Reason to Live

Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.

That's how the album Collision by the David Crowder Band begins and I think it's true, in a sense. I think there could be a handful of objections that could be raised to it. However, I think most of them could be met and parried back if not disbanded forever. Here are some points that have come to mind from this quote.

Everyone wants to go to heaven

Well, if the alternative to heaven is a place that is so pitiful as a wrathful, burning, teeth gnashing hell then I would think that most definitely people would choose heaven over it, even if they had to put up with a God who they couldn't stand for all eternity.

The question of wanting hell becomes a little more interesting if you focus more on the separation from God. From a pluralistic view, consider a separation from the Ultimate Reality. When it comes down to brass tacks, we're talking about deluding one's self (or allowing one's self to be deluded) to the point where you cannot stand the idea of being in touch with what actually is.

Now, you might ask yourself, "Why would anyone want to do that?" You can offer plenty of positions on the subject, calling on an evil figure like Satan slowly whispering in your ear and turning you against the greater reality or maybe a genetic predisposition towards not being in touch with the reality that you've been constructed into. However it begins,  the final outcome comes down to personal choice and willpower. Some notions or feelings in the soul of the delusional man drives him to break with Ultimate Reality and pursue a darker path. He feels cheated by the other (or maybe simply another) and, so, decides to never again pursue the light. He stops focusing on his purpose and begins to pervert the idea into meaninglessness. Whatever the condition, whatever the circumstance, through a series of mistakes and missteps, some of which he has no control, the decision is made that the reality which exists is more unbearable than a reality that one can create for themselves. This brings me to my next point.

Nobody wants to die

This, of course, is difficult swallow either on a literal and metaphorical level because of the evidence to the contrary but, in what could be seen as a depressing and invigorating twist of fate, I would argue that it is true.

First, consider the literal version of Nobody wants to die and its stark contrast to the number of people who commit suicide in a year or become martyrs in their own right. The former, I would argue, isn't truly accurate to the intent of those who commit suicide. That is, those who want or do commit suicide don't kill themselves because they want to die but, rather, because they no longer want to live. Like the delusional man who has meandered his way towards meaninglessness, those who desire to commit suicide have followed that broad, self-destructive path to come to the conclusion that they want no part in what reality has to offer them.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have those who believe so strongly in the Ultimate Reality that they're willing to risk everything to defend the belief. Granted, I don't agree with some of the extremes that martyrs will go to, especially when it means killing others along with themselves, but, nonetheless, one could say that this is a case in which the person wants to die. Again, I would disagree. The point of self-sacrifice is not to die but, rather, to live on in a greater capacity, be it in the afterlife, in the hearts and minds of the generations to come, or some other goal that aligns itself with the Ultimate Reality.

From a metaphorical perspective, we have this idea of dying to yourself. Although I'm sure this probably isn't a strictly Christian idea, this idea of "taking up the cross and dying to yourself," I really feel no reservations in talking about it from the Christian perspective since that is my perspective.

In Luke 9:23-24, you'll find the verses that I'm referring to: "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.'" Now, while I care a great deal about the final resting place of your soul, my point in mentioning this is not to speak of an eternity after the mortal coil has been shuffled off. Salvation is meant to be an ever-present experience that begins when a man dies to himself. When I consciously decide that there is no reason to live outside of  the Ultimate Reality, in that very moment, I cease to exist. That is, the man who lived for another reality that was not the Ultimate Reality is no more and, in his place, another man stands who, as he is aligned with that which will always be, can never be destroyed. How awesome is that? Everything is new again.

I hate to leave you with an anticlimactic ending to a blog post but I really must be getting to bed and, I'm afraid that, if I don't post this now, it will be lost to drafts forever. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed spewing it.