Bedtime thoughts about life after death
I have to say that just before falling asleep I get the most weird, productive sometimes and why not philosophical/spiritual ideas and thoughts and last night was a productive one from this perspective. This time though it was about life and death, about what happens after life, if it happens, about what many of us believe and why we believe and if we really need to believe in something. Not the ordinary topics to end the day, isn't it?
The fact that we are all going to die at some point in time it's no mystery for any of us, if the immortality pill doesn't get on the market until our clock ticks for the last time, but what happens after that moment with our soul, personality and identity it's pretty much a total enigma. At least in my opinion.
There are of course the theories about heaven and hell and the soul getting to either one or the other to spend some time over there, there is the philosophy of reincarnation(which seems pretty plausible for me, but not entirely) and there is the non dualism current that kind of puts everything in the hand of the unknown and doesn't have a particularly place as a destination for the human soul or any use for it after one person dies.
From all of these I can't seem to fully subscribe to any of them and there might be some others also that I am not aware of, but the one with the life after death is what came to my mind last night. The one that my grandma and other old people that are most of them dead by now, believed and told me about since I was a child.
In their minds there was the image that their souls after death will somehow go to an after death world and reunite to other loved ones, family and friends and live there...somehow forever. They didn't know exactly for how long, but there was something better of course, something more chill than what earth and its life had to offer and of course something worth believing in. I didn't believe in this theory and will never do although I don't have any argument to support the opposite or to refute it.
BUT I do understand why they felt like that and embraced this idea. We, and when I say we I refer to the majority of us( the normal ones), are attached to our lives, however they might be with almost everything that we have. Thus we want to live forever if this would be possible. With some improvements to our current situations probably, but in general nobody wants to die and leave everything behind.
So when we are that attached to our lives and we hear about such scenarios, especially if they come from priests and other wise guys, we tend to believe them in a blink of an eye because they're ideal. They give continuity to our lives with everything that we are attached to and make it even better because over there there is no illness, suffering or stress. It's just that everything is about relieve, relaxation and...heavenly life style.
So, why not believe in such life after death. At least it's offering a promising continuation of what we live and makes death a bit more acceptable. Now, I can't say that I have convinced myself to believe in such theories and dogmas just by pondering a bit on them, but I understand more the ones who do it. It makes them feel comfortable with dying and at peace of leaving everything behind. Once you live your whole life with purposes and targets you gotta have something to cringe to and achieve after it also. Or at least dream about it...
Thanks for your attention and have a great weekend!