Halloween Special - Life, Death, and Rebirth

Since Halloween was yesterday, and everyone is now sitting at home, drying out their costumes from the rain, and resting their big bellies full of sugary sweets, today would be a perfect day to do a Halloween post! I know, I know, you don't need to tell me. I am a day late. I was hoping to do this yesterday but I never managed to find the time to myself to write this post. But, I'm doing it now so... Yay!:)

Do you know where Halloween comes from? Well if not, you're about to learn something new. I know I sure didn't know until I decided to do this post. The word Halloween originated from Christianity back in the 1740s. It means Hallowed Evening or Holy Evening, but before then it went by a different name. The Scottish use to call it All Hallows Eve, but after some time the word Eve/Even(evening) changed over to e'en and een and then it kinda squished together to form what we know of as now as Halloween. October 31 was(and still is) a day where cultures all over the world would honor those who have passed on from this life. I remember learning a lot about this during spanish class around this time of the year. It's pretty much the day of the dead, and it has a lot of religious roots. Churches would light candles and send prayers to those who have passed away. Other cultures believed that this was the time of the year when souls would come back and visit their homes so they would set up a spot for them during dinner time by the fire to welcome them home. During the festivals they would have bonfires and they believed that the smoke would have protective and cleansing powers. And of course, people would go house to house dressed up in costumes getting snacks. If you wish to know more, Wikipedia is where I got my information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween  ... Yay Wikipedia!:D

I hope you have at least a decent idea of where The Day of the Dead came from. Speaking of the dead, now I can finally get into the stuff I wanted to talk about. I'm sure everyone has thought of this at least one point in their life, but what happens when we die? Does our bodies and our conscious minds just turn into dirt so new plants and animals can form and that's it? Or do we have souls? And if so, where do our souls go after our bodies have died? Many religions and theologies have come up with ideas. Most religions believe in a heaven and/or hell, a place where souls would go after they have gone through judgement. Eastern theologies, like Buddhism, and Hinduism believed that our souls would pass through multiple life times, through multiple bodies, so their souls can grow in its awareness until it was One with the All.  Others believe that we don't have souls, and that there is no after life. And there are those who don't have any beliefs simply because of the fact they aren't sure what's true and what's not true. 

Now, I do plan on doing a religion vs science post at some point in the future but here's a brief explanation of what I think happens after we die... If you wish to put a label on it for the sake of simplicity, you could say that some of my beliefs stem from the eastern theologies(Buddhism, Hinduism) and today's "New Age" theology. I believe that we are souls on a this cosmic journey, passing through life time after life time, further expanding our souls and our knowledge with each body that we live in further enlightening ourselves. Our bodies are just vehicles for our souls to use. They are not our true selves. Death, is not something to be feared. Death just means rebirth. Just like a pheonix. When a pheonix dies, it gets reborn from the ashes. To me, that just makes a lot more sense than a heaven or a hell, just because that's how all the physical matter in our universe works so It would make sense if our souls worked the same way, but I do accept the fact that I could be just as right or just as wrong as the next person, so I try to stay open-minded to other/new ideas. 

By the way... I'd advise watching the movie The Fountain with Hugh Jackman in it. I just watched it the other day, and it talks exactly what I'm talking about: Life, Death, Rebirth, Immortality, Tree of life. I found it to be a very thought provoking movie. I kept me thinking even days after watching the movie. So.. Watch it! ;)

So I'd like to ask you, what are your thoughts on life and death? Do you have maybe a belief that's might not be as "Popular" or well known as Christianity or Buddhism? Do you have a belief that you totally came up with on your own? Do you have beliefs completely different or similar to what I do? If you haven't ever thought of this before in depth, I'd advise doing so. Play with your thoughts a bit. Spark up your imagination. Make your brain really think. Even if you already have a set of beliefs, try to think of another possibility. Be open-minded. I know that in truth, no one will really know until that day comes, or until we have the technology to figure it out, but while we're here and alive in the bodies we have now, we might as well have some fun with our imaginations in the mean time:P

Well, I think that ends this post. I hope everyone had a fun candy filled spooky Halloween yesterday! Remember to hide the candy from your kids before they eat it all;) I love you all! Namasté <3