The other day I was chatting with a friend and he said “I don’t believe in an afterlife. I think when you die, you just disappear. No more you. No Heaven. No Hell. Just poof, you’re gone forever.”
I said, “Why do you think that?”
He said, “There’s no evidence for the existence of an afterlife, so there must not be one.”
I replied, “Is there evidence for the absence of an afterlife?”
He thought for a second and said “No.”
I said, “Given that you have found no evidence of an afterlife and you have no evidence that there isn’t one, why is it that you’ve chosen to believe there is no afterlife? Each has an equal probability of being true in your mind.”
He thought about that and said, “I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. If there happens to be an afterlife, then I can be glad I was wrong. If there is no afterlife, then I will have been right, but of course I won’t know that as I will disappear from existence.”
“But what would happen if you planned to be around after you died? Would your life feel different? Would you conduct your life differently if you believed in an afterlife? For example, if you knew you would see your deceased loved ones again after you died, would that make your current life better, the same, or worse?” I asked.
He said, “Yeah, I mean if I knew I was going to see my mom again, that would certainly be something to look forward to. I would be a lot less sad right now.”
I said, “If you knew your consciousness continued on after you died, would that make your current life better or worse?”
He said, “Better, I suppose. It would be nice if I wasn’t doing all of this for nothing.”
“What if you knew that your deceased loved ones and perhaps a divine being or two was on the other side, guiding you, trying to help you get what you wanted in life. Would that make your life better or worse?”
He said, “Also better. I suppose if I believed that spirit guides existed it would mean there was something looking out for me. That would bring me comfort. Listen, I get it. In the absence of evidence, believing in an afterlife makes more sense than believing there is nothing. But I haven’t had any experiences that lead me to believe there is an afterlife. Why do YOU believe in the afterlife?”
I replied, “I believe in an afterlife because I do have evidence, at least enough evidence to convince me that there is an afterlife. Four things have led me to this conclusion.
The first is that I am a psychic medium. I have connected with deceased people on the other side that I’ve never met, and passed along messages to their living loved ones that I couldn’t have possibly known about before the reading. I recognize that most people never have that experience, but I’ve had it thousands of times so I’m sure of this information.
The second reason I believe in an afterlife is because of my ability to astral project. I have consciously moved my soul out of my body, which proved to me we do indeed have a soul or a consciousness, and that it can live outside a physical body. My astral projection experiences, at least to me, are evidence that the soul can and does live without the body. I also recognize that not everyone knows how to astral project, but I’ve done that about a thousand times so I am comfortable with my level of evidence there.
The third reason I believe in an afterlife is because I remember what ‘life’ was like on the other side. I have strong memories of my time in the ether, just as I have strong memories of my time on Earth. I trust those pre-birth memories are as real as the childhood memory I have of losing my first tooth. I also recognize that not everyone has these memories.
I also recall at least a dozen of my past lives, which tells me I have lived before and will likely live again, and how can you do that without making a pit stop in the ether for a new identity?”
He listened and replied, “But that’s just it. I haven’t had any of those same experiences, so how am I supposed to conclude that there is an afterlife?”
“You can’t, not reliably. And I get it. But you could learn mediumship like I did. You could learn how to astral project, which is something I teach people how to do. You can do some past life recall hypnotherapy sessions to see if you can unlock the memory of your past lives. And maybe, if you tune in hard enough, you too can remember your time between lives.”
He said, “That seems like a lot of work.”
I replied, “Yes, but it comes with a really great prize at the end; your own personal certainty that there is an afterlife. How much is that worth to you?”
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “I’d love to believe in this stuff, I just don’t want to delude myself.”
“Look,” I said, “Belief in the afterlife usually gives people hope, comfort, and joy. Believing you will poof out of existence can cause depression, anxiety, and make you feel like life isn’t worth living. Until you have evidence that there is no afterlife, why don’t you see how it feels to believe in an afterlife for a little while. Who knows where it might lead?”
My friend said he would consider it.
I understand that it’s hard to believe something without evidence. Evidence is out there, though. If you want it badly enough, this level of certainty CAN be obtained.
For me, the certainty that there is an afterlife has relieved me of any fear of dying, because I know when I die I will go home, reconnect with my loved ones, plan a new life, and come back for some more of this delicious physicality.
And if I’m wrong and this is all somehow a masterful illusion, I’ll poof out of existence and never know it. But while I lived, I will have lived happier. I’m sure of that.
