When considering our relationship with eternity, we still have to ask the most important question: are we immortal?

We know that physical immortality is, at the moment, a pipe-dream. The individual particles, atoms, etc. of the body do survive, since matter, like energy, cannot be created or destroyed, only changed in form. Did you know that, every time you inhale, you are breathing around one million atoms of air that Julius Caesar breathed?

What about mental immortality? Does some part of us, our memories and personality, survive after the death of the body? Since they are energy forms, they must survive, as energy cannot be destroyed. Does this mean that we are immortal?

How does this immortality relate to eternity? Taking into account yesterday’s post about time and eternity, plus the question of our mortality, I find that the following ideas about immortality can be formulated:

  1. There is no immortality
    If there is no immortality, the question of our relationship to eternity becomes moot, and the discussion ends here.
  2. We are immortal and eternity is endless time V1 – one life
    We live one life, and then exist in an endless eternity forever more. This version contains both the Heaven and Hell of the Christian religion.
  3. We are immortal and eternity is endless time V2 – serial lives
    We live more than one life, switching between time and eternity. This is the basis of reincarnation, believed in by many Eastern religions.
  4. We are immortal and eternity is endless time V3 – parallel lives
    This interesting variation I first came across in a product by Burt Goldman, the American Monk, called Quantum Jumping. The theory is that there are multiple versions of us, each in a parallel universe. Each lives a different life, depending on decisions made on the way. The question is, do we share a common soul, or does each have an individual one?
  5. We are immortal and eternity is timeless V1 – one life
    We come out of eternity and live one life, then return to eternity. My question is: what’s the point?
  6. We are immortal and eternity is timeless V2 – simultaneous lives
    Here, we live different lives at different times, but from the point of view of timeless eternity, they are all happening at the same time. Instead of reincarnation, we could call this multi-incarnation, to coin a phrase.
  7. We are immortal and eternity is timeless V3 – parallel simultaneous lives
    In this case, we lead multiple lives at different times, each having a collection of parallel lives in parallel universes. All these multiple parallel lives would be happening at the same time, from the point of view of timeless eternity.

It all depends on the reason behind the need for multiple lives, if such exist.

Category: Home > General Posts
Previous: Defining yourself
Next: Time and Eternity

Install this web app on your Android: Tap menu, more options, and then Add Shortcut To Homescreen.×