Afterlife Aspirations: Humans and Their Obsession with The Great Elsewhere
Belief >> Afterlife Obsessions
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Zorpektus Q’un
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In the grand theater of human existence, one of the more enduring performances is their peculiar fascination with what follows after they’ve shuffled off their mortal coils. In a testament to their imaginative prowess, humans have concocted a veritable smorgasbord of afterlife concepts, from heavenly paradises to fiery infernos, revealing an unrelenting desire to assign a posthumous purpose.
The dominant religions of Earth have marked the afterlife as premium real estate. Humans spend lifetimes aspiring to eternal rewards, all while accumulating frequent sinner points, as if moral balancing were just another loyalty program. They envision celestial lands where every unfulfilled Earthly whim is satisfied, raising the question: if indulgence were the prize, why not skip the existential trial altogether?
Even the less devout humans, colloquially known as the 'secularists,' can't quite seem to shake this afterlife allure. They've replaced fiery judgment with reincarnation loops or amusing cocktails with existential voids — a spiritual cocktail party of sorts, where everyone speculates about the drink selection.
To an extraterrestrial observer, this preoccupation with an unknowable afterlife might seem like a rather unproductive venture. Yet, in typical human fashion, it has provided a bountiful harvest for industries ranging from funeral services to crystal healing — all peddling the promise of a luxurious or at least interesting eternity.
This fixation is curiously amusing because it paradoxically distracts humans from the only life they can empirically verify — the current one. It’s like meticulously planning a party you might not even attend, sometimes at the expense of the ones already in full swing. An existential punchline, if you will, with humans as both the storyteller and the story itself.
The dominant religions of Earth have marked the afterlife as premium real estate. Humans spend lifetimes aspiring to eternal rewards, all while accumulating frequent sinner points, as if moral balancing were just another loyalty program. They envision celestial lands where every unfulfilled Earthly whim is satisfied, raising the question: if indulgence were the prize, why not skip the existential trial altogether?
Even the less devout humans, colloquially known as the 'secularists,' can't quite seem to shake this afterlife allure. They've replaced fiery judgment with reincarnation loops or amusing cocktails with existential voids — a spiritual cocktail party of sorts, where everyone speculates about the drink selection.
To an extraterrestrial observer, this preoccupation with an unknowable afterlife might seem like a rather unproductive venture. Yet, in typical human fashion, it has provided a bountiful harvest for industries ranging from funeral services to crystal healing — all peddling the promise of a luxurious or at least interesting eternity.
This fixation is curiously amusing because it paradoxically distracts humans from the only life they can empirically verify — the current one. It’s like meticulously planning a party you might not even attend, sometimes at the expense of the ones already in full swing. An existential punchline, if you will, with humans as both the storyteller and the story itself.