Those who take the trouble and have the fortitude to think the process through will find the concept difficult to embrace. Should there be an afterlife, what form does it take and where is it located? Certainly it is not within the astronomic range of current telescope technology. The Hubble instrument is able to probe millions of light years back in time towards the very origins of our universe and as far as locating any possible heavenly location has drawn a complete blank. It has been suggested that there is a parallel universe or alternatively another dimension outside the scope of our mortal purview which will explain everything -if we only understood what it means!
Anyway, let’s follow an example through. Human relationships are physical as well as spiritual. A husband/wife relationship (the successful ones!) contains a strong spiritual component (or should do) but there is also a strong physical element too. Te wife sees in her husband a collection of characteristics which she has come to strongly associate with him, many of which are physical. Even knobbly knees, beer belly, balding head a distinctive walk; his good and bad habits all form an amalgam of characteristics which collectively constitute “him”. Similarly the husband will retain an image in his mind as to what originally attracted him in the first place, much of which would have been physical. All her physical and sexual components would have played a significant part in addition to her personality characteristics. As time goes by, less tangible characteristics will replace the physical component by a spiritual element of the relationship and will hopefully enhance it. What then would be the form of the loved one in the afterlife? Would it be as it was when they were in their physical prime? It surely could not be immediately prior to death. That could be most painful to say the least.
However, the point of all the foregoing is that in our terrestrially-based thinking, such a spiritual manifestation cannot be without at least some of the physical form since that, throughout life it has been an integral part of what defined the individual. With this scenario it is extremely difficult to envisage how it could ever work. How would my mother appear to me? As she did when I was 5 or 45, the latter being my age at her demise? Would she appear as she was when they were married and physically in her prime (-five years before I was born); or in her depleted state before she died. How would she appear to my father? Would she be as when they were married or just before she died at 75? How would my father appear to her? When they were married or prior to his death as a frail old man of 91? Could she appear differently to us both?
Since throughout mortal life physical phenomena played such an integral part, the fully mature post-life spiritual identity must include some acknowledgement of it. As an crude example, the notion of Whitney Houston as purely spiritual would lose all of what constituted her vocal achievements and physical attributes!
For this reason I find great difficulty in grasping the fundamentals of how the afterlife would work. I cannot envisage how the complete separation of the spiritual from the physical could be satisfactory from any aspect. The notion that we all float around merely as ectoplasm or spiritual entities (whatever that means) seems preposterous. Whatever spirit form is taken, to be identifiable to others in the same predicament, it would need some form of a recognizable I.D. or be a facsimile of an erstwhile flesh and bones person as they were at some point in their life and certainly before the onset of terminal decay. In particular consider the harrowing last stages of an Alzheimer’s sufferer.
Because of these considerations it is difficult if not impossible to accept the terrestrial concept of the hereafter with the simplistic wisdom of the dear departed “looking down” (-looking up in the southern hemisphere!). In the distressing case of the departed being a child who now has become “one of God’s angels” another terrestrial intrusion occurs. The mere concept of angels implies an atmosphere; otherwise their wings would be superfluous. Even hellfire assumes the presence of oxygen to support the conflagration. To perpetuate such notions can be of little consolation to anyone taking the time to think it through. Without some form of physical prompt, how is one to know who or what are we dealing with. If we are unable to “see” or “feel” what senses would we use for identification and communication,
Maybe some of the ancients were right after all and that paradise is simply heaven on earth! This would perhaps be a fine thing if all its positive features remained and all the negatives were eradicated. However, with all humanity milling around since the dawn of time, space would become a consideration. More likely is to be something much more profound, possibly involving some form of “collective consciousness” containing the quintessential essence, not only of the departed individual, but all of those who have gone before. Could we develop some form of all-embracing “spiritual awareness” which would transcend our earthbound senses? Once again, we find comprehension of anything outside our earthly lot difficult to imagine. Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics and the general acceptance that the cosmos, far from being a vacuum, is a seething mass of electromagnetic waves or particles, variously referred to by such nomenclature as “The Field” or “The Matrix” leads us to believe that we are all connected. As I previously suggested, we could all be part of a shared consciousness.
Furthermore it might be that for their allotted life span, every person is provided with a particle of Matrix to which they impart their individual characteristics and behavior based upon a similar sounding word –conscience. At their demise, this portion (their soul?) is then returned to the Matrix for assessment, retention or recycling into a new physical body. As to how or by what criterion this grading would be made I have no idea. Finally, one wonders what activities the departed would engage in for eternity. Away from the earth and its operating envelope, there would be no circadian rhythms, no day or night or seasons. Just a continuous, eternal awareness, stretching into infinity. Assuming that such phenomena as tedium or boredom are not applicable in the celestial realms, what the heck would we do all this time?
Because of all the foregoing, whilst keeping an open mind, the existence of the popular concept of the sweet hereafter seems highly improbable. If it does exist, I am sure that it will be a far cry from the simplistic and wildly unlikely notions that we will all be at heavenly peace in the arms of Jesus -along with the 30+billion other existing residents. With the religious doctrines losing credibility, to persist in these fanciful notions, a better educated and informed populace will progressively be alienated from their particular belief fantasy. However, the residue of early mind indoctrination and superstition might still remain -despite the amount of evidence to the contrary, and result in a superstitious “what if” concern that they just can’t shake.
Although the actual process of dying is understandably something to dread; having completed the process many seem to be afraid of death and overly concerned about a possible hereafter? They were not alive in 1800 and didn’t miss it. Why worry that they won’t be alive in 2100? In the event that there is no afterlife, this is the worst scenario. The oblivion prior to their birth will simply resume. Come to think of it, most people were oblivious of 4am last night and glad of it!
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