After "Life" comes "Death".
And so it is in this succession of blogposts.
I remember lying in bed one night when I was seven or eight years old. Suddenly, I was overtaken by a very disturbing thought. What would my life be like if my mother and father died? They seemed so everlasting but I realised that their deaths were eminently possible. They could disappear. And then where would I be? There were tears on my pillow that night. After that I never quite looked at my parents in the same certain way as I had before.
What is Death? Through the centuries, we have had to listen to the spouted beliefs of religious people. We have heard about Heaven and angels, Paradise and everlasting life. Those wicked young men who hijacked the four planes on September 11th 2001 were emboldened by the belief that they were securing their places in their imagined Islamic heaven. And nuns in convents surely believe that through their self-denial and Christian devotion they will secure their places in heaven.
Those of us who are atheists, agnostics or non-believers have tended to keep our thoughts about Death under wraps - perhaps reluctant to cause offence. But tonight I will share with you my thoughts about Death and sod the believers of whatever faith they happen to cling to.
When life has gone from a human being, there is absolutely nothing else. No Heaven. No Paradise. No after-life. The person in question has gone and all that is left is lifelessness, emptiness, darkness. It's like a theatrical performance has ended and the curtain has come down. There's nothing more.
In this regard we are just like roadkill. Does a squashed rabbit go to Rabbit Heaven and what about a badger, a skunk, an armadillo, a pheasant, a fox, a pet cat? I am afraid the truth is they are going nowhere. They are dead, dead, dead and there's nothing else beyond for them.
You might ask how I know for sure that my notion of Death is the right one. Well all I can say is that it is the most logical. The ending that makes most sense. I have felt it deep in my bones since I was a boy. A feeling that has been consolidated by seeing close up the corpses of my father Philip and my brothers Paul and Simon. Their bodies were obviously just vessels. Life had left them and they were gone.
In my view, it would be arrogant, presumptuous and fantastical to imagine for one brief moment that there could be anything beyond these lives that we are currently living. Heaven is a ridiculous notion. The only Heaven we can ever know is the one that we make here in the land of the living - finding happiness with our families and friends and in the things we do.
Living honestly, without the remotest possibility of an after-life means you are obliged to make the most of the here and now because there's nothing else just round the corner. I live with this certainty and I am not afraid to die - to enter that eternal nothingness where we all must go but I am very grateful for the life I have - a random human egg and a random sperm meeting in January 1953. That's me.
When I have seen bodies and been struck by the absence of the person I knew, I viewed it as evidence that the essence of the person had gone somewhere else. Of course with the overlay of faith, the assumption is that the essence has gone to the afterlife but if there was no afterlife, I would wonder if the essence should stick around and disintegrate slowly with the vessel.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings to me the question, is the belief in a higher power inseparable from a belief in an after life? Why must the two be so intimately connected? From a Christian point of view, we have a timeless, endless connection to love and so there is logically some experience of that which will come after death.
For an atheist, can't the soul which animates you currently move to another place? another being? I mean, i know that belief is expressed by a number of religions but is it a belief that coud stand alone?
I am not offended by the thought that you may not believe in heaven and I have never encountered an atheist who was afraid of declaring their beliefs (though if they were afraid to say anything, I'd never know)
What does bother me is the idea that religious people are not living honestly. I can't represent anyone but myself but anyone who knows me knows that I am desperately trying to cram as much life as I can into the time I have left, not because I dont believe in an afterlife but because I want to fully experience this one and so much has been robbed from me.
Thank you for addressing this issue so thoughtfully Kylie. I am of the opinion that religious people have been hoodwinked even though they may appear to be living honestly and authentically.
DeleteIt's your right to think I'm hoodwinked. I'm OK with that. But I am not appearing to live honestly, I am living honestly. At least in as much as anybody is
DeleteI don't know what happens after we die. Do we become stardust again? Does our soul live on? Are we only memories to those who loved, and/or hated us? I don't have answers but I hope that our souls live on and that those souls return to the stars. No more farfetched than any other religious beliefs I suppose. How about you let me know?
ReplyDeleteLike roadkill, our so-called "souls" disappear at exactly the same time that our hearts cease to beat. They don't go anywhere.
DeleteI am a firm believer in reincarnation and believe we all live again in differents forms and places and times and spaces. I don't believe that "this" is all we get, that each life is a lesson learned, a path traveled, a destination not yet known.
ReplyDeletePreviously, I would have never believed that you might adhere to such notions Bob.
DeleteDead is the end and that's all there is. I agree, but still wonder just where the "life" part of the body has gone to? Does it just disappear like the life that was once in a now dead battery? Does it hang around as long as there is someone who remembers? I am not afraid to die either, but I don't want to go too soon. I want to see the youngest grand daughters and the great grandson grow up.
ReplyDeleteWell you had better get out there jogging then Elsie! Get yourself some running shoes and an elasticated headband. Take it easy at first. Also - no chips from now on.
DeleteSimple. Dead is dead. No heartbeat. No life.
ReplyDeleteThat's it.
DeleteI've often told my daughters, I want to be burnt and my ashes popped on a compost heap, put me back in nature.
ReplyDeleteAn alternative might be a woodland burial with a tree planed above your mortal remains.
DeleteThe best way I can explain that to myself (I consider myself an agnostic) is that the souls of people who have departed continue to live on in their loved ones left. I don't know if that even makes any sense or not.
ReplyDeleteWhy include the term "soul"? It seems redundant to me.
DeleteI read a medical study a couple of years ago, that showed that brain activity continued 10-15 seconds after the heart stopped beating, then nothingness. Be a good person while you can, enjoy the life we have, a few seconds after the body fails, we will fade into darkness.
ReplyDeleteIn those 10-15 seconds, the brain is probably yelling, "Oh shit! I think my heart has stopped beating!"
DeleteI'm not convinced that death is "The End", except for our bodily life as we know it. While I would not argue that every piece of imagery of after-life from the Bible and Christian tradition is to be interpreted "literally", I do prefer that basic view of life to "nothing". To me that does not in any way stand in oppostion to "making the most of the here and now" (a statement which in turn can be interpreted very differently by individual people, no matter what their belief, or lack of). Should it turn out that death is just The End, then I'll never know. Should there turn out to indeed be a "beyond"- well, then we'll probably all have to correct our concept of it a bit when we get there. Meanwhile, in this earthly life, I'll probably continue to call myself a Christian, and find both comfort and inspiration in that (but also continue to feel frustrated with various "extremes", whether religious or atheistic).
ReplyDeleteI am pleased that my blogpost gave you cause to reflect upon this matter.
DeleteWell, that has certainly cheered me up this afternoon. Thanks YP!
ReplyDeleteI am always a bundle of laughs - like a clown.
DeleteYour mortal remains may either be buried or cremated, but you will "live on" in your families memories and in photographs.
ReplyDeleteMy mother had a favourite saying that after death and what may lie beyond - "No one has ever come back to tell us!"
That was a good saying that your mother remembered. Religion is entirely based on wishing and guesswork - not evidence.
DeleteI've never understood why anyone would want to live eternally in an afterlife. Why? And certainly not with some family members. Good Lord no! I think a lot of this nonsense comes as a way to control the populace- tell people that although their lives suck now, if they live a good and godly life and go to church and believe in all that crap, they will be rewarded in heaven.
ReplyDeleteNo thanks.
As I heard Neil deGrasse Tyson say, No one ever seems to worry about where their soul is before they're born, so why do we spend so much time worrying about it after we die?
In this regard we are on the same wavelength Mary.
DeleteI've come to believe the same about death as you, Neil. I was raised Catholic but their teachings seem like nonsense to me now. I hope happy memories of me "live" on for a while in the people I have known but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't that enough Ellen?
DeleteI feel the same way. I imagine death will be just like before we were born.
ReplyDeleteGood way of putting it Steve.
DeleteI don't remember who it was, but someone (famous, I suppose) was asked what happens to you when you die and he said, "The people that loved you will miss you".
ReplyDeleteI am a humanist! We have only our time on earth to make a difference in other lives, to care for the flora and fauna around us, to make a positive impact in the hearts of those we love and to make at least one child laugh.
In this we are the same Donna. There's nothing beyond this earthly life.
DeleteI have seen ghosts and felt there presence YP. I know not believe that there is an after life. A very thoughtful and philosophical post.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a ghost nor felt the presence of one.
DeleteHeck! What's the next post going to be? Decomposition?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! But I have just posted on a very different subject.
Delete70 years young - what are you rambling on about death for? Save it for (much) later!
ReplyDeleteMy father was 65 and my brothers were 62 and 66 respectively but thanks for trying to make me feel good!
Delete