Reflecting on the afterlife is becoming a growing interest of mine for various reasons, not the least of which is that my life is succumbing to the inglorious process of the body losing energy and functionally degrading day by day. I have studied many religions and philosophies in search of answers to the question of why life is so frustratingly short and without apparent meaning. It is a natural inclination to think there must be more to life than being born into a strange existence, going through a lifelong struggle to survive and understand one’s condition, and then meeting an ending that seems to defeat the whole purpose of learning about and planning a life.

Those who accept religious teachings are taught through doctrine that some kind of (usually) rewarding afterlife awaits one upon death. There are many variations on this theme, as many as there are religious doctrines, and even more, given those who do not accept any religious doctrine but still envision some kind of afterlife experience. Of course, some will say death is the final end and that nothing comes after death; however, I think most studies of cultures across many historical periods conclude that most people have a notion of an afterlife.

As a young man, I began my journey thinking that the afterlife was what my church doctrine taught. But then, my university studies in philosophy and the humanities wiped away all programmed doctrine and left me with the unwelcome sense of bewilderment as I realized that I needed to decide for myself, without the help of church doctrine or parental persuasions, what my own thoughts were about this incredibly puzzling realization that some day I would cease to exist – or, possibly, would I not cease to exist? I felt very helpless in the face of knowing that the solution to this puzzle lay somewhere in the teachings of the world’s masters who studied and preached about the afterlife.

These teachers were unlike the church preachers who claimed to speak with the authority of the Almighty from behind a pulpit on Sunday mornings, reading from a book composed of insights and teachings from so-called prophets who claimed personal, spiritually revelatory truths originating directly from the Almighty. As a middle-aged man, I knew that several major religions taught spiritual truths from books that were unlike those the pastor of my church read from. Many different holy books that teach a variety of ideas and concepts!

That fact sank into my head as I tried to decide for myself what the mystery of life and death means. I came to realize that NO ONE had the insight or even the slightest clue of the reality or the non-reality of an afterlife. How could it be possible for anyone to know? There was NO TRUE religion, nor was there any settled and accepted truth about the afterlife, if it did exist at all.

I allowed the idea of this mystery to stew in my head for many years, wavering between a nihilistic view of existence and the other extreme of blind faith and unquestioning acceptance of metaphysical truths that were just too unfathomable to comprehend fully. I could not accept the idea of blind faith; it did not fit my way of understanding my reality. Nor could I accept a nihilistic perspective. I knew this had to be a deeply personal decision, one that was compatible with my life experiences and my weltanschauung, my personal worldview.

I could not go through life without forming a justification for my existence; an answer to the nagging question why am I here as a living being in a world that is so puzzling and strangely mysterious. After all these years of focusing on this subject, I have formed a belief that I want to share with others. It is my personal belief, one that I have developed over many years and after many, many hours of study, reading, contemplating, and agonizing over self-inspection, challenging my own foundational way of thinking. It has been a difficult process.

I have high regard for the findings of modern physicists and those who study neuroscience and the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness. These studies, taken together, seem to agree that consciousness is a primary quality of existence. That is to say, everything we call our world of things and ideas is primarily consciousness, in one form or another. The universe is self-aware and developing through so-called life forms which exist at some level of consciousness or other.

Scientists use their own lexicon and terminology when debating these topics. In common language, what we experience as self-awareness is consciousness, which is not in the brain or of the brain but exists in partnership with it. Consciousness, seen in this way, exists apart from the brain as a collective experience among individuals. It serves as a link between the individual selves and the external stimuli that we call the world of experience. It is the stuff that makes existence possible. This is the view I hold after considering the alternatives. It makes the most sense once we grasp its significance. Hindus, Buddhists, and quantum physicists seem to realize the truth of the notion that there is nothing but awareness, that experience we call consciousness. All else is a manifestation of it in one form or another.

Thus, it makes sense to believe that the death of the body does not imply the death of awareness. We could call it soul, or essence, or spirit, or whatever other name you wish to use. Now, this does not mean the awareness will retain the memory stored in the brain's neural circuitry. Memory will not be part of what survives the body's death. What survives is awareness, or soul, or consciousness, or essence. This cannot cease to exist because it is part of the fabric of existence.

This idea of afterlife awareness has been a perennial theme throughout history. I am personally drawn to the concept of Elysium (the Elysian Fields), developed by the ancient Hellenic Greeks. Elysium represented the state of bliss or complete happiness that is achievable when negative influences are absent. There is no pain, suffering, doubt, fear, or any of the negative forces that we experience while being alive. It is a place where awareness is in its purest form, free and full of light. It is a place where the essence of all that is good is revealed as a pervasive spiritual presence. It is a place of pure peaceful existence. The soul finds its home here in the Elysian Fields.

This essay was taken from the blog section of my author's website. johnstrapasonbooks.com