How our perspective on death changes life

The two are inseparable after all…

Human Skull

Strange person that I am, I have spent an absurd amount of time meditating on things like death, morals, and the human condition. I have noticed that there is one specific subject that few like to meditate on, and that even fewer understand: our relationship with death, and its implications for life.

First, some background for our discussion. Though this article is by no means an exhaustive thesis on the perspectives of death, using just a handful of examples I hope to show how much our perspective on death can change life. For my examples I will use the “big three” lines of theological and philosophical thinking:

1. Abrahamic religions: There is an eternal heaven, an eternal hell, and we are all just foreigners in this place, “testing” our way to our native eternity.
2. Reincarnist religions: There is no eternal hell, we are in “purgatory” right now (called Maya) — which isn’t something foreign to us, but rather is part of all of us — working over many lifetimes towards an eternal heaven — or rather a place of Divine consciousness — a place where we are one with God.
3. Athiest and Science based religions: We just happen to be in this foreign place by chance, and have no destination. We are native to nothing, and nothing awaits us. The only goal is to conquer this universe, and submit it to our will.

As you can see, these lines of philosophy all differ greatly. First, we have Abrahamic religions, which includes Judaism, Muslim, and Christianity. T̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶t̶e̶g̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶b̶e̶l̶i̶e̶f̶s̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶e̶r̶t̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶a̶d̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶G̶o̶d̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶e̶s̶ ̶u̶s̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶c̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶e̶w̶o̶o̶d̶-̶-̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶b̶u̶r̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶t̶e̶r̶n̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶H̶i̶s̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶o̶g̶y̶n̶i̶s̶t̶i̶c̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶f̶u̶s̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶n̶a̶r̶r̶a̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶f̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶…̶ ̶a̶ ̶”̶p̶e̶r̶f̶e̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶”̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶c̶l̶e̶a̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶f̶-̶c̶o̶n̶f̶l̶i̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶.̶ Eehhhmm… I mean: This category of beliefs asserts that there is an eternal heaven, a place of perfection and peace were all “good” people will congregate after death. Those who are not “good” will instead be eternally tormented by God. For the sake of this article, we will use the umbrella term “Hell” to refer to this torturous after life in all its forms— even though the nature of it changes based on the belief, and it isn’t always called “Hell” depending on the context.

Next, we have Reincarnist religions, like Hinduism, and Buddhism. This category of beliefs asserts that there is an eternal heaven, or rather a merging of our consciousness with that of the Divine, which can only be achieved over many lifetimes of spiritual growth. After one has perfected themselves enough, they will begin to experience and interact with the Divine (while still in this life), until finally, they live out their final reincarnation, and in a perfected state, move to a higher plane (such as the Astral Plane). This process is repeated until the “soul” (individual personalized Divine consciousness, combined with will) finally can go no “higher”, and simply becomes a facet of Divinity in and of themselves.

Finally — though their members absolutely hate to be labeled as a “religion” — atheists and so-called scientists form the third group, asserting that there is no deity at all, that life is just random chance, and that we will all just terminate when life ends. It is worth noting that this category of individuals do indeed form a religion — even though they adamantly deny it. They see their beliefs as “facts, which need no belief”, but I would challenge that position (as any good scientist would). As for my inclusion of “so-called scientists”, these are the type that assert that anything immeasurable can not exist, or that this theory or that theory must be the truth, and believing anything else is analogous to insanity. These are the types that adamantly refuse to believe in anything spiritual, or in anything that is beyond their text-books and instruments. In short, these are the types that refuse to believe anything that doesn’t fit into their currently held beliefs… sounds similar, doesn’t it? I won’t go further into the “religious nature” of most atheists, and many so-called scientists here. That is substance for another article. For now, just know you can safely ignore them when they claim to not be religious, and that any who try to make such a claim can be known to be lacking in intelligence, without doubt.

So, now that I have the stage set, let’s dig into the actual content of this article. How does our perspective on death change how we live life? First, let’s discuss the “foreigner” problem. Alan Watts describes very well what I mean when discussing “foreigner” vs “native” above.

You see, Abrahamic religions claim that we are “here in this place on a test”. Translation: We are foreigners to this place. Our true nature is of spirit and Divinity.

Athiest based religious beliefs also assert a very similar thing, though with a different perspective. Instead of “Our true nature is of spirit and Divinity”, they claim “Our true nature is of randomness and opportunity”.

Both philosophies amount to the same thing however: we are foreigners here, inside the universe, not of the universe, and therefor, it is not only our privilege, but our duty and responsibility to dominate and control the universe we find ourselves “in”. There is an obvious “us” vs “them” mentality going on here. “us” being humans, and “them” being our environment. The irony here is that the same scientists who hold such foreigner beliefs openly and eagerly admit that one can not describe a creature without first describing its environment. Both parties assert that nothing here in this universe is permanent, and therefor, being temporary, is non-important considering longevity or morality.

Alternatively, we have Reincarnist beliefs, that state we are one with our environment, inseparable from it, and evolving alongside with it. Though nothing in this existence is believed to be permanent, everything is interdependent, and therefor, everything is very important when considering longevity and morality. It is also worth noting that though it is believed that nothing is truly permanent, you will be coming back to reincarnate, so things are partially permanent, as you will be experiencing your own immorality well into the future. Not only are things right now interdependent, but past and future things are also interdependent.

In summary, in Abrahamic or Atheist beliefs, humans are considered foreigners to this universe, are inside of it, and therefor it is completely within moral bounds to hack-slash-and-burn as much as we can, to control and manipulate our environment (and apparently other people too). In these beliefs, a forest is seen as a “resource”, whereas in Reincarnist beliefs a forest is seen as “our home”, “our body” (because the environment is an extension of your body — it is another organ of your body), or “our children’s future”.

This is just one aspect of how death shapes our lives. The “foreigner” attitude towards our home very much contributes to the destruction of our home and our children’s futures. Following this trajectory, it isn’t hard to see how this ideology also supports hyper-capitalism, tyranny (via the belief in control and domination), “us” vs “them” mentalities, and other atrocities.

Another aspect of death that impacts life is the sorry hoax known as Hell. In order to believe in a place of eternal damnation, one must embrace paradoxes, such as how a so-called loving God can damn His conscious “children” to eternal torment for all eternity before He even creates them (reminder: God knows all things that will happen even before this universe — including you and me — were even “created”).

Unfortunately paradoxes aren’t the only side effects of such harmful beliefs. Consider judgement. If a God can damn me for eternity for not being some abstract version of “good”, then it isn’t that far a stretch for me to damn my gay or trans brethren… or even just those which hold different beliefs than I.

Continuing our unfortunate story, Hell continues to destroy life, in many many ways:

1. It defines and supports YOLO, and the lifestyle, immorality, partying and self-deprecation, and risk-embracing that go with such a belief.
2. It is the primary cause of proselytizing, and the forcing of beliefs upon other people.
3. It is a primary driver behind “us” vs “them” mentalities.
4. It is a fear tactic used by cults to retain members.
5. It is the primary foundation of performance based religion.
6. It instills violence, hate, and discrimination — not only towards the LGBTQ+ community, but of all people that have differing creeds. Think of the crusades, wars of attrition, and how many millions of lives have been lost or destroyed over the centuries.
7. It causes sexuality to be viewed as something disgusting and taboo, instead of something wholesome and natural. This in turn causes a plethora of problems in our world with rape, prostitution, masturbation, birth control, abortion, families, orphans, etc…
8. It forces believing members to take on a “foreigner” belief regarding their environment, which allows them to freely and “morally” control and dominate their environment to serve man.
9. It causes personality and social defects, such as scruples.
10. It causes science and progress to stagnate.
11. It is a prime breeder of cognitive dissonance, and other mental traps.
12. Slowing mental progress and increasing mental traps and disorders, it is a prime driver of ignorance and stupidity in our world.
13. It trains our children from a young age to live from a place of fear, instead of a place of aspiration and hope.
14. It reinforces the “boss” image in society via a sadistic punishing “father figure”, and therefor supports capitalism, destroys families, and makes for wacky perspectives on father figures.

We could likely go on and on and on for pages. Hopefully now you get the idea. Contrast the listed things with Reincarnist beliefs, and you will start to notice a stark contrast. For example, Reincarnist based beliefs embrace science and progress, are comfortable and open about sexuality, are not so quick to judgement, aren’t fear-based or fear instilling, don’t make God out to be a sadistic bastard, are patient in the human condition (why rush, when you are coming back again?), etc…

So when some people claim their beliefs are harmless, and a moot point of “meh” that probably will get them where they want to be, it might be wise to remind them that their belief’s are far from harmless. Many don’t realize it, but their perspective’s on death quite literally destroys the lives of countless billions of people.

It might be wise to take some time to seriously consider what you believe.

Beliefs are the cornerstone of human nature, and the very thing that separates us from animals, as Dr. Yuval Noah Harari so elegantly points out (I am not a sponsor… this is just a fantastic book that I would like to share).

You may not be aware of how your thoughts on death are impacting your life, and the lives of others… but I guarantee they are. Having a “meh” attitude about your beliefs, or not fully understanding what you believe is tantamount to aiding and abetting in genocide.