Final Post Part 2: Ideal Afterlife

Part 1 of my final report can be found under the comments on this post.

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.