In part 1 of this 3-part series, author Daniel Parmeggiani explores life after death and considers the validity of the scientific stance that this life is all we have.

We are born without an instruction manual, without caring or feeding directions, and without a roadmap telling us where we should go or what we should do. Naturally, we believe we are perishable bodies and when we die, it’s over. End of story. But is it?

While I don’t claim to know what happens after we die, nor am I a seer who can remember past lives or peek into the afterlife, what I can do is shed some light into this scary but vital subject just by applying some simple, common sense.

Let’s start by considering the scientific, “rational” stance that “this is all there is.” Common sense alone tells us that this world view makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The main reason is that we are all born with an intrinsic need for meaning, justice, safety, and connection. Yet none of these basic requirements for happiness can be fulfilled if we are created with an expiration date. Where is the deep sense of meaning we all crave if we, and all that we ever learn and accomplish, are destined to disappear as if they never even existed in the first place? Why do we crave safety in our lives if we are ever-vulnerable and destined to lose that battle? Where is the justice we long for in a world where you may be randomly born into prosperity or, far more likely, into misery? Why are we so desperate to find a sense of connection if we face total disconnection in the end?

Scientists insist it is irrational to believe in an afterlife. I say that what’s irrational is to think that we are all born with intrinsic longings that can never be truly satisfied. In nature, nothing happens that is unnecessary or absurd. Why would we be the exception, wanting what is impossible to have? More than wanting them, we need these conditions of meaning, fairness, safety, and connection in order to find the state of happiness, the state of inner heaven, we all seek. If life is nothing but a physical phenomenon that originated by chance in an ancient primordial soup, then why are we endowed with unattainable spiritual longings?

If we really only live once, nothing really matters. End of discussion. If, after we die, we cease to exist, Shakespeare’s Macbeth was spot on when he lamented that “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” If we are just this body, all doors to the state of fulfillment and satisfaction we crave would be closed for good and the existentialist’s view of life as a pointless existence would suddenly make a lot of sense. Let us assume instead that our existence is more than an accidental, microscopic flash in the universal pan. Let us say that our natural, absolute drive towards harmony, personal improvement, and real happiness can actually be fulfilled. What makes sense then for an afterlife?

If we accept that we do go on beyond this life, we currently have two main belief systems to choose from:

We are judged and sent off permanently to Heaven or Hell

OR

We keep coming back until we “get it right”

Next week, in Part 2 of this investigation into life after death, we will figure out which of these two belief systems, if any, is suitable for the true fulfillment of our deepest needs. Thanks for checking in, and may these truths bring you the perfect happiness, love, and inner peace that you so rightfully deserve.

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Daniel Parmeggiani
21st February 2014

The post Life after Death Part 1: Is This Life All We Have? appeared first on Magnificient Truth.