The Constant(s)

A friend wrote a blog exploring the possibility that the people we know and love in this life were the people we knew and loved in previous lives. It's a theory I have always believed in. I'm a history nerd but am drawn only to certain periods of history. I devour any kind of information on ancient civilizations; the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians most notably, and we all know I'm fascinated by the story of the Titanic. Very different periods in history, I know. I've considered the fact that the reason I'm drawn to only certain periods is because some form of me was there in a previous life. Maybe I helped build a pyramid or assisted a philosopher or died on the Titanic. I'll never know for sure but sometimes it's fun to think about. And maybe the people I love were all around then too, but in different forms or relations. Hell, maybe this life is just a place holder before we move on to the next. I don't believe it's just over when we die, nor do I believe in the traditional versions of heaven and hell. I think we come back in some other form and we continue to learn and grow across the ages. I'm a bit torn however because I also would like to think the immediate end of our time here culminates in something like what happened in the series "Lost". I was obsessed with this show during its run and recently watched it again from beginning to end. Few shows have captured my attention the way "Lost" did and I was hooked from episode one, it was so well-written and conceived. The mythology and story of the show were quite complex but I will try to condense it a bit to explain how it ties in with the afterlife theme.
"Lost" began with a plane crashing onto a seemingly deserted island. A select group of passengers survived and learned the plane was way off course at the time of the crash. With rescue very unlikely they went about building lives on the island, learning many things about themselves along the way. From the start it was established that the line between between good and evil, right and wrong, black and white is a very blurry one. Everyone on the show was flawed in some way in order to show that we all got problems but it's how you deal with them that counts. You either overcome your issues or you are consumed by them. Throughout its six seasons, the writers created four different worlds that they bounced between; the present, which included the plane crash and the island exploration, the pasts of the main characters, the futures of those same characters, and what was called "sideways world". We didn't know what sideways world was until the very end of the show. It seemed to be what these people's lives would have been had the plane never crashed - they never met on the island in this scenario yet somehow all still crossed paths at one point or another. In this world they all still had issues and were all still connected, but in very different ways. They were also all still flawed but most no longer seemed completely burdened by those flaws, as they often were in their past lives and on the island. They were no longer consumed by their demons, they had either learned to live with them or overcome them completely. In the last moments of the series finale (which btw is as close to perfection as television gets), it is revealed that sideways world is actually a place the survivors created in order to find each other again before proceeding to the next life. Their time together on the island was the most important time in their lives and they were all very important to each other. They found community and purpose and a sense of belonging on the island. So much so that as they died they all congregated in this sort of limbo and waited for each other and worked through the last of the issues binding them to their earthly lives. In the sideways world most created happier lives for themselves while others continued to punish themselves for past sins. Even they had no idea they had died and had to gain consciousness of that by coming into contact with the person who had the most profound impact on them in life, the person who was their constant throughout all of the worlds. Once they all gain this consciousness, they remember that they have died and are finally ready to let go and move on to whatever comes next, together as they were always meant to be. It's a beautiful concept when you think about it. That we all get to create our own "do-over" and right the wrongs and flaws about ourselves that vexed us throughout our lives. That we get a chance to forgive ourselves and start with a clean slate on our next journey. And that we're never alone throughout any of our travels. Whether it be 1912, the 1920's or before Christ, the people we love and care about have always and will always be there.
I've always believed in fate and destiny and all that stuff some would call BS. Another of the major themes in "Lost" was science versus faith; one character was a doctor and needed to fix everything and everyone, another was a man who believed everything was for a reason and trusted that we'd all find out that reason some day. I think a good amount of science and faith exist in all of us. I have a great deal of faith, even when things seem awful I try to find the upside. My faith is very important to me and it's a major contributor to who I am. I'm not a religious dude at all and I don't understand people who say they live for one deity or another. I think you should live your life for yourself and, whether or not you believe in any kind of deity, you'll end up coming back as what you deserve to come back as. I do believe in god but I don't believe I'll have to stand up and be judged by anyone at the end of my time here. When I'm gone, soul and body will part and one remain here until it's cremated while the other one will depart for the next phase. Maybe I'll come back as a goat or a dog or a monkey. Maybe I'll come back as someone incredibly smart, an inventor perhaps. Maybe I'll have a chance to right all of my wrongs before I come back again, and if that's the case I'll be in that limbo phase for quite some time so I advise the rest of my loved ones to live as long as possible in order to avoid long lines at the checkout. But I don't think death is something to fear. It's just the beginning of another, possibly better, chapter. It's rather unfortunate that no one living will ever know what actually comes after this. But maybe some things are best left mysteries for now.