By Agnes Gnome
A characteristic feature of humans in general is that they are inquisitive beings. They have an innate desire to know things. One can see this even in little children, who love to ask questions. This innate curiosity of humans explains, in part, the great strides they have made in various fields of knowledge. This reflects their desire to know the reality of things.
Even so, there are several issues that human beings simply cannot have sure knowledge of, at least this side of death. Some of these are issues that are basic to human existence. In other words, they are issues of existential importance. These include questions such as: Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does the Universe (and all that it contains, including us human beings) exist? How did the Universe and all that beings that live in it come into being? What is the purpose for which we are here, in this world? Where, if anywhere, were we before we came here? And, where, if anywhere, will we go after we experience death?
The finality of our short stay on Planet Earth—or, in other words, the inevitable occurrence of death—is a question that human beings have sought to grapple with perhaps almost ever since they first appeared here. That one day we will definitely meet with death is the only thing about the future that we can know with any degree of certainty.
Not knowing for sure what, if anything, will happen with and to us after we meet with death can be bewildering, even very frightening, for many people. This explains, in large measure, the fact that all over the world human beings have, over the centuries, developed various theories about death and thereafter. These theories, both religious as well as secular, purport to satisfy the innate inquisitiveness that people have about death and the supposed post-death state and to set them at ease about what would otherwise be for them a source of immense anxiety.
Not knowing what, if anything, follows death is one of the greatest sources of fear for many people. It is possibly because of this that these theories about death and thereafter have so many enthusiastic believers, who, in some cases, number in the hundreds of millions. In the case of several belief systems, the theory that they offer about what supposedly happens at and after death serves as a principle means to attract adherents, based on their claim that after death, those who believe in them will experience eternal peace and joy after death while those who do not believe in them will suffer severe torment, perhaps for all time to come.
The fact that there are numerous theories, religious as well as secular, about death and thereafter, each of which has its own unique set of purported explanations of these issues, means that they all contradict each other in at least some ways, not saying exactly the same things. This also means that either only one of them is wholly true or that none of them is (This does not rule out the possibility that some or all of them contain some truths, along with some amount of falsehood, too). Given the fact that we have not experienced death as yet (at least in this present lifetime, if we assume that we have lived lives previous to the present one), there is no rational way for us to come to know which, if any, of these competing theories about death and thereafter might be true or which aspects of these theories might be so. That is why votaries of these theories hold on to them as a matter of belief, rather than on the basis of knowledge. Adherence to any of these theories is based on believing, and not on knowing, this reflecting the simple fact that given our present, pre-death state, we simply cannot know for sure what, if anything, happens after death. While we might believe this or that about what happens to us when we die and thereafter, we cannot know it to be true with absolute certainty. For all one knows, such belief might actually be a mix of falsehood and truth or even completely false.
But believing this or that theory about what, if anything, happens at and after death is not the only option that we have in the face of the fact that in our present state, we cannot have sure knowledge about this issue. There is what I personally believe to be an eminently sensible response—and that is, to let the question of what, if anything, happens at and after death remain the grand mystery that it really is, something that we humans simply cannot know for sure this side of death. Letting it remain what it actually is—a humanly insoluble mystery—means accepting its reality, instead of seeking to turn it (in our own minds, that is, not in reality, because we do not possess the power to change what it really is) into something that we want to believe it is or should be. It is to be agnostic about the matter, to confess that one simply cannot have certain and full knowledge or gnosis about it at present. It means not having any beliefs about it (no matter how personally satisfying, emotionally as well as intellectually, we might find them), being aware that we cannot know for sure if any such beliefs are indeed true. It means accepting whatever might happen at and after death, rather than hoping that this or that will happen based on what this or that belief system claims.
Not having any beliefs about what, if anything, will happen to me when and after I experience death means simply accepting whatever might happen without any expectations about it drawn from any belief system. Since there is no way I can confirm what any of these conflicting belief systems say will happen on and after death, I feel no need to believe any of them.
I am comfortable with letting what, if anything, will happen to me when and after I meet with death remain what for me must remain an insoluble mystery for as long as I remain alive here on Earth. It is not for me something to fret about, and nor is it something that compels me to believe this or that about it, drawn from this or that belief system which I cannot personally confirm this side of death. I am quite at ease letting what might happen to simply happen.
As is said, “Whatever will be will be.”
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