Life After Death (Motivations)

As I indicated before, there are a number of implications stemming from the understanding of life after death that I elaborated previously. First, the category "life after death" is no longer a meaningful designation other than for those who have lost a loved one and who must continue to live after their loved one's death. This first implication makes way for the second, and indeed is grounded in it: Life receives its proper grounding as -here-, as present, as living. This is why the phrase "life after death" has lost any meaning as a reference to "life-death-life" qua subject-who-is-dead. Life is therefore, "life-dying", more accurately: -Life- (there is no life apart from dying: "dying" is life, is yet another manifestation of living). The ones who remain after the particular Life (in an existential-bodily sense), are the only ones who may legitimately speak of "life-after-death". Here "life" represents the one who mourns, and "death" the one who is dead.

I have heard it remarked that if there is no life after death (in the traditional sense) there is no reason to be moral people. Why not rape and steal, murder and destroy, if in the end there is no hell or heaven? I have mixed emotions in response to this right away. First I feel sadness and pity. I feel pity for those whose lives are held under such constraint, who always feel under observation, as if a giant eyeball was hovering just over their heads, watching every move. This of course is an exaggeration, but I think there's something to it insofar as behaviour is mediated through the agency of some big Other. The second response is to ask a simple question: Why then do not all atheists rape and steal, murder and destroy? Why then are there many people who have no religious belief, yet live highly ethical lives, give to charities, help others, etc? For whatever reason, their unbelief contributes not at all to leading criminal lives. This observation leads me to suspect that somehow those who are religious lack a true altruism, or an authentic human compassion for others. Is this not suspect as long as there are motivating factors (heaven, hell, grace)? What motivating factors are there for an atheist? Certainly not as profound ones as eternal life and death. (Once I debated with a Rabbi about just this thing. He claimed that every good act is conditioned by some expectation of personal reward. Even giving your grandmother a birthday card, he said, can lead to one feeling good about oneself, result in praise from parents, etc. Every example I gave he was able to reduce to selfish motives. He accused me of being "Pauline"! It wasn't until some time after that I thought of the case of a soldier jumping on a grenade to save his comrades. Here one may argue that he will gain great acclaim as a hero afterwards etc, in which case it is conceivable he might have done it for selfish reasons, though he will not be able to enjoy the fruit of his actions. I personally think people in this situation either act without a moment's hesitation -and therefore do not even identify the Self- or they deliberate too long and the Self is recognized and preserved. I offer nothing but conjecture here but I would be curious to hear the Rabbi's response).

I do not question here the possibility of a Christian or Muslim acting without the mediating notion of an afterlife. I heard once of a Christian saint who said he would rather spend eternity in hell if it meant he might comfort even a single soul. Here I can only profoundly respect this man as a lover of humanity, and a revolutionist. Is his declaration not the culmination of a certain kind of Christian logic? He has merely taken the implications to their very end. He is willing to step into the very gap that Christ himself is not willing to step into. As long as there is a single individual in hell any notion of Christ's sacrifice for all is meaningless. As long as one person burns Christ's earthly ministry is incomplete. This saint was willing to follow the implications of Jesus' life to their very end, and in a sense, become more a Saviour than the Saviour himself who now sits upon a kingly throne and will judge humanity.

But of course this only makes sense within a certain hermeneutic of reality. The primary question should not be "Why do bad things happen to good people?" but, "Why do bad people (the "ungodly", those without heaven or hell) do good things?" And can one admit that they do? We have still not exhausted this topic. To be continued yet again...