The Next Step?

The other night while at work my mind started drifting, not an unusual thing since most of the jobs I do are very repetitious and it's very easy to zone out while doing them.  Anyway, I got to thinking about some friends who are Kemetic and some of their beliefs.  This thought led me to thinking about a visit to the Toledo Museum of Art that me and my daughter had taken a few years ago.  We were so excited to go because they were having a display on Ancient Egypt.  There were pieces of art work, jewelry and statues that had been taken from a tomb.  The big item that we were so excited to see was the mummy that they were displaying.  This was a big thing, you hear about them, see pictures of them but we were going to actually see a real one in "person", so to speak.  

Now, when we finally got to the case that held the mummy, all I could think of was how sad it was.  Looking down at this withered body wrapped in rags and looking so tiny and fragile, my only thought was how sad it was to have ended up here, on display for anyone to stare at.  The more I thought about it the sadder I became.  This withered, dried up thing used to be a person, someone who loved others, had people who loved them.  A person who had lived, loved and dead.  Their whole belief was that the items we were just admiring were buried with them for the sole purpose of their being able to continue their lives in the next life, like they had lived in this life.  Without those items, the artwork that talked of their life, their accomplishments and their funerals, most importantly, their names, they would cease to exist. I wondered, what happened to this poor soul when the items were taken from their tomb?  Was s/he living happily in the afterlife, then suddenly ripped out and scattered to nothingness because of the actions of the people who were taking their stuff from their tombs?  Did this person cease to exist?  While I enjoyed looking at the items, the mummy really depressed me, made me wonder why we needed to remove the body from it's resting place.

After thinking about this rather depressing subject I started thinking about how different religions had their own beliefs on what happens when we pass from this life. There are so many different places people believe we go after we die. Heaven.  Hell.  Nirvana. Isle of Apples. Summerland.  Reincarnation.  Nothing.  You get the picture. There are so many thoughts of what waits us when we leave this life.  

What happens once our spirit leaves this body?  My belief is that our minds, to some extent, create our afterlife.  Bare with me, this is an ongoing, evolving belief that I've been working on for years.  I believe that our minds, our thoughts, help form the afterlife we will be experiencing.  I don't think it controls it all, but I believe that at the beginning, when we leave our bodies, that our minds will create a reality that we expect, that we can deal with.  Of course this can be a double edged sword, if you believe in Hell and feel that is what you deserve, then that is where you go, same as if you believe you deserve Heaven, or Summerland.  That is where you will go.

Now, this thought lead me to what about Reincarnation? What about the belief that we all come from one source and that when we die we go back to that source?  How does this fit in?  I don't know, but it makes for some interesting thoughts. I honestly can't say I believe in either, but I remember reading somewhere that energy does not cease to exist, it is always there.  I believe our spirits are made of energy, so when we die we have to go somewhere.  Now, do we keep living different lives for all eternity? I don't know.  Maybe, but why?  Would it be to learn lessons?  That you can't move on till you learn that lesson? Or just to experience different types of life?  Would this go on forever? Or would it stop when you learn or experience all that you want?  Do you eventually find your way back to the one source that all life comes from. Before anyone says "Hey! What you mean by that?" I do believe that all life, everything in existence comes from one source, even the gods, goddesses, nature spirits, all that, come from this source.  That is my belief, so since this is my blog, I'm going with it. 

I remember reading in a Dean Koontz book, Odd Thomas, one of the main characters believed that this life is just boot camp, that the next life is war or the great adventure.  Now, I don't believe this is boot camp, but I kinda like the thought that the next life (and possibly the next, etc) are great adventures.  Before anyone laughs at me for developing an idea from a book, I am not saying this is what I believe in, but I think it's an interesting thought.  Sometimes you read something that makes you go "hmmm?"  Even if it's fiction, if it's a "hmmm" thought, it can be worth looking into or at least exploring.  When you think about it, it is in a way another variation of reincarnation.  I think I could go with each life as an adventure or a new experience over lessons to be learned.  After all, who's to say you won't learn any lessons having an adventure?  

Thinking about all these ideas about the afterlife makes me wonder why some spirits don't move on.  I know some people say they could be just an echo of something in the past, kinda like a recording of an event that happened.  Maybe, could be.  I don't know.  Could it be this persons' soul is stuck at this moment in time?  Forced to relive this one moment over and over again?  I'm thinking it's a possibility, especially if our minds are what really makes the afterlife what it is.  Maybe these echoes are people living it over and over again, unaware that they are doing it and unaware of anything else around them.  But then I started wondering about the spirits that are aware of the "living".  Why are the aware?  Why do they refuse to leave?  What are they afraid of?

Which makes you wonder, if these spirits we are seeing are just humans in another energy form, why are they stuck in this spot or time like this?  Was the experience so bad that they can't stop relieving it? Are they to afraid to leave?  I know some claim family members come back to warn, comfort or just check up on them.  So that leads to another thought.  As energy forms, can we not only choose our afterlife, but could we also choose to travel among different planes of reality or time?

As you can see, my thoughts bounce all over the place and take me on some interesting adventures.  I was hoping writing this would help me sort out my thoughts on this subject.  It did help some, but now I've more questions because of it.