The death of a loved one is always one of the most difficult,
stressful and downright sad events in anyone's life. We look for comfort from our family, our
friends and in some cases religion – a reassurance that we have not lost our
loved one and also that we too will not cease to exist when we inevitably die.
I have been thinking about this for years – religious faith
can answer some of the questions, but in an increasingly secular age, faith is
not always enough. We want a plausible scientific explanation – one that in an
increasingly technical age can bring some sort of idea of why? Today we
question everything – and that is right – it advances us, expands our store of
knowledge, sometimes extremely painfully, but still adds to the advancement of
the human race. There are some things that we will never be able to understand
– like why the universe, why me why him or her?
Well I believe we can draw some comfort not only from family,
friends or faith but also some of the more immutable laws of the universe in
which we we were created. What do I mean?
The science of physics has many rules – some are very complex
and some are very simple. The laws don't always answer the question why but
they do help us in understanding the way our world functions at every level.
One of the most simple universal laws is this – you can't
destroy energy. To me this law is one of
the most powerful arguments that we have today for an afterlife.
We are all unique – there is only one of us. The odds of us
even being here are infinitesimally small and yet we are still here. And we are
all unique, we all have something in our bodies that makes me me, you you and
them them. But what is this? After thousands of years pondering this, we have
come up with only one thing – humans have a soul. We don't know what it is or
where it is or even how it is but we do know that it is what makes us all
individuals.
So what happens to our soul when our body finally dies – this
is where the physics comes in - you can't destroy energy.
The human body is a mass of energy throughout its life but
eventually it wears out, succumbs to disease or is killed by external forces.
Superficially you would think that its energy has been lost but in fact all
that has happened is that it has been converted into energy in a different
form. Our bodies are like everything else in the universe, they are born, exist
and eventually die like all matter – they then become a fuel source for other living
things, plants, animals, insects who in turn go through the same cycle. But one
thing is missing – what has happened to the electrical energy that has powered
us through life? The loss of our electrical energy means that the body will die
but it has to go somewhere and this is where I believe the soul goes, it passes
out of the body and back into the universe that created it and to me that is
where our afterlife is.
The universe, to slightly misquote Douglas Adams in the
Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy - is big. You just won't believe how vastly,
hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down
the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to the Universe. And out
there are the souls of everything and anyone who has ever existed. The problem
is that we have not yet learned how to tap into that energy so we can start
unravelling all the universal questions but I do believe that prayer is one of
the ways we can learn to communicate with the souls of our loved ones and also
the complexities of the universe.
My conclusion is this – there is life after bodily death; the
laws of physics indicate it. All those we used to know but are now gone really
are still with us – they have to be. All we have to do is learn how to communicate
with them. Try prayer – have a conversation with them. I believe you will be
surprised at the result and also comforted. They will talk to you – you may not
like what they say but that's down to you!
And what do you have to lose by trying?
