Wow... I go to my shop for a few hours, and lots more to think about!

Thanks for the nice words, Jack... and you're right, it is hard to address a concept that I think is largely linguistic. It is relevant to think it thru though, because it is such a pervasive idea in religious history.
I do feel that your attempt to reconcile my thoughts with gnu's is pretty close. I'm not sure, however, that "forgiving one's self" is entirely a workable notion. One can 'let go' of personal regrets and ... um... 'stop beating yourself up'... but forgiveness of the self would be kinda phenomenologically awkward, rather like monitoring one's own motives to see if they are honest. There are just some things that are something between circular and tautological.
This does no invalidate what gnu is trying to get at... I just prefer different terms.

As to "mundane" ideas as expressed in poetry by Blake or Golden Rules or other well-worn imagery: one of my favorite quotes about Philosophy is: (paraphrased, as I have lost the exact original).."One of the important values of Philosophy is rescuing admitted truths from the neglect caused by their universal acceptance."

Is it appropriate to investigate our attitudes about Heaven & Hell?

Well, it became a relevant thing for me when I was in 6th-7th grade.

I was member, for 2 years or so, of Boy Scout Troop 448 in Wichita, Kans.."Bill Coulson's Eagle Mill"...if you weren't seriously heading for Eagle, Mr. Coulson kinda looked down on you. And the religious bit soon became obvious...we were singing one night before the full meeting started..."I Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More" (Oh, you can't get to Heaven in...etc.) and someone did the verse, "If I get to Heaven before you do, I'll plug that hole, and to hell with you"...and Coulson came storming out of his office telling us that verse was NOT appropriate, "I don't want boys in MY troop sitting around singing about Hell!"

It was fine to sing about how to get to Heaven...but..
That was one of my first times to wonder just what words were really about.