From Here to Eternity……and Vice Versa

My good friend’s grandson was at the dinner table happily enjoying “Friday Night is Pizza Night,” when, in between bites of pepperoni, he asked:

“Where was I before I was here?”

He promptly rejected his mother’s reply that, “You were in your mommy’s belly,” saying, “No, I mean before that.”

Well, if a 6-year-old has questions about the meaning of life, religious doctrine, heaven, hell, and the transmigration of souls, can his questioning the existence of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus be far behind?

Child psychology experts says that the subject of death comes to kids around age 9 or 10. Before that, although a friend, family member or pet dies, children don’t recognize that dying may happen to their loved ones or themselves, but simply think the person or thing has gone away somewhere and may still return. At 9 or 10, to they start to understand that death is permanent, and that it will happen to them and others they love.

Although no one who has died has come back to make an eyewitness report of what this “after” life world is like (what Shakespeare protagonist Hamlet called “this undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns”) the world’s religions try to fill in the gap with concepts of Nirvana, heaven, hell, limbo, purgatory, reincarnation and other thoughts all of which, at their core, treat the essence of humanity, the “soul,” as a living and eternal thing that transcends the physical body and may be rewarded, or punished, in a “life” after death.

Depending on the religion you ask, the Afterlife can be happy (heaven) or horrific (hell) or a little of both (purgatory—a kind of losers’ bracket for Catholics that preserves a chance for salvation). Buddhists and Hindus promote reincarnation with the soul going on after death to occupy and live again in another body (man, woman, or maybe an animal,) while the Sikhs see the soul as simply joining nature, as a drop of water might join an ocean and become part of it. There is no afterlife mentioned in the earliest Jewish writings but a concept of seven heavens turns up in later ones.

So, for most religions dying is not really an “end” but, rather, the human essence, the “soul,” goes on and on. But doing what?

Jesus says he will prepare a way for the saved and they will reside in a “mansion” **in heaven. The daily routine, if you take the Apostle John at his word, will be to be in God’s presence and worship him forever. The hymn, “Amazing Grace,” says that after we’ve been there (heaven) “…10,000 years, bright, shining as the Sun, we’ll have no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we’ve first begun.” Muslim martyrs are promised 40 virgins after they die.

I don’t know about you, but I have trouble staying awake for an hour at Sunday Mass and worshipping for all of eternity is not exactly my idea of heaven. Same about being in a heavenly choir all that while. Most of the people I know approaching the last days of life would like to **There’s the story of the lawyer who goes to heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter. On the way to the lawyer’s new residence, Peter shows him where the last Pope lives. It’s a lovely high-rise apartment. Peter and the lawyer move on to the lawyer’s new home and it’s a palatial villa with gold bath fixtures, a pool, and magnificent views. “There must be some mistake,” says the lawyer. “How come I get this mansion, and the Pope gets an Embassy Suite?” “It’s no mistake,” says St. Peter. “We have lots of Popes up here, but you’re the only lawyer!” think there’s a golf course up there and a 19th hole lounge serving at least wine and spirits (perhaps the Polish know something, because in their polka music they swear that “in heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here.”) As for the Muslims and 40 virgins, what happens after he uses up his quota?

Although there is some thinking about the afterlife, no one seems to have an opinion about what goes on before a person is born. By definition, “Eternity” has no beginning and has no end, and it therefore defies logic to suggest eternity only begins at our birth, and then lasts forever. To be eternal, it must also exist before we are born and not just after.

So, what did we do and where did our souls “live” before we were born? Probably nowhere in particular, doing nothing.

And why is that so bad?

No one suggests that during our “Beforelife” we were tortured or in pain, lived in squalor, or nervously approached our portending birth with anxiety because of the rumors that may have filtered down to us of war, pestilence, injustice, hate, fear, pain, unrequited love, severe depression and all the often horrible hazards that await the living---think of the 19 innocent school kids wantonly shot to death in a 4th grade classroom and those that loved them. Doing nothing and being nowhere seems like a better state to be in than the alternative of “life” in the physical world.

So, dear 6-year-old Julian, that’s my vote for “where you were before you were here.” Being in a peaceful nowhere and doing nothing. Unless you’re buying into the religious “heaven” landscape, I also think it is not a bad outcome for your “afterlife,” if you discover that the Bible stories you’ve heard or been told turn out to be a lot of malarky. You weren’t afraid before you got “here,” so when your time comes you shouldn’t fear moving on.

That said, if given a choice I am slightly more partial to vote for some form of the theories of re-incarnation and the migration of souls for myself. I personally believe in the branch of the cult called “Re-Intarnation,” which holds that the dead come back in the next life as Hillbillies. I always loved the movie Deliverance, and the afterlife might be a good place to learn how to play the banjo.