Darkness... Emptiness... Nothingness...
What awaits us after death?
It's one of the two major deciding factors in religion. It's only second to whether or not there is a God. But for those of us that have decided our answer (at least for the time being) on the 'God' question, what answers do we provide ourselves to the 'afterlife' one? At first glance, perhaps you'd think that it was a moot point; that since there is no God, there is no afterlife. I find it hard to automatically attach these two answers, however. Why do we not believe in a God? Because there is no good enough evidence of one, of course. And since we don't have any reputable evidence of an afterlife, it would be logical to come to the same results. I get that. The thing that bothers me is this whole idea of non-existence. Have you ever really tried to consider what it might be like to simply not be? I don't think the human mind can even conceive of such a concept. But does that mean we've got it figured out? I mean, we don't remember anything before our births, yet we know there was time before us.
I have a Christian friend with whom I frequently discuss matters of science and religion. He is actually very approachable and though we disagree on many things, we never grow angry with one another. I once asked him what he thought was going to happen to him when he died; to give me a sort of chain of events, or a play-by-play. He said pretty much what I expected him to say: awaken in Heaven, new body, family members around, angels, God, etc. He returned the question to me, and I answered saying that I was almost convinced that nothing happened, and that we just died. He paused, and then said, "That must be terrifying."
In all honesty, yes, it is terrifying. I mean, who wants to stop existing. I imagine that being dead wouldn't bother you, but the thought of dying is the scary part. Of course, we all realize how precious life is, and perhaps we take better care of ourselves since we know that this is all there is, but the end still looms. Aside from explanations of nature, the whole point of religion may lie in the human fear of death. How does one cope with the realization that it was a fairy tale?
Whenever there is a death around me, I usually go and read Thanatopsis, a poem by William Cullen Bryant. The last verse reads as such:
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
How he equates approaching death like approaching your bed at night amazes me. We go about our entire day not fearing the end of the day, but looking forward to it in many cases. But is that only because we know that another day will come? Is there something of death in dreamless sleep?
There are many ideas, even amongst those that do not believe in God, about the persistence of consciousness, and to some, it may just be a lot of hoodoo. But where does the consciousness spring from? What cell does it reside in? I'm not suggesting the work of any charlatan new age psychonaut babble, either. For those of us who have come to the conclusion that there is neither a God, and probably no afterlife, how do we... cope, I guess is the word, with the thought of our ultimate end?
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