The Only Sense I Can Make of the Afterlife
My take on the most mysterious question facing the human condition
I started to read/write about spirituality and the concept of an afterlife following the loss of my mother nearly a decade ago. After recently commenting on G.S. Payne’s post concerning similar topics, I realized it was probably the most succinct summary of my beliefs I’d put into words — deciding to upload it as a standalone post.
Below is why I believe reincarnation is the most sensible thing that happens to us after we die (sans the horrifying possibility that we simply cease to exist altogether). For context, I was raised by a Catholic mother and Southern Baptist father, and was a consistent churchgoer until her passing. As a fair warning, I also touch on why I shed my belief in the traditional sense of a God, so please don’t take offense. Its just the reluctant conclusion I came to after considering humanity and the world at large.
After I lost my mother, I became obsessive over the topic of God and the afterlife, actually considering it with a hard look for the first time. I read all of the major religious texts, spoke to spiritual leaders/psychologists/therapists, exhaustively researched near death experiences, and so on. My focus was to look for tangible, empirical evidence which might point toward one theory or the next. As far as the conventional notion of a deity, despite my strongest efforts…I just can’t buy into it anymore after searching so hard. It just doesn’t make sense that the kinds of accounts which occur in these texts, events that allegedly transpired with no currently accessible proof during a time none of us were alive, no longer occur for us to observe. Aside from occasional fringe stories we read about claiming the impossible such as miracles and the like, what these texts recorded as commonplace throughout biblical epochs seems to have decided for us that instead, generations alive today are better left to blind faith rather than first-hand experience. The closest thing we have to proof are examples like ancient artifacts loosely interpreted to fit a given narrative, or handwritten accounts alleging various versions of the truth regarding divinity. Doubt encircling artifacts being more straightforward, it’s worth noting that in every case, these written accounts were exclusively recorded by human beings on behalf of the associated diety. I find a certain irony that despite the omniscient, all-powerful nature that dieties are supposed to be host to…they all appear to draw the line at a quick hello, just to reassure us as No person in history has recorded irrefutable, empirical evidence that validates the existence of an all-powerful, supernatural entity. I sincerely don’t mean to undermine the ones capable of maintaining faith, but sadly, its hard for me to take humanity at its word when it comes to these types of enormously impactful world views given the picture that our historical timeline paints. I don’t think most folks would argue that we’re capable of some seriously nefarious behavior when one of us attempts to mold societies. If folks expect us to swallow the pill when prescribing entire meanings of life to which others should adhere, we should first consider all potentialities — such as this next point.
What makes more sense to me is that periodically, small groups of hyper-intelligent (and likely sociopathic, if we’re being honest) individuals create religions to assert control over the populace. As the quotes go, many leaders are well-versed to “never let a crisis go to waste”, and when things get as bad as they often have historically, its easy to imagine these kinds of people creating their own “opiate of the masses” to gain power by offering a faux-solution to end the suffering. That said, I have to be fair; so I do acknowledge that my admittedly cynical skepticism is primarily based on my own intuition, so it obviously doesn’t necessitate inarguable fact. Its merely what I believe to be the likeliest scenario, while remaining completely open to the possibility that a God really is somewhere up there. It should go without saying that, however unlikely I may think it may be, I would strongly prefer a God to be pulling the strings than a tiny handful of ego-maniacal, privileged primates. Trust me — if a snake ever slithers up and informs me that He’s real, I will immediately fall in line. Short of a similar sentiment, though, I can’t help but struggle to justify such belief in lieu of my experience and thought processes.
Again, I sincerely hope anyone reading this doesn’t take offense. Frankly, I hate the idea that there isn’t a higher power. On the contrary, I desperately want to believe my mother still exists in some form. I try so hard to find a yes when I ask that question, but my mind won’t allow me to without maintaining the integrity of logic. This is the reason there’s only one thing I can lean on as a crutch during my most discouraging moments as I stir late at night thinking about her. After all these years trying to hash it out (she passed in 2015), in my view, the only theory that makes the slightest modicum of sense is that of reincarnation. I admit even that is a stretch, but I’ll do my best to explain why.
The first question we have to ask ourselves when asking whether there is an afterlife is this: what does it mean to exist in the first place? What does our existence as sentient beings entail, and what mechanisms/moving parts contribute to it? Once that’s decided, how then would this translate to whichever realm that may await us in death (be it Heaven/Hell, Nirvana, or the like)?
It all boils boils down to consciousness, which in my opinion, is the product of our ability to sense. I think, in other words, that to exist is to perceive reality via our five senses. This will sound morbid, but try to picture yourself on your death bed. Imagine taking your very last breath, and then exiting your body as your traverse beyond the veil. What goes through your mind? Pearly gates? Virgins? (Hopefully not) fire and brimstone? Regardless of your answer, I would be willing to bet that we all pictured it in the context of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching it.
To sense, is to be conscious.
Incidentally, this is the main reason I find it difficult to believe in life after death in the first place, because if we lose access to our sensory organs then we no longer have a mechanism through which we can sense reality anyway (there’d just be no more us to sense anything at all). Which, if true, would indicate that death simply turns the switch off. The point here, though, is if we’re to believe we carry on into another realm, then logic requires we maintain our ability to sense it. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing that can offer a path around that obstacle if consciousness is, in fact, a culmination of sensory perception. If it turns out there’s something going on that we can’t even conceptualize until getting there, then so be it. Similar to an attempt to imagine a dimension beyond the three we’re familiar with, without a reference point, its just impossible to picture what that could look like.
While the data might point to an off switch, I still find myself clinging to reincarnation. I want to believe there is some kind of strange, inexplicable “energy” or the like behind consciousness and whatever creates/manifests it. Since science hasn’t found a way to explain it yet if it does, until more revelatory details are discovered, I can only attribute said creation to the “universe” at large. I call it that after studying pretty much every major belief system on Earth. Since there are countless variations seemingly describing the same thing, I decided on “the universe” mostly out of respect since I figure that’s the most neutral term to avoid the appearance of leaning one way or the other. More to the point, whatever this mysterious “energy” might be is the closest thing to a “deity” that my mind allows me to reasonably consider — insofar as I acknowledge that there might actually be some kind of intelligent design to it all, after all.
The reason I feel that such a force might be instilling and re-instilling “us” into different physical forms through reincarnation is due to the simple fact that there are new versions of “us” being created every day, with a similar number juxtapositionally ceasing to exist. These newborns, or rather the consciousnesses which continue to fill them, have to come from somewhere, right? Unless there really is some kind of wand being waved, in my mind, that’s the only thought providing any solace to help quell the immeasurable pain of loss: the possibility that our “souls” (i.e. this essence to perceive absent bodily organs) live on through a perpetual cycle of renewed-but-independently-unique embodiments constantly being redeposited into this reality. Now, what might occur in between those periods is a whole other rant altogether, and this is already getting too long — so I digress on that front. Perhaps I’ll post on that later. Even more mind-numbing, though (as I immediately violate the previous statement), is what will happen to us when humanity inevitably goes extinct? Do we become aliens? If you’ll forgive the pun, God only knows. But personally my fingers are crossed that I’ll poof back somewhere as indeed a space alien…or even better, live my dream life as a lazy, spoiled dog (assuming the apes evolve to take our place as their bowl-filling stewards, of course).
In any event, I’ll close by mentioning a particular element of my research that really helped nudge me towards the notion that we’re basically being recycled over and over, which is a collection of studies being conducted at the University of Virginia pertaining to the concept of past lives. If the topics of this writeup interest you, I recommend doing a quick google search into the cases they’ve documented. Skim through a handful of hits and you’ll quickly realize how shocking and compelling their findings have been, especially in spite of the professional ridicule to which they’ve been subjected. In a nutshell, faculty there has been defying the establishment by taking an academic approach toward cases such as James Leininger’s inexplicable childhood memories of having lived as a WWII pilot who died after his plane was shot down. His is a great one to start with if you decide to go down the rabbit hole — its absolutely fascinating.
Anyway, I apologize for the long windedness of this response. It was just a good opportunity to vent, and its been a minute since I decompressed the sadness these types of thoughts tend to instill. The whole God/religion/afterlife thing is obviously a topic I’m very passionate about, as I view it as the most important mystery that the human condition faces when its all said and done. Well, that, and whether the space aliens are out really out there for me to some day transform into, but that goes without saying.
This was a great write up and obviously very thought provoking. Thank you for posting!
So yeah, it was a long remark to make on someone else’s post, but hey I got on a roll and just went with it. I just thought it was the best summary to date articulating my stance on what is one of the most crucially relevant topics occupying pretty much everyone’s mind in way one or the other.
Feel free to comment or give your own input/take on things! I always love to hear what other people think about this stuff because every now and then it I hear something that helps my own thought process evolve ❤️
