De one with The After-life

Foggy Thursday morning

I believe most of us will never have an accurate answer to what happens in the after-life. To expand the discussion more.. let's ask ourselves even further what will we feel, see, hear or feel in that instant before we take our last breath on Earth.

From young, heavily subjected to media influence, all our "answers" to the after-life were manipulated or in a nicer term, "cultivated" us to have this common innocent perception that the after-life is all about going to heaven or hell. Of course, that goes without saying, if the entire actions and deeds done in tht lifetime of the person, in account of his character, would justify and determine his/her spirit to be dedicated to whichever realm.

No offence however, it's rather amusing why people tend to describe less of heaven but more of hell. Can't get what i'm saying? People usually give a very vid description about Heaven, as a place where there's endless pleasure, freedom and ever good life. Comically ironical, people tend to give more details of Hell.. as a place deemed to be utterly undesirable; a dreadful place of monsters, evil and forever darkness; a place of unspeakable torture and destruction. Perhaps one reason is to create the fear and trick young people to do less evil deeds bah!

My own perception of heaven and hell was greatly influenced by Chinese shows shown on television. Hell was rule by the Taoism Hell Lord. What left deep impression were the existence of the rippers "niu tou ma mian" and the 18 levels of Hell. It's really frightening. From young, I used to have a series of the same nightmare, of being chased after by these two rippers, one with the head of a buffelo and the other, the face of a stallion. As for the 18 levels of Hell, it always sends a chilling shiver whenever I got exposed to it. It shows the consequence of doing too much unforgivable evil and naughtiness of an after-life. Omg!

Heaven on the other hand, was a place of peace and it's where, I think, the Gods are living. It's a place where you're expected to see people flying around. What an naive thinking!

As I've grown older, I my prespective of the after-life changed greatly. Having read Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morris, it deeply altered my impressions. That the after-life isn't about the end of a life but the beginning of another stage in life. That it's continuous. Even before reading the book, I've always wondered why the Black people in Alabama times, never grief but celebrate the death of a person in the community. It means freedom for these departed souls who were slaves when alive.

Recently, Sweet presented me with Buddhism approach that the after-life is nothing but a wave-length or frequency that is transferred over and over again. That the source of life is eternal, only the medium (the body form) is temporary. Personally, I feel this approach has similar properties as reincarnation. That the after-life will be the repeating of a life cycle. A person dies at one point in time. At this very same point in time, another life is born aka reincarnated life of that which has just ended. In layman term, it's like passing the baton in a never-ending race.

However, what have not changed about my prespective about the after-life is that humans never escape the judgement of our deeds. Or Karma in the sense of Buddhism. In addition, the idea of Hell and Heaven or another place which the departed soul temporarily exist, still remains.. perhaps in memory of my childishness. Oops.

Those who have read Mitch Albom's "5 People You meet in Heaven" wouldn't agree less that in that instance of death, everything in life becomes clear before you. Your whole life would be presented before you in that mere spark of seconds. That you're enlightened with the Truth and understanding about everything that happened in your life. It's hard to believe but well.. what's more practical for my personal view is that...

It's greatly common that you will feel some regrets that there's so much things which you want to do but you've reached your limit in life. It's the moment you discovered you have no shame or embarrassment in admitting to your grave mistakes. It's the moment in life which you'll have someone to shed a tear for you, realising how deeply they love you and recognising your existence and giving their fullest attention to you.

At this moment what will you see? Some will say you'll see a light which guides your soul to wherever you're supposed to go. Well.. I think one think for certain is you'll see total darkness, hear and feel nothing at the instant you depart.

Wuao..so much for discussing the afterlife in the morning!