The Undiscovered Country

I was reading an essay where the writer was reflecting on the best way of leading a religious – particularly Christian – life in order to ensure eternal grace in the afterlife when the following sentence stopped me: “We will all find out when the trumpet sounds.” Will we? Will whatever consciousness we have after we die allow us to hear the trumpet? Will that consciousness possess any memory of the various disagreements about salvation among the religions (and non-religions) through the ages here on Earth? What happens if the trumpet turns out to be an oboe?

This has always been a problem for us atheists. Believers, at the end of any discussion of the undiscovered country, can fall back on the convenient bromide, “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see who’s right.” This is a classic example of “begging the question” – a statement that assumes its own assertion (there’s a conscious life after death) to prove its assertion (that there’s a conscious life after death). But the atheist argument is that none of us will be around in any sentient way to see who’s right. In a void, no one can hear you gloat.

I understand well the desire for a life hereafter where all is good and forever and we’re reunited with our friends and families (hope there are a lot of rooms, especially bathrooms). Human nature – animal nature – evolution – all favor survival, and the extension to survival here on Earth is survival beyond. Why go on, why live a productive and caring life if there’s no point (read “reward”) at the end? Well, maybe the point is as simple as just surviving the life we have briefly here and do good to ensure that human life continues on here, and enjoy it while we have it, and make that imagined “afterlife” the life we’re living now.

What would a void – no space, time, consciousness – be like after we die? I suspect it would be very much like the void we all came from before we were born. Remember? Of course not. That’s the nature of existential voids. You’ll learn to live with it.