My golf had been going from bad to worst. I struggle with my imperfections making the occasional success memorable. I love it. I would be disappointed if heaven does not include such activities. But will the hole be bigger and the course easier?
That will be another disappointment.
Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkin’s suggestion of the nothingness that we can expect after death is just as frightening to me as hell. I love living, and I gather most do as well. We have statements as ‘I feel so alive’ when people want to express a wellness they are experiencing, as contrast to ‘I feel so empty’ in dark days.
The hopelessness of nothingness is frightening.
And John Ortberg says, not just anything in eternity either:
ReplyDeleteOur longing is not just for a longer life – not even for an indefinite extension, particularly if all such an extension would mean is more of the same. A Christian college in Southern California once sent students door to door to talk with people about spiritual issues. Two of them knocked on one door to find a frenzied mother of three with a vacuum in one hand and a screaming baby in the other arm, food burning on the stove, and a living room so messy it would have qualified as a federal disaster area. “Are you interested in eternal life?” one of the students asked. “Frankly, I don’t think I could stand it,” said the mom. We want more than more of the same. We want what’s wrong to be put right. We want suffering to stop. We want heaven.
-When The Game Is Over, It All Goes Back In The Box
Remember the nothingness before you were born and how horrifying it was? See, there is nothing to be afraid of.
ReplyDeleteUnless you mean, from nothing to something to nothing to something....
ReplyDeleteThen there is another system again, where we cannot investigate 'scientifically'.
I would then offer a 'lie' as a balm to the dying. I would not be able to walk away with a conscience that is clear.
The thought of an afterlife is extremely placating and soothing, particularly when, as sentient beings, we are only too acutely aware of our own mortality.
ReplyDelete@Irrational
ReplyDeleteI don't mean any disrespect, just interest - what 'purposes' or 'meanings' for your life do you personally enjoy/see then? Sorry I dunno if I phrased that very well.
@Rachel
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the entire human race, or any living matter, is to procreate and perpetuate our genetic material.
My personal purpose in life is, in Rudyard Kipling's words, to fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run. I believe I have only one shot at life, and I strive to make the most of it. There is no second take - not in the form of incarnation, or heaven, or hell. I don't treat life as an audition for a place in heaven. I do good deeds neither out of fear of eternal punishment in hell nor for heavenly rewards. I do it because life is short and fragile and unpredictable, so whilst I am still alive I would like to treat my fellow beings with kindness, respect and generosity.
One doesn’t have to derive meaning from a divine, celestial, higher intelligence – meaning in life is a personal and intimate construct, a self-fulfilling prophesy. I experience the same pleasures as any religious person would – spending time with loved ones, reflecting on a particularly good book, wining and dining, feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep, satiating my thirst for knowledge, admiring the intricate beauty and ingenuity of nature, to name a few. My finite existence only serves to make these experiences more vivid and despite my non belief in a god, I too, arrived at the same conclusion as Darwin – “there is grandeur in this view of life”.
"I would rather live my life as if there is a god and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is."
ReplyDelete— Albert Camus
he also said
"I had only a little time left and I didn't want to waste it on God."
— Albert Camus (L'etranger)
I have never read Albert Camus, which is a crying shame. I spent the last 10 minutes trying to educate myself about his works (mainly via Wiki), and they are captivating, to say the least. His concept of absurdism is brutally honest - he is saying that life is absurd, but live it anyway. I shall include his books to my reading list.
ReplyDelete