The nature of our existence on earth is dependent on our expectations for what comes afterward. If we believe in an afterlife, then; one would think, our conduct on earth, or in our physical period versus an ethereal or metaphysical state, would directly affect our prospects in that afterlife. That is where the fun begins; do we conduct ourselves based on the here and now, the temporal, physical, sensual pleasures and pains, or do we temper ourselves knowing that if we maintain our collective dignities that a greater reward awaits us in the next life.
Makes you wonder.
While the idea of an afterlife has a lot going for it; assuming that it's better than the life we have on earth ( and I think it's reasonable to assume that this is the only heavenly body to which we are assigned; I don't know that I wish to moon over some possible other life on a planet in a galaxy far far away ), I don't know that a lot of thought has gone into what that entails. There is a great body of work dealing with the existence and argumentative nature of heaven and hell, but not too much on exactly how that would play out long term. Sure, there are descriptions of heaven and hell, along with the good, the bad, and the ugly, but not much in how an entity ( more on that later ) would cope with the eternity factor. Eternity, as they say, last a long time. The argument could go that as we would no longer be bound to earthly constraints, the idea or concept of time would be irrelevant. Is there day and night? Would we need to sleep? How approachable would your idols be ( if they're even remotely famous, you'd think having souls come up to you all the time talking about the same stuff would become tiring; of course we're all supposed to be enlightened munificent souls by that point ). Would your greatest sports heroes really want to spend their afterlife playing with the less athletic ( assuming a) that everyone is as they were at 25 and at their genetic potential ( which is another big question ) and b) much more athletically gifted than they were in life ( this also posits the question of whether athletes on earth are at their peak )) than with their earthly peers? I'm thinking; no. We'd still be spectators, although there would be the hope that some age old questions about one eras players going against another would be answered on the field of play.
What if all you wanted to do was farm? I'm also assuming no need for sustenance in the afterlife; although for gourmands that might just be a reason to gorge in this life and let the chips fall where they may. If you can eat in heaven then what about waste? Will food have the same taste? If there's no hunger or appetite; then is this a pointless question? Is it OK to do nothing; to be a complete waste, which one would think would be better thought of in heaven than on earth? There's no need to be a do gooder; all the crappy pieces of shit you had to tolerate in life are rotting in hell ( that's the hope is it not ). Consequently, there's no reason to do anything once you get there; having done the hard work during one's mortality.
Needless to say, the real assumption here is that time has no meaning in the afterlife, and that when one gets there there will be no moaning over the prospect of doing the same things till the end of time.
Then there's whether there's a need to define life after you've lived it. I think the pertinent question is whether all questions are truly answered in heaven. You think!
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