Deep In Sleep

Several weeks ago, I had a horrible sinus infection. My lack of “working properly” made me think about how strange it is that we work so well in the first place. In my opinion, the functions of the human body are just too elaborate for us to be a mere disciple of evolution. Our senses–eyes, ears, mouth, nose. Our organs– brain, heart. Everything just seems to work too in sync for us to have been formed from tiny organisms over billions of years. I am far from being religious, and at this stage in my life, have very little idea of what I do or don’t believe in. Therefore, I bring up this topic as a collaboration, not as a preacher.

Obviously, these questions all lead to the bigger question. Is there a higher being? Is there an afterlife? These are questions that humans have posed for thousands of years, and everyone has come up empty handed, at least scientifically. From my point of view, there may very well be a higher being, but I don’t look at this higher being in the same way some religions do. For one thing, humans can only comprehend what we can see in front of us. We only know what we know based on context and past experiences. Therefore, we can only view the world based on what we see. For all we know, this universe is just one of many other universes. We usually picture the universe as Earth, the other planets, the sun, the moon, stars. But just because that is all we as humans see, doesn’t mean that is existence. It is all that we are capable of comprehending. This universe may be a mere delusion for all we know.

When I look at the different religions, and the prophets and leaders, I don’t have a place to say one way or another that these people did or didn’t exist. Or did, or didn’t talk to God. However, when I look at the history of rumors, and how quickly an urban legend in today’s world can spread, even with all this technology, it’s hard to not be skeptical on how accurate the truth can be on topics where there is really no recorded proof. Have you ever played the game telephone– where somebody comes up with a word or saying and then whispers it into the ear of the person next to them, and then that person whispers to another person, until you get all the way down the chain and see if the last person has the original message? How many times is that game successful? It fails more times than not. The point is rumors spread, and ideas are transformed from one person to the next. It can happen within minutes… now think about millenniums.

In regards to the afterlife, I feel that there are really only several options. The first option is there is no afterlife. We die, but don’t know that we died. We don’t exist anymore. It may seem depressing, but not really when you think about it, because you don’t know that you are dead. You don’t feel anything. The second option is that there is an afterlife. Now this is where religion and personal opinions really come into play. Instead of looking at it from the religious point of view though, I would like to look at this from the practical point of view. Humans are not the only species to “rate” or “classify” each other, however, we definitely do it far more than any other species. There is absolutely no reason to believe that a higher being is deciding if we are good or bad people. There simply would not be a just way to do this. Humans are not all on the same playing level as one another. Someone born into poverty is not given the same opportunities as, say, the son of a billionaire. The person born into poverty might not receive an education. Maybe he’s living with a single mother trying to raise her family. It’s unfair to say that this person is being challenged by God to overcome his conflicts, because if you are going to judge or compare two people on this basis, you can’t change outside factors. It’s understandable why crime takes place more in these communities. Now for the billionaire’s son, he can inherit all of his fathers money, and decide to give 100 million dollars to charity. He was put in a position where he could appear to be a better person than the person born into poverty. But is he really a better person? Does he deserve to go to Heaven, and the poverty stricken person Hell? In my opinion, we wouldn’t be able to determine nor would God.

Maybe here’s a better example–If Hell does exist and a higher being judges the dead, then it would be widely accepted that a person like Hitler would be in Hell. But what if Hitler passed away as an infant; perhaps there were complications in his birth. For many, this would have been a desired outcome, but the point is, what if Hitler was never given the opportunity to commit the atrocities that he did? If he died as an infant, before he could be “judged”, would he go to heaven, even though he was obviously not a good person?

It’s as if we look at Heaven as a college we need to be accepted to…and if we are rejected, Hell it is. Therefore, I don’t really look at the afterlife in the same way as some religions. I have no idea what to expect, but I’m okay with that. I think people should do good not to get on God’s A list, but because they genuinely want to do good and set their own expectations for themselves. If people want to motivate themselves by doing it for God, that seems fine, but the problem comes when people start passing judgment on others to make people feel better about themselves.