Certainly we all have our beliefs -- it’s in our nature to want some kind of explanation related to the mysteries of life and ultimately the mysteries of death. In the Christian tradition, it is typically believed that those who live a good life will go to heaven and be ecstatically happy forever and ever. Granted, this is a valid belief but it is, after all, a belief and not a fact. The bottom line is that no one -- none of us – knows what happens to us after we die.
There is a tendency to treat our belief in the afterlife as fact, even to the point of thinking it is perfectly fine – even an honorable resolve -- to accept suffering and misery as our ‘lot in life.' Yet when we bank on being happy in the afterlife, it can -- and often does – rob us of our motivation to make the most of the life we have in the here and now. Is it worth staking our lives on what might be true? Really???
Each of us is free to believe whatever we choose but it is in our very best interest to put our beliefs in perspective. There is far too much emphasis, debate, conflict, emotion over things that we cannot know and too little investment in what we do know. Our existence is a fact. Instead of 'hoping' that we will receive our just reward in heaven, it would be a much wiser approach to do everything in our power to live life fully, love wastefully and be all we can be in the present sacred moment.
