HERE IS THE FINAL RE-EDITED VERSION OF: "IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH?" 
(PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS!)
What if there is NO supreme power "up there" and after we die it's all over?...if there was this great power "up there" as we think, and would like to believe, do you think it would allow there to be so much suffering here in the world?...you know? Not just in the outside world, but within ourselves?.......I got to thinking about this tonight...and a thought came into MY HEAD that said:
"....IT WOULD MAKE SENSE HARRY WOULDN'T IT??.....I MEAN THAT WOULD EXPLAIN WHY I'M HAVING THESE FEELINGS.... AND IT WOULD EXPLAIN ALL THE SUFFERING THAT GOES ON IN THE WORLD....AND EVERYTHING!!...PERHAPS IT'S CUZ WE REALLY ARE INDEED ALL ALONE AND ON AN EMPTY JOURNEY TO NO WHERE...."
PERFECT HUH? AND THAT'S WHY IT ALL MAKES SENSE!...SOMETIMES THE MOST TRUEST ANSWER IS ALSO THE SIMPLEST...THE ONE RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR NOSES.....NOT COMPLICATED....BUT BASIC....PLAIN.....INSTINCTUAL.....(AND YET SO TERRIFYING THAT A MIND BENT ON INFINITE SURVIVAL WILL WORK WHOLE HEARTEDLY TO AVOID IT)...
...PERHAPS IT'S JUST A BIG ILLUSION PEOPLE MADE UP.... FUNNY THING THOUGH....THERE HAVEN'T BEEN TOO MANY RECENT RELIGIONS POPPING UP LATELY....NOT FOR AWHILE....INTERESTING HUH? NOW THAT WE HAVE EXPLANATIONS FOR MOST THINGS, AND ALL QUESTIONABLE STORIES MUST BE VALIDATED BY SCIENCE AND THE MEDIA FIRST BEFORE GAINING A WORLDWIDE CONSENSUS, AND WE HAVE LAWS TO KEEP PEOPLE IN LINE THERE HAVEN'T BEEN TOO MANY NEW RELIGIOUS CONCEPTS FLOATING AROUND....OH SURE PEOPLE ARE STILL KILLING AND DYING FOR THE ANCIENT ONES BUT NOTHING RECENT...
...see, perhaps it was all made up to EXPLAIN THE UNEXPLAINABLE at the time (IMPORTANT NOTE: THERE WAS NO TELEVISION, NO CNN OR FOX NEWS TO GAIN INFORMATION FROM and NO INTERNET--SO IS IT SO HARD TO BELIEVE THAT A WORD-OF-MOUTH STORY COULD HAVE BEEN UNTRUE? AND WHICH ALSO HAD A CORRUPT FINANCIAL BASIS THAT FORCED PEOPLE IN TO BELIEVING IN SOMETHING OR DIE?----HMMMM LET'S SEE... DO I WANT TO BELIEVE IN THIS THING THE CRUSADERS ARE TELLING ME TO BELIEVE IN---OR GET KILLED?---"ER I THINK WE SHOULD BUILD A HOUSE-O-WORSHIP BOYS!! HERE LEMME HELP YA!!"...GOSH THIS MUST HAVE BEEN GREAT FOR BOOK SALES!!).
COULD THIS HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST HOAX IN THE HISTORY OF MAN-KIND??!! CREATED BY PEOPLE WHO WERE ALREADY EXPERTS IN THE WRITTEN WORD, HAD FANTASTIC PROMOTION SKILLS (MASTERS IN B.S.), PUBIC RELATIONS & SALES??
so anyway perhaps it was made up to control people, and cuz everyone was and still is afraid of DEATH...oh and the other point....this whole thing about God being jealous and vengeful or whatever...I mean come on! doesn't that sound just a tad too "human-like"....and a fear tactic that someone thought up to keep everyone in line?? I mean back then people were out of control! (not too much has changed btw) The ten commandments, perfect just perfect to keep everyone in line...but they needed something else...HOPE...hence, we now have life after death....everlasting eternity....and now we can all "live" happily ever after...book closed, end of story......a part 1 and a part 2...the old and the new...done.
Now, if you can believe in a theory of emptyness and meaninglessness, and somehow unbrainwash years of illusion filling, perhaps, we can learn to live our lives to the real fullest we can...to live it like there IS NO TOMORROW...ONLY TODAY...ONLY THIS one TRIP...THEN...POOF!.....LIKE THE THOUSANDS OF SKULLS FOUND IN THE UNDERGROUND TOMBS....we're all over...bones....just watch the morgue scene in the original "Faces of Death" movie if you want to see what really happens to us after we die!...(gee I'm morbid, huh?)...so it might allow us to live for today more and not for tomorrow, or some unknown afterlife, so we might become TRULY FREE to live in the PRESENT Day.... without some possible illusion of an entity keeping score etc. etc. I think, oddly enough, and in the name of all parodox and irony, that if there WAS a God it would approve of my thinking.....afterall.....all signs in REALITY point us in this direction.....all PRESENT DAY-TO-DAY REALITY and understanding (not what we read in books, which describe the past, or word of mouth from others....but our personal, present, in the moment daily experience)......the ULTIMATE OF PHYSICAL REALITY points down this path....perhaps THEN we can really feel the freedom and specialness of each and every day....because it IS our last....as we know it.....we sleep and take it for granted that we will wake-up in the morning.....but we will not someday. Funny, I just wrote we "might" not wake up someday.....that's how brainwashed I am....how much I delude myself about time and life and our fate. I'm new at this though. I gotta hold on to this thought though...it is really the final answer to motivation...shit nothin else is working...lol!....oh yeah, and remember what I'm saying here has no meaning either....if everything is meaningless and hopelessly empty then ALL things must be that way, including this journal entry!
PS. The problem is that although I might be right in assuming there is no actual God....most people are more comfortable with the idea and seem to flourish as a result of BELIEVING in one nevertheless.....so, although perhaps you've read a truth right now....it might not be a practical or workable way of functioning throughout ones life....in the many ups and downs of our journey most take comfort in some sort of unknown higher power to rely upon. I'm not sure if this is how we're programmed, part of our human condition, or part of our brainwashing or what, but that is also a truth....and therefore these words might not mean much to you if you need to pretend in something anyway....but it seems clearer to me, the simplicity of believing in the "real" or physical reality of THIS world, rather than in...well... as in "The Wizard of Oz", the man behind the curtain, running the show on the screen...as he has become clear to me.
Johnny Cash, Reach out n touch faith....
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jQcNiD0Z3MU
Depeche Mode, Reach out n touch faith.....
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qhzsxEC-psA
Marilyn Manson, Reach out n touch faith......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3G2BQVrcOs
Replies
God is not real. That\'s obvious. Men made this character up as a crutch and an explanation for greed and other wants.
However, god (in the sense of the character) is inside you. You have the power to do whatever you want with your body and mind. You mold the surroundings around you, and affect the lives of others.
people try to grasp the answers because their hearts need /long for some sort of closure on these issues.....but when stating these so called \"truths\", i just ask that you give solid reasoning for how you came to these conclusions in more tangible terms and less loosely defined emotions.
your friend and co-seeker for \"purpose\" as it may be,
jinx
very intrigueing and thought provoking. I who was not a believer, recently opted to have a conversation with God. It wasn\'t what I said but what I felt during the conversation. Maybe what I felt was only myself wanting to believe. Or maybe he or she was listening. And letting me know they were there. But eather way it didn\'t hurt to allow myself to believe for those few minutes that there was something bigger then me in control of my situation. Do I still believe? I think I do..I only know what I feel in my heart. Not anything read from a book or passed on by another.
You\'ve written an excellent rebuttal to the Theistic perspective! Bravo! Even if you are only stating the obvious. It\'s the kind of thing that needs to be stated, over, and over, again; until the religiously brain-washed are free. Congrats on being a fellow freethinker! We should be friends!
Doubt is one of Satan\'s favorite tools. Believing in the unseeable is one of the hardest things. Faith is so easily lost. Someday, something will happen in your life and suddenly you will be like OMG HE does exist. Until that day, I pray you have good flashlight to illuminate your own path.
You and I have talked extensively about this subject and I\'m glad that you had these initial questions. Like Gamerwife1 I have to agre that Satan is at work and now more than ever because he\'s running out of time. Faith means \'to walk with God in darkness\'. All the best.
You know, I missed this journal entry when it was written because I was not on DS much at the time. Reading your latest one, which I really enjoyed led me to this one. The reason why most of the religions make no sense in the face of modern science is because they are mostly interpreted wrongly. This whole belief that god is out there somewhere, separate from us is one of the biggest misconceptions. Jesus stated plainly when he said the kingdom of heaven is within. And our body is a temple and god lies within. Most religions speak of this. Just as God does not exist without but within, so is true about satan. There are parts of us which keep us from seeing the truth and keep us and all suffering and also all of suffering on this earth. It is not hard to see that the source of all suffering comes from ourselves in one form or another. Also, if you study the latest in physics it points to many of the truths which the buddha spoke of over 2500 years ago. And scientist are finding more and more coincidences in the laws and conditions of the universe that have no other reason to exist except to support human life.
Now I am not stating this to start a debate, it is just my understanding which I want to put forth. I think everyone has to look closely and see until they find the truth for themselves. I have enjoyed reading all your writing and especially your latest, the one after this. Good luck, take care.
God is real. Heaven is real. You don\'t need your body when you go to heaven, so no you won\'t feel any pain whatsoever. How can I be so sure you ask? It\'s called faith. I believe!