Monday 17th April

From an early age, we are aware of growing up, of ageing and life’s final ending, death itself.  And pretty soon too, we are faced with the devastating idea that death is the end, of our hopes and dreams, our thoughts, our pleasures and pains; no more living at all, we simply cease to exist.  Well that seems to be the evidence, once the heart stops and the brain is deprived of oxygen and our other vital organs stop working we are dead.  So, when someone came along with the idea of ‘life after death’ it soon caught on.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful not to actually die at all. Or having died, to rise up and exist in some parallel ‘Universe’ where we could once again meet our loved ones who had gone before us.

Of course, it is no co-incidence that I am writing this for Easter, where according to legend and a notorious ‘ganglion basher’, Jesus defied death and came back to life.  And I do not intend to upset anyone of a religious persuasion.  Believe away.  It is of no consequence to me.  Whatever makes you happy…

But if you really think about it, do we really want to live again, in any sort of ‘heaven’ or any other place?  Life, while we are who we are and where we are is precious and we understandably cling to it, but as most of us will die with wasted bodies and possibly minds too, for many the end may not come too soon.  It is only the process of dying we fear, not the state of being dead.  Though previous generations may have feared the eventual interrogation at the pearly gates…

But there is of course life after death too.  In a physical sense the atoms we are made of will be re-absorbed into the air or the earth and may well emerge as other life one day.  But as even the ‘Re-incarnation believers insist’ we will know nothing of our previous existence.  Just as well, all things considered.  But we will live on in people’s memories.  I often think about my Nana and Grandad, long gone but never forgotten.  And if we were lucky enough to have painted a picture or written a book, some physical artifact will remain too, or it may simply be great Aunt Maud’s plant stand.  And now of course e-mails and facebook posts never die, they will live on forever too.

And in a far more important way we should try to leave something of ourselves behind, some good things we may have done, some kindness performed.  We should all strive to leave the World in a slightly better state than when we came into it.  And as I have said before, everything matters, every little detail – and yet at the same time in the grand scheme of things, nothing really matters at all.  But this life is the only one we can be sure of, so we should do our best to do our best.  Now go and enjoy your Easter eggs, you won’t be able to when you are dead.