Saturday, March 8, 2008

Afterlife

I was reading a post over on fMh (which I don't feel like linking directly to--it's the one about "Are Skirts Eternal" or something) when I realized I was getting bored with the discussion. Everyone is talking about gender, sex, enforced vs. natural gender roles etc. and whether or not things will be like that in the after life. I found myself thinking, "Who the hell cares?". There are so many more important things to worry about right now. I think that's one thing that my agnosticism has done is forced me to focus on the present. I'm not going to say I never think about death or the future (that's an entirely different post). But I find myself being much more concerned with taking action right now, changing things right now. If you think gender roles are a problem now, then do something about it now. If you think gender roles are going to be a problem in the afterlife, then decline to participate--for me that was how my journey away from religion started. If that's what God wants from me (not just the gender role thing, there were tons of other issues) then I decline to participate. There are more important things to worry about.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

hey, I glanced over at fMh and saw the headlines but didn't read any of the text. thanks for the heads up.
discussions about the nature of eternaty seem speculative and pointless to me... but yet still so heated. I don't get anything out of them right now.

Anonymous said...

Funny. I found myself thinking the same thing. I get really bored with the gender role discussions really quickly. It seems especially pointless when you're talking about the afterlife. My feelings about the afterlife are 1) if there is a heaven, by definition I will not be miserable there, and 2) whatever, it's not like I can do anything about it anyway.

Lessie said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one beginning to be perplexed by these things. I used to get a lot out of these kinds of discussions--I practically fed off of them. But now, they just don't do it for me. Discussions of what's going on right now still rile me up, but for the most part, talk about the afterlife just seems really pointless.

Oceanchild said...

Hey there,

Hope you don't mind me posting, but i have the exact same reaction to discussions like you are talking about. I mean seriously, I have feel like I have enough on my mind and don't have time to dwell on what MIGHT happen and try to prove to anyone that my opinion is right. Decide what you want to believe and just leave it at that.

I enjoy reading your thoughts.

Lessie said...

madhousewife and julia, sorry I haven't responded to you guys yet. I'm glad you came by. I don't mind hearing your opinions or thoughts at all. Thanks for taking the time to comment. mhw I especially liked your "if there is a heaven, by definition I will not be miserable there". That's great. And it's what the believing side of me still hopes for. Which is why I find these types of discussions almost wholly without merit.