Since I’ve finished reading, eternal life: A new vision by John Shelby Spong. The thought of life after death has been on my mind a bit. So I thought I would post a few of my current thoughts about it.Since reading the book my thoughts about life after death haven’t really changed all that much. I still don’t know and most probably never will until the day I die. I was however delighted to read that John Shelby Spong does. He was as I’ve mentioned in my review, a little unclear on WHY and WHAT he believes there is, but I’m happy he does and I know that will give a lot of people hope.
I really do understand the reasons and the hope that believing in life after death brings. I know because I used to believe it! I used to believe as a christian, that as long as I accepted Jesus as my lord and saviour, and lived according to his words I would be ‘saved’ and granted eternal life in heaven. MANY people still believe this, and I have no desire to take away anyone’s hopes because I know how much that belief meant to me at the time. When you completely give yourself over to the idea that you will live on after death and really believe it, (regardless of how you arrive at that belief). There is a sense of calm that is bestowed upon you. However I think the reason we cling so closely to the idea that we will live on through death, is because of our fear of death and the pain of losing loved ones. Let’s face it; death is a pretty scary thought! Does it hurt? What does it feel like? What happens? There are so many questions.
Another reason so many fear death, is because of the religiously programmed idea of hell and punishment. Our natural fear or death coupled with religious ideas of hell and punishment can have devastating effects on people:
(http://www.thebeautifulheresy.com/2006/04/my-story.html)
To me the notion of heaven and hell, reward and punishment is just too conveniently manufactured too suit those with authority and power. "Work for us, behave, do what we say and you’ll go to heaven, if you don’t do what we say, you’ll be tortured in hell forever" Fear is one of the best tools for controlling the masses and no one does it better than organised religion.
But death only becomes scary when we look at it through a lens of fear. I’ve discovered that you don’t need to put all your faith and hope into a religious idea to free yourself from the fear of death. When you take a deep breath, accept that one day you will die, that death is a part of the great cycle which is life and that no one knows what awaits us after we die. I think we put ourselves in a far better position to face death.
In some ways I still hope there is life after death. I hope if there is that I’m going there! Because that means ill get another chance to be with my family and friends and if God is there I can only imagine the conversations we will have. But am I going to build my life around this fantasy? No, because I understand there is absolutely no evidence for it. I accept this as my hope and my hope alone. I tend to keep this hope at the back of my mind because to me what is more important than what could or could not be in the next life, is the life I know I have right now! I would much rather spend my time enjoying this life and thinking of ways to make this life even more enjoyable for others and our future generations. I actually think an absolute belief in the afterlife takes away a lot of the meaning this life has. If our sole purpose for this life is to make it to the next one, well than what the heck is the point of this one!
Another issue I have about the afterlife is the eternal aspect. I mean the initial thought is nice, but when you really think about it. Do we really want to live forever? I mean... forever!!! Not like 10 billion years, or even:
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999 years.
But FOREVER!
Once you had experienced all there was to experience what would you do? What would happen to creativity or the excitement of experiencing something NEW? What would you do after you had every conversation there was to have, seen all the sights there were to see, answered all the questions to be asked and felt all the emotions to be felt an infinite amount of times over. Wouldn’t this get horrifically tedious? Another issue I have is the concept of no sin, pain or suffering in the afterlife. Either we exist in the afterlife as robots unable to do wrong, or we are given free will mixed with eternity. Do the math!
Humans + free will + eternity = CATASTROPHE!
Is no life after death really something to be afraid of? I don’t think so. In the infinite amount of time before any of us were born, before our bodies and our brains were formed in our mother’s womb, we did not exist. We were officially “experiencing” no life before life. Is it safe to assume this state of non existence continues after our brains have stopped functioning and our bodies have decomposed? I think it’s very possible. Does anyone remember any sense of pain or suffering? Does anyone remember being in distress or any uncomfortable state what’s so ever? I don’t. This isn’t to say this is definitely what happens after we die. I honestly don’t know! But I personally give this outcome the highest score of plausibility. And I’m ok with that : )
People might say “well if there is just nothingness, what’s the point?” Maybe the point to life isn’t about a selfish struggle to try and gain eternal life, maybe the point to life is to live in the NOW and experience all that we can with the time we have, maybe the point to life is to pass on all that we have learned to our children so that they can do the same and continue the beautiful cycle that is life!
So for the time being I’m quite happy to just sit back and enjoy the ride and make the most of this life. If there is an afterlife I’m very curious and look forward to it, if there isn’t, well than I’m thankful for the time I’ve had. : )
Either way I guess we all have to wait to find out right?
I've also thought about this connection between before life, as in before we were born, and after life. It seems a reasonable explanation of 'what is nothingness?' that religious people like to argue, but it scares the hell out of me. When I told that idea to a christian once they responded with the thought that we just simply cant remember back then- just as we cant remember our first few years as babies...? but obviously I think it goes further than that.
ReplyDeleteI know this is a broad question but what do you think about spirits and the psychic view on after life? I haven't really looked into it but it seems that there is greater evidence of an after life through their work than what is proposed by most religions.
Hey noosh,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts :)
First of all what exactly is it about nothingness that scares the hell out of you?
Your Christian friend’s response to your question about nothingness seems to me puzzling. “We simply can’t remember back then”? What does he/she suppose was even back then? How does one ‘remember’ anything without a brain to store memory?
Here is a link to a post I recently did on Psychics. Perhaps it will help :)
http://anhonestsearchfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/08/are-psychics-for-real.html
Jason
Great article. You make some excellent points. Even though I am a Christian and do believe in life after death, I'm open to the possibility there is nothing after this. Nothing sounds scary. But, then I actually thought about it the way you do. I don't feel any sense of loss by not existing the decades, centuries, millenia before I was born. So, why should I feel a sense of loss by not existing after my body has expired?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the point is to live THIS life as well as possible and enjoy the ride. If the Buddhists are right and I'm reincarnated over and over again, I'll try to make sure I keep moving forward each time. If the Christians are right and it's one and done, I'm ready for the next life. If there's nothing else. Well, hey, it's been fun.
Peace,
Brian
Thanks Brian,
ReplyDeleteLove your open mindedness mate, something we obviously share when it comes to the afterlife. I completely forgot about reincarnation! Something I’ve been thinking about lately actually but need to do more research on first I think, any recommendations?
Jason
Jason,
ReplyDeleteI haven't studied reincarnation, per se. It just comes up a lot in my Buddhist studies. I'm not sure how I feel about it. But, it does make a lot of sense to me. And a friend I know who has had more than one near death experience seems to think it's a given. Thich Nhat Hanh talks about it a little in some of his books I believe and I think Deepak Chopra does, too.
I, like you, try to live this life the best I can. If reincarnation happens, I want to make sure I'm progressing in the classroom of life.
Peace,
Brian