The Afterlife

 Life after death.

Sometimes my heart bursts with an overwhelming feeling of time slipping away. Was I supposed to do many things, or was i simply supposed to be? Is it okay for me to live my life like this... slowly, wastefully enjoying it, wastefully procrastinating? Afterall, there is a good chance that we only get one chance and I may never live again. Is it a priviledge that I received; to exist in the first place?

I keep waiting for something profound to strike me that will give purpose and meaning to existence as we know it. But, everyday it's the same. The space between the things that exist is a giant void of our unanswered questions.

I grew up, not fearing death, because I learnt at a very young age the idea of reincarnation and that all of us may have had past lives and that this is our current afterlife. But there are too many holes in this one. For one, reincarnation probably doesn't exist. Second, there only seem to be more questions to this answer. If it does then will I be born into completely different circumstances? Either way, I don't get to redo this life. I can only live another life. 

When I think about this void of unanswered questions and all the complex ideas out there about what the afterlife is, I think the simplest answer is the most plausible one: we just cease to exist. We go back to the Earth and dissolve into nothing.... and if it's any consolation, we become a part of everything. 

I heard a poem once from someone who had just lost a loved one dear to them:

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

                             ------- Anonymous