I think that the earliest human idea of a hereafter was based on experience. In dreams, we seem to leave the body and to enter another realm where we can meet, i.e., dream about, the dead. It seemed to follow that we would enter that realm permanently at death and, in the Homeric epics, such a hereafter is regarded as a mere conscious absence of life, not as a reward/compensation/immortality etc.
If a Higher Power did control a hereafter, then how should that Power organize things? It might say to those who have just died:
"You did what you thought was right but now it is time to learn more";
"You knowingly acted wrongly so here are the consequences and the way to resolve them";
"You did not reflect on life or death so here is a second chance" -
- or something better than these that we cannot imagine.
I think it very unlikely that such a Power either exists or, if It does, conforms to anyone's ideas of it - although some ideas are less likely than others.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And the basic Catholic view is that, at the moment of death, we will know what we want forever, and make an irrevocable choice for or against God.
Sean
Sean,
What becomes of people who die too young to make such a choice?
What we want determines what we choose but what determines what we want? An omnipotent creator could have created us with different wants, therefore freely making different choices.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
The traditional Catholic belief is that children and infants who died before the age of reason (usually from age 7 on wards) are immediately taken into the presence of God if baptized. One opinion was that if unbaptized their souls go to a place or state of perfect natural happiness called "Limbo." I said "opinion" because Limbo was never defined doctrine, merely a permitted theological speculation.
I know the doctrine and beliefs about free will has given you and many other great difficulty. And I admit to being unable to satisfactorily respond to your doubts. I do wish a Catholic thelogian/philosopher might see this and respond.
Sean
Sean,
Thank you. I feel that we are at least clarifying issues. Meanwhile, like many others, I find the practice not only of philosophical reflection but also of Zen meditation profoundly beneficial.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I certainly don't object to meditation!
Btw, the speculations about Limbo arose as a reaction against St. Augustine's suggestion that infants who died unbaptized were DAMNED. Later theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas worked out objections which coalesced into the speculations about Limbo.
Sean
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