Post by jash on Mar 15, 2013 11:13:37 GMT
There are many beliefs about what happens after death. Some people think death is the end, and that all life is mortal. Some think that we are immortal, and will live on after death, either in new bodies or as spirits, in different successive lives or in a deathless existence, for an infinite time or timelessly. Could there be a grain of truth in all of these positions?
While I think we are eternal, in a sense, death is inevitable. This is because we constantly change. Our bodies change and grow, not just the structure of our bodies but also most of the cells of the body are replaced over time. Our minds change even more. All our thoughts, beliefs, desires, and intentions can change in an instant. What do we really have in common with the child that we were at five?
But nonetheless, there is continuity. Something about us persists. Our awareness, our being continues. In a sense, this awareness connects us to all other sentient beings, which have different bodies and minds from us, but are connected to us through this awareness, just as we are to our past selves. The "I" that persists despite changing thoughts and behaviors exists in all life. So when the bodies and minds we identify with die, the real self continues in other bodies, other minds.
Do we live on as spirits or embodied beings? The distinction is, to me, semantic. We can just as easily talk about a spiritual being having a spiritual body. Our bodies are the vehicles through which we act. Reality, I believe, is God's body since God acts through reality. Spirits have bodies that they might be able to use to act in this world.
Is the afterlife an eternity or timeless? I think that temporal existence has limitations, and that we are given the opportunity to transcend those limitations. Time is the wheel of samsara, of death and rebirth. It is because of time that we change and die. But when we attain perfection, we need no longer change, need no longer die.
In conclusion, reincarnation makes the most sense to me. We are imperfect, and liable to change, and so over eternity we will experience existence in different bodies, with different minds. But if we move towards perfection, there will be less about us that needs to change, and so we will come to be timeless and attain moksha.
What do you think? Which ideas resonate with you: are we mortal or immortal, do we reincarnate or is there one afterlife, is the afterlife temporal or not, with or without bodies? I'm excited to hear your thoughts.
Namaste,
Jash
While I think we are eternal, in a sense, death is inevitable. This is because we constantly change. Our bodies change and grow, not just the structure of our bodies but also most of the cells of the body are replaced over time. Our minds change even more. All our thoughts, beliefs, desires, and intentions can change in an instant. What do we really have in common with the child that we were at five?
But nonetheless, there is continuity. Something about us persists. Our awareness, our being continues. In a sense, this awareness connects us to all other sentient beings, which have different bodies and minds from us, but are connected to us through this awareness, just as we are to our past selves. The "I" that persists despite changing thoughts and behaviors exists in all life. So when the bodies and minds we identify with die, the real self continues in other bodies, other minds.
Do we live on as spirits or embodied beings? The distinction is, to me, semantic. We can just as easily talk about a spiritual being having a spiritual body. Our bodies are the vehicles through which we act. Reality, I believe, is God's body since God acts through reality. Spirits have bodies that they might be able to use to act in this world.
Is the afterlife an eternity or timeless? I think that temporal existence has limitations, and that we are given the opportunity to transcend those limitations. Time is the wheel of samsara, of death and rebirth. It is because of time that we change and die. But when we attain perfection, we need no longer change, need no longer die.
In conclusion, reincarnation makes the most sense to me. We are imperfect, and liable to change, and so over eternity we will experience existence in different bodies, with different minds. But if we move towards perfection, there will be less about us that needs to change, and so we will come to be timeless and attain moksha.
What do you think? Which ideas resonate with you: are we mortal or immortal, do we reincarnate or is there one afterlife, is the afterlife temporal or not, with or without bodies? I'm excited to hear your thoughts.
Namaste,
Jash
