A dream simply abandoned...
Or we simply stopped dreaming!
Discouragement and disbelief that end up stealing the meaning of living.
Revolt, nonconformity and hatred corroding and draining our creative and productive energy.
Why do we give up on ourselves? Or our joy of living?
All of these feelings arise from a common origin in the way we understand our purpose for living, not just the one that meets our immediate desires for happiness, but something broader — why do we exist?
There are many beliefs, and just like in a supermarket where we choose the brand the product's brand, we have beliefs, religions and philosophies on the shelves of the human thoughts.
There are many options for all tastes and, faced with so many options, I decided to stick with the one that seemed the happiest, the best option to feed hope and encouragement, even if it was not possible to understand the greater meaning of living.
And to reach a conclusion, I decided to consider the possibilities that we know without allowing the culture inherited from the social environment to interfere.
MATERIALISM
If you believe that everything ends with death, then it doesn't matter how you live.
From criminal to good citizen, they all end up in the ditch of nothingness.
In other words, attitudes don't make a difference as long as mistakes can be covered up.
Everything would come down to getting the most out of it because, regardless, if everything ends in nothing, everything doesn't make any difference as long as appearances protect us.
Generally, this philosophy is comfortable for those who want to live life as if there were no tomorrow, as it is very convenient to nullify the harmful effect of the future of our actions simply by denying this possibility.
Too simple, isn't it?
What if there is tomorrow?
UNIQUE LIFE
If we believe that when life ends we go to a kind of "final judgment", eternally condemned to hell or gifted with heaven forever, then some questions become meaningless.
For example, a person who had everything in life and therefore sinned little.
Another person who had nothing, not even the chance to have good guidance, and ends up doing something wrong, making a lot of serious mistakes.
According to this belief of "final judgment", weighing pros and cons, the first goes to eternal heaven, as no one is perfect and if there is no "discount", heaven would be empty!!!
The second will most likely go to hell, and stay there forever.
Can the person regret it and do an “upgrade”?
I do not think so!!
After all, if that happens, there would not be one "final judgment" but two, which makes the term "final judgment" not so final after all!
Note that in both examples, the two are right or wrong for a set period of time, but receive an eternal condemnation or reward.
Perhaps it makes sense for those who see life as a retirement, dreaming that after years of work they can fall into eternal idleness since they will not be able to die again, becoming happy beneficiaries of eternity.
Since no one is perfect, it is assumed that if you don't make much mistakes, you win the sky lottery, otherwise the sky would be empty, as previously stated, which could make heaven the exclusive home of the "Saints", thus condemning almost all of humanity to hell.
After all, it is difficult to judge what is too little or too much.
How much is too little or too much to gain such great eternal benefit?
Does all this make sense?
If God is pure love, in its most beautiful state, then this doesn't make much sense.
In addition to the lack of justice due to the different conditions in which people are born and live, it sounds strange to be eternally receiving for something you gave for some time, or eternally paying for a mistake made during a period of time.
For example, if your child makes a "bad" mistake, does he deserve eternal punishment?
And if he makes a little mistake, does he go to "heaven" without any correction?
Or does “heaven” have an institute for small corrections?
None of this makes sense, and worst of all, it still encourages doubts and disbelief.
MANY LIVES
If you believe that there are many lives, as many as necessary until happiness is achieved, then this is closer to a really powerful God and so full of love that he does not condemn anyone eternally, nor does he give eternal "softness", having the ability to promote more than one life, because he really is a "real God", not just with the power to provide a single chance, but for as many as necessary until the individual reaches the merit to be happy.
A true God, who in addition to guaranteeing happiness for everyone through infinite opportunities, is also consistent with the world that He created, commanded by a principle common to nature since nature is evolutionary and we are part of it.
There is no evolution without the progressive correction of errors!
A God like this really seems like a being from which supreme love flows and with infinite resources, a God of Truth, as he shares his own possibilities and conditions with everyone, regardless of whether they are his children or not.
A God like this, I can call Father.
Other "Gods" I cannot imagine as a father of supreme love, as they seem so human!
I really think that "humanoid gods" are the result of a lack of imagination on the part of those who idealize them in their own image.
The bad consequence of this theory of infinite opportunities would be to think that because we have eternity to make mistakes, that we could continue postponing our corrections for eternity, always "swindling" God.
One thing is certain: no one likes to suffer and this option of "delaying forever" always leaving our improvement for tomorrow only adds more suffering to the trajectory since "every action corresponds to a reaction" , for the good or for the bad.
The result is that a path between two points can be traversed in many ways.
A shorter route, or keep going around while we suffer longer.
It all comes down to choosing how long we want to suffer repeating old mistakes or delaying our adjustments and new learning.
Believing in multiple lives gives much more meaning to life and supports you in accepting a difficulty as an opportunity.
The revolt due to unfair situations becomes much milder because we start to see the world not as something static with just a one-way ticket and no return, but as a dynamic and iterative situation of a growth process, where it becomes much easier to justify differences. of opportunities as a consequence of past behavior, in the face of new opportunities that will always be remade in the direction of finding happiness in the next experience.
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
John 8:32
How good it is to believe that nothing ends and that you don't have just one chance, or just one life to learn so many things that are so much greater than what we still are since a life is so short!
This really gives me encouragement and hope because life lived with a sense of meaning in itself makes the journey much lighter and happier because it gives more meaning to the act of living. It supports hope.
After all, giving greater meaning to life makes life more meaningful!
If the text has some logic for you, there is no need to conflict or abandon your religion.
Religions are like a soul cleansing kit made up of belief packages.
When you put together your home cleaning kit, you are not obliged to buy all the items from the same brand. Certainly, your religion will have a lot of good things to offer, but as every human product is not perfect, perhaps something can be revised.
After all, there's no need to throw away the entire bag of oranges.
Just discard the past ones.