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If death truly exists then an after life cannot. If death is an illusion and does not exist then an afterlife also cannot exist. Either way there is no such thing as an afterlife. This while being logical will undoubtedly upset many people whose need for an afterlife is so strong that they are unable to see the truth. Now before I get my head bitten off, I have better explain what I base my remarks on. I think we can all agree that if nothing else the body ceases to exist as a body. An after life depends on the fact we are either spirit and or soul. This spirit cannot or does not die therefore if we are spirit there can never be an after life. The correct phrasing should be something like "The spirit will continue to exist even though the bodies dies". I would even say that something that cannot die does not have a life at lest in the sense we normally use the term. The spirit simply is and has always been and will always be. If we are serious in the quest for truth we must accept that we can only be one of the choices, therefore we must decide on which and commit our search on that basis. So choose "I am spirit" or "I am the body". To walk the middle line only leads to confusion and despair. If you choose one path and your search is fruitless then look to another to find answers. I cannot stress how import it is to decide because much of our current beliefs are based on a combination of body and spirit factors which really makes no sense. As a starting point we will have a look at reincarnation. Reincarnation leads us to believe that we have many lives. If we are spirit then this is incorrect, as already mentioned spirit does not die therefore cannot have multiply lives. The body has only one life then dies. So where are these many lives? Is it not more accurate to say the "Spirit gains experience through many different bodies ". Reincarnation by using the word "lives" while referring to the spirit gives us a force impression. We are lead to believe that the spirit has more then one life, yet if we take this and apply it to our understanding of spirit it simply cannot be. So our understanding is one filled with discrepancies. This discrepancies in my opinion are the result of mans attempt to centre life around himself while being reluctant to disassociate himself from the body.
Now lets turn our attention to Karma a spiritual name for cause and effect. Cause and effect can be seen working physically and is part of every day life. For instance if we kicked a ball which resulted in a window being smashed. The person whose window it was might become angry demanding the window is replaced at our expense. In this case the cause was the kicking of the ball, which lead to the effect of the window being smashed which in turn caused an angry response from the person whose window it was. The demand for the cost of replacing the window is a direct effect of it being smashed and not the ball being kicked. What we have is a cascade of cause and effects set in motion by the ball being kicked. If the ball were a present, perhaps from our parents. Are they in anyway responsible after all it stands to reason, if there were no ball to kick then the window would not have been smashed by it. What about the builder who installed the window in the first place does he have to bear some of the responsibility? I have sat down and tried to play out many Karmic scenarios and each time the end result is the same. Who or whatever created us is responsible for any Karma we set in motion. I tried the "we are each responsible for our own action" line of thinking with the result that while we are responsible for the choice we make, any Karmic effect generated will in itself react according to the environment in that moment in time. Therefore two identical causes need not produce the same effect. This has lead me to believe that collectively we are all responsible for any and all Karma. So I was left with two choices, our creator had soul responsibility or we all bear an equal amount of responsibility. The story does not end there because it is also possible that if we are spirit and our experiences are that of an observer to events then Karma is only an attempt to bring the physical law of cause and effect into spiritual teachings. If we are a spirit observing the physical then any causes are physical and will be played out in a physical time scale.
Copyright Spiritual Journey 2007