Killing the Afterlife

I know this is my first post on my blog, and I know I wanted to keep it relatively light-hearted, but I have not been able to get these thoughts far from my mind, so here goes.

Last week I went to a funeral.  Throughout the whole ceremony I sat in discomfort, cringing at the bible readings and shifting restlessly in my chair. This made me feel embarrassed.  I didn't want to feel embarrassed at a funeral, so through chain of thought (or emotion) I started to feel frustrated, almost angry.

My main quibble - so to speak - with the whole process, was the 'tone' of all readings and hymns.  Now, I am generally a happy, free-spirited, easy-going person, and usually I find pessimism prohibitive.  Yet on this occasion I could not allow myself to just 'go with the flow.'  I love my family (well, the majority of them), and the thought of any of them suffering after death fills me with sadness.  This, however, does not give me any reason to believe something to which no-one can prove.

I do not profess to be an expert on all things mortal, or even knowledgeable on religion, but I am pretty close to 100% certain that there is no proof of life after death.  There is not one iota of hard, physical evidence that can support it.  If there were then everyone would know about it.  Why, then, is the afterlife such a common belief?  Almost to the point that you are in the minority when you say that you unequivocally DIS believe it.

Religion would be the strongest advocator for the the afterlife (in some form or another), yet again there is not evidence to support this.  I have not read the bible cover to cover but I know there are sections in there that, if read literally, do not support the afterlife at all (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10 in particular.  A very interesting read would be an article on a website the Truth Magazine, especially when you consider the authors are a group of Christians).  Now I know that many would argue that the bible is not to be taken literally, but then why is the afterlife such a popular belief, even with Atheists and Agnostics?

Surely it is just to make the individual feel better, and to stop us fearing such a definitive end.  If this is the case then I say that is a very real definition of the ostrich sticking it's head in the sand.  How, in any way, is thinking that we have a 'better place' to go to, going to help us to enjoy and live this current life to the full?  Surely it would just hinder it, as we always have the excuse of "Ah well, at least it will be better next time!"  A slightly stronger argument may be that it relieves us of a certain sense of sadness and burden when a loved one has passed.  Again, this has a rather strong whiff of denial here.  If I believe the holocaust didn't happen then it makes it less sad, but it certainly does not mean that it didn't happen.

The feeling of sitting through the funeral was a very uncomfortable one, and one that will stick with me forever.  It has certainly made me think about popular beliefs and why people believe them.  Hopefully those of you that have read this far will now be suitably incensed to leave a comment explaining how narrow-minded I am.  If you do, then please cite references!

Thanks for reading,

Neanderthal Man.