Afterlife

I believe in God. I believe in Islam. So do other religions. In a way, you call it fate. Without demanding it to be the truth. Or everything it talks about. The idea is to have a belief in something, even if it is a story, so you can keep yourself grounded. Otherwise, all the questions lingering in your intellectual brain drive you insane. As scientists figured out shit one by one over time. Like how lightning works. The idea of a god sitting in the clouds and hitting his anvil became a myth. In the same way, every story out there is not necessarily the truth, but serves as one until humans discover the science behind it.

Abrahamic religions present a life after death. Eternity. The actions you did and the thoughts you had, the beliefs you behold, determine the quality of that afterlife. It’s a story. And it serves as a truth for the majority of us, because science doesn’t have conclusive evidence otherwise. But still, there is a scientific view of nothingness. You still don’t exist anymore. Once you’re dead, bang, that’s it. Your heart stops pumping blood. Without blood, your organs fail and die. Then your brain dies, along with all the consciousness you had. We just become matter. Like the concrete terrace I’m now sitting on top of. It doesn’t have consciousness. It’s matter held together. No neurons firing. Isn’t it an easier story to believe? Than slacklining over a thin rope, hoping you don’t fall into fire?

I wonder what if religions took that standpoint. There’s only mortality. There is no eternity. You’re dead, you’re dead. Then suddenly your life becomes a hand in a very lucky draw. To witness this universe as it is. With your limited time, do as much as you can. There is no consequence. Or the consequence is always there for everyone. Death. Nothing after that. The same stillness. Erasure of yourself as if you never existed. A man who believes all that matters is for him to experience this life as much as he can, good or bad, moral or immoral, ethical or absurd violence, only to have the densest version of life you could imagine. That’s a very dangerous man. And a bunch of those, that’s a very dangerous world, where nobody is held accountable for anything. Law and order will cease to exist.

So from that perspective, religions took the correct standpoint. Maybe religion is not about the truth. It’s about fabricating the right story at the right time, to keep our civilizations sane.