WHAT'S NEXT?

Since I'm old and know that I will die soon I find myself facing the question of what's next.  I have had my childhood, my youth, my hour in the sun, my middle age, and my old age.  So now, what's next?  As far back as history records, people have asked this question, for dying is certainly a common practice.  As I see it there are only three possibilities.   

The first is that existence and awareness don't end with physical death.  We are created with a spirit, soul, and body.  Just as natural birth is the beginning of life so death is the continuation of a  different kind of life.  A life that isn't bound by physical laws.  One in which we have glorified (supernatural) bodies and live in an eternal dimension of some sort. 

This life is a preparatory time for the "real" eternal life that is to follow the shedding of our mortal bodies.  The major religions of the world all share this belief or some variation of it.  Their point is that the way we live our finite physical lives, good or bad, has a direct bearing on the quality of our eternal life.  Which brings us to reward or punishment.  Therefore giving purpose to this life in hopes of eternal reward. 

The second belief is that existence and awareness end with physical death.  This belief can be very attractive.  Basically, it borrows the same right and wrong guidelines as the first.  However, the door is open to whatever you can get away with.  There are no "otherworldly" consequences.  In other words, stealing isn't wrong, has no consequences, unless you get caught.  These laws may vary from one country or culture to another, or change over time.  Behavior is relative.  We obey these laws out of fear of punishment or social pressure.  As in a pack, herd, or tribe.  Our rewards come in the form of material things and attaboys from others, and punishment comes when we get caught breaking one of the systems' empirical rules.

This belief promotes domination of the strongest or most persuasive person, country, religion or idea.  It guarantees perpetual competition and warring for dominance.        

 The third belief is reincarnation.  In this belief, we perpetually die and are reborn as another person or creature.  Who or what we become depends on how we live this life, good or bad.

  As I look at the natural world I see a well-balanced system.  Symbiotic creatures depending on each other for survival and predators that maintain the natural balance of life.  Nature is simply rocking along maintaining a healthy planet by repairing and replenishing itself. When I throw in humans look at what happens.  People only take and ruin.  Humans give nothing back to this little planet.  We are like a plague, an infestation destroying the earth.  We're not even working together for the survival of our species.  In other words, humanity isn't getting better it's getting worse.  In this system, we will reincarnate ourselves out of existence.      

No one knows for sure which belief is correct. So let's get on with life and enjoy ourselves.  Blow up a Mosque here, a Synagogue there, bring down a couple of skyscrapers, shoot up a church or school, down an airliner, oops, recruit more suicide bombers, oh, and never mind what our side is doing.  After all, life is short.    

Of course, life is not as simple as I have postulated it herein.  We live in a convoluted world.  People who believe in life after death act like they don't and people who don't believe in the hereafter live like they do.   

 "For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate."   Wretched man that I am!"

Yep, that about sums it up.  

Marshall Kimbrough-Warren