Assuming that the dead can’t get up and walk, resurrection of the flesh (with or without, before or after, Armageddon) is pretty much out. I haven’t seen any convincing evidence of reincarnation either. My spirits say that what happens after death is beyond mortal understanding but is not reincarnation as we commonly understand it. I tend to trust what I get from the spirits, but I am only human.

We all are. Considering how much we’re influenced by education, books, movies and TV shows, etc. it might help to look at what people thought about the afterlife before those things existed. Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers. About 25,000 years ago, at least some Homo Sapiens  decked out their dead in ornamental splendor and posed them thoughtfully. There must have been a belief in something after death, or was it just empathy and sadness that made them perform these acts?

I don’t think there’s any hard evidence anywhere, and I don’t think there’s ever going to be any. Does that mean that it’s all about faith and/or your chosen book of dogma, or is there another direction we can turn for guidance?

What if we consider belief in afterlife as a tool? What good is it? Does the threat/promise of Hell/Heaven really improve behavior in the here and now? If there’s a heaven, why care about the Earthly world at all when all of this beauty just an appetizer for eternal life? Does reincarnation make us better people in this life? Why care if you get another shot at it?

As the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail. What if we were to leave the afterlife out of our toolbox altogether, and stop using it to beat this world into submission?

The most practical belief is that when you die you just die. It’s the only one that encourages you to live as lightly as you can, as peacefully and thoughtfully as you can, in this life. Anything you get after the lights go out, well that’s just gravy.