Afterlife Prompt

9/23/2014

Write about your vision of the afterlife, if you believe in one. If you don’t believe in one, write about what happens after we die or, if you prefer, write about your vision of what the afterlife should be.

I have studied various religions through my junior and senior year catholic high school theology classes and on my own time. While these are all as plausible as my best guess, I don't think that anyone actually has a correct or could have a 100% true answer. This is because we aren't able to talk to whatever supreme being may or may not exist and we also cannot interview the dead about what they are experiencing.

I personally believe that the most likely thing is that there is nothingness after we die, just like how there is nothingness before we are conceived and born. We don't have memories of life before birth, and we don't have memories of past lives we've lived. This also means I don't believe in reincarnation. We are composed of various elements and will break down into those elements when we decay. The best hope for an afterlife is that we become compost that grows a seed into a plant that allows an insect, animal, or human to be fueled and continue to live on.

It may give comfort to believers while they're living to think that this life is just the beginning and we will see those who we love again in heaven. I understand why leaders of societies would also want people to follow moral laws under the fear of being judged after death and not reaching heaven. These beliefs and fears keep the population under control, so it is very utilitarian. If we are under control then society will be more productive, which lines the pockets of those in power.

I won't judge those who choose to believe. It isn't my place to rain on their parade. However, if I do decide in the future that I want to have kids, I will not raise them believing in a warm and cozy afterlife or instill fear of not reaching it just to get them to behave. I believe in doing good because you have love for those who wish for you to succeed and don't have hatred for your fellow man. Those are good enough reasons in my opinion to not live life like an animal or a thief.