At times we all wonder about the true meaning of life and what happens after we die. There are different ways of examining the subject. We can look at it from the point of view of religion. In order to use this approach a person must have faith. Alternately, we can use science to study our place in the universe, where instead of faith; we base our truths on experiment. In this article I will attempt to give you some insight into the subject from my own beliefs largely based on experiment and logic.
Religion: Good vs. Evil.
Religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, believe in an all powerful God that controls the universe. This God is given many of the attributes of powerful human kings and dictators. He wants man to be humble and worship Him. If man needs anything, man must pray to Him, and if He feels like it He will grant man's wishes, if not man's prayers go unanswered.
According to many religions, the world is divided into two conflicting groups. Those who follow God and His teachings are called good, while God's opponents are called evil. God has created for Himself a powerful adversary to keep our world in constant turmoil. This adversary is called the Devil or Satan. It's his job to tempt mankind into going against God's will. Since the beginning of time there has been a struggle between good and evil, and it's likely to continue as long as religions dominate society.
The definitions of good and evil are relative to the religion a person belongs to. The God of Israel ordered Joshua to kill the inhabitants of Jericho because these people were "idolaters." The people of Jericho did not worship the Jewish God, so they were termed evil. But in their eyes the Jews were the real "idolaters" and were the evil ones. Because the Jews had a mightier army, Joshua and the Jewish God prevailed.
If we look at things logically, the true God or Force Governing the Universe must be for everybody. Since the True God is responsible for everyone's existence, favoring one religion or nationality would violate God's status as a Universal Force. Many human laws, like human religions, are not universal. By forcing people to follow specific laws, God would show favoritism. So God ignores all human laws. He does not favor either saints or lawbreakers. It's up to us humans to reward our saints and punish our lawbreakers.
There is no reason to believe that the true God would have an adversary. Satan is a figure invented by religion to help control humanity. Many religions are based on stories found in ancient texts like the Bible. Usually, every story has an antagonist; even an all powerful story book God, needs an almost as powerful enemy. Satan serves as such an enemy and as the symbol of evil in religious mythology. In the real world, there isn't any definitive proof that supports his existence. Hollywood just loves Satan. Like vampires, werewolves, and zombies, Satan is a recurrent theme in many Hollywood movies. Movies like "The Exorcist" and "Drag Me To Hell." portray Satan at his worst.
Observation of historical events verifies that the true God does not favor any religion, law or social group. In the time of Joshua God let the Jews persecute the people of Jericho but in different eras the Jews became the victims of persecution. Millions were killed during the Holocaust by the dictator Adolph Hitler. During the time of Nero, the Romans persecuted the Christians; but, at the time of the Inquisition, the Christians persecuted scholars and heretics. So it goes, no country, no religion, no philosophy is ever favored by God.
In the modern world there are some people that enjoy enormous wealth, while many others live in nearly unbearable poverty. Many of the world's poor are constantly praying just to get enough food to make it through the day. And what about the dictators like Hitler or Stalin who murdered millions of innocent people? If God considers such injustices as evil, why does He let them happen? Rich, poor, master, or slave, observation of history shows us that God doesn't meddle in human affairs. He gives us free will, and if we don't like what's happening, it's up to us to change it.
Maybe, what happens here on earth is just not that important in the endless sea of eternity. If after death, we exist in a spiritual plane - Most religions believe this. - then consider that what we see as good or evil on earth could be irrelevant there. Here many of us consider murder the worst kind of evil. In the spiritual world, if we have no bodies, we can't kill or be killed. There is no need for money or sex. All these concepts are part of the earthly struggle between good and evil, yet don't apply in the spiritual plane of existence. There could be other laws governing the spiritual plane, but since we have not been there yet, we have no way of knowing what they could be.
Heaven and Hell.
Along with the concept of good and evil, many religions preach the idea of reward for those who diligently follow the teachings of God, and punishment for those who do not. This reward is called heaven and punishment is called hell. Heaven is associated with eternal bliss while hell is an eternal flame designed to keep the wicked in perpetual agony. Some Islamic extremists believe that America is the "Great Satan" and Americans are evil so the Islamic extremist hell would be full of Americans. Americans, on the other hand, believe that Islamic extremists are terrorists and call them evil. Then the American hell would be full of Islamic extremists. As we can see, there doesn't seem to be a "universal" hell, but depends on which religion one believes in. Since we have concluded that the laws that Govern the Universe cannot favor any religion, it follows that there can be no heaven or hell.
Handling Morality.
If good and evil, and heaven and hell are not central concepts of the Universal Force and there is no definitive law of God, how then can one handle morality on earth? One answer could be that most of us desire to live a happy earthly life. Being in prison is not an ingredient of a happy life so we must obey our local laws reasonably well to avoid this. If we constantly fight with our neighbors, life will not be happy. War creates turmoil and does not lead to a peaceful, happy life, so we must avoid it. We can study different philosophers like Christ, Buddha, Mohamed, Confucius and others for guidance. As human beings, we still have a sense of what is right and wrong. Let our conscience guide us down the path of life. We must practice what we consider to be right because we want to and not because we're forced to. Such morality will help us lead a happy and peaceful life. Surprisingly a person that fears no punishment and expects no reward, often turns out to have a better working morality than a practicing religious zealot.
Life After Death.
Our standard religions always talk about some kind of reward for the faithful after death. With the exception of some Eastern religions, they never give any physical evidence that an afterlife is possible. There are rigorous observations that are being made by scientists that suggest survival after death is indeed a possibility. For centuries there have been stories about young children remembering their past lives. Previously this belief was held only in Eastern cultures. Lately it has been gaining ground in the West. The late Dr. Ian Stevenson was the head of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia until his retirement in 2002. This scholar spent forty years amassing nearly 3000 cases suggestive of reincarnation from around the world. Even skeptics agree that his data is the best proof to date for reincarnation. It turns out that some children, ages from 2 till 7, remember their past lives. A lot of what these children claim can be verified from government documents and living witnesses. Although conventional science doesn't accept this data as proof, they can't explain it away either. For me it's too much to ignore. The University of Virginia is continuing Dr. Stevenson's studies and numerous other scientists and institutions are also investigating this interesting field.
What Dr. Stevenson's studies suggest is that there is something called the "soul" that can exist without a body for a time and come back in another body if and when it so desires. We have no idea how many souls come back and how many remain in the spiritual plane or why they choose to get reincarnated. We currently don't know what the soul is made of or any characteristics of the plane or dimension it exists in after death.
Some souls possibly remain at their earthly place of death for long periods of time. They sometimes even interact with the living. These souls are called ghosts. Since these disembodied spirits have an extremely hard time interacting with our physical plane, actual evidence for ghosts is rare. TV shows like "Ghost Hunters" are designed to make money and not investigate paranormal phenomena. Because of this, these shows have to be staged to be more interesting than they really are. If scientists are skeptical of real researchers, then you can't expect them to accept the findings from reality television shows. It is, however, possible that these "ghost hunters" can run across real phenomena in the course of their investigations.
Psychic Phenomena.
Related to the existence of the soul is the existence of psychic phenomena. Dean Radin, a scientist in the field of parapsychology says that research has established that these phenomena really do exist. The reason there is so much skepticism, is that on earth the effects of these phenomena are very small. Let's take an example. There is a best selling book out named "The Secret" that professes that you can get health and wealth just by thinking about it and really believing it. Research in parapsychology shows that the mind can influence the physical world, but only by a minute amount. To a normal person, thinking about money will not make it appear, but it can start a series of events that can eventually lead him to it. To get it, he would still have to work very hard for it. If there were individuals that could efficiently influence the physical world with their minds, then they would not need to work hard for their money, they could just wish for it like "The Secret" says. Unfortunately, as far as I know, such individuals are rare or nonexistent.
Many psychic phenomena could be very powerful if used to their full potential. They can be thought of as being the attributes of God. Each of us has some psychic ability, but only a very tiny amount. What this implies is that we are all, in a small way, part of God. If, in ages to come, we evolve to be able to easily use our psychic powers, we will become more Godlike. Perhaps, even today, there are monks in some far off monastery that can use their psychic powers efficiently. We haven't heard of them, because they have evolved enough not to use their abilities for earthly wealth or power.
Conclusion.
The Universal Creative Force is the true God.
Man has not evolved enough to begin to understand God.
God does not favor any religion. Good and evil are human concepts relative to earthly society and are largely ignored by God.
Satan is a myth arising from ancient religious texts like the Bible.
There is no Heaven or Hell.
Man has free will on earth.
Since God doesn't impose laws and human laws may be flawed, it's up to the individual to create his own morality.
Reincarnation research suggests that the soul does exist.
Survival after death and reincarnation are possible.
Psychic phenomena exist to a small degree in all of us.
We are all part of God.
Please do not take the above points as dogma. Only the major religions tell you how to think. Everyone should be an individual and reach his or her conclusions about the subject. My philosophy is dynamic. As new research and ideas become available, my philosophy changes to fit what I perceive as fact.
George Lunt is someone who feels the world is getting too corporate. His writings relate the individual's struggle with big government and big corporations. His website is http://www.corporate-aliens.com.
This article is © George Lunt. All usage of this article must include a citation to the author and a link to corporate-aliens.com.