Death Sentence of Certainty: When Religion Stalls Our Growth

“Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.” – Napoleon Bonaparte.

We think we have time. Yes many will die early. But us? We think we have 40 or 50 or 100 years.

It is not that you don’t have 50 or 70 years. But that 50 years is a lot less time then we assume it is.

Religion gives us hope of an afterlife. For some that pushes them to improve and do well. But for most it gives them a reason to not achieve more, it takes the full picture of how short life really is and extends it to forever, a forever that you don’t know that much about.

When My Brother Died

I had my mind about half way decided that I was going to leave the FLDS.

Then I heard my brother died. He was my half sibling.

I clenched up and went into a year long think about this. In that moment I was easily changing my mind, the reality of death had brought me back to my religion.

So right then I decided two things:

1. I wouldn’t leave unless I would do it the day after a loved one died.
2. Death is a measure of how we really feel, and when making big decisions, I would consider if myself or a loved one were going to die, would you change your mind?

By the time I left the FLDS, I was to the point that it would not have affected my decision. I was satisfied even in the face of death.

But after I left and continued my thoughts on what death really means, I realized that not only did I make the right decision to leave, I made the only good decision in the face of death.

Imagine me being bottled up in a set of beliefs for years, keeping me from reaching my potential, and then dying.

That is when I understood the definition of “If you fear something, face it.”

An open mind will always be able to out maneuver, out strategize, see a bigger picture, and live a more fulfilling life than one that is stuck in a set of beliefs.

Think of it like a video game character coming into real life, assuming death was always chasing him. All their old beliefs would hold them back from navigating the world properly.

Now just understand that your beliefs are literally no different than a video game character, and they hold you back. You need to pop that dimension and enter the next.

“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” – J.K. Rowling.

If You Were To Die Tomorrow

What would you do today?

If you were going to die in exactly one year, would you do more than you currently are doing?

As individuals, we put death as far out as possible. We don’t like to think about it. We push it away and assume everything is great.

And then we fall back into a monotone lifestyle and watch tick-tok videos for 4 hours a day.

In the face of death, actual death, everything becomes so much more important. We do so much more, find so many more solutions, and have an open emotional connection.

We say I love you to people that we usually ignore, and understand our insignificance in the eternity of time.

“Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time… It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other.” – Leo Buscaglia.

Religious Satisfaction With Death

Religion, if you believe it with all your heart, gives peace in death. You believe you will go on after and everything that was wrong will be put right.

I have a problem with this: Many use it as satisfaction for all the things they did not do. They would rather find peace in what they are instead of improving.

I am not saying the afterlife is not real. I really hope it is.

After a ton of thought I have concluded this about the afterlife:

1. I don’t know what happens when you die, and it is not obvious I will ever know until then.
2. Live life like there is no afterlife, and if there is, deal with that when it comes.
3. Any belief you cannot challenge, ask yourself about, question it down, you will probably regret in the future.
4. If you do live in the afterlife you won’t regret making some mistakes here. If you don’t then you also don’t need to worry about making mistakes.

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” – Mark Twain.

“Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.” – Bertolt

Conclusion

If you assume you can do it later, why would you do it now?

If you cannot do it later, you will do it now.

Death puts a limit on our time, otherwise humanity could not progress. People would take millions of years to do something.

If there is an afterlife, we will deal with it when it comes. That is not guaranteed.

One thing that is guaranteed is death. So live life to the fullest.

Don’t fear death, fear living a life that lacks meaning.

We get rattled when we come near death and seem to make different decisions. But we need to understand that is reality and we should try making all our decisions based on our limited time.

Thank you for reading! You would also enjoy this article titled: Go Ahead And Make The Wrong Decision

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