Soul Talk

Fearful Unknown

"Elena? Elena?! We ran out of milk and - why are you staring at the window like somebody just died?"

"Daniel, what happens after we die?"

"Why the sudden interest in death?"

"Today, in one of my classes, we were studying the tissue from a cow's brain. It was disgusting and most of the people skipped class. The professor is an idiot and didn't know what he was doing. Said he was going to the loo half way through the class and he didn't even come back!"

"..."

"Well, it just made me think of death. Some people think death is a person, you know, like in Harry Potter. Some people think we just die and there is nothing after that. Some think there is an afterlife and heaven and stuff..."

"Everyone has different beliefs. Nothing is wrong or right."

"What do you think happens to us?"

"I don't believe that our life is planned out by someone or that our death day is fixed. We choose everything. It is our decisions and actions that lead us to everything in life."

"So, you don't believe in afterlife?"

"I don't know."

"Do you believe in heaven?"

"Elena, everything depends on our actions. If there is a heaven, we will be treated there according to our actions. Or maybe, everyone would be equal, our actions won't define us. After all, I believe that it is our actions that lead us to death. Do you believe in heaven?"

"Yes, I do. I think your second theory is right. We have to suffer the consequences of our actions when we are alive itself. Although, I don't know what will happen in heaven or hell. Nobody can tell. What about those children who have lost their parents?"

"We don't know, Elena. We can only say that those people are happy. Even that cow."

"You're right. I just don't get why I'm so affected by that cow. I mean, I've dissected frogs and other insects before but they've never affected me this much."

"You're upset over the cow's death and it's natural. I'm sure you're not the only one."

"I feel so powerless, that I can't save someone from death."

"We, humans, as stupid as we can be, create life and death."

"What about innocent children who have diseases like Cancer?"

"You know the saying, one bad apple rots other good apples. Their ancestors must have gotten a disease and that faulty gene had been passed down the generation. So, it's not the other good apple's fault that they are rotting because of one bad apple, right? It's the same with those innocent kids. But then again, we don't always know the reason behind some things. You know... like dreams."

"So why do we fear death so much?"

"Most people think they fear it because of the way they've seen other people die. You know, those painful car crashes or the traumatic conditions they're in when they are brought to a hospital, but it not that. It's the mystery of what happens after we die. That is what people fear. Nobody wants to go to an unknown place from which they will never return."

"Is that why people say live your life to the fullest?"

"Yeah, probably."

"What about God?"

"I don't believe in God."

"So you believe in heaven and hell, but not God?"

"If there is God, He conceals himself. There is no proof that He is even real. Then, people worship different Gods and there are contrasting theories on where He was born and what He did."

"So if you think God doesn't exist, then who created the universe, time, us and everything else?"

"I don't know Elena... You know whenever you think of something or someone, your mind always provides a picture, but when I think of God there is just a black sheet of paper."

"Sometimes, I imagine that God is in space, observing us humans and thinking how each one of us believes in a different God and has a different set of beliefs. He must be laughing at the fact that we will always be wondering for the rest of our lives, trying to figure out who he is."

"Who knows, maybe there are all those different Gods. But the problem is, humans have visited almost every known place in the universe and he's not there."

"Death must be the only way to meet god. He must have known that we are so eager to solve this mystery. But we must be ready to explore the unknown if we want to meet him. I may be wrong or I may be right, who knows."

"One day we'll find out. Whether we want to or not."

"Yes we will, because I believe that's one of the two things we don't have a say in."

"What's the second thing you don't have a say in?"

"Birth."

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