Chapter 9
Truth's Greatest Mysteries
It is human nature to wonder what might lie "beyond this place of wrath and tears." (1) Indeed, one of the greatest scientific mysteries involves what happens to us after we die, if anything.
The purpose of this Life Leadership textbook is not to claim or conjecture about specifics; nor is it to promote any particular theological doctrine on the subject. However, because YOUR beliefs (or lack thereof) and attitudes about such scientific unknowns have a significant impact upon your thoughts, speech, and actions in this world, it would be intellectually negligent to ignore the subject in a work so totally focused on the freedom and existential status of the human body, mind, and spirit.
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| Hamlet being confronted by his father's ghost. |
After all, who has ever lived who didn't wonder right along with Hamlet regarding what "dreams may come in that sleep of death after we have shuffled off this mortal coil?" (2)
Before proceeding with this chapter, I must state my personal bias on the subject, as follows: I am an ardent and enthusiastic believer.
Nay, that is too weak.
A more accurate statement would be that I would bet my life on the eternal nature of my own soul and the existence of a concrete, animated, omnipotent, and highly personal Higher Power whom I believe spiritually begot me as His and Her spirit child. I believe these Heavenly Parents created my spirit long before my earthly parents conceived me in the flesh. I believe further that these same Heavenly Parents sent my spirit to this world to inhabit a mortal body for a temporary period of time in order to learn, grow, and be challenged, stretched, and tested in ways that could not be accomplished in any other way.
My beliefs on the subject do not, of course, scientifically prove anything. Science cannot conclusively tell us much of anything about the empirically elusive subjects of theology and religion. Thus, human beings must ultimately choose for themselves what they will (or will not) believe—both of which viewpoints are, by the way, beliefs because most human beings that have ever lived (including me) simply don't know for sure in any scientific or physically sentient sense.
In other words, an atheist is just as much a believer as a believer in the sense that both viewpoints require faith to uphold. Just as I believe that God is, atheists believes that God isn't. Both viewpoints are ultimately beliefs (not empirical facts) because we cannot scientifically prove or disprove either belief.
An atheist may point to a lack of evidence to suggest that God does not exist; but any savvy lawyer worth their salt will tell you that a lack of evidence does not prove the non-existence of anything. All a lack of evidence demonstrates is that something is missing; but absence of evidence and nonexistence can be two very different things. (3)
Simply put: whether YOU choose to believe in God or not to believe in God, you are still a believer!
"But," some may counter, "I could care less either way," so I am a legitimate non-believer.
Not so!
Even apathetic agnostics—or apathists, as I like to call them—are still believers; they just believe that none of it matters. Yet that position also remains a belief because you still don't know the facts for certain!
The mantra of theological apathism states: I don't know and I don't care. However, deep down, I doubt whether there has ever been a human beings who authentically doesn't care about such things. They may be apathetic for a period of time (particularly in adolescence and young adulthood), but extreme adversities, traumatic exigencies, and the passage of time tends to erode such emotional and intellectual apathy and fence-sitting over time.
Self-action leaders around the world harbor a variety of different theological viewpoints However, while they may be religious or non-religious and spiritual or secular, they do avoid the apathetic stance.
Self-action leaders always care.
As a result, they think about, study, ponder, consider, question, and observe the world around them. Many of them also meditate and/or pray.
The SAL Theory does not require you to be a "believer" in the traditional sense of the term. My own theology holds that everyone is free to believe (or not believe) "according to the dictates of [their] own conscience," (4) and I hold fast and firm to that doctrine. Indeed, I do not begrudge anyone who sincerely holds beliefs different from my own.
What we at Freedom Focused do ask of all self-action leaders is to sincerely think about and ponder on the subject. Don't just settle for whatever belief system that you came by culturally, environmentally, familially, or socially—unless you have diligently searched the matter out on your own and are following the authentic and genuine commands of your conscience. I, myself, chose to fully embrace the faith of my fathers, but only after an extensive and exhaustive investigation into the truth of its tenets and the fruit of its works.
If you are sincere and diligent in your search for TRUTH, I'll honor whatever belief system—or lack thereof—you choose to embrace (as long as it doesn't harm anyone or break the laws of the land).
Just don't be theologically lazy.
At Freedom Focused, we genuinely respect a wide spectrum of beliefs that are sincerely held and have been diligently sought out; but we do not respect theological apathy or intellectual indolence.
What of an Afterlife?
Because your attitude toward death will have a tremendous impact on your life, the importance of the subject is self-evident. Efficacious self-action leaders don't just think about today, tomorrow, and the next week; they are concerned with the entirety of their existence—up to and including a potential post-mortal existence, sentience, and ongoing Existential Growth. What you choose to believe about this subject is entirely up to you, but don't be lazy in searching out and determining your own beliefs. Just because something is mysterious or sentiently unknown does not mean it doesn't exist or matter; nor does it mean that there aren't any answers to your questions.
Making Peace with Death
Like accidents, aging, disease, entropy, illness, and other inescapable realities of life, DEATH will eventually become a reality for all of us. If you're afraid of death, or just don't like to think about or discuss it, that's a pretty normal response to life's most certain of inevitabilities.
It is not, however, the healthiest response.
Self-action leaders are good at practicing Dr. Stephen R. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, including Habit #2, which is to: "Begin with the end in mind." (5) An exercise Covey encouraged his readers and students to engage in involved mentally attending their own funeral and then asking the following questions:
"What would you like [the funeral] speakers to say about you and your life? What kind of husband, wife, father, or mother would you like their words to reflect? What kind of son or daughter or cousin? What kind of friend? What kind of working associate? What character would you like them to have seen in you? What contributions, what achievements would you want them to remember? Look carefully at the people around you. What difference would you like to have made in their lives?" (6)
Productively reflecting on the inevitability of death carries a variety of positive benefits. First, it deepens your existential perspective about life, which often leads to an enriching search and quest for spiritual enlightenment, knowledge, and faith. Second, it helps you to appreciate your life more and not take your mortal opportunities for granted. Third, it humbles you, and humility is a vital prerequisite for Existential Growth, freedom, and inner peace.
Knox's words are sobering, even foreboding at times. Nevertheless, they are accurate in terms of our ultimate physical demise in this world—a reality for which there is no long-term value in denying, hiding, or running away.
I include the poem in its entirety here for your contemplation and edification.
MORTALITY
OH, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?
Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,
Man passeth from life to his rest in the grave.
The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,
Be scattered around and together by laid;
And the young and the old, and the low and the high,
Shall molder to dust and together shall lie.
THE infant a mother attended and loved;
The mother that infant's affection who proved;
The husband that mother and infant who blessed,
Each, all, are away to their dwellings of rest.THE maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,
Shone beauty and pleasure,—her triumphs are by;
And the memory of those who loved her and praised,
Are alike from the minds of the living erased.
THE hand of the king that the sceptre hath borne;
The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn;
The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave,
Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave.
THE peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap;
The herdsman, who climbed with his goats up the steep;
The beggar, who wandered in search of his bread,
Have faded away like the grass that we tread.THE saint who enjoyed the communion of heaven,
The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven,
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.
So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed
That withers away to let others succeed;
So the multitude comes, even those we behold,
To repeat every tale that has often been told.
FOR we are the same our fathers have been;
We see the same sights our fathers have seen,—
We drink the same stream and view the same sun,
And run the same course our fathers have run.The thoughts we are thinking our fathers would think;
From the death we are shrinking our fathers would shrink;
To the life we are clinging they also would cling;
But it speeds for us all, like a bird on the wing.
THEY loved, but the story we cannot unfold;
They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold;
They grieved, but no wail from their slumbers will come;
They joyed, but the tongue of their gladness is dumb.
They died, ay! they died: and we things that are now,
Who walk on the turf that lies over their brow,
Who make in their dwelling a transient abode,
Meet the things that they met on their pilgrimage road.YEA! hope and despondency, pleasure and pain,
We mingle together in sunshine and rain;
And the smiles and the tears, the song and the dirge,
Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.
'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath,
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud,—
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" (8)
Existentially speaking, how can anyone truly "begin with the end in mind" (9) without reconciling the reality of one's own finite mortal existence?
Moreover, is it not self-evident that your beliefs about "what dreams may come when [you] have shuffled off this mortal coil" (10) will have a tremendous influence on how you choose to direct your life here and now?
Coming to terms with and properly reconciling the reality of your own impending death and ultimate departure from this world has at least two meaningful benefits.
First, you eradicate any false sense that you will live in this world forever. This recognition of your own ultimate mortal demise sharpens your focus on your life's greatest priorities—what truly matters most to YOU. This sharpened focus provides you with greater direction and motivation here and now.
Second, openly acknowledging and then tranquilly accepting this reality may lead you to cultivate and nurture your spirituality, which can aid you in confronting important metaphysical questions that science alone can hardly begin to address.
I am still in my mid-forties and in good physical and mental health. As such, and barring any unexpected accident or other calamity, I assumably have several decades left in this world. Nevertheless, I am grateful for my knowledge and acceptance of death—as well as the peace I have made with its impending reality for me personally.
As a result, I do not fear it. In fact, in many ways, I welcome it—not in a depressed or suicidal sense; I hope to live to a grand old age in this world—but in the sincere faith and enthusiastic hope that no matter how good things have been, or will yet be in this world, my best days lie ahead of me after my mortal body belongs to the ages.
That is my irrevocable belief.
And come what man, I am sticking to it!
I cannot prove there is an afterlife; nor can I provide intricate details of what it would be like even if it does exist. What I can tell you is that my present existence is hugely impacted by my beliefs about the eternal nature of my soul and what awaits me after passing through the veil of death, and that impact has been enormously positive and productive to my life here and now.
That's why it matters to me.
Thus, I commend a similar pathway to you according to the honest and sincere "dictates of [your] own conscience." (11) Again, I am not asking you to be become a believer; nor am I requesting that you believe as I do. I am simply sharing my own perspective and suggesting that everyone can benefit from a serious and sincere search for answers to the following questions:
- Where did I come from?
- Did I exist in any form before my physical conception in this world?
- Why am I here on planet Earth right now?
- Is God/Life/the Universe asking me to accomplish anything specific during my mortal existence? Or am I just a chance and capricious creature—a result of nothing more than a roll of the cosmic dice and the natural, evolutionary processes of nature?
- Does my spirit/soul/metaphysical essence go somewhere after I die, or do I simply cease to exist altogether?
- Will I continue to exist after death in my present form?
- If so, will I someday be accountable to a Higher Power for my thoughts, speech, and actions in this life
- Is there a meaning to life, or is life completely meaningless?
- If there is a meaning to life, what is it?
- Does a Higher Power exist, and if so, what is the existential essence of He/She/It?
- If a Higher Power does exist, does He/She/It pay attention to and care about me?
A PSALM of LIFE
WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST.Tell me not, in mournful numbers,Life is but an empty dream!For the soul is dead that slumbers,And things are not what they seem.Life is real! Life is earnest!And the grave is not its goal;Dust thou art, to dust returnest,Was not spoken of the soul.Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,Is our destined end or way;But to act, that each to-morrowFind us farther than to-day.Art is long, and Time is fleeting,And our heart, though stout and brave,Still, like muffled drums, are beatingFuneral marches to the grave.In the world's broad field of battle,In the bivouac of Life,Be not like dumb, driven cattle!Be a hero in the strife!Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!Let the dead Past bury its dead!Act,—act in the living Present!Heart within, and God o'erhead!Lives of great [ones] all remind usWe can make our lives sublime,And, departing, leave behind usFootprints on the sands of time;—Footprints, that perhaps another,Sailing o'er life's solemn main,A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,Seeing, shall take heart again.Let us, then, be up and doing,With a heart for any fate;Still achieving, still pursuing,Learn to labour and to wait. (12)
- What are YOUR beliefs about a Higher Power or an afterlife? Why do you believe (or not believe) this?
- Do you think that your current theological beliefs (or lack thereof) help or hinder your life's journey? Why?
- If you desire more information about life's greatest mysteries, such as the existence (or not) of a Higher Power, and whether we continue to exist after our physical death, where might you go to find answers?
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 398th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 208th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 397 FF Blog Articles
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS
Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection
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Chapter 9 Notes
1. Line from the poem Invictus. Henley, W.E. (1919) Poems. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons. Page 119. (Google Books version).
2. Shakespeare, W. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Act III. Scene I. Lines 74-75. Syntax slightly altered for contextual purposes.
3. I thank Nick Sorenson, J.D., an attorney acquaintance of mine from Spring, Texas, for bringing this enlightening point of lawyerly evidence to my attention.
4. Smith, J. Jr. (1842). The Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In the "Wentworth Letter" to John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat. 1 March 1842.
5. Covey, S.R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. See pages 95-144.
6. Ibid. Page 97.
7. Thoreau, H.D. (2001). Walden and Other Writings. New York, NY: MetroBooks. Page 75.
8. Knox, W. (1877). Oh Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud? Boston, MA: Lee and Shepard. No page numbers. Google Books version.
9. Covey, S.R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. See pages 95-144.
10. Shakespeare, W. Hamlet. Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 74-75.
11. Smith, J. Jr. (1842). The Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In the "Wentworth Letter" to John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat. 1 March 1842. 11th Article of Faith.
12. Longfellow, H. W. (1912). From A Psalm of Life in The Poetical Works of Longfellow. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Page 3.
13. Rohn, J. (2000). Building Your Network Marketing Business. (Compact Disc). VideoPlus.
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