Scratch, I do believe there's something after death.
I don't know what that is though, but I don't buy the standard explanations of heaven/hell. I will always believe these are false constructs created to take advantage of man's fear of that great unknown.
Zan, I'm with you on this one. My leanings are loosely Eastern and flexible with an open mind to
what can't be proven, or disproven, without the orthodox inflexible mantra. I don't know what it
is either, and the standard explanations of Heaven/Hell don't work for me either.
In my view, reincarnation fits in somehow, and not necessarily immediately, and I don't even
pretend to understand it as my view changes and evolves as I learn and experience more...
There's got to be some kind of waiting-room between lives, and I'd like to think it's a pleasant
place to be, but I really just don't know. Just 'cuz you're a person this time around, does it
mean you have to (get to?) be a person the next time around? Our bodies will die (and sometimes
that's a blessing), but does out consciousness?
There are just too many things that are currently beyond explanation, and a gut feeling on certain
things. I trust my own instincts. I don't knock anyone's beliefs, but I will question them to better
understand their position, as I expect to be questioned myself, in the process of better understanding
others, and in turn myself.
I could be accused of 'cherry-picking' the best from many beliefs and discarding the things that just
don't feel right (or are outright absurd), but it works for me as the standard 'fixed' positions all seem
to be missing something. If this makes me a blasphemer and a heretic in others eye, then so be it as
I don't really care. I won't push my belief system on anyone else as it's such a personal thing and just
too awkward to describe, even to myself at times.
Fanatics, to either extreme of religion (among other things), really freak me out.