La mort, la muerte, kamatayan, tod, shi...
In whatever tongue you speak, it elicits the same emotions. The largest of these being curiosity. Death is the most famous topic in human culture, to that of love, and has been since our very beginnings and people first roamed this Earth. Regardless of who you are, death has crossed your mind at one point in time.
Let me ask you then, what happens after you die? Religious zealots, of course, will adamantly claim, based on lifestyles, despite true biblical evidence or word, a glorious kingdom awaits those deserving. Those who do not, can count on an eternity in hell and lakes of fire. Atheists and non-believers with no faith in the omnipotent, super-being, God, say nothing happens. Our minds reside in a dreamless, sleep-like state, in which our bodies return to the earth.
Looking at this from an objective, non-biased, anatomical point of view; your mind and all thought process is composed of your brain firing neurons and transmitting electricity. A "brain-dead" person ceases to have these firings and a "dead-dead" person does too. With this inactivity, I ask with open ears, an eager mind, and honest hope... how does one continue to think? Know? Believe?
This is where soul comes into play. What is the soul? An imaginary floaty that no one can hear, see, smell, taste, or feel? An entity in which resides in only the "heart" and mind/brain of humans? Our inner being, which no human sense can comprehend? (Keeping in mind, if the soul comes from the imaginations of humans and imagination comes from the brain, then once the brain stops, so does the imagination. The soul.)
Believe me when I say I want there to be a god. I want an after-life, an eternity of happiness for the good I have done. Hell, I would gladly accept a timeless end of damnation, torture, and punishment, if only I could know something beyond death existed. Faith, the size of a grain of mustard seed, the tiniest spec on the tip of a grown man's finger, can move mountains... Faith, everyone has... and I will be ridiculed, chastised, and berated for not.
I ask, though... of my religious friends, how can you be so certain? You tell me grand things await, but science and law betrays your faith. You tell me I need faith... but I lost faith. How do I regain what time and time again has proven a farce? How is heaven such a certainty?
And of my atheist friends, you may laugh and scoff at my pitiful pleading or lame logic, but to you I ask how? How do you continue, knowing there is a nothingness for you? What is the point in life at all? You can't relish in what you do or see your rewards... there is no one waiting and nothing there... and you will surely be forgotten. How do you pull yourselves out of bed with these thoughts?
I am a torn and tortured soul. I seek answers I cannot receive, and I know this... but perhaps words of comfort will suffice.
Thank you,
Jess
The more I think about it, the more I think there is no real 'point' to life. Since we first developed communication, we have all just been making it up as we've been going along. It's all been going on so long now, some people accept certain things as 'fact', but the more we find out about stuff, it always seems like we find out how little we really know. Faith is a beautiful thing, so is the scientific method, but to accept ether as absolute truth, I think seems a little foolish and naive. The only thing I think is true absolutely is that everyone else is just as afraid of death as you are, cause ultimately no one has any idea what happens, and the thought that everything just ends is sooo terrifying! Hang in there though, aside from the darker unknown parts, life has a lot of beauty to offer too, and we have to cherish those moments cause they make all the uncertainty worth it in the end.
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