Hello. I was raised a Catholic, convent grammar school and all that, but now I’m an atheist with a leaning towards Buddhism; I only believe what I know, and I know very little indeed. I do know that one day I’m going to pop my clogs like everyone else but what happens after that, if anything……….well, I just don’t know. However, when my daughter was 3 years old, she said to me “you know that place where I was before?” and I said “before you were in my tummy?” and she said, “no, that green place, you know, it was all green.” End of conversation, but I’ve since heard many examples of such pre-birth memories, all from kids between 2 and 4 years of age. My daughter maintains that such children are young enough to remember a previous life, and articulate enough to mention it before the memory fades. Of course, it could be inherited memory; there’s no reason why we wouldn’t inherit our parents’ and ancestors’ experiences as well as their genes. Mind you, I have a vivid recollection from infancy, of looking upwards, probably from a prone position, and having a sudden awareness that I was inside my own head looking out; of being ‘here’ and separate from my surroundings. It’s hard to explain, but that’s the best I can make of it. Perhaps that’s what will happen after I’ve shed the old mortal coil - I’ll wake up inside some other kid’s head and have to start the whole shebang again. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhh!

I am Catholic, I do not attend church now because of my illness. I can not bring my self to go in public, I pray every day many times in a day. I believe that when I die, my body will eventually dissolve into the earth, My soul will go to Heaven and the Lord will bring me into a beautiful place that is safe and full of love. I will be able to watch over my family.

I try really, really hard to live the Golden Rule each day. I don’t want to die. Can’t figure any other way out. Hence I won’t worry. Try it, you will like it.

This is my belief: Thirteen (my lucky number) angels watch over me like J-Z’s bodyguards. These angels are people who caught me at the most appropriate points in my life and pounded my talents into my head- even when I thought I had none. Without these angels, I wouldn’t have completed high school, gone on to university, accomplished all I have done in 64 years. And I talk to these angels every night, naming them, asking particular favors of them. I give to them by leading an honest life, doing something positive every day, and striving to be a better person. My little army of angels helps me focus on what is important. I believe that once I depart this mortal coil, I will be reborn in another life and given another opportunity to succeed. So I have plans for a few of my next lives. I want to be an R&B singer, vet, investigative reporter…one life each. I have no regrets about my present life so far, and have no fear of what is to come. My mom likens me to Alice in Wonderland, because of my curiosity and the many places I’ve been in the world.

I haven’t a clue. I could believe that as taught as children we go to heaven (if we have been good) and continue on in a ectastically peaceful soul state. If we have been bad and go to hell we burn baby burn. Some say our karma dictates our end. Are we reincarnated as an animal, or lowly bug or another human? Some believe that we all get to heaven but are placed on different levels depending on what lessons we learned while we were on earth. We read and hear of near death experiences and the light we are drawn to and how absolutely peaceful it is. When i meet my end, hopefully, wowowow will still be here and I will definitely write to you and let all of you know, that is if i can get away from the cloud im sitting on eating Philadelphia cream cheese on an everything bagel.

Nothing. Nothing happens to us after death. We have only this one life in which to learn and love and do everything possible to protect our planet and improve the chances of our species surviving by learning to get off this planet and out of this solar system. Death obliterates all action in those little grey cells and the brain rots. All stories to the contrary are the result of mythmakers conning the masses with promises carefully honned to control and reward, at the same time they give themselves careers. One of the most obvious flaws in these myths is their universal insistence the female of our species is of less value and importance in the scheme of things. Big time propaganda, all; the result being a huge waste in the ways in which we direct our attention and energies during these short lives.

There was once a time when we did not exist — and that time was before we were born. It makes the most, logical sense to me that that is precisely what will happen after our body expires; we just won’t exist any more. Not very romantic, I know, but I just can’t see it happening any other way. “I am going to a better place; you do not believe what I believe, so you are not.” So, “God” (the one to which you would specifically subscribe) is psychic? S/He can read your mind? But your mind expires with your body… So you have a spiritual mind that can be read?… Or does S/He read your mind before you die?… But when do they read it?… What if your beliefs change right before you expire?… There are far too many unanswerable questions in that theory for me to accept that (for myself). But that’s faith, I suppose, isn’t it? You don’t need proof, you don’t even need logic — you just need faith; to believe in something and so it shall be. And although my (dis)beliefs differ from most, I still choose to live by the Golden Rule, which is, simply, to treat others they way I want to be treated. I don’t do it because I want to go to heaven or because I don’t want to go to hell, I do it because I believe it is a fair and just way to live. I’ll also close with a quote from Seneca (the Younger): “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the ruler as useful.”