Final Report - What is my
ideal afterlife?
Part 2
If given the choice, what
would I want to occur to me after I die?
In my first post, I described
how the Christian Heaven I was raised to believe in was not the ideal afterlife
I would wish for. This second post will be utilized to describe what I wish
awaited me post-death. However, this does not reflect what I actually believe
will happen.
To begin, I don’t wish for an
eternal afterlife. I value limited time. Life has expiration date, and I
believe the inevitability of death encourages me to waste less time in life.
Therefore, I do not wish to spend an eternity in the same place after I die.
I do not care if I remember
this life that I am living currently, but I do wish to be aware of my
existence. I hope for thought. It would be preferable to die and reflect on all
of the things I had done in this life. But if this were not case, I would not
be bothered. I simply wish for perception of some sort.
I believe that reincarnation
caters to my desires for what comes after this life best. I value my own life a
great deal. I do not mean this in a selfish manner, in that I don’t value
others’ lives. This is surely not the case. I simply value the privilege of
existing. Thousands of potential gene combinations were possible when my
parents procreated, and I am the one that resulted. I am glad to live.
Therefore, I wish to continue to live. Though I may not remember my former life
or my former self, I wish to experience. I believe life is all about
experiencing.
I do not fear reincarnating
into a life that is awful and abusive in comparison to the one that I live now.
Ideally, I wish I could live many different lives. Though I may not remember
the experiences, I would be experiencing them nonetheless.
Furthermore, reincarnation
allows for choice, as heaven does not. One does not make mistakes in heaven. If
one can’t make mistakes and then grow as a result, what is the point? If I die
and go to heaven, I will never grow. Through reincarnation, I would be given opportunity
after opportunity to experience and grow, over and over again.
If I’m lucky, I’ll die and be
greeted by Saint Peter, sitting at his chair.
He’ll say to me, “Evan,
you’ve got a few options. You can go to heaven, hell, or be reincarnated.”
“Reincarnated? Wow!” I’d
reply to him.
“That’s right, Evan,” he’d
say, “Today we’re doing a special on sea creatures! You just spin this big
wheel and whatever you land on is what you get! Jellyfish, dolphin,
turtle...”
“This is great!” I’d exclaim.
Saint Peter would continue, “Yep,
and tomorrow is celebrity kid day.”
“Celebrity kid day?”
“Yeah. Some lucky son of a
bitch is going to reincarnate as Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s next kid.”
“Wow, Saint Peter!
Reincarnation is great!”
“Sure is!”
At this point, we both
high-five and I spend the next 40 years living as a dolphin.
That’s my ideal afterlife.
"I spend the next 40 years living as a dolphin" - if you're very lucky.
ReplyDeleteFunny how traditions that affirm reincarnation tend to value getting OFF the wheel of existence, while westerners more typically yearn to go around again. Accident of birth and circumstance?