And Ever and Ever

I was asked about my recent post regarding eternity and why it scared me. What was it about it that had me so frightened specifically. As I mentioned before, it was the never ending aspect of eternity that frightened me. How the thought of something going on and never ending, truly never ending, just was bone chilling. We tend to use the term forever in ways in our life where it really has no meaning, knowing at some point we will move on from this existence, thus negating the forever in our statements. Since our lives do come to an end, nothing we do here can really be forever. But in the next life, depending upon what we believe, it is forever, either good or bad, but forever. That is the part that was most frightening to me.

One other part of it I failed to mention was that for us here, time is a huge part of our lives. Everything we do is based upon time. No matter who we are, we are always gauging things by the clock. Making it to a meeting, waiting for something to arrive, scheduling vacations or family time or just time to unwind, everything is geared around the concept of time. But in the next life, is there really time? Would we even need to look at a clock? Would they even exist? Of course not, there is no time. There is no clock watching or scheduling or calendars, which in and of itself is a wonderful thought and concept. Knowing time is no longer an issue and we have more than enough to do all the things we want is beyond appealing.

And with this time, knowing I would never have to rush or hurry or wrap something up, I could live lifetime after lifetime in different ways, making different decisions, trying different things, as though I were changing designs on a car, looking for the best fit. This concept took away the fear for me. It showed me that my concept of things previously was not wrong, just very limited. But another thought about this concept dawned on me after talking about eternity. What if that is what we are doing now? What if this life now is just another in a long succession of lives we have already led, and will continue to lead? I previously thought that after this life, we would move on to another plane, retaining the knowledge and experiences from this one. But what if that does not happen? What if once we reach the end of this life, we then hit the proverbial reset button and start fresh all over again? We would go again through this coil, but without any knowledge or experience from the last time. Would we make the same dumb mistakes as before, or completely new ones? Many cultures have beliefs that mirror this idea, some not limiting the reincarnation to merely human form, but other creatures as well. This is not a new concept, I know I am not stumbling onto a mystery of the universe here; this is one that has been in existence for thousands of years. But it makes for interesting debate and thought

Also, there are those who also believe in reincarnation where the soul lives many lifetimes. You would not remember the previous life, but your soul would, and it guides you in successive lives to avoid the pitfalls you once faced. The signs of the Zodiac are based on this where you live 12 lives, each under a different sign before you move on to the next plane. It is an interesting concept, and according to the signs, my soul only has one more life to go before I move on. Maybe that is a good thing, or perhaps not. I do not necessarily believe this myself. I believe we get one shot on this plane and then move on to the next. I could be wrong, and I will not know the answer until I pass on. But one part that always bothers me about those who believe in this form of reincarnation is the previous lives they have recalled. The people who recall these lives always seem to have lived these spectacular and important lives previous to their current life. I have trouble believing that. I tend to feel that they are looking to make themselves seem more important or powerful now by saying how important and powerful they once were. You never seem to hear someone say they were a slave forced to build the pyramids, or that they were a cockney whore in 17th century London. Hey, I could be wrong about this, though. Perhaps there are those out there with past life recollections that have had these lives. I suppose they are not talking about them for obvious reasons.

I like to think that we get our one shot here, and then move on to the next plane. There, we retain who we have become, but with our minds, intelligence and wisdom broadened beyond a scope we could never even dream possible here in this plane. And there, we can use this newly gained knowledge to live many lifetimes, expanding ourselves even further, and living lives we never thought we could. With no time barrier to hold us back, we can always do what we want and when we want and with anyone we want. It will be a paradise of knowledge and adventure and joy with those that touched us here in this plane. All the things we always wanted to try are right there for us to do, and probably an infinite number of things we never even knew about. There might be delights and joys and adventures unbeknownst to us now. The thoughts and possibilities may truly be limitless, and I am excited to know that once my time here is over, hopefully a very, very long time from now, I get to start a whole new adventure.

But what do I really know about any of this? About as much as everyone else, which is next to nothing. And that is the whole point; it is a big guessing game. What happens to us after this life is like a big present under the tree. It is wrapped carefully, and no matter how much you shake it or hold it or touch it, it gives no clues to what’s inside. And once you unwrap it, and you only get to do that once, that is when you find out if you got the best present ever, or a fruitcake. And yes, I did just use fruitcake as a euphemism for hell. Seems fitting, does it not?