A friend of mine suddenly lost his brother last weekend. They suspect an overdose. People like the brother tend to steer me into philosophical musings about death. If this one life is all we have, then he just wasted his.
I honestly think we have more than one shot at experiencing life. Whether it's going to heaven or becoming an angel or coming back to another life here on earth - there's gotta be something more. This existential view has made me look at death in a whole new way.
People often say, "He's in a better place," and I think they're right. But if folks really believed that, would they mourn as much as they do? Personally, I think the grief is more about those who are left behind on Earth. Grief is about how we'll never get to see or hang out with that person again. Grief is about the survivors more than the departed.
Of course, there are plenty of people who are also torn up because the person who died "was not a believer" or is "going to hell." I don't really believe in hell, so I don't have that particular problem. It's amazing that one little belief can separate agony from peace.
Oh, but don't think I am not being politically correct. These are my beliefs - you can have yours too, even if they are different. Different does not equal wrong.
"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions." -- Albert Einstein
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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?
-- Marianne Williamson
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"All that we are is a result of what we have thought." -- The Buddha
5 comments:
I feel exactly the same about grief - it's about those who are still living and their sense of loss.
I don't know what I believe as far as an afterlife. I think maybe when we die, our energy dissipates back into the universe. It's sort of weird - I have a feeling that's what will happen when I die. But other people so strongly believe in heaven or other lives, I don't completely disbelieve in those possibilities.
What you said about grief is of course true. It would be nice if those of us left behind could eventually choose to push a magic button and make the grief go away, leaving only the good memories.
Afterlife? I think so, just don't know what form it takes. That energy's gotta go somewhere, right?
It's really interesting that you think that there may be a heaven but don't think there's a hell. I always grouped those to together, thinking that the existence of one essentially required the other.
david, that's a good point. I guess I don't believe in what is traditionally considered heaven or hell.
What do you believe about Heaven or Hell?
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