot episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E01E02Emissary Emissary]]," the Temple turns out to be a wormhole that terminates in the Bajoran solar system inhabited by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens.

* In Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and English editions of Literature/TheBible, the word for sky[[note]]respectively, ouranos, caelum, ciel, cielo, cielo, himmel, and heaven[[/note]] is also used as the word for Heaven, or the Kingdom of God.

* Not three minutes into ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', recently deceased Eleanor distinguishes between Heaven and Hell by pointing upwards to indicate Heaven and downwards to indicate Hell.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40K'':

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "The Balance" has Hawkgirl, an alien from a planet that only ever worshipped {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, scares away Hades' minions, beings who work for a polytheistic god, by pointing up to the sky to claim she works for capital-g {{God}}. Looks like the "sky=God" trope is literally universal.

* Inverted on ''Literature/Discworld'' for both trolls and dwarfs. They're usually subterranean, so they view ''down'' as the direction of Heaven. Related: Dwarfs use "enlightened" to mean "ignorant and misguided"; someone who's profoundly knowledgeable or appropriately civilized would be "endarkened".

* ''Literature/TheClouds'' presents Creator/{{Socrates}} as an atheist who denies the existence of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology a god who throws thunderbolts]] in favor of worshipping the clouds who shit out the thunder. As a [[ParodiedTrope parody of Socratic philosophy]], the idea of worshipping clouds, the sky, and other objects of study in place of the actual gods is PlayedForLaughs.

This association is also why WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath, why people only AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence, and why those mad at their fate will generally give a SkywardScream rather than a Horizon-Oriented Yelp.

* The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "The Terror Beyond" has Hawkgirl, an alien from a planet that only ever worshipped {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, scares away Hades' minions, beings who work for a polytheistic god, by pointing up to the sky to claim she works for capital-g {{God}}. Looks like the "sky=God" trope is literally universal.

* The magical fairy who blesses ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' with life lives within the wishing star. The Blue Fairy descends from her home in the sky only when Gepetto prays up to the sky in his petition to be blessed with a son.

* ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'': Death, as he appears in ''The Tale of Three Brothers'', sports a pair of wings which he can use to bring his victims up into the afterlife. Since the third brother accepted Death's coming as an old friend, its safe to see he's being taken up to a good afterlife somewhat like {{Heaven}}.

* Whenever {{God}} appears on ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'', He's always peaking over a cloud on the ceiling, forcing Stephen and the audience to crane their necks up to have a conversation with the guy.

* All indo-european religions have the gods or divinity be associated with the daylit sky. The original TopGod, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyeus Dyeus Pther]], is the archetypical "sky father".
** Of all the places in Greece they could have lived, the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Gods]] decided to seat their thrones on the highest mountain in the nation, Mount Olympus, placing the gods on the point closest to the heavens. They are otherwise described as "of the heavens", clearly connecting them to other indo-european traditions.

* In Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, German, and English editions of Literature/TheBible, the word for sky[[note]]respectively, ouranos, caelum, ciel, cielo, cielo, himmel, and heaven[[/note]] is also used as the word for the Kingdom of God.

** God is frequently described in the Old Testament as emerging from (or as) storms, whirlwinds, or other heavenly disasters, most famously at the end of the Literature/BookOfJob. There, God's appearance as a massive storm uses the violence of the sky to demonstrate his [[TheOmnipotent power]] and [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm expansive nature]]. Some scholars speculate that the modern YHWH/God was once a wind or air god, or at least that such a god might have been part of the their history.
*** It must be noted that despite this, many other acts of God described in Literature/TheBible also involve other, less "high-up" aspects of nature, such as the sea and the ground.
** When Jesus returns to the spiritual realm of the Father, Literature/TheFourGospels describe it as being taken ''up'' and he ''ascended''.
*** Elijah also ascends to the skies, albeit in a fiery carriage lifted by a whirlwind.

* In a sort of backhanded way both Myth/EgyptianMythology and Myth/AboriginalAustralianMyths invision the SpiritWorld as in the sky rather than in the underground as most other mythologies. However the sky are home to more than just benevolent spirits...

* There is an UrbanLegend that the first astronaut, UsefulNotes/YuriGagarin, has said something along the lines of "I've been in space, and I've seen no God". Most of the reliable sources agree that if something like that was ever said, it was UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev claiming Gagarin had been in space and saw no God.

** When Bruce begs God not to leave him, he appeals to a need for answers. Creaotr/MorganFreeman's God laughs and says that the problem with humanity is that they keep looking "up." Up here seems to refer to the divine plan for each person that only God can know, meaning God is saying to focus on what is rather than what should be.

* Heaven is a regular setting on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' that's often referred to by pointing upwards or talking about what's "above." The only really consequential use of this trope comes late in the show when the Darkness attacks Heaven, which causes Earth's sky to be ravaged by thunderstorms.
** Before that, the entire world experiences unexpected meteor showers when [[spoiler: all angels are cast out of Heaven at once]].

Related to LightIsGood, since the sky and the light-bearing suns often go hand-in-hand when depicting God. This trope's relationship with the sun can often lend it to be used similarly to RaysFromHeaven, CueTheSun, and WatchingTheSunset. This trope will often be used to show a RageAgainstTheHeavens by having a character rant at the clouds as if God was hiding behind them.

** ''Film/{{Thor}}'' has on odd scene where the titular character angrily demands to be returned to Asgard by yelling into the night sky, even though he should know the people operating the Bifrost aren't actually floating above him.

* In ''Literature/SurvivorDogs'', dogs and wolves have many gods; however, the Sky-Dogs are their supreme gods.

** In the Bible, in the Literature/BookOfGenesis, Nimrod and the rest of humanity believe they can reach God just by building a really, really, really big tower. God had to go down to look at what the humans did, which implies that he does reside somewhere above.
** God is frequently described in the Old Testament as emerging from (or as) storms, whirlwinds, or other heavenly disasters, most famously at the end of the Literature/BookOfJob. There, God's appearance as a massive storm uses the violence of the sky to demonstrate his [[TheOmnipotent power]] and [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm expansive nature]]. Some scholars think the modern YHWH/God used to be a wind or air god, back when monotheism wasn't a thing, or at least that such a god is part of the character's history.
** When Jesus returns to the spiritual realm of the Father, how do Literature/TheFourGospels describe it? Oh yeah, he was taken ''up'' and he ''ascended''. So, unless he's actually supposed to be flying around in the clouds waiting to come down and burn the sinners, the reader is supposed to associate going up with entering the realm of God.
*** He is not the only one, Elijah also ascends to the skies, albeit in a fiery carriage lifted by a whirlwind. Could be how ancient superstitious people interpreted a violent tornado, maybe in the middle of a storm.
** The Literature/BookOfRevelation describes the evil angels who follow {{Satan}} as "fallen stars" that were "thrown down to Earth." This story of angels being thrown down to become demons is where the term FallenAngel comes from.

* Of all the places in Greece they could have lived, the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Gods]] decided to seat their thrones on the highest mountain in the nation, Mount Olympus, placing the gods on the point closest to the heavens. They are otherwise described as "of the heavens", clearly connecting them to other indo-european traditions.
* In Myth/NorseMythology, Asgard, the realm of the gods, is said to be one level up on the world tree Yggdrasil from Midgard, the realm of mortals (i.e. Earth).

* Of all the places in Greece they could have lived, the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Gods]] decided to seat their thrones on the highest mountain in the nation, Mount Olympus, placing the gods on the point closest to the heavens.

* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' episode "Bitter Work" ends with an exiled prince unable to master his emotion screaming up into a lightning storm in a RageAgainstTheHeavens, as if the storm itself was in control of his hard life.
%%Over the Garden Wall

* Creator/IdinaMenzel's song "I Stand" includes the lyric "I don't know if the sky is Heaven, but I pray anyway." Menzel seems to find any non-vertical prayer entirely ludicrous, in large part because of this ancient connection between the sky and the divine.