What Comes Next?

Thursday, April 16, 2009
My good friend and fellow UCFer Jeri has a post up over at Smug Puppies about what people believe happens after death. In it, she invites people to share their own opinions and beliefs on this subject.*

Because of the recent sudden death of her husband, such matters have been close in her thoughts, as you can imagine. Because I love Jeri, it's also been close in my thoughts since Bryan's death.

My answer: I don't know. I don't know, because I've never been dead, at least as far as I know.

That may sound flippant, but it's really not. Because I'm agnostic about spiritual matters, the most honest answer I have to such questions is "I don't know." I don't know if there's a god or gods. I don't know if there's some non corporeal aspect to being human that will live on after the physical body is dead. I don't know if we have "souls" or "spirits." I don't know if there's an afterlife, and if there is, if its nature reflects the kind of life you've led. I don't know if souls or spirits, if they exist, are recycled back to earth based on your Karma.

I don't know.

I do know that when I die, I want to make sure I can look back on my life with satisfaction, and pride. I want to make a difference while I'm here, and leave the world a better place for having been here. Since those are the things I can see, and feel, and impact, I try to live my life in a way that won't embarrass me when I'm dead.

As for what will happen to "me?" I don't know. But I'll find out eventually.


*As Jeri says, this is a sharing of ideas, not an opportunity to evangelize. If I do not already know you, and you leave me a proselytizing message of some sort, you will receive a smack from the Shovel of Doom™ and your comment will be deleted. Hell, I'll probably do it even if I do know you.

6 comments:

Random Michelle K said...

The Flying Spaghetti Monster will harvest your organs and then pass on your brain to Anubis.

Duh!

I thought everyone knew that!

(ducks)

Random Michelle K said...

I did leave a serious answer on Jeri's blog. So I'm not completely irreverent.

Just mostly.

Jeri said...

I could hang out with the FSM in the afterlife - he/she/it would be fun company, and probably great w/ the red wine choices.

Anubis is a little more scary though. ;)

Jim Wright said...

I like the Frisbeetarian answer, your soul goes up on the roof, and you can't get it down.

Janiece said...

The older I get, the more I lean toward Boogie's View of the Spiritual World: "What's to eat? Where's my toy? How about a nap? Walkies! I'm a good, good boy!"

In other words - live in the moment, you over analyzing, OCD-ridden navel-gazers.

Anne C. said...

Living in the moment is something I've been working on for a while. It's mostly good, though difficult moments feel like they'll last forever. A little bit of planning and vision of the future mixed in is good.

But you're right. Figureing out what happens after death is essentially impossible.