What happens after you die?

Often the thoughts of the faithful once it's established that I am not of faith. It is usually the first question they ask once I've laid down my preachy anti-faith perspective, more often than not they're pretty sweet when they ask, and before I answer from my heart I always take a moment to ponder, and it's fascinating what comes each time.

It's true that as an atheist all I seem to be able to look forward too is mud, worms and a whole bunch of nothing. There is nothing except absence after death and that should be such a depressing, scary thought that I shun it right away and clamour for a nicer sounding, warmer feeling alternative, right?

Death is the end of your story, but it is not "THE" end. I'm a firm believer that we exist only in the memory, by which I mean as I sit in my room alone typing away I only exist in any significant way in the minds of my friends family and co-workers, the good/bad thoughts I left them with, the things we shared and the things we lost. Dear reader, the time we aren't in the same room is truly the only time in which we exist at all. So when it comes for this sack of meat to lay down and wither, I still exist where it actually counts. I don't believe in a white light, an eternal bliss, or a silly "somewhere in between" where I consist of ectoplasm and bug those I once knew. No. I believe that we have to make count the times we see people for real, the gestures and the smiles, the hugs and the kisses.

As human beings we have incredible gifts for making ourselves and each-other laugh, and for hurting each-other. Before dedicating a life to servitude of a metaphor, think about the people you have liked, loved and loathed, and how you want to exist when can no longer influence them.

The time we're privileged to have (being the one out of the millions of sperm released) should be filled thoughts of freedom and love, not as ideals, but as goals. Not as worldwide phenomenons (many a man has tried to bring both globally, many have failed) but to the one-on-one basis to the people you see every day. You won't always get it right, you're only human, but the more you try, and the more you think, the better you and the world will become.

Here's to a happy (better written) blog from here on out. D