Doctrine : What about Death?

And What about Death?

If you were to ask me what the difference was between human beings and animals, I would have have said (at various times): Art; Reading & Writing; Civilisation; Technology; or A sense of humour. But for all of the above, you can find examples in other animals: Emus arrange their eggs in artistic ways and cats can be taught to paint; Chimpanzees can be taught to read and write a simple vocabulary; Bees, Ants, and Beavers live in centralised communities; Some hominids do use tools; and Anyone who's lived with pets can't say they don't have a sense of humour. So what is the difference if there is one? I think the difference is that human beings know about and consider their own death. Because of our intelligence, we can predict our own death. While other animals all seek to survive, do they consider why? Humans do. A Final Frontier? Rob McGough (a friend of long standing) once suggested to me that human beings are all like dumb terminals hooked up to the mainframe of God. The individual parts exist to feed data to the collective that belongs to none. So what happens when we die? Death is an issue because as humans we have a personality, an ego which we identify as "I"; or "me". It seems unacceptable to that ego that it should at some point cease to exist. But does the "I" really exist at all? It's been suggested that what we take for our identity is only the most prevalent mental state in our brains at any time. Certain patterns are reinforced by the nature of how memory is stored, but is not permanent. The only thing then, that connects you with who you used to be, is your memory. To use a computer metaphor again, your memory is like a hard disk, and the "I" is just the program currently loaded in RAM. This could change at any moment, and you wouldn't know it, because the "you" would change too! Still the question lingers -- "is there life after death?" The Tree of Life In my religious studies I came across a concept in the Qabalah, or Tree of Life. This is that there are three parts to a person: Personality, Soul, and Spirit. The personality is linked with a person's body and perishes when the body does. It does not survive death. The soul however continues from one life to the next, linking up to different personalities as they are created. The spirit in turn links soul to soul, and never changes. In that way we are all linked and eternal, and still finite at the same time. I find this concept appealing and "emotionally right" for me. It satisfies my survival instinct whether true or not. But a belief in reincarnation is no excuse for wasting a life. Life is either essentially random, in which case I need to make the best of things; or there is a purpose and design to things, and that being so I should discover and pursue that purpose. The bottom line for me is that regardless of whether or not I get a "second chance" at life, I should live this one the best way I can, and be the best most fulfilled person possible. And that's where I am right now -- making this happen. If I can take one day at a time, one step after the next, and do the best I can -- then I'll not be afraid of death when it comes, because I won't have lived a wasted life. Parting Thought And yet, when all the shouting's done, the party finished and the food all gone will you celebrate with joy, or mourn the moment's passing? For we pause, all reticent, the moment lasting, the tasks all done. And then Angels bid us clear the space, shouting: "Move on, move on for more souls are yet to come!"