Reflections on Death and the Afterlife

First off, apologies for the topic. I know it's one of those that people rather not talk about. But, hey, what can I do? So many dying recently due to Covid-19, other ailments, natural disasters and what not. Can't help thinking about it.

So, what are my thoughts about death and the afterlife?

My over-riding belief is that when we die only the body dies. But something else, call it soul if you will, continues to live, indefinitely. The Christian belief is that the soul goes to either heaven or hell. Other religions have similar concepts. But I won't elaborate on each because I want to focus on my own theory of what life is after death.

My theory is this: To die is to be in a state of eternal slumber and the afterlife is just a never-ending dream.

I think of sleep as a momentary death. And at that state when the body is momentarily dead, what sometimes happen? We dream. I think of dreams as episodes when our soul goes gallivanting. It can go to different places, different times. It can meet different people. In dreams, nothing is impossible. We can be young, fit, healthy, no imperfections. No pain, no sufferings. And when we’re dreaming, we don’t even know it is a dream. It just feels real. Thinking of it this way, I say, every night we are already experiencing a taste of death and the afterlife. When we die, our soul continues its journey inside an endless dream and that it won’t even know that the body is dead. It will just be happy roaming around indefinitely.

What is heaven and what is hell? If the afterlife is a never-ending dream, then for me heaven is when we dream of good and pleasant things. The opposite when the dreams are nightmares is hell. The concept of heaven and hell as distinct locations or worlds, that I don't believe in. I think when we die, we go through a dream-state and in that state, anything is possible. The dream might be going to a paradise like location. Meeting your friends, your parents and all your loved ones. You'll think it's real. It will bring you happiness and you'll then conclude it's heaven. Or the dream can be a nightmare. You are being chased by scary monsters then taken to a horrible place to be tortured. Then you'll think, it's hell. Then it is also possible that when we die, we dream of nothing. Just like when we sleep, we don't always dream. Anything is possible.

I believe that every creature, not only humans, have a soul. If God gave humans a soul, why can't all creatures have one as well? That also ties up with the Buddhist belief of reincarnation. What God does not need to do is to create another world or two worlds (call it heaven and hell) for souls to actually reside in. No need for that. It's easier to just give every soul a virtual world of their own. Like giving each one their own VR headset. 

 

In the virtual world there is no sense of time, and anything is possible. Alive, we already have a taste of that. Every night when we sleep, we go into our own virtual worlds. Except that when we are dead, we don't wake up. The dream goes on and on and on. And that to me is the afterlife.

How time flies! 10 years ago already was the previous post, then this. Hoping this won't be my last. Hanggang sa muli. Nawa'y magkita-kita pa rin tayo, hindi lamang sa panaginip.