My vision of life after death is based on three fundamental principles in which I believe. The first is the rule of natural law. Just like there are natural laws in the physical world, I think there are natural laws in the spiritual world. I just don't think the whole idea of the judgement of God holds up very well. The second is that I do not think that our responsibilites in life can be escaped so easily. I do not think truth will be revealed at death, I think it will be even harder to find. I do not think the barriers between people built or accepted in life will vanish after death but that they will be even harder to overcome. The third is that I think that life is a preparation for our life after death. I think that death is a bit like birth. Where we suddenly find ourselves in a much bigger world, where many things which we have taken for granted are no longer automatically supplied, but require abilities which we are supposed to have developed in this world. I mean for example, the common reality and connections with other people that are automatically supplied by the physical laws of space and time. I think these automatic connection will not exist and that we may easily find ourselves completely alone, even though it may take some time to realize it, if we ever do.
So what are these abilities that we are deviloping in this world? Well I think that life is all about the choices we make and that these choices are the essence of our spiritual existence or soul. So I think it is the ability to make choices -- effective choices, that will determine whether we can make it in spiritual world. Do we make choices for greater life (enriching the life of others) or do we choose death (destroying and devastating the lives of others). Choosing life is not always completely obvious. There are subtleties which require a deeper understanding of the nature of life. For example, responsibility is an important aspect of the nature of life. Do we choose to be alone or with other people? Again we may think it is an obvious choice, but do we accept people for who they are and try to fit ourself into their lives, or do we try to fit them into our life? I am afraid, that the second is really choosing to be alone.
I think life after death is our dreams come true. Sound nice? I don't think so. The question is, what are our dreams. Do we really think that we know what will bring us happiness, any more than child does? We may think so. But in my experience, people are so deluded, so full of self-deceptions, that the truth is they haven't a clue. I think that just given three wishes in life we are most likely to mess up our lives completely. Often the more freedom and control we have over our lives, just provides more rope with which we can hang ourselves.
I think the real difference between heaven and hell is a very simple one. It is all a matter of whether we manage to get help. Help from the one source, directly or indirectly, whose help will do us any good in the long run. We need help from the one source that knows us better than we know ourselves, who knows what choices will bring us happiness. Oh! I bet you are thinking, "just great, all I need is someone making choices for me." But, .... We are used to choosing favorite colors and ice cream flavors.... We are used to choices in small doses which we can manage. We are use to making choices which have insignificant consequences. I think we have no idea of the enormity and scope of critical choices that face us after death and that when we do, it will make our life experience of choosing nearly insignificant. Also, I don't think it will be like a quiz we have to take. Everything we do will be choices without even realizing it. In life we are used to making choices all the time that have so little consequence, that I fear we are not really prepared to be faced with a situation where every choice we make every few seconds is a matter of our eternal life and death?
Without help I am afraid we will all be like many different stones on different parabolic paths under a relentless downward acceleration. Those who have made better choices in life will just start out looking good with an upward velocity. But ultimately we are all our own worst enemy and our choices will eventually lead us to dark places, just as all the stones end up in the same place.
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