The question of life after death has always been of interest to me. When I was younger and could not read, I would list the name of dinosaurs in tune with the hymns and tune everyone else out. Even though I could not read, I very much did not believe in the idea of heaven and thought that science was the only true measure of what was real and what was not. However, as I grew older and began to confort more of life's realities (death, love, the proper choice of sweater) I came to realize that I may have been remiss in rejecting the idea of faith or life after death. To be honest, I have no idea what happens after death, although I do have a theory. I see how nature in time recycles and repurpose everything and when we die, even if there is no such things as a soul, our earthly bodies recompose and then become assimilated in other organism. I believe in life after death in that death allows for the creation and sustaining of new life, which is kind of a pseudo-reincarnation.
Separate from our own bodies, I believe that we live on through others in the memories we create and the impact we have on the lives of others. I feel that people such as my grandparents, all of whom have died, have influenced me in some way or another, in a way that goes beyond simple genetics. I have seen their mistakes and successes and understand that I will likely pass these experiences on to my children, should I chose to have any. As such, I chose to try and live my life not just that I can be remembered fondly or held in high regard, but so that I can have a more lasting impact that just the one known body and experience I am given as an individual. I, also, want to try and look at what other people have done and try to learn from their mistakes rather than make them myself.
I agree with a lot of this-- I really like the thought of your so-called "pseudo- reincarnation". I thought about it a lot as a child and always believed in heaven, because that is always what I was told happened after someone died. With old parents comes old grandparents that die when we are young. I struggle to believe that our loved ones go someplace so far away. I can feel the influence and presence of them on my life all the time. I think there must be somewhere in between, sort of a lobby if you will. Crazy ramblings aside, nice post!
ReplyDeleteWell, I must say, I really did find your post interesting. Usually, if someone doesn't believe in an afterlife, they don't really change their minds (unless converted to some religion). The fact that you felt that something happens after death on your own is really intriguing. I really did like your theory of life after death, though its not exactly my ideal afterlife, I wouldn't complain about it. Was there anything that led you to believe this way? Also, I really like your insight on our impact on peoples memories. Reading some of these post, my historical side was pretty hurt to hear that what we do doesn't affect everyday life. I really do agree (and felt rather relieved) that our actions affect future generations in how they learn from mistakes and raise their young. Overall, outstanding post, it was very insightful and intuitive.
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