Life After Death?

It’s 3:30 pm and I’m sitting in the church with what feels like a million people crying around me. I’m holding on to the leaflet tightly, barely rubbing it in-between my peeling fingers that were sore from carrying bags of cement and mortar. The voice of the priest, though he uttered words of comfort, did very little to help our aching hearts. My grandmother had passed. Not just MY mother, everyone’s mother..all of us. She had raised most of us and her passing had left an entire community to moan.

I took a deep breath as I slowly lifted my head to stare at the coffin. In that moment, my awareness of death grew. I had always known that one day I would be in her position but at the time it seemed more surreal. Then I began to ponder my own funeral. How many people are going to attend? What kind of impact am I going to have, and on how many people? What would I be remembered for? Is there life after death?

Once I heard Alan Watts describe life and death as, going to sleep and never waking up (death), and waking up after never having gone to sleep (birth).

Well, is there life after death?

The truth is I don’t know the answer to that question but I would like to share some interesting perspectives.

Over the span of our lives, our body has grown and our mind has grown. We have gotten bigger, taller, some of us, more muscular. We have also gained more knowledge and awareness of the world we live in. Even amidst all this change there is a part of us that we have known since a child.

When we die, our brain no longer functions and our hearts stop beating but what happens to the other part of us. Some traditions call it the soul, others describe it as pure energy, and a few believe we are reincarnated.I’m not sure but I like to believe that we live on through the impact we have on others. Just the way we make them feel or the light we bring to their lives. I believe that this is worth living for. Living fully and giving fully so that when that fateful day arrives, you go out with no regrets.

The day they bury me, I would like for it to be the greatest day of my life. I imagine the energy of all the people I would have helped, made smile, pushed forward, and brought clarity, hope and light to. I imagine that energy all coming together for one last celebration. To me that is life after death