Afterlife?

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.