WHAT THE HELL?

LIFE AFTER DEATH - THE 'NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE'

If there is any life after death, the one thing we can be certain of is that it has no effect at all on this physical world. If it were possible in any way, our brother [name withheld] would have made us billionaires by now; I know that with all my heart. My grandmother would make my life a happy little breeze. No such thing is going to happen. If there are ghosts – and you should feel free to believe in them if you like – they can have no effect at all on this reality except to scare you shitless, and they can only do that if you let them. And if Mediums were able to bring us messages from our loved ones, why don’t they ever tell us where they hid the money? No, it’s always the same message; all is forgiven, he/she is happy now, he/she loves you. Great. So no cash, then.

There are many, many stories about people who, due to modern science, have been declared brain-dead and yet been brought back to life. Some of these stories are told by doctors, so they seem very believable. But it turns out that if you look closely, these Near Death Experiences are not all alike; not remotely so. It’s just like encounters with aliens from outer space; the story seems the same, but only in general. Not only is there no proof of either one, but their own stories aren’t consistent. To me, that dooms them right there; if you’re going to tell a story, at least get it straight in your mind, and stick to it!

THE MAGIC OF MIND

The most important information we have about life after death and also about human consciousness is that we have no information. Subjective experiences, even when run through a bias filter guaranteed to make them sound alike, are actually not alike at all, and citing the uniformity of the reported experiences as proof of life after death is unwarranted.

We know the body dies. It wears out, shuts down, rots away; we can see that happening. We can see that there’s no longer any response from within. The thing we don’t know is what exactly happens to the mind. It seems to keep operating for at least a few moments after the death of the physical body. We don’t know if the brain just takes a minute to shut down, or if it’s being re-routed elsewhere, and there’s no way to prove it either way. In fact, we’re not really sure what the mind IS.

Brain scans reveal that being in the presence of a real rose and simply remembering the presence of a rose show up in brain activity as identical. So who’s deciding which is real, and which is a memory? THAT is the mind. It appears to transcend the physical structure of the brain.

My husband has a distinctive voice, and when I think of something he’d say, I “hear” it as if he’d said it. This doesn’t mean he’s actually speaking. You might “hear” the voice of a loved one who is dead, but it’s very likely just the same phenomenon. Having a sudden thought of that person can also happen whether they’re living or dead, and doesn’t mean they’re trying to communicate with you. More likely, your mind has made some association between the loved one and the present circumstance which brought them suddenly to mind, perhaps even “speaking” pretty clearly. It’s still just your own mind talking.

Someone very close to us died, and we know what he wanted out of life – and didn’t have time to obtain – and what he would want for us. If there were any way he could cause events in this reality, he would absolutely do so. But it doesn’t happen. He (nor anyone else) has the power to affect our reality in any way. My grandmother and I were very close, and when I went into labor with my first child – an event she wasn’t here to see – I had a dream about her. Now, that’s very touching, but it’s far more likely I dreamt of her than that she visited me from the Great Beyond. She hasn’t visited my dreams again, though I’ve been through many changes she would probably have loved to advise me on.

I don’t believe in ghosts, and I don’t believe in Life after Life. If it happens, I’m open to it, but I’m not living my life in expectation of or preparation for that. Whether there’s life later or not has no effect on this life, this world. We will die, only that is certain. In the end, someone will have to go through all the material possessions we’ve accumulated, and decide which ones are trash, which ones are worth selling, and which ones should be given to charity. Yeah, those were good shoes, but now that they have the imprint of our feet, no one will want them. By the time this sorter reaches the end of your junk, they’ll just start throwing everything away. THAT’S life. Don’t spend all your time accumulating junk for someone to go through. But it’s no use spending all your time doing things for people, either. They’re vicious sons of bitches, and no matter how much you give they’ll turn around and bite you HARD. No, the only person who’ll ever appreciate your gentleness and generosity is your own self. If you adopt an animal, they’ll at least be loyal, and many of us settle for that, albeit somewhat different, love. Intelligence isn’t good for much; if you’re smart, you realize all of this, realize the hopelessness of trying to figure things out or trying to do good in this life, try to help people but with the knowledge that they won’t appreciate it, and that’s not a good thing to know. If you want to do something nice for someone, do it! But don’t expect anyone to appreciate – or reward – your sacrifice. Ask any parent who’s lovingly surrounded a child with nurture and care and every material comfort only to have them spew such bitterness and hatred back that they wish they’d never even been born, much less had children. No one is ever going to thank you one-hundredth part of what you deserve, so if you do good, do it for its own sake, then walk away and never, ever look back.

I don’t accumulate much in the way of material possessions, but I often pity the person or program who’s one day going to have to go through all the bits of crap I’ve collected online and delete it all. Even worse is the thought that it won’t get deleted, but float around out there for eternity, without the context (which is me) attached! Aren’t we, in this sense, already immortal? The things I’ve collected, information, hacks, photos, things which make me FEEL, things I've written, photos I've taken, aren’t they some part of my mind? And won’t they exist out there in the electronic dimension pretty much forever? I can’t figure out whether that’s comforting or frightening! If you come upon a meaningful post which seems very timely and relevant to your own life, and it turns out it was posted by someone who’s dead now, aren’t you hearing their ghost? Discuss.