The fear of death is something that alludes to our vulnerability as a species. We have reached out to many different subjects to try and wrap our heads around the concept of death.
"You're Gonna Die" - Gary Vaynerchuk, after being asked life advice in three words.
If this doesn't rile you up, get you motivated, or something in between you do not truly understand what that means. What your life truly is worth overall. You will die, I will die, everyone will die; it could be tomorrow, it could be later today, hell it could be a hundred years from now. Do you know what never dies? Legacy, it is the stuff of legends....literally, and it is what can make you (in a manner of speaking) immortal. For better or for worse, you can create your own legacy. Your history of your life can become the legend of your life, spoken (or typed nowadays), in a collection of knowledge that can inspire new generations. You have the enormous capacity to influence people's lives, and make a big difference in them.
Let us realize the potential we have as a species to create something magnificent, not just on the big scale, but even on our own personal scale. We are going to die, this is a fact, but what we do before our death can be much more exciting.
We are creatures made to be Self-Preserving, everything we do is to preserve our precious life, and that can be a good thing. Perhaps a great thing, but lets be the "devil's advocate" here. Your choices you make, no matter how simplistic or selfish they may be, can have great repercussions. Channeling lets talk about the world state we are in, people are constantly fighting for their survival, you have no idea how dangerous our lives really are. Cul-de-sacs are extremely dangerous, and people are stressed to the point of suicide. This is just first-world problems, people all around the world are dying due to lack of food, health, even literally water which is the base of our life.
The seriousness of this issue needs to be addressed. Overall needs to be taught to our citizens that we have so much to be grateful for in our lives, in addition to that, so much we need to change in order to improve our daily lives. This IS why the U.L.C. has the #makeachange movement, to at least spark some sort of motivation in each of you.
Religion
We try to escape life with the hope of an afterlife, or find solace in reincarnation, as if you died unfulfilled you have another chance in the next life. If don't become a hungry ghost that is!
Any of our spiritual ideological creations over our tenure as a species, are just that: creations. This is not to say any religion is right or wrong, there could very well be a reason behind every ideal. To say the document was created directly though from a deity doesn't really make sense, unless you're looking at ancient aliens or higher dimensional beings. Yes, this post going more existential than usual.
The thing to grasp is that every religious text, in some shape or form has been created, or modified by humans. Rather if it was simply translated, or if it originally was made by hand. We are the originators of that ideal we have now. Christianity for example came about by forming out of Judaism, taking aspects of Buddhism, as well as many Babylonian stories, forming a new belief in the process. That is literally how the religion came about, and the bible was rewritten countless times to be shared in other languages. Who is to say that it was corrupted, changed drastically, or even replaced all together by a writer? This is all speculation, and certainly doesn't just fit with the Judaeo-Christian beliefs. Islam could be said that it is both the closest yet farthest away from it's original form in ancient times. Many Muslims stick to historic ways of passing information, and strictly practicing in Arabic, which for them is the holy language of God. This is commendable that they were able to keep the language so well alive for so long without much change. Conversely this could also mean that due to oral story sharing things could have been lost over the ages, and the physical documents have often times been destroyed, such as with the Crusades.
To make a counterpoint to keep all of you, let us take into account science is based on observation, but that view can be skewed. Yes most Theories have been tested multiple times, solidifying their validity. However with anything you cannot be 100% sure, it can at most be 99%. There is always a chance you can be wrong, scientists take this into account, it is just our hope that religious people can have that same open-mindedness!
Religion is just evolved over the ages, it started from Babylonian and Ayurvedic, and Aztec/Mayan belief systems. That is where our religions have formed, no doubt about it. It could just be that we understood the universe (or God), and ourselves a little bit better. Self-Reflection would be a good thing to try here, to truly see what you belief, contrary to popular belief. You can believe whatever you want, it is your right, but social interactions make you act a certain way. If you are an "atheist" but believe in God, then totally practice your belief, but if you are a devout person, but truly do not care about Religion then let it go. You don't have to stay in the same belief state throughout your life, in fact it is very bad for your development of your brain to be stagnant. Go out and practice multiple religions throughout your life, as long as you pick one at the end, you can be forgiven in the afterlife. If you do not want any then make your life you have now that much more fulfilled, as it is all you are going to get!
What We Can/Should Do Instead
Sadly religion has truly failed to explain why we are here, what comes after, and if there is anything after. Now this is where faith comes into play, but with an intellectual mind it is hard to wrap your head around something that is unproven. This not to say you shouldn't have your own beliefs, go ahead, the U.L.C. is not here to dictate, just to illuminate. Think of it this way, you are here, you are alive, and you are able to make what you wish out of your life. The afterlife is NOT guaranteed, your religion is not 100% guaranteed to be true, maybe you die then you find out that some other belief that hadn't be created yet is the true religion. How would that make you feel? Or perhaps there is nothing beyond the veil of this existence, and do not be afraid of that for you have a life here.
At the U.L.C. we try to respect other people's beliefs, though we will say that most religions in their current form have been detrimental to humanity's success, and need to be understood as ideologies not government doctrines. The separation of church and state was probably one of the biggest achievements we have made, but the problem is they are not so separate. There are still too many leaders all over the world basing their decisions on religion, not thorough investigation or collaboration.
What we need to do is realize that we are going to die, and perhaps in the future we can slow the process down, but it is highly unlikely that we will scientifically unlock immortality any time soon. Meaning you need to take life as you get it, and do not let your beliefs stop you from living a fulfilled life. The afterlife is not guaranteed, the only two things that are: You are alive now, and you are going to not be alive later.
Base your decisions on that fact, and you will be much more successful!
Out of respect for other cultures we try to share the holidays celebrated throughout the world, and today is the last day of "The Day of the Dead", a tradition passed down for thousands of years ever since the Aztecs. It originated in Mexico, and has prevailed through the test of time, and what it constitutes as is the remembrance of the dead. Remembering our loved ones with the hope they ARE in a better place.
No matter if you are Catholic, Atheist, Hindu, or somewhere in between let us acknowledge this day as a day to remember our family, friends, or anybody you feel needs to be remembered!
Let us remember the lives once lived, remember the past, so that we can happily look towards the future!