The answers are pretty simple. 1: People are more comfortable with death if they know where they are going when they die. 2: It gives people a purpose in life, instead of being alone in the universe.
I think any non-retarded person can figure out that God didn't just snap his fingers and bam there is life. If that is true than please God give me a damn McLaren F1 GT already, if I was God I'd take bribes. But back to the point. I would say one of the scariest things on earth is the unknown because if you think about it, you have no idea what will happen which renders you totally out of control, and people like to be in control. Death is the biggest unknown there is, I don't care what you believe but you do not know 100% what will happen when you die. It is fundamentally impossible to know for absolute what will happen, no matter what someone tells you or how much you believe them there is always that chance they are lying or are miss-guided into believing something happened that never actually took place.
For example: Say that person A died and was brought back to life, and while that person died they saw what the afterlife was really like. Now that person tells person B what he/she saw and it was 100% absolutely true. Person A does not know for 100% absolutely true what happens when they die because they did not experience and they do not know 100% that person A was telling the truth. Many people exaggerate when re-telling story's and more often than not it is to make the story more exciting.
One of the big questions in life is what is the individuals purpose, why are we here. Which is a valid question in itself, one I do not believe can be answered. In general, people like to be told what to do, which requires very little thinking on the persons part. (I myself never like to lead when walking in a group or with someone because if I’m just mindlessly following someone I don't have to think about where I’m going I can just sit there and observe or get lost in thought or just be mindless, hah). Religion gives someone purpose, they have a reason for living that reason being to serve God. Many people use that purpose for good, like helping third world countries. While others use it to make people serve them because they are self-proclaimed prophets of God, *Cough the Pope Cough*.
-Matt Last
P.S. As an individual each case is different so I am speaking in generals, while there are many more reasons why people join religions. Sometimes it's the law, other times people feel guilty if they don't. Etc. I just touched on two major ones. Also this is all just my opinion and in no way is fact, (Many people confuse fact with opinion).
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Death and the cosmos
Hi Matt,
Nice contribution. Any non-handicapped person can figure out that God didn't just snap his fingers and bam there is life - what about the big bang theory that scientists are trying to prove again this very day in an on-going experiment in Switzerland? Death, if you were to read Knowledge of Higher Worlds, you would see how death and dying are around us all the time through nature, but for the most part we do not notice it that much. Most people I know are not fearful of death, but consider it a part of life. If you live your life with Grace and Love, and experience goodness and appreciation of the natural world, does it really matter that we are not here forever, does it really matter what happens after we have left the planet? If you were to know and work with children and adults who are mentally handicapped, you would experience that they have many wonderful gifts that so-called "normal" smarties do not have, beautiful gifts like love and kindness and appreciation for the other. I recently spent some time at a Camphill on the East Coast and I felt so honored to be with the Villagers there. I have not felt so much love and kindness directed my way when around the so-called "normals." Perhaps someday you would like to spend some time as a Camphill volunteer (they have a lot of young people working there) and experience for yourself the truth of what it is to be handicapped or have developmental disabilities.
Love to you,
Patri
I am sorry I did not mean
I am sorry I did not mean to offend handi-capped people, those weren't the people I had in mind when i used to the term "retarded." I actually don't even think of handi-capped people when using the term, I would not enjoy making fun of handi-capped individuals and do not codone any sort of behavior.
OK Matt
Hi Matt,
Understood, and I would still recommend volunteering at a Camphill, as you would learn a lot there about the mentally and physically handicapped young and old, plus, most importantly, you would learn a lot about yourself.
Cheers,
Patri
Patri, thanks, the young
Patri, thanks, the young people eagerly seek your recommendations.
Matt!
I loved this post. It was refreshing in many ways for me. Thanks. And, yes, I understand why in conditional terms your choice of words could fit into the fold of conversations about disability, for some reason I read your meaning without pause.
I've read so much within the field of near-death experience and love the fact that EVERYBODY always sees the gods/god/savior/buddah that come from traditions of which they have personal or cultural associations. The motivation to NEED a world in which "I" live on is fundamental and, I think (could be wrong) based in the split that Steiner begins talking about in the second chapter of his book.
Freedom, for me, is when one cognizes that the afterlife is eternal and, therefore, never in the future. This cognition is not associated with any personal/cultural tradition. It's THIS moment's reality. And I share your warning that, of course, these are just words that I am typing from my experience. Nothing more...unless shared.
Anyway, thanks for sharing those thoughts.
The Victory of The Spirit
Greetings Matt
Just popped in to see how PoF is doing and I came across your posting on the question of Life Beyond Death.
I am rather surprised (although not really) at Patri’s remark – ‘does it really matter that we are not here forever, does it really matter what happens after we have left the planet?’
This is contrary to Rudolf Steiner’s numerous lectures on Life Beyond Death; reincarnation namely.
Even Stephen Hawkings is unclear about Life After Death as reported here under the Large Hadron Collider article:
‘Prof Hawking said the £4.4bn machine, in which scientists are about to recreate conditions just after the Big Bang, is "vital if the human race is not to stultify and eventually die out.’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2710348/Stephen-Hawking-Large-Hadron-Collider-vital-for-humanity.html
It is quite sad; 83 years after Rudolf Steiner’s passing through the portal of death people – even so called top scientists do not understand the Universe.
I have a few archive writings on Life Beyond Death which might interest you:
‘The mystery of death is connected with the deepest mysteries of the world’ Rudolf Steiner
The Human Being’s Experiences Beyond the Gates of Death – 17 June 1915
Rudolf Steiner
When we enter physical life a birth we experience a time in which we have not yet attained the peak of physical consciousness. You know that we cannot remember the first years of our life with our normal consciousness. It can be said that physical consciousness dictates that one’s own birth must be forgotten. Birth and the first years of life are forgotten. When, between birth and death, we look back at our life, we can only remember back to a certain point. The point at which memory breaks off is not our physical birth; there is a period during which we have experiences which we cannot later remember.
No one can know that he was born. He can only conclude it by observing the births of other human beings. If a scientific researcher wished only to accept what he could see, then he would find it impossible – if he wanted to be logical – to prove his own birth. One can only perceive one’s own birth through clairvoyance. Otherwise one can only infer it.
Exactly the opposite is true of death. All through the time between death and a new birth, the moment of death stands before the eye of the soul as the most vivid and vital impression. But you must not think that this is a painful memory. Then you would have to believe that the person who has died looks back upon the same aspect of death which you perceive in the physical world, upon decay and dissolution. But in reality he sees death from the other side: he sees death as the most beautiful experience of all.
There is nothing more beautiful in the human being’s normal experience of the spiritual world than his perception of death. This victory of the spirit over matter, is the most significant and mightiest thing that can be experienced during the life which the human being passes through between death and a new birth.
When, after death, the human being lays aside the etheric body and gradually emerges into full consciousness – which is accomplished not long after death – then he no longer has the same relationship to himself which he had here in the physical world. The human being on earth is unconscious of himself while asleep; when he awakes, he becomes aware that he has a Self, an ‘I’. After death it is somewhat different, for his self-awareness reaches a higher stage. I will describe to you in a moment how it alters.
He also experiences in the spiritual world something like a reflective awareness of himself, of his ‘I’. It is a similar experience to the one of remembering and contemplating oneself when one wakes up in the morning. But this self-contemplation is achieved by looking back to the moment of death. In order to perceive our ‘I’ between death and a new birth we look back at our death and can then say: ‘You are myself, you are an ‘I’, for you really died!’
This is the most significant thing: one looks back upon the victory of the spirit over the body at the moment of death, which is the most beautiful experience that one can have in the spiritual world.
And as one looks back one becomes aware of one’s Self in the spiritual world. This is – it is not quite correct to say like an awakening – a contemplation of oneself through perceiving one’s death.
Therefore it is so important that the human being is really able to look back at the moment of death with full consciousness he develops after death. It is enormously important that he should not dream through what he perceives, but can fully understand it.
We can, in fact, prepare ourselves for this during life by trying to practice self-knowledge. Spiritual science really exists in order to give the human being access to the self-knowledge which he needs. It is, after all, a way of leading the human being out into his larger Self, that Self through which he is part of the whole world.
‘To the world of appearance of death shines up
Spiritual knowledge’s bright earth-flame;
The Self becomes world-eye and ear’
To be continued/
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