From a young age, I kept a deep rooted feeling of life after death. I can not tell you for sure if it’s going to be life in eternity or life in rebirth. I could answer, “maybe , maybe not”, but I think a more valuable question might be, “What if I’m wrong.. what if there is more?”

I have been to just a few funerals in my life, each time with unconditional respect for loss. However, with all the funerals, I had a greater belief that these people were now in a better place and looking down on us with a greater understanding. That feeling was reinforced when my dad died; I don’t want to get it wrong and I don’t want to leave it to chance; dad is now in a better place.

And after death, whether I am chosen to be with loved ones again or not, I wish their eternal happiness in front of my own. Dad was inherently giving and forgiving, he absolutely deserves happiness in eternity.

But what of longevity on earth? We may be born to die, eventually, but modern science is allowing us to live much longer. Religion aside for a moment, body part replacements and regeneration is going to be fantastical; giving the human body a possibility of living for hundreds of years. How people and society will react is unknown, though I suspect it will be met with troubled times and with a greater urgency to understand the values of life and death.

However long we live within the material world, the duration is small compared to eternity. There is a larger existence beyond our own life. Our inevitable death makes us a part of that existence, whether you call it science or whether you call it God. Thus our death becomes a part of the bigger picture, our birthday to another life, or our birthday in eternity.

Living with the possibility of God means we are living in the light of eternity, shinning upon us. The more we understand this, the more we think about our responsibilities on earth.