| Actually, my experience in the Army and Martial Arts has helped me reconcile myself to the fact that I will die some day. I've given the subjec much thought since it was a very real possibility that I could have died at an early age because of my occupation.
I do not look forward to dying but am not afraid of it. If you saw Band of Brothers, or Twelve-o-clock High, two characters mentioned that fighting in a war is reliant on soldiers accepting the fact that they are already dead. Not literally, but reconciled to the fact that death is just around the corner. With this in mind, one is able to function without living with the stress normally associated with thoughts of dying.
Even after leaving the Army, I've maintained this realization that I could go at any time. There have been several occasions when this allowed my to do things others looked upon as amazing when they seemed routine to me.
Also, contemplating on what happens after our earthly demise is pointless. NOBODY knows what happens next. As Confucious once said, and I paraphrase, talking about the metaphysical makes me sleepy. If there is an afterlife, cool, the adventure continues. If there is nothing, cool, you won't know any different. If there is an afterlife, I fail to understand how we would have a consciousness anything remotely similar to what we have now since all our brain functions rely on bio-electric functions. An afterlife would be completely different than what western religions preach. |