The Afterlife

In the last month there have been three major deaths in my life. As a result I’ve been thinking about what happens after you die. There are a lot of theories, but does anyone really know? Sure, a lot of people say they know, but they can’t all know if they’re all saying different things. No one can prove it, but many believe so strongly that they’re willing to fight to the death over it. This in turn only allows the losers to find out.
We’ve got the Christians, Muslims and Jews who all believe in Heaven but kill each other about it because they don’t agree on which prophet to believe. But the fact is that Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed were all saying almost the same thing, just the details were a little different. Then we’ve got the Buddhists and Hindus believing in reincarnation. At least they don’t fight about it though because if you’re going to be continuously coming back to the world you want to make it more beautiful. (Sorry for the oversimplification, but if I get into the details of all the major religions this will turn into a book instead of a blog.)
I’ve been lucky in life to be able to live and study with people from many different religions. I have to say a bit of what everyone said to me made a little sense and I began to think maybe they’re all right! But, maybe they all only possess a piece of the puzzle. Now for the first time in history with modern travel, the printing press and the internet we can begin putting the puzzle pieces together. Maybe there is a Heaven and yet we still reincarnate.
I’m going to combine two major schools of thought and propose a theory. What if when we die we go to Heaven, but only if we are truly pure and close to God, having reached a heightened state of awareness. And if you die and you’re not quite there yet, then you are reincarnated in order to learn the lessons you need to become pure enough to pass through the pearly gates. Most of us are then reincarnated over and over until we achieve enough inward development that we are freed from the cycle and able to join God…or maybe it’s that we truly realize in our hearts that we have been with God the whole time.
But what is heaven? Is it a place in the sky where streets are paved with gold? Is it a mindset that we are able to achieve here on earth? Maybe heaven and Hell already exist on earth and you chose where you live (most likely some place in between the two) by the way you perceive the world.
I’d like to hear some other people’s views on the subject. Feel free to write back and let me know…even if you don’t agree with anything I’ve just said.