Afterlife
‘Tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life. That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment can lay on nature is a paradise, to what we fear of death. ~ William Shakespeare
As mortality is dreaded, the afterlife has been a core spiritual concern of the Collective: whence the ridiculous conceit of Heaven.
Every religious tradition uses the afterlife to speak of the ultimate reward of the good. ~ American religion scholar Alan Segal
Memories
Attachment to life is attachment to sorrow. ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj
Individuality is cherished via memory, but memories are always adumbrations, suspect in their fidelity. Memory’s evolutionary import is for survival skill, not sentiment; yet those in the Collective cling to their memories, as they envelop self-image. Upon death, a relative few refuse to let go and move on. A confused, obstinate soul may sustain itself for some time after the body dies.
