In 2006, we considered ourselves advanced. Not very advanced; but we are living in an era, after all, when I can communicate with you across the globe. Where I would be hindered by the amplitude limits of my vocal cords, I am now relying on a visual substitute to replicate for you what I write here.
Yet.
Yet, we do not know why we are here.
What is it that makes us different from a pigeon?
Or even more so, what is it that makes us different from water? Aren't we a simple mixture of water and a few other molecules?
Why can some be revived after their hearts stop and others can't?
We also do not know what happens to us once we die. We speculate. We hope. We fantasize. We spend our entire lives based on those fantasies. But the truth is that no one knows. There is no way of knowing until some great advance is made in science; after which we will know what that one thing is that makes us alive and keeps water as- water.
I have some speculations as to life after death in my religion.
What I don't believe in is easier to layout and define. What I do believe in, is an evolving story.
Hell/heaven(H/H) is clearly an output of a scared mind. A mind that firstly, can not comprehend that life is just as it is and secondly, wants others to follow morals which can not be explained by logic or standard reasoning.
Multiple Births Theory(MBT) fails to answer the basic question of why we are going through these lives. What is the purpose? MBT, while better than H/H (since it says that the soul migrates from one set of molecules to another to bring them alive and I believe that there is no difference between us and a rat except for the DNA) is still very unsatisfactory because it doesn't explain why a soul exists and why it travels.
Our Atma/soul joining a bigger soul or god, stems from the thought that there is someone greater than us, taking care of us. It also helps us believe that we are part of a bigger being and that all of humanity is the same. This theory might also be there because of the effects that the brain experiences when slowly deprived of oxygen.
My Belief- the evolving story
According to research done by Pim van Lommel and others at the NDERF, in the event of a heart related death and subsequent revival, only 18% had any recollection from their 'death'. 12% had a significant experience, which were broken done as follows:
In our study about 50% of the patients with an NDE reported awareness of being dead, or had positive emotions, 30% reported moving through a tunnel, had an observation of a celestial landscape, or had a meeting with deceased relatives. About 25% of the patients with an NDE had an out-of-body experience, had communication with “the light,” or observed colours, 13% experienced a life review, and 8% experienced a border.
Other studies have found even lower percentages ( 10% and 6% ) of a significant NDE.
If only a minor percentage of people experience NDE, is it possible that the brains of these people were under stress/ didn't completely stop working, which resulted in the memories?
When I faint, the moments of waking up are just an onslaught of hundreds of memories and images and sounds. Could this experience be what about 2% (13% of 18%) people view as a life review?
Just by the sheer percentage (82%), I find it more of a possibility that life as we experience it, is just as it is. There is no where to go from here. No heaven, hell or another body that we will go to next.
And, even if there is a continuation for whatever is our life force that holds our molecules together, it will be nothing like our current life and will definitely not be impacted by what we do right now.
Of course, there is also the possibility that there is no 'life force'. That we simply are not advanced enough scientifically to understand that we are walking, talking, chemical reactions. After all, wasn't fire also magic with a soul of its own in pre-historic times?
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I do not know whether there is life after death. I do not even know what differentiates us from water. The answer to the latter would probably lead to the former's.
There is more to this world than people have understood in the past 50,0000 years.
We can't be sure that humanity will understand in our life time but we have to try. Else, why live by morals? Why strive to be rich except to buy that Maserati? Why give money to a priest when you could to that beggar?
