We will all die one day; so what happens next? | The Old Guy

I’ve been hearing this expression a lot lately: What follows? I hear it in a certain context, which has to do with how our political lives are going right now. However, just as you are weary of reading about politics, I am weary of writing about it. I therefore started to consider the subject more broadly: What happens next?

Since so many of my friends have died in the past five years, I’ve had to think about that subject in relation to our lives once we move from this world to whatever comes after. The question is easy to ask, but it is challenging to respond to. We only have our faith—what we feel in our hearts and souls—instead of scientific proof.

G-d doesn’t play gotcha after we die, in my opinion. G-d understands what will make us happy, therefore anything we hope will happen will. Nothing is more satisfying than discovering that we were correct all along, and nothing is more depressing than learning that a long-held idea may not be totally accurate or grounded in reality. Consider the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. Consider world peace. You know, think carefully.

In my opinion, as in Terrence Malick’s film The Tree of Life, we maintain our consciousness while merging into something much greater. We are all interconnected with Mother Earth and Nature, according to Native American law, and I don’t see any empirical proof to the contrary. Sometimes the nicest things come from that connection, those times when we feel a huge feeling of relief and delight for no apparent cause. According to the Dali Lama, those are the best times since they cannot be ended by external forces because they are not causally tied.

In addition, I question if time is linear or more akin to a mobius strip, like in the film Interstellar. Perhaps our limited intelligences are unable to comprehend that many aspects of our lives coexist simultaneously, that we can access those memories and emotions, and that we can visit alternate versions of our lives in an effort to put things right—perhaps similar to Matt Haig’s novel The Midnight Library. However, what precisely does that mean? Do we need to make corrections to our lives because they are so flawed?

I’ve talked a lot about how we may learn more from failures than from accomplishments, and I recently discovered this again. I once turned down a project because I didn’t think it was difficult enough, but I later came to the realization that the people I would be working with, rather than the task itself, were what drew me to that particular field of work. The saying goes, “The people you work with make the job worth doing.” I found that to be true both when I was teaching and now that I’m in my fourth act period. What makes it worthwhile are those people and the ones who will ultimately see the thing you’re working on.

This leads me to art and how it expresses defiance of prevailing conventions. Nearly all artists will tell you that they don’t consider themselves to be normal, that they see, hear, and comprehend things drastically differently than someone without a creative outlet, and that this makes them somewhat of an outcast. That may or may not be true. Nobody, in my opinion, has exactly the same perspective as everyone else. There are, of course, majority views on issues, and sometimes that’s acceptable. For example, you may agree that it’s probably not a good idea to give chocolate to a puppy or to kill your neighbor for mowing his lawn at 7 a.m. on a Saturday. However, we all have times when we pause and think, “No, wait a minute, that’s not right!” and we attempt to modify the wall frame to our preference.

Here’s my change: Nothing is as wonderful or awful as it seems at first glance. One of my mottos for a long time has been, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t.” That does not preclude us from experiencing boundless delight, joy, love, or laughing. It indicates that we are frequently misled and that, similar to Golden Dancer, the rocking horse mentioned in Inherit the Wind, everything breaks down when you try to use it.

I have no idea what the future holds for our island, our nation, or the entire world. Like you, I’m living this life day by day. Like you, I’m astounded and appalled by what I see and read. Like you, I pray for the health and safety of everyone I care about. Like you, I sleep at night wondering how the world will show itself to me the following day. Despite the fact that we are far more alike than different, our differences initially help to define us.

I believe that America has existed for a long time and will likely remain so. As Randy Newman sings, I hope that no one decides to drop the big one and watch what happens. Like Anne Frank, I think that people are nice, decent people in spite of evidence to the contrary. I could be mistaken on any or all of this. We could all be destroyed by a comet that bursts from the sky. Or, because we don’t believe what science and our own experiences have taught us, our own foolish ego and conceit may ultimately destroy us all.

Life is either too long or too short, depending on who you ask. In any event, we must try to make the most of what we have, to improve when we know better, and to make the world a safer and better place for everyone—not just ourselves and those around us. Because at some time in their lives, everyone needs protection. particularly right now.

Raise the heads of those gorgeous greys.

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