I recently had a long talk with my parents. This has been on my mind way before this conversation, but I finally collected enough data to make a complete thought.It is fairly obvious to all people that have ever lived to imagine themselves dying. The majority of people choose not to be bothered with the many frightening details. Religion gives a quick, and easy answer to the question, then offers a script to follow.
This is both pleasing to the masses, and also free's the mind from thinking outside it's normal routine. I personally do not have a problem with religion because it serves its purpose.....which is "crowd control". I have many chapters of knowledge devoted to my views on this subject but will not digress from the original point.
I have heard many theories on life during the "after-life".....I call them theories because they all claim to be correct, but no one knows for sure. Most of them are premeditated fantasies that use religion for its medium. Even though I will save this for another time, it very well ties into the the conversation I had a few days ago. Maybe it was that fear of not knowing, or the happiness of believing that caused my parents to want to get things in order.
They have invested, planned, and strategized very wisely for the future of the family. I admire this action almost to the point of comparing them with a group of guru's on the mountain top. In some aspects like technology, or progressive thinking they are lacking.....but in this conversation we had they seem to be very aware, and very savvy. At certain points I imagined myself planning such actions early in our lives, so that they can pay-off in the future.
To hear the stories of where they came from, and how much they have progressed.....it almost seems impossible by today's standards.
But there I was, having breakfast, and learning family secrets so that one day if needs be.....My brother, and I can take up the mantle, and continue the legacy. I have spent countless hours listening to stories told by my parents about their, and other relatives past. I soak up all the information in hopes that my mind can chronicle the data, and their collective experiences will not be lost in time.
Even though the thought of death is nothing new to me (another thought for another time). I just couldn't help thinking that what if there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? What if young....old, rich, nice person, or shaolin monk all ended the same?
If animals supposedly have no souls, and therefore can not be judged eternally.....how are we considered more divine? If monkeys are our genetic cousins, and we all breast feed, and have hair like the other mammals in our group. What makes us able to have forty two virgins when we die, instead of life just ending as our animal counterparts? Is is it crazy to think that animals as smart as dolphins can not dream, and can not process mental images of a happy afterlife? After all they do nurture, and care for their young same as humans. I wonder if they think, or strive for a better life for their young.....the whale seeks warm, food rich waters. The lion defends, and prepares its kingdom for the safety of its pride. So is it so unimaginable to think that a manta ray may share the same fate as other animals, and we......animals might share in it? Is it the fact that we have a supposedly knowledge of our existence that allows us the option of whatever we imagine the afterlife to be?
It has been my observation of all things on a planetary scale, that one thing.....one fact is always constant, and true. Nothing ever goes to waste, everything.....and I do mean everything is reused. I forget where I heard the quote from (maybe a snapple bottle) but it was "Every drop of water that ever existed on earth is still here today" I think that within this quote is the key to understanding our own fate. When a fish is caught, a human eats the carcass. When the human dies, bacteria, and worms eat the body. The fish eat the worms, and thus the circle of life. But why does this theory simply stop here? Why is it not expounded upon, and developed further into a unifying conclusion? Is it because an "end all be all" answer would halt other more accepted theories in their tracks?
In moments of self doubting my place in the universe, I often remind myself that metal can be melted down, and separated into their base elements.....plastic can be broken down, and re-shaped into computer monitors, and artificial limbs. Not everything must be thrown into the landfill, and abandoned until the sun is finished with it's light show. So enter a theory of "unused energy".
What is the difference between a living person, and a dead one? both have working organs (yes even consider the heart seconds before expiring). Both have blood, reasonably working brains, and can to an extent still fight germs by way of white blood cells.....Okay, maybe I should have mentioned that the dead guy is recently deceased....recent meaning at the moment of death. But what separates these two celestial bodies? A soul maybe? a weightless, colorless phantasm that stores the trials, and tribulations of the person? Or is it the same life giving energy that is infused into all life? the cows that fill our hamburgers, and leather jackets, or a new born soldier ant that arrives into the world knowing it's duty. All life energy whether they have knowledge of self, or they deny their own existence has a place in the world. And just like the drop of water that was used to quench the thirst of Cleopatra's handmaiden, the life energy is recycled. If every person that has ever lived, never died the world would be very full, loud, smell like hell, and the bodies would probably reach Venus. Chaos would not even be the word for such a place.....for one thing resources like food would be exhausted the first day, and that includes the most important one......Oxygen!
So, is it really more realistic to tell the vast unwashed masses about a pattern that has been in motion since the beginning of time? Or about a continually expanding dimension that has all of your favorite people, places, and things? Maybe the word "crowd control" is the "easy pass" lane of the toll booth of the imagination? saving countless people from the burden of looking for "exact change" before crossing the line. They can just pass through nice, and easy with no need for deep thought, and be billed later.....
