Ladies and gentlmen, I welcome you to Insights in which I try to throw a little of my own perspective light onto topics with which people mail me. No subject is too off-the-wall or taboo; I'll stick my neck out on anything.
About a month ago, Phillip Spalding had a proposition...well, really more of a request. A coworker was doing a story on different beliefs of the afterlife, and upon asking Phil if he knew anyone with an unusual belief, my name came up. So, I sent her a two page synopses of my thoughts which she found very interesting. So I had a quote published in a newspaper which was pretty cool. Tonight, on November 2, my uncle passed away which brough death once more to the limelight, so I'm hoping this Insight may ease the grieving and hopefully enlighten everyone as well.
First off, I am all in favor of death. It's a necessity that gives one purpose in life. Without death, one need not feel as though they need to accomplish something, has no drive or ambition, and accomplishes little or nothing. Self-preservation also provides a backbone of humanity which is lost upon immortality. The point of this Insight is what happens after....
I, personally, see into many of the schools of beliefs for many reasons. Reincarnation-through hypnosis, I've taken several people to past lives. Afterlife/Limbo-as a child, I spoke and saw ghosts of dead relatives. Heaven/Hell-not so much proof here, as a belief that somehow our actions need to be judged. The biggest difference is that I believe that your actions and intent are the ONLY way you are judged. Not by if you believe in Christ or go to church regularly or pray or offer burnt sacrifices or whatever. I'll go into more of that later on.
Screw it, let's do it now. Heaven and Hell (or whatever you wish to call) are places of good and evil, respectively. The weight of good or evil on your soul is what I think will determine where you go. How does one define good or evil? By the one thing that is universal throughout religions: your interactions with your fellow man, animal, and the Earth. No matter what your justifications are, if you're rude, spiteful, hateful, prejudiced, or killing others, it's negative on you. If you hurt or maim animals, trash the planet, etc., it's all bad. So that's how things are judged.
So then what happens? Okay, you're more evil than good. Time for Hell. Hell isn't infinite torture and pain. The harshest any judgement ever made is one for one, an eye for an eye, etc. In Hell, you pay for your sins. Whatever evil was inflicted by you, is redirected on you. However, the sin is not purged unless true remorse over that sin has been present. Once it has truly been erased, then your time in Hell ceases. You then get to move on to be a spirit in Heaven.
Good outweighing evil? Here's where things get tricky. Depending on the amount of good on your soul results in different options. If you're just getting by, then as a evil-purged soul does, you're a spirit of Heaven. If the good is pretty decent, then you also have your choice of being reincarnated and giving Life a go again, as a reward. If you have a lot of good, then you can attain angel ranking where you can become a Guardian Angel of someone of your choice, and so on. Obviously, only people who are truly good to others are trusted to continue that pathway in the Afterlife.
What about the in-betweens? Those who are in balance? Here's where the spirit realm or Limbo enter in, what people think of as ghosts. Trapped between good and evil, their memories are erased, and they are left spiritual shells, capable of interacting with our realm. Those who help our realm slowly make their way to Heaven. Those who hinder or harm (poltergeists, per se) slowly go toward Hell. Then others, who simply stay and do nothing remain locked in their Limbo prison until they choose to act one way or another.
It's a complicated outlook, but it's a complicated life, and a complicated Afterlife is the only thing that makes sense.
Previous Insights:
Women...12/18/99
Homosexuality...1/7/00
Religion...3/23/00
Dreams...4/4/00
Toothpicks...7/24/00
Gossip...12/29/00
Harry Potter...`12/20/01
Order & Chaos... 4/24/02