I know its a dangerous place to tread, but why not talk about the afterlife? Whats more controversial than something that can't be proven? Whats more diverse and questionable than something thats founded on belief alone? There is a wide number of people that believe in some kind of afterlife. A heaven, hell, purgatory, palace of the Gods, or something along those lines. These people put their belief in the promise of near immortality and live happy lives knowing that something waits for them after the not-so final end. Should you spend your whole life waiting for something that isn't guaranteed? Then there are those that don't believe in anything after death, that death is final, and all consuming. Wouldn't that be liberating in some ways? Knowing (or believing) that the time you had on earth was all you would have ever to experience all the things that you wanted, that there were no second chances. You would have to live life to its fullest because there was no guarantee that there would be anything else. It would be a balancing act though, because that belief brings fear of a final end, and avoidance of the inevitable. Could reincarnation be the right path? The horse to put my money on? Having past lives would be comforting in some ways, knowing that you had done this before, and gotten through it more or less intact. But to repeat a life over and over... is that the life (lives) you want? Maybe we're not meant to know, maybe we shouldn't think anything. Doesn't it affect our lives in positive and negative ways no matter what we think? But then again, maybe we become the earth, the sky, the air when we are gone. We could whisper our secrets to the next generations in the wind. Maybe we are destined to wander around our previous lives and see it as a ghostly presence. Never changing, only observing. Maybe we start a new life on another planet. A new species, new memories, new life, new world. Maybe we have to relive our lives, again never changing, but seeing all that we did wrong... and remembering what we did right. Perhaps though, when we die, each one of us goes to do what is needed of us... or what we ourselfs need... maybe some of us disappear forever. Does that mean that it all didn't matter? If death really is the end? Is life fruitless if eventually it does end in every way?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hey Tessa,
Awesome post on the afterlife you've got going. Not nearly as long/rambly as Mitchell's, but still a joy to read. I enjoyed reading the plethora of questions that you present, especially the one regarding if we, as humans, were ever meant to know the end point of our lives. Some of the points you make are right in step with my own beliefs (we've only got one life to live) and I think something that you can consider, is the fact that if you live your life like it's the last, then you're probably going to live a moral life, which ensures your way into most afterlife scenarios.
Though, it is scary to realize that we aren't very far off technologically, from being able to restore someone from death. Which bring me to an amusing quote (at what point in time does CPR become necrophilia), but that's beside the point. Perhaps humans were truly never meant to learn the true end point of our lives, but regardless, it's something i'd like to know, and soon.
Also, it was probably inevitable due to the very nature of this blog post, but I could catch a glimpse of your agnosticism playing out towards the end. Unless of course, you are no longer agnostic and I am unaware of this. That is a possibility considering the bits and pieces of conversation I heard during math the other day, but that's beside the point.
At the end of the day, great blog post!
- Jonathan
Post a Comment