Let's start with what happens when someone dies. In this case, death is defined as the termination of the biological functions that define a living organism (as quoted from wiki). The person, lets call him John, gets shot during a botched robbery in his house. The bullet enters the base of John's neck at a vertically diagonal angle, severing his spinal cord and causing near instantaneous death.
The neighbours hear the gunshot and call the police, who arrive soon and pronounce John dead on arrival. John's body is sent to the morgue, where John's kin are called in to identify the body. A funeral is booked, and John's body is prepared at the funeral home. A few days later, the funeral takes place. The minister says a prayer, John's family and friends tell of John and how he has played a big part in their lives, then John's casket is laid to rest in his grave. It is almost certain that everyone at the funeral will be mourning. The media get hold of the story and the headlines the next day in the town newspaper reads "MAN KILLED DURING HOUSEHOLD ROBBERY" in large, bold letters.
But why the mourning and outrage? Certainly, John will not be around ever again. John's family has the right to feel hatred towards the robber, who didn't need to kill John that night. But what would really worry the average person who reads John's story is the fact that John has died. His story ends there. For those who believe in religion, either John has led a good life and has passed through to Heaven, or John has sinned and ended up in Hell, or Purgatory or some other related afterlife.
Hence, I believe that it is the opinion of the masses that induces such negative feelings towards death. When you're dead, you can't do all the things that being alive allows for (obviously). Additionally, you might be worried about the consequences of living 'improperly' and dying, thus finding yourself in some unpleasant place post-death. But all of this 'knowledge' is passed on to us by people who claim to know about the subject, where in reality, noone actually knows what happens after death. Or rather, noone's come back from the dead to inform people about what happened to them.
As far as I'm concerned, the very presence of self-consciousness itself in humans shows that an afterlife itself does exist. Something so precious and amazing signifies that such a quality cannot and should not be wasted on an event as trivial as death. What I am implying here is that yes, we live on even after our mortal shells have stopped functioning. Furthermore, we have the choice later on to continue life as we would have it. I'd go into detail about this but I think that there's enough material there for another blog post.
Basically, I refuse to believe in a God that would give us consciousness and the right to free will, yet judge us in the afterlife based on what we have done in this life. The fact that free will itself exists just blasts away any need for religion itself to exist. The reason why religions exist and put so much emphasis on 'keeping free of sin' and performing duties related to religion on a regular basis is to form a basis of power and control over the masses. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but using God to serve your own purposes, well it doesn't work. Why else does race and religious segregation exist in this modern world? The same goes for governments, every government tries to work towards a more unified world, but it doesn't work, simply because of conflicting ideas projected onto people by the media, religion and governments.
The point that I'm making here is simply that, since birth, you've had nothing but the opinions of others heaved onto your fragile, easily impressionable mind. As a result, you grow up with some opinions of your own, but most of the time these opinions are overridden by the opinions of others.
So at which point do you truly break loose of the opinions of the masses and start making choices and having opinions of your own? At what time will you accept that ultimately, the responsibility and freedom of living your own life, control of your own happiness, and creation of your own purpose in this world is yours to own? Now would be the perfect time, I reckon.
Questions worth asking yourself.
|Why not let people differ about their answers to the great mysteries of the Universe? Let each seek one's own way to the highest, to one's own sense of supreme loyalty in life, one's ideal of life. Let each philosophy, each world-view bring forth its truth and beauty to a larger perspective, that people may grow in vision, stature and dedication.
