THE HEREAFTER

THE HEREAFTER Life After Death T HOSE huge masses of ice, which we know as icebergs, found floating in the seas of the North and South poles are amongst the most deceptive and, therefore, most dangerous phenomena of nature. Their deceptiveness lies in the fact that no matter how huge, or wonderful in configuration, what we see of them amounts to only one tenth of their enormous bulk. What lies below the surface of the ocean, spreading far and beyond the visible perimeter, poses tremendous hazards to the unwary. In some ways, our lives are similar to those floating mountains of ice. The part we spend in this world— about a hundred years or less—is like the part of the iceberg which is visible above the surface. We can see it, touch it and feel it. We can take its measure and deal with it effectively. But the part which comes after death is like the submerged one—vast, unfathomable and fraught with peril. It defies the imagination but must nevertheless be understood, for that is the part of human life which God has decreed should be eternal and, as such, ineluctable. We are familiar with the facts of our origin and the course which life takes from womb until death. But at the end of our lifespan, whether it terminates in youth or in old age, our familiarity with the nature of things comes to an end. It has been surmised that death means total and final annihilation. But this is not so. Death is simply a means of consigning us to a new womb, to the womb of the universe itself. From that point, we are ushered into another world: the Hereafter. While the present, physical world as we know it has a finite time-frame, the Hereafter stretches into infinity. We fondly imagine that there is some parallel between the pleasures and pains of this world and those of the next, but, in truth, nothing that we experience in this world will ever match the extremes of agony and bliss of life after death. Those who merit punishment in the Hereafter will be condemned to suffer the most horrific pain for all time to come. But those who merit God’s blessings in the Hereafter shall know the most wonderful joy and contentment. It is because life in this world is intended to be a testing-ground that the world of the Hereafter remains beyond our reach. But all around us, we Nothing that we can experience in this world will ever match the extremes of agony and bliss of life after death.