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| Afterlife by James Breeden, San Francisco Used with permission |
What I believe is that after we die (or maybe I just stick to 'I' statements - I have no idea what happens to everyone - maybe the afterlife is an individualized experience or culturally specific in some way) - after I die, all the spirit energy that is Victoria Weinstein will be released from my body and become part of the universe.This is a very similar concept to how afterlife was presented in the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. In the series, spirits must journey through an underworld to arrive on a world where (as Weinstein would put it) their spirit energy is released. It is reunited with previously released spirit energy across the universe. As Pullman wrote in The Amber Spyglass, ". . . it won't be nothing. We'll be alive again in the raindrops and blowing in the fresh breeze; we'll be glittering in the dew under the stars and the moon out there in the physical world, which is our true home and always was." When I first read all of the books in the trilogy I remember being so appreciative of how afterlife was presented. It seemed beautiful and much more meaningful than simply only living on in the memories of those still living, so I borrowed the ideas for my own spiritual beliefs.
When I adapted my spirituality to include fairies it only slightly changed how I explained afterlife to myself, in that the terminology changed to include them. When I die the fairies that make up my spirit will be released into the universe, just as the fairies of those whom have died before me were. They will be able to become part of the spirit of other things in the world and the universe. In a way, the fairies of those whom have died before me are still with me. They are still able to help me when I have need of them. My fairies will be able to help those who survive me as well.
I loved that Philip Pullman series, and preached about it at my church. Thank you for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteRev. Judy W.
I have an idea (not quite a belief, since I don't "believe" in an afterlife per se) that I have had since I was a child, and I occasionally remember and dwell on. The idea is that after death, we'll spend eternity in whatever mental and emotional state we were in at the moment of death. If we die relaxed and at peace, we will spend eternity at peace. If we die frightened and alone, that's how we'll spend forever.
ReplyDeleteOnce as a kid I told someone about this idea, and they hated it, because there wasn't any justice in it. Almost every afterlife belief has some element of justice - rewards for the good, punishments for the evil. Life is so unfair that we want the afterlife to redeem some of life's injustices. But there's no reason that I see to conclude that the afterlife would be any more just and fair than the living world. That's why we have to work so hard for justice in the living world - it may be the only chance we get.
But there's a different aspect to this idea that I suddenly realized. It depends on the idea that death traps us, whereas in your afterlife idea, death frees us. It occurred to me that most other afterlife beliefs fall into one of these two categories. I wonder what it says about the believer, if they think that death is a closing trap, or that it will bring freedom.