If I'm immortal, I don't need to know
I know at least a few people who believe that they will go to Heaven where they will live with their families, forever. I know of a couple people who believe that they are immortal. I even know a few who believe in reincarnation. All of them in one way or another believe that there is no end to their consciousness. Mind you, I respect their beliefs, I really do.
But, as an existential matter, if there is a beginning, there is an end. I think that is unavoidable. What is composed, must decompose, right? As I write this, I am flashing on the image of Mr. Smith in the last movie of the Matrix trilogy, when Neo gives him the news: Everything has an end.
But I think to myself, if I were immortal, would I want to know? I don't think so. And if we are, I don't think we're supposed to know.
If someone told me that I'm immortal, I'd say, "Oh, I'm immortal? Good news! The next round of drinks is on me!" Well, not really. There is a lot to absorb upon hearing that one is immortal.
Knowing that I'm going to live the lush life in Heaven, indefinitely, forever, and without foreseeable end, might seem appealing. But in this life, how can I stay in the moment, the here and now, if I'm concerned with living forever?
Is this something that I earn? Surely, I must do something to earn my place in Heaven right? There must be a sign that says I've been accepted and that I've won a golden ticket to pass through those pearly gates. Really. I thought God's love is unconditional. If there is a god, that is the kind of God I want to know.
But I have a life, right now. I have a family, a job, a place to live, with hopes and dreams and all that has meaning for me. And if I have to earn my place in heaven, I have to be good or I'm not going to go up. I might go to the other place instead, or just be stuck here to haunt this planet until someone let's me into somewhere else.
If I know that I'm going to Heaven, well, can't it wait? Anticipation of Heaven would be a huge distraction. If I know for sure that I'm going to Heaven, then life here on earth loses its meaning. There is no urgency to life if I know I'm going to live large in Heaven.
If I need to be "good" to get into Heaven, then isn't that a bribe? I mean, what is the point of being good if I am not going to Heaven?
So I don't concern myself with whether or not there is an afterlife. I've already got enough commitments here. Living forever is a huge commitment. I'm not even talking about doing anything else. I'm only talking about living forever. Breathing, walking, talking, enjoying the cosmic sunset. That kind of stuff.
So in Heaven, how does one be happy? I think life would be boring if everything went right. I mean, if everything went right in Heaven, I would expect that everything would go right. A month of Sundays. I mean, an eternity of Sundays.
I'm reminded of the movie, Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Every day is the same, but the character played by Murray must decide how each day is going to go. He's immortal in every sense. He can't even kill himself, for he wakes up again, on the very same day, no matter what he tries to do.
It is only when he decides to make the day a good day, to be of service to others, that his day changes, for the better. This movie has been a huge influence in my life and still is, today.
Every day is the same in a relative way, just ask Pink Floyd. You remember that song, "Time" on The Dark Side of the Moon"? Yeah, I'm like that. I treat every day pretty much the same. I have zero expectations, other than that the sun will rise. The sun will set. I get to decide what happens from the time that I rise to the time that I lay my head to rest.
That is Heaven. Heaven is not a place to go. It is a place to make. If I put peace into a system, I tend to get peace out. If I put anger into a system, I tend to get anger out. So I err on the side of peace. To the greatest extent possible.
Living in peace is a skill. Living forever, being immortal makes no sense if I lack that skill. But even if I have that skill, I don't need to know if I'm immortal or not. The past is gone. The future isn't even here yet. There is only this moment and the question of what I want to do with it. Heaven is a place I've already made for myself.
Whether or not I am immortal is not even relevant to this moment. For if I am concerned with being immortal, then I cannot be present to enjoy this moment now.
Write on.
Slogan by @tecnosgirl
Plan B for Humanity
A basic guaranteed income in the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
A sort of political movie review: Star Wars: Rogue One
Happiness isn't getting everything you want - happiness is a skill
The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy
A short but growing list of people I admire, who have helped me, and/or influenced me, my thinking and/or my posts:
- @taskmaster4450 - The Age of Abundance is here
- @scottsantens - The Age of Universal Basic Income is here
- @gric - A very cool artist with some interesting perspectives
- @gringalicious - great writing, cooking and photography
- @luzcypher - for teaching me about how gift economies work
This excellent post was included in the latest issue of The Inbox Runneth Over. Stop by when you have a minute and see what else I found along the trail. Your companions here are all interesting in their own way, and your support for this project and especially its occupants would be very much appreciated. Thank you for everything. Have a lovely day!
Thank you and I will.
P.S. I've sent you a small gift from Dustsweeper. (Check the memo in your wallet.) Thank you for supporting @theinbox.
That was really nice of you to do that. Thank you.
This is hands down the best article I have read in a while! I feel the exact same way but you explain it so much better than me. LoL. When I am talking to people about this they just can't seem to comprehend it. I come from an extremely christian family and they just can't wrap their minds around me "not caring" about getting into heaven, they actually get angry and tell me how they don't want me to burn in hell.. lol.. i keep telling them if there is an "all knowing god" then he would understand that not everyone thinks the same and he wouldn't punish good people for not believing in a book that has been used to destroy so much precious life. If he is a just god with unconditional love (like they say) he will want good hearted people in his kingdom regardless of what they were taught to believe.
I have honestly never understood religion since I was a child, I got kicked out of sunday school when i was 12 because I asked to many questions instead of just "having faith." lol.. Because santa clause, the easter bunny, the tooth fairy and everything else turned out to be so true right?
I honestly don't know who is right or wrong, if there is a "god" or a "correct religion"? Maybe... But like you I can't be concerned about the future, I have to worry about the present and making this life as amazing as possible.. Ill worry about the rest when that day comes..
Again, awesome fucking article! I gave u a full upvote but its tiny so I am sending you a little bit bigger upvote from minnowbooster.. :)
Thank you and you're welcome. I'm glad you liked my article. I'm also glad there is someone else on the same page as me.
BTW, my upvote is tiny because I wiped out my VP on Steemvoter. I went, overboard. I will have to tame it and learn how to use it. I've already got it set for The Steem Engine. So I have to be gentle.
And given what you've said, I think you're going to like this article on the distinction between belief and faith and Alan Watts;
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/06/27/alan-watts-belief-vs-faith/
He is one of the people I was thinking of when I wrote this article.
And thank you very much for your votes!
Write on. :)
I have been trying to figure out my voting situation too.. I also recently set up autovoter and steem voter in order to get on more curation trails and make a little bit more on each post but now I haven't been able to upvote more than an article or two lately cuz they have been draining my power so much. I have even limited myself to one upvote per day even if I do multiple articles :/ .... When things pick back up on steemit though I will change that but for now I will just deal with it and send minnowbooster upvotes when I find great articles like yours ;)
Man, I love allen watts! I don't know if I have heard this one.. You are the first person I've ever talked to who knows who he is lol.. Apparently we are really on the same page.. Thats honestly a good feeling for a change..
Take care bro.. steem on.
Thanks, @moderndayhippie. I'm sorry about my late reply. I'm still getting the hang of monitoring and replying to comments. I'm not used to getting replies to my posts.
But I started working with the Steem Engine and Bam!, there they are.
As to voting trails, I got my butt kicked by them a few days ago, and am still recovering. Don't do 100%, and just do one guild. I would do something like that and put them at 10% that way I don't get completely whacked on VP. I have just applied to @qurator, so we'll see what happens.
Alan Watts totally changed my perspective on life, and his work is a big part of why I'm agnostic about everything. I want to be able to see, as clearly as possible, what happens next. So to do that, I've tried to set aside as many beliefs as possible and still be sane.
I think that the hippies of the 60's and 70's really did dig Watts, too. And I'm glad to find other people with common ground. I write what I want to write thinking that hey, there are 7 billion people on the planet. There is at least one person besides my mom, who likes my work. :)
Anywho, have a great day and write on.
Great response, and good to meet someone who also was the one asking uncomfortable questions in sunday school.
We can't ever stop asking those questions: after all, it is our own existence we are coming to terms with, and it would be absurd to let another define our own existence for ourself.
Oh, yeah. I was also asking those questions in Sunday School, too. I didn't last long though. I just couldn't get over the fairytale thing about the bible.
Laughed at "I went, overboard. I will have to tame it and learn how to use it."
Definitely looking forward to reading more from you,
There are too few minds asking the serious questions that need to be asked.
And definitely too few doing a good job of asking them when they do.
"We" have the potential for immortality in the realm of planitary time. The important part in the above sentence is "we".
Humans are so locked up in their illusionary ego that they cannot conceive, by and large, that they are a small part of a greater whole.
The greatest bait and switch in ego history has to be the reincarnation story. Here we have a practise that councils that ego is a myth and offers techniques to quell its power over the practisioner only to add as an afterthought, 'Oh yeah and the same ego is born into other sentient life forms indefinitely'.
If one believes in evolution and sees that a life form exists (at least on this planet for sure) which procreates and reshapes into many forms, just as a tree puts out different branches, then we may say for certainty the we are immortal.
If there is anything close to being immortal, that would be the proton and the tiny bit of consciousness carried with it. Scientists have done some math and found that if man has freewill, then so too does the matter of which he is composed.
A little higher up, as you allude, then it's the DNA. That is our "reincarnation". Our sole purpose, as far as I can see, is so that DNA can replication. And it is entirely possible that DNA is conscious.
This is a concept never before visited by me yet fascinating all the same!
Not sure what we end up as....perhaps our atoms fly off at death to attach to other atoms in the universe....but something tells me if you give some of yourself each day to another human being...that a part of you lives on forever in their "soul" and is passed on to people they know...perhaps that is our immortality....
Giving of ourselves...That's a form of cooperation. And I believe that cooperation is the foundation skill of all of humanity. That is what civilizations are built of.
I like the idea that a part of me lives on in someone else. I see that with my kids. Not just in my DNA, but in my attitude and behavior. I've made an impression on them, to be sure.
excellent discussion.
For myself, I define heaven as the peace that I create within my own soul.
I don't think that we will take anything forward from this life that is not measured by growth of our own spirit.
Good to see someone on Steemit grappling with the big questions in life.
Well said and I agree with your points.
I like these kinds of questions because it's beginning to look to me like the rest of it is fluff. I'm looking for the stuff at the bottom, the foundation of our existence. I want to know if anyone else noticed what I noticed.
Thanks for noticing. :)
Well, this was an interesting read for sure. Thanks for sharing your take on life and beyond. :D
Interesting writeup @digitalfirehose. No matter how you slice it the end of all these ways to go is eternal. Heaven , hell, immortal, reincarnated - we’re in it for the long haul so might as well be happy. 😊
I have the same problem with my vp.
Likewise. I'm still learning how to work with voting trails. Thanks for stopping by.
Exactly.
All we truly have is the here and now- the present
Which is a present and should be treated as such ;)