The Afterlife Is Impersonal

Everyone has thought about it. Some people have beliefs about it passed down through family, that they soaked up as a kid like a sponge. Others find their answers for it later in life, some choose not to think about it at all. Whether one thinks they have the answers or not, the eternal question remains: What happens when we die?

An afterlife in Heaven always seemed silly to me. What makes us so special, that we get to have our own happy place when we move on? And if we are fortunate enough to be saved by our faith through the grace of Jesus, are we to believe that our disbelieving loved ones suffer in Hell forever instead? This look at God and Judgement feels too human, too simple to reveal the truth. To me, God is Mother Nature. God is biological, scientific, complex and beautiful in its inner-workings. In my mind, the God that is responsible for what we see here lacks the capability to discriminate. Our God is evolution, the great force of Nature. It lets things Good and Bad, High and Low, Hot and Cold stand the test of time on Earth. What I’m trying to say is: I’m not sure if the Nature (God) that we come from is hosting a Heaven for us somewhere else.

My Grandparents are very lovely Conservative Christian folks. While we fundamentally disagree on many things, we find really good ways to talk about difficult subjects. I have a huge amount of respect for them and understand that they come from an entirely different world than I do.

They strongly believe that they will arrive in Heaven someday. They’re also sure that certain family members (including myself) will be arriving in Hell.

I’ve thought a lot about their stance on this issue and wonder how it affects the later years of someones life. Could one start feeling disconnected from this physical world, even take it for granted? Does it change the way you treat people, this feeling of eternality (is that a word? it is now)?

No matter what someone calls God, or where they think they are going after this, my belief is that we all experience it the same.

One night, as I was skateboarding to a friends house, I had a weird thought. You could call it a revelation, a “eureka” moment. I imagined the world, all of these cycles of life and death, as life and “afterlife” at the same time.

I know, I know, I’m a stoner, shut up and let me explain. 😜

We all live to have kids, and those kids have kids, and then we die someday. But every moment that we live, we influence every little piece of our surroundings. Every time you sent some stranger a wave on the street, you’re transmitting waves of experience. Every action you take, carries on into the next moments, and then the moments after that, in some form. That universal energy that you expend in your lifetime will carry on much further than your lifespan. And when you have children, they will carry on in a similar fashion, sending energetic waves for better or worse. To me, this is the tangible, worldly, and “real” vision of an afterlife.

In conclusion, I believe that the afterlife is impersonal. We are living someone elses afterlife. We are a product of others just as they are of us, and the cycle of life and afterlife will proceed as planned. I don’t see myself basking in the sun on a cloud eating caviar 80 years from now - I see myself 6 feet deep with a lifetime of energy and experience bouncing around in this universe of ours.

I would love to see some compelling conversations in the comments section, please leave me your thoughts!

And thanks for reading, of course <3