Interesting Conversation vs. Spiritual Growth
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Is there life after death?
How did life begin in the first place?
Do we have disembodied souls?
Is reincarnation real?
These are fascinating questions with no cut-and-dry answers. The organized faiths of the world have, in a sense, prospered due to the continual asking of these questions.
Every human being who bothers to think at some point arrives at these basic questions. And religion promises answers, or at least comfort.
While I think how life began and what happens after the body expires are topics for great philosophical conversation, I do not believe such things are as important as what we do in the present moment and how we define our life journey.
Do the specifics of how the universe started really help us find out who we are in this life and how we might best serve others? Does the exact nature of what happens to our consciousness after it leaves our bodies honestly take precedence over how we can make the world a better place right now?
I think not.
And I believe this is yet another example of the great failing of organized dogma. Religious teachings preoccupy people with what might happen to them in the next life should they fail to adhere to proper ceremony. Likewise many creeds demand absolute agreement with the official version of how things began on earth, to the extent that such areas of the theology are elevated to priority status.
Scientific studies have provided some interesting evidence about the nature of universal beginnings, and about the fact that our physical reality is still expanding from a point of possible origin. In the same way various studies and personal accounts have revealed some interesting possibilities about what happens when someone dies.
I certainly have many of my own thoughts on these matters. But again: It seems grossly unintuitive to obsess on such details at the expense of the present moment and all the good that is here and now.
Asking and discussing are part of the spiritual journey. Insisting on absolutes, becoming preoccupied with such matters of past or future, and transferring one’s self-esteem into a specific view of these matters are – I believe – products of the hypnotized mind and not inspired being.
Who doesn’t wonder about life after death? And who isn’t at times mesmerized by how the universe began?
Even more to the point, who among us has not sat baffled by the question:
How could existence have a beginning, for what would have been prior to a time when the Universe was?
These are profound concepts, at least at this time in human understanding. But speculatively addressing them does little in terms of nurturing true spiritual growth.
The meaning of life is HERE AND NOW, as is the opportunity to share love with self and others and to fully be immersed in the experience of living. Perhaps someday, or in some dimension adjacent to this present, all answers will be/are known; in the absence of such a knowing the greatest wisdom invites us to simply be in the mystery and love the unfolding of each new moment.
Tags: afterlife, do we have a soul, is there life after death, life after death, life after death reincarnation, past lives, reincarnation, Spiritual Enlightenment, spiritual growth, Spirituality, the soul
What was done Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 5:47 am
Here is a kind of life after death you can be sure of…
http://www.whatwasdone.com/Age.php?&Age=-1
Aaron Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Actually that’s an insightful point. Immortality of the artist, philosopher, leader, even the criminal in many cases is attained when people live on in the hearts and minds of others.
Indeed one need not be a historical or famous figure to live on in this manner. Our loved ones, even animal friends, remain with us in heart and spirit well after their bodies leave the collective consciousness.
This would of course initiate a discussion about the illusionary nature of death, i.e. we never actually die. The energy and consciousness that manifest the experience of “I” continue infinitely onward.