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Quora Question about life after death
Jun. 12th, 2017 05:25 amQuestion: What do witches, of any belief or association, think about whether or not there is life (or state of living) after death, and what does it entail?
My answer:
I can’t make up my mind about the issue; what I believe depends on my mood. I have chronic depression, and it comes with good (up) moods and bad (down) moods and REALLY bad moods.
When I’m in a good mood, I believe in reincarnation, and evidence of reincarnation comforts me.
When I’m in a bad mood, I usually still believe in reincarnation, but the belief terrifies me because in those moods I consider the world to be Literally Hell and the idea of reincarnation then means “Oh shit I’m never getting out of this eternal torture, am I?” I use all kinds of evidence to support this idea in those moods, citing illness, war, parasites, and extreme genetic deformities as proof that the world is Literally Hell. But then I later come out of those moods and I’m like, “You probably believe that because of the depression; lots of people are happy in this so-called Hell.”
In my REALLY bad moods, I believe that death is the end, nothing else after it, you snuff out like a candle flame and never return, and in those moods that can either terrify me or comfort me.
Well, actually it’s even more complicated than that. Sometimes I believe in Death Is The End during bad moods, and Reincarnation In Hell during REALLY bad moods.
You’ll note, I hope, that nowhere in there is the Christian idea of either Heaven or Hell (as in a place worse than this world) ever figures into it. I consider Christian belief much as most people consider the old Roman and Greek pagan religions: so completely laughable a belief I never take it seriously. Seriously, Christians ranting about how I’m going to Hell alternately either make me laugh as though they were Ancient Greek reconstructionists warning me of the dangers of Tartarus, or else I meet their ranting with “Oh I’m going to Hell? Well at least I’ll be in familiar territory, then. I’ll look you up when I get there, maybe Satan will let me torture you for a while.”
My answer:
I can’t make up my mind about the issue; what I believe depends on my mood. I have chronic depression, and it comes with good (up) moods and bad (down) moods and REALLY bad moods.
When I’m in a good mood, I believe in reincarnation, and evidence of reincarnation comforts me.
When I’m in a bad mood, I usually still believe in reincarnation, but the belief terrifies me because in those moods I consider the world to be Literally Hell and the idea of reincarnation then means “Oh shit I’m never getting out of this eternal torture, am I?” I use all kinds of evidence to support this idea in those moods, citing illness, war, parasites, and extreme genetic deformities as proof that the world is Literally Hell. But then I later come out of those moods and I’m like, “You probably believe that because of the depression; lots of people are happy in this so-called Hell.”
In my REALLY bad moods, I believe that death is the end, nothing else after it, you snuff out like a candle flame and never return, and in those moods that can either terrify me or comfort me.
Well, actually it’s even more complicated than that. Sometimes I believe in Death Is The End during bad moods, and Reincarnation In Hell during REALLY bad moods.
You’ll note, I hope, that nowhere in there is the Christian idea of either Heaven or Hell (as in a place worse than this world) ever figures into it. I consider Christian belief much as most people consider the old Roman and Greek pagan religions: so completely laughable a belief I never take it seriously. Seriously, Christians ranting about how I’m going to Hell alternately either make me laugh as though they were Ancient Greek reconstructionists warning me of the dangers of Tartarus, or else I meet their ranting with “Oh I’m going to Hell? Well at least I’ll be in familiar territory, then. I’ll look you up when I get there, maybe Satan will let me torture you for a while.”
