Heaven and hell are states of mind IMO. My personal views on meditation is that it encourages the unusual communion between the two consciousness within your mind which enables you to temporarily access these states of mind, giving you a feeling of transcendence or even insight. As for "treating the Universe right" - I believe that the Universe is a vast expanse of emptiness that happens to have celestial bodies and perhaps many life forms within those bodies, having no significant influence over the actions of mankind.