Within religious circles, a great deal of time is taken up by trying to reassure people that there is the promise of a good afterlife. I can remember a preacher reassuring his congregation that Christianity was worth it in the end: “The wages aren’t great, but the pension is out of this world.” As if we should only really be motivated to love and care for others, because of a great reward when we die. Seems a bit strange that way of thinking.
And of course the reality is that nobody really knows what comes next, if anything. No one really knows where we ‘go’ when we die, or how, or even what the nature of our consciousness truly is. Spiritual traditions, even within my own religion of Christianity, are muddled and confused on the question, there is no certainty despite what those who have convinced themselves otherwise may tell you.
What we can be certain about, is that each of us will suffer and die – suffering takes many forms, but some form of suffering visits all of us, whether it’s physical, emotional or otherwise, and death is a constant, more so than taxes and even than laundry. In order to live in peace and harmony within the world we should adapt to this reality, to acknowledge and accept that bad things do happen, that mishaps will befall us, that we will all die. And in our acceptance and understanding of this reality, we should live as though this one life we have is all the more precious and valuable because there is no guarantee of anything else. Make the most of each moment, it may be your last.
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