I have a question for my fellow bloggers...followers...random folks who find this...
What do you think happens when you die?
I have read multiple books on the subject.
I have my own thoughts...my own theories but want to hear what others think...
So...
Do you simply turn to dust...
Do you go to heaven...or hell...
Do you linger somewhere in between...paradise... purgatory...or hell
Are you reincarnated...
Soul...no soul...
Is your purpose here to teach or pass along a lesson...
Are we supposed to teach / help others...
What is the purpose...the meaning...
Where do we go...
What happens...
Yes, I am being very nondescript and vague because I don't want to influence what
others might think or have to say...I'm curious to hear what people think...
I need some input here...
I found your blog through your Bruce Springsteen connection and boy do I need to know that answer. Today I was told the end is very near for my boyfriend who I have known for 40 years-leukemia topped by a fall which caused an inoperable hematomia in his brain. It hurt so bad today I ran into the ocean in a dress and cowboy boots! I always thought in heaven you were reunited with your loved ones. If I had assurance of that, I would be sleeping right now, because I could wait till it was my time if I knew he would wait for me. When I was little, I thought you sat on clouds for eternity which seeed prety borning-We were Blood Brothers in this fight and until I know what heaven is like-I just want to go with him so I know he is safe.
ReplyDeleteI've probably read most of the same books you have and come a fair way around the bend from fundamentalist roots. I'm convinced that life goes on in another form.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't KNOW, I trust that our souls go through some sort of debriefing where we come to understand the lessons we learned in this Earth School term. We meet with our advisors and decide what our next training or mission will be. We rest and relax, then get on with our role in building the overall creation, helping others learn pure LOVE.
I don't have a clear picture of how this all works. I don't care. I just believe. Life will go on. We will be surrounded by LOVE, whether it's in the form of people we know in this life, or some other form.
At this point I do believe we have many Earth School opportunities, each unique. But my belief in a constructive hereafter stands in any case.
Hell? Hell no! But that's a long story. Too long for a comment.
I believe that a life lived without God will be an eternity without God. Since God is light and love I believe if we haven't lived according to God's word, then our eternity will be dark and lonely. We are probably left with our thoughts, regrets etc forever.
ReplyDeleteJesus tells us we need to be born again to enter into heaven and by being born again in this life it sometimes means we yield to what God's will is for our life. I know that our soul will live forever in heaven or hell. Unfortunetly we make that choice while living here on earth, whether we know we are making it or not.
This opinion of course is based on the idea that the bible is 100% God breathed and inspired by God but of course written by the men God chose to write his words.
Sorry if this sounds so doom and gloom, but Jesus himself spoke more about hell than anyone else in the bible.
The Bible says Jesus is light, love, Truth, and a slew of other things. GOD is LOVE. Love does not threaten people with burning forever in hell unless they do a bunch of things. Love teaches LOVE, and nobody learns love by being threatened and ruled with FEAR and judging. Do you feel full of love when you are scared silly? How can you completely love a god who threatens you all the time?
ReplyDeleteYou are a loving father. Would you condemn your girls to hell if ... think about it! If they were full of love, what else would matter? What does a loving father do if his kid errs?
Let LOVE flood your life and the next stage will take care of itself. Don't waste time being afraid!
BTW, a life full of LOVE will be full of GOD, because God IS love. Even if that life is spent in the Church of the Great Outdoors or an ashram or synagogue, or sweat lodge or whatever.
Taking a "detour" from my daily routine to comment. It's been awhile since I commented on your blog postings. Usually, I just tell you offline what I think. But I cannot resist this one.
ReplyDeleteI will attempt to answer this in a non-preachy way. [Warning: I didn't succeed]
First of all, it's not what you think but what you know. What I know is that when you die, your body turns to dust and your soul goes on to another place or dimension where you and your life are judged. Based on the outcome of judgement, you are either admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven, or sent away to repent. Once you are in Heaven, you are reunited with the souls of your loved ones. What happens next, I am not sure, but I know that once secure in the hands of God, there are no more worries, pain, sadness or sorrow.
How do I know? Well, I guess I have to admit that from your perspective, I don't know...I believe. And my faith is strong enough for me to say to you that to me, believing is knowing. Faith is wisdom.
I will admit that what I am not sure about is "hell." As one who believes that there is only one God, I find it hard to believe there is a devil. If there is a "being" called a devil, that "being" would be a God. There is evil, but no "God of Evil". I am a believer in purgatory. I am a believer that God is forgiving and event the worst sinners can be forgiven. I am not sure at what cost. "Hell" is likely one and the same as purgatory - a place where a soul goes to repent and pay for earthly sins.
Other questions:
Are you reincarnated...
That's a good one. I am going to "go rogue" on this one. I think there is a such thing as reincarnation, though not in the traditional sense. I don't believe people are reincarnated as other creatures. And I also suspect that there is not a one-to-one relationship between who we are now and who we once were (in a previous life). If you want to debate that idea, we'll do it over a few glasses of wine some night.
Is your purpose here to teach or pass along a lesson...
Yes and yes. Everyone has a purpose on this Earth. Part of our duties in exchange for the gift of life is to spread faith, hope and love. Everyone has a different purpose - or way of achieving it. Teaching and/or passing on a lesson I believe is part of everyone's purpose...whether we know it or not.
Are we supposed to teach / help others...
Yes.
What is the purpose...the meaning...
Love.
Where do we go...
We go where our heart takes us.
What happens next...
You pray that God will give you the answers you are looking for. You take all of this stuff from me and everyone else with a grain of salt. You take all of the stuff from the books you read, with a grain of salt. You sit quietly and ask yourself if you believe in God. If so, then you pray to him to give you strength to continue to believe. You ask for answers. You ask Him to forgive you. And you forgive Him. You thank Him for the goodness in your life - kids, home, job, good friends, the start of a new life, etc. Then you continue to teach and inspire, as you have been doing since [even before] Jen died.
Ever since I was about three, I have pictured heaven as a place where you see everyone you love, but you don't touch them; it is somehow enough just to see them. A benefit of this concept is if you were married, and your spouse died, and you remarried, you would get to see both of your spouses (and each of the two wives/husbands would not see the other wife/husband).
ReplyDeleteI also imagine that everyone looks just as each person remembered them, which means you might look one way to someone but a different way to someone else who died later.
I am Catholic and I believe in God, but my view of heaven is probably not super traditional. I think if there is a heaven (and I certainly don't know), anyone who is good can go; in my mind God would not turn away non-believers so long as they lived good (wish I knew how "good")lives. A friend of mine died from cancer a month after we turned 21. He was a good person who happened to not believe in God. If there is a heaven, I have to think he is there.
This is a bit over-intellectualized. Apologies, its my coping method of choice. Some people love it, some think it's a giant eye-roll.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you never die, just as you were never born. Somewhere, your wife is still living, just as she did when she was 12, and 20, and 30 years old, because that part of time never stops existing. We perceive ourselves as moving away from it, but that's just our flawed way of viewing progression because we are stuck with it. The dead cannot be with us in this moment, at least not in the form we knew them, but there are thousands of moments in which they still exist, in which they always will exist.
I don't think this idea necessarily negates the existence of a literal afterlife in any form, it's just one more way of looking at the transition, whatever it might be.
I hope that helps
-Jackie