This very compelling subject was the focus of our most recent MindMatters show. (Unfortunately, some of the audio cuts out towards the beginning of the show, but does get soon improved.)
MindMatters: The Reality and Implications of an Afterlife
Really enjoyed this one guys, thanks. It's a shame this is such a taboo subject and not more widely discussed. The options for most people are either mainstream religion or pure atheism, and what's missed in between is incredible.
The whole thing is reduced to ridiculously simplistic levels. On what should be the most important question in the world. Either God created all in 7 days, or we are just atoms banging into each other. One side says that we live a life and then either chill in heaven or burn in hell. The other side are pretty sure their consciousness is extinguished upon death and thereafter is eternal blackness.
Have any of them ever sat down and tried to imagine that, and could you even imagine a worse hell? Think about how long a decade would feel, yet these people look forward to not just a thousand or million years of blackness, but eternity.
Does anyone actually think about this stuff? In fact the more I think about it, this simplistic dichotomy just seems so insane that I can hardly even find a suitable analogy.
It's something like one group of people arguing that ALL animals are cats, and the other group arguing that they are all dogs. Nobody talks about elephants, bacteria, rodents, birds, polar bears or anything else. OK maybe the buddhists think we reincarnate as a worm or something, and some other cultures think we live underground with our ancestors. Well they both sound equally crappy as well!
Therefore, whenever I encounter this material it feels refreshing in a way I can't quite describe. I always knew it to be true yet I have succumbed to the programming over my years here. I find myself being awakened and feeling more like an "embodied" spirit when I consider it seriously, but it is easy to slip back into forgetting.
I get how it could be a hard pill to swallow for some people. If true in the way described it would basically mean there are an array of beings watching your every move, and your responsibility never goes away, and you shouldn't really forget your responsibility even for a second, and even when finally dead there is no rest .
On the other hand, it actually does give some meaning to otherwise senseless and horrific suffering. For all those who lived and died in miserable conditions, or who were participants in tragic manipulated wars to enrich bankers, or were so badly abused from childhood that any chance of a "good" life was hopeless. Even the daily stresses we encounter, the struggle to survive and the act of seeking the truth in a world full of lies -learning history only to watch others repeat it- can be explained by this all simply being a school.
The idea that there are purposes, lessons, intelligence and creativity much higher than us, that we cannot understand yet but may one day get to, is a pretty exciting reason to live. That is, if we can get over the programming installed in us.