Hi Roberto- yes! If death is either sleep or bliss, it's good news either way. Of course the way Robert depicts people who believe bliss awaits actually accurately captures the attitude of many Christian saints, Hindu swamis, etc and, notably, Socrates.
Also, I very much like a comment by Robert Saltzman, addressed to those who believe in an eternal bliss after dying. He says, people like that should be incredibly happy of dying, not see death as a tragedy to be avoided at all costs. "I heard you have terminal cancer. Congratulations!!"
I keep reading about the fear of death, as a universal fear. I am not sure if really everybody has that fear. For one, I don't. I passionately believe that to be dead is like being deeply asleep, with no dreams, forever. I cannot be afraid of that. Also, I do not feel that whatever I may accomplish while living is to be lost, or that I will feel sadness for that. So, the real fear is about what will happen before dying: illness, suffering, and the stress on the nearby relatives having to support you in the process.
Matthew, this is a good effort, though only partially satisfying. I think a component that this doesn't take into consideration is the sense of justice: will those who perpetuated grave injustice be held accountable for how they have made others suffer? And for those who did suffer grave injustice, will they find their injustices rectified somehow? Now if you right that death indeed is THE end, then these issues (among others) seem to hang in the balance without final resolution. In the end, I have hope the afterlife exists in order to tie up these loose ends where life is so fragmented, dark, broken, etc. In the end, I don't want darkness, evil, injustice to win - I want it to be overturned and defeated. But this of course doesn't prove anything - just the yearning of the human soul to want beauty, goodness, and justice to have the last word.
Also, for further reflection on life after death I recommend the thoughtful, balanced work of Dale Alison (Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age), https://a.co/d/jhN4QH9.
Hi Roberto- yes! If death is either sleep or bliss, it's good news either way. Of course the way Robert depicts people who believe bliss awaits actually accurately captures the attitude of many Christian saints, Hindu swamis, etc and, notably, Socrates.
Also, I very much like a comment by Robert Saltzman, addressed to those who believe in an eternal bliss after dying. He says, people like that should be incredibly happy of dying, not see death as a tragedy to be avoided at all costs. "I heard you have terminal cancer. Congratulations!!"
I keep reading about the fear of death, as a universal fear. I am not sure if really everybody has that fear. For one, I don't. I passionately believe that to be dead is like being deeply asleep, with no dreams, forever. I cannot be afraid of that. Also, I do not feel that whatever I may accomplish while living is to be lost, or that I will feel sadness for that. So, the real fear is about what will happen before dying: illness, suffering, and the stress on the nearby relatives having to support you in the process.
Please find an Illuminated Understanding of this all-important topic via these references:
http://www.easydeathbook.com/purpse.asp what death requires of us - beautiful prose
http://www.aboutadidam.org/dying_death_and_beyond/index.html
http://beezone.com/wide-stacks-many-topics/death_message.html Death as the Constant Message of Life
How the essay directly above gets played out in our applied politics
http://beezone.com/whats-new
http://beezone.com/adida/laughingmanmag/vol2no3deathdying/welcomesisterdeath.html
http://beezone.com/beezones-main-stack/egodeathchaosexperience.html
Matthew, this is a good effort, though only partially satisfying. I think a component that this doesn't take into consideration is the sense of justice: will those who perpetuated grave injustice be held accountable for how they have made others suffer? And for those who did suffer grave injustice, will they find their injustices rectified somehow? Now if you right that death indeed is THE end, then these issues (among others) seem to hang in the balance without final resolution. In the end, I have hope the afterlife exists in order to tie up these loose ends where life is so fragmented, dark, broken, etc. In the end, I don't want darkness, evil, injustice to win - I want it to be overturned and defeated. But this of course doesn't prove anything - just the yearning of the human soul to want beauty, goodness, and justice to have the last word.
Also, for further reflection on life after death I recommend the thoughtful, balanced work of Dale Alison (Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age), https://a.co/d/jhN4QH9.