How the hell do I know what happens when I die?
I can probably answer that question, if you can tell me ‘What is Death’? Since my birth, I began to receive direct and indirect instructions about death from parents, relations & society. ‘God will take care of you, don’t worry’ or ‘Do good deeds, you will go to heaven’ etc. I was also informed that ‘‘Hell’ is one bad place you should not go’. In these sample sentences above, everybody was talking of death, in some way or the other. They fail to understand they have not given an answer to my question ‘What is Death’. They were simply beating around the bush! I wonder many a time if they know what death is!
Please allow me to explain my question ‘What is Death’ in various ways for the ease of understanding. In death all the bodily movements will come to a standstill. The blood does not flow. Heart does not beat. Eyes cannot see. Ears cannot listen…and so on. There are a thousand other things can be written in support of explanation. Finally, I will also tell that the body will either buried or cremated etc. Dust to Dust. From the dust we came and to the dust we return! Does this explain ‘What is Death’? I do not think I am in position to explain clearly. Further every one speaks as if I am the only person who will die and they shall remain forever on this planet! When I am gone, how can they even think that they can exist? Does it not sound like pure fiction?
Leaving the question for which everyone thinks they know the answer for some time ‘What is Death’ aside, I ask you all the readers who is dying anyway? Is it the case that I am gone or is it the case that the ‘World’ in its very traditional way is gone? To put it differently, am I dead or the world is dead? Who is dying anyway?
For example, when I close my eyes, the entire world vanishes for me. It simply does not exist. The trees, the mountains, my relations and friends everything vanishes into thin air! When I open my eyes, all very much is there. Does it not mean that the entire world is dependent on my seeing it? Similarly, when I shut down all my sensory organs then the world will simply cease to exist. In this way, when I die, it is not I am dead; it is the world that is dead. Unfortunately, the world thinks the other way i.e., it is not the world, but an individual who died. The world thinks that it will continue to exist/live forever!
I totally disagree with the later thinking. I am only going to some other place…just like shifting a house! In other words, it is the world and its people who will vanish forever for me. They are all dead. Suddenly the world vanishes from my view. This is much similar to all those beautiful fields, trees, electric pols etc., vanishing into nothingness when we travel. Similarly, I shall continue to exist. It is the world that dies. How can the world exist in my absence? How can a painting exist without its painter? Hence, it is plans stupid to say an individual died. It is vice versa.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional. What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
