In the early 2000s, a friend of mine was diagnosed with an advanced stage of restrictive cardiomyopathy. As he was well up in years and poundage, he wasn’t surprised. He'd always known something would eventually get him, but finding out he had only months to live made it real and immediate.
We often enjoyed music at each other’s homes. Our tastes in classical music were similar, except in one sense. For some reason he hated flute music. That was verboten in his presence. I felt the same way about rap.
Although he knew I was fascinated with philosophy and religious studies, he never wanted to talk about it. Like flute music, it was something he preferred to avoid. He was convinced that consciousness was a product of the brain and when it dies, so does all awareness. He saw this viewpoint as consistent with science.
After his new diagnosis, however, he became much less comfortable with scientific materialism. Now he was eager to talk about the possibility of an afterlife, had a thousand questions about it – then argued with my responses.
“You know what, Vince,” I told him at one point, “I express myself more clearly and concisely in writing than verbally, so I’m going to write an essay specifically tailored to your questions.”
I recently came across a copy of that essay and have decided to share it.
Here you go, Vince, hope this is useful. Keep in mind that my answers are filtered by my limited perception and are subject to change without notice.
In my opinion, death is not an end but a transformation. Just as ice melts to become water, and water vaporizes to become gas, our bodies morph as well.
In fact, they have been changing since we were born. We are not the same person we were as babies, nor the same as children. Change is the way of nature. To fight it is futile, and results only in unease and disease. Those who are wise accept change like the weather.
“That’s all fine,” you might respond; “if death is just change, where are we going and where were we before we were born?”
Some postulate that in a previous existence, we were as afraid of morphing into humans as humans are of the afterlife. While others might see that as farfetched, it’s no more incredible than the claims made by some major religions.
Truth is, in the absence of empirical proof, it’s all speculation and faith. The Buddha said that we have no more understanding of the afterlife than a chicken still in the egg.
So we look to science. Einstein believed that all matter can be reduced to energy, and that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Perhaps God (cosmic consciousness) is spiritual energy, and our consciousness (soul) is that part of us which shares consciousness with the Creator. Maybe that’s what is meant by the scripture, “God created man in his own image.”
Werner Heisenberg, the pioneer of quantum mechanics (famous for the uncertainty principle) viewed physics as a “reflection on the divine ideas of Creation.” In his later writings and correspondence (including those with Einstein) he affirmed faith in a higher power that upholds causality and order, even amid quantum probabilities.
The founder of quantum theory, Nobel Prize winner Max Planck, said, “For the believer, God stands at the beginning; for the physicist, at the end.” He saw the universe's order as pointing to a “divine intelligence.”
Courtesy of Pixabay.com/MovimientoDespierta.
Perhaps the “divine intelligence” stands both at the beginning and at the end of our lives. If consciousness can neither be created nor destroyed, maybe it cannot be extinguished with the death of our body either? Perhaps it just reunites with the cosmic consciousness (the Godhead or Creator).
When asked during an interview if he believed in God, Einstein responded, “I believe in Spinoza’s God.” Although he didn’t call it that, he believed in what’s now called Cosmopsychism. That’s a philosophical view that proposes the universe (or cosmos) as a whole is conscious and that individual conscious experiences (like those of humans) are derived from, or grounded in, cosmic consciousness.
This is what Baruch Spinoza believed. You may wish to read his masterpiece, Ethics, Vince. It was banned and burned by the Roman Catholic Church, and it’s not hard to see why. Spinoza taught that the church is not only unnecessary, but an impediment to enlightenment.
Another afterlife possibility is reincarnation, a concept originating from ancient Indian philosophies and basic to most religions of Asia. Dr. Ian Stevenson studied reincarnation for decades. He was a professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and studied phenomena like near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and past-life memories in children between ages three and five. His work has been praised for its rigor, meticulous documentation, and empirical methods. His books include Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation and Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation.
There’s a famous story of a young child in the 1950s who claimed to be a fighter pilot shot-down and killed during World War II. He was able to specify names, dates, and his squadron assignment. His parents researched the squadron and took their son to the next veterans’ reunion. Astonishingly, the boy recognized the other pilots by name and shared stories that only a former squad member could know.
Dr. Ray Moody, an American psychiatrist, also spent decades studying near-death encounters. His books documented experiences reported by people who had been clinically dead and then revived – such as out-of-body sensations, watching the emergency room personnel from above as they furiously worked to revive their bodies, moving through a tunnel toward a bright light, encountering deceased loved ones, a life review, a feeling of overwhelming peace and love, and a reluctance to return to the body (those who return generally do so out of an obligation felt to loved ones).
His 1975 book Life After Death became a massive bestseller with over 13 million copies sold. It first transformed my thoughts on death, dying, consciousness, and the possibility of an afterlife. His work is easily accessed in the library.
Ancient Indian texts teach that reincarnation is like grade school, where each lifetime takes us a step closer to Brahman (cosmic consciousness). I’ve never understood why that should be necessary, but mankind has a tendency to anthropomorphize everything.
Alternatively, perhaps the purpose of life is not to learn, but simply to experience, so that the Creator can share in life's adventures through our eyes without the distractions of omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. Eternity is a long time without some form of entertainment.
You might ask, “Why then are some people born into misery and live lives fraught with privation, illness, and violence? What Creator wants to experience that?”
Maybe everyone is subject to Karma – another concept originating from ancient Indian philosophies. Karma postulates that these people were selfish and abusive in previous lives and are being punished. What’s comforting about this point of view is the thought that we get another chance to get it right (I don’t care much for the punishment part though).
In monotheistic religions, we get only one shot at it. If we fail, we spend eternity in hell. What loving father would lock his children in the basement for their lifetime as a result of “bad” behavior? Maybe the kid was ignorant, mentally ill, or just didn’t realize the gravity of what he was doing.
I have trouble seeing the Creator as a vengeful, vindictive, impatient old man ready to destroy his own children if they “sin.” However, it’s not hard to understand why a Roman emperor like Constantine might, especially if he’s the one who gets to determine what constitutes sin.
As the empire’s military strength waned, he was looking for new ways to instill fear in conquered populations order to retain dominion. He found it by setting himself up as the voice of God on earth. He chaired the Council of Nicaea, which heavily edited the scriptures in 325 AD – not to clarify the teachings of Christ – but to transform them as a means to manipulate the masses.
To a thinking person, it’s not hard to distinguish the Christian wheat from the Roman chaff when reading the Bible.
Which brings me to the basis of your fear, Vince. You grew up in a Catholic family and had this “you’re born in sin and dammed to hell unless you do what you’re told” mentality pounded into your head since you were a baby. As an adult, you rejected it intellectually, but those fears are still buried deep in your subconscious. So whenever you think about the afterlife, that’s the first thing that pops into your mind.
What should you do about it? Christ urged us not to “store our treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and thieves steal…but store up our treasures in heaven.” We are taught to do that by “loving our neighbors as ourselves” and treating them accordingly. All major religions have an axiom equivalent to the Golden Rule, “Treat others as you would have them treat you.”
Consistent with the Golden Rule, Karma tells us that whatever we do to foster joy and camaraderie in those around us will reflect back to us. Perhaps that’s how we learn that “the Kingdom of Heaven is within us?” Perhaps that’s how to live a life we’ll be proud to review (despite our human shortcomings)?
If we’re honest, Vince, haven’t we all ignored that “still, small, voice” inside us which tells us that’s the correct way to live? That voice gets louder if we don’t let our intellect and logic get in the way. The times I've ignored it forms my most regretful shoulda-woulda-coulda memories.
I hear the voice most often when I’m listening to classical music or out in nature. Some say it's the voice of God. I say it’s the voice from that part of the cosmic consciousness which resides within us (which may boil down to the same thing).
Failing to listen to that voice may be the reason why some people who live selfish lives die in fear, while others pass on in blissful acceptance.
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Vince died 14 months after he received this missive while working in a soup kitchen. He’d never volunteered for anything before and said he learned a lot from the experience.
I like to think he died a happy man.
Courtesy of Pixabay.com/Suttle Media.
Header image courtesy of Shopify AI.
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