Month: September 2019

The idea of mortality is a scary one. One of the greatest problems philosophers, clergy men and great thinkers alike have been trying to solve for years is, what happens to us after we die. I would like to discuss some ideas of the afterlife and give my opinion on them.

Christianity offers the idea of heaven, a place in the clouds with white pearly gates, where only the good of heart and action get into. I have some problems with religion and this path that god offers. By believing in god I would be saying I believe there is a path I have to follow, or I would always have some bias affecting my decisions. This would take away my free will, which is an idea that I cannot latch onto. The idea that all of my decisions are on a path that is not created entirely by my own doing is scary to me. Some may find comfort in the idea of destiny or fate, but for me the idea that every action I take is predetermined or controlled by some force other then my mind is a scary thought. For me I don’t know if I can believe in heaven because of my stances on religion.

Hinduism offers the idea of reincarnation, which is the concept of our soul inhabiting another living thing once we die. This idea relies on your belief in a soul, and the separation of the soul and the body into two different entities. Once you die your soul leaves your body and becomes reincarnated into other living things. I actually really like this idea, its seems very beautiful to me. Science already says that we have energy transfer after we die, the earth and its cycles continue and utilize our body to continue its processes. To me is this a beautiful afterlife and if I turn out to be wrong, and there is some sort of afterlife I would hope that it is this one.

The last belief that is held by many philosophers is the idea of nothingness. Once we die we don’t exist, we face blackness and the total and utter end to the life we were in. To most this can be extremely scary, they need to have something after death and they have been working towards a goal that can only be achieved after death. But to me nothingness isn’t all that bad. I have decided to take on “the greatest weight”- Nietzsche. A decision to pursue life as though all I will do for eternity is repeat the same exact life over and over. By accepting the greatest weight, I am making a decision to pursue life, and I understand that the decisions I make have to be my own.

Ultimately I will keep pursuing life like there is nothingness afterwards, and would be pleasantly surprised if there is something.

I consistently find myself feeling the most at home in my body when I am surrounded by the natural world. The sounds of water rushing and trees brushing against each other fulfill something in me that no other sound can. A crackling fire on a brisk fall day can alleviate any stress burdening my mind, allowing me to focus on the simple task of keeping the coals alive. And a cozy snow covered cabin can offer a reprieve from society, which is often not found in this day and age.

So why do I choose to live my life on a college campus filled by technology and the stress that comes with pursuing higher education? Well, I think the main reason might be my goals for a career. It would be quiet hard to get accepted into any law school in this world if the only things on my resume were my abilities to build shelter, keep a fire from burning out and my knack for foraging and hunting. I would be hard pressed to find any school that would take abilities such as these seriously, considering the credentials of nearly perfect grades and LSAT scores required by those hallowed halls of learning. I know that I must go to school if I want to succeed but a part of me wonders if I would find just as much fulfillment living a simple life.

You see I fear this last statement by Thoreau “when I c(o)me to die, discover that I had not lived”. I am afraid that some of the decisions I make will not truly help me experience everything life has to offer, so that when I die I am faced with the reality that I have not truly lived. I feel like this thought could scare anyone. The question of what as humans are we supposed to do has long been debated and in some ways it will probably never truly be answered. I have currently resigned myself to the task of experiencing everything life has to offer me, and this is what gives purpose to my everyday actions and decisions. I hope that this will allow me to come to a place in my life where I do not fear death/nothingness and accept it like a long awaited rest.

But regarding nature I believe that the best way for me to feel truly fulfilled as a human when my death comes, is to continue finding time to enjoy the simple beauties that the natural world can present to me. Not to commit myself to just a life of technology and organized society, but to find a balance between the natural and technological world we live in.

– Colin W Hennessy