Feb 25 Tue
Is there life forever?
Four reasons that make conceivable –from the point of view of philosophy- the existence of eternal life.
In the first place, not believing in eternal life seems irrational to me. It makes no sense that if we feel good about ourselves by doing a good deed, we would no longer feel good about sacrificing our lives for someone else. It would be illogical for an act of such heroism, selflessness, and detachment to be paid for in such an unfair way, with sadness.
Especially since we rejoice every time we act with generosity, justice, and responsibility. Let us think about this carefully, because we can draw some truly worthy conclusions.
If many security agents -police and military included- stopped believing in the afterlife, they would abandon their vocation to protect us, because if the risk they run -for our benefit- were paid in such an unfair way (with a paltry salary only), it would make no sense for them to get into a mess of such proportions.
Many people who are not seriously practicing their Christian faith -and even some who declare themselves agnostic- have admitted to me that, if they were on the threshold of death, they would confess “just in case”. This attitude, although not ideal (since we have to be prepared at all times, not knowing the day or the hour of our death), reveals that there is a fear of eternal damnation -a panic of emptiness (known as horror vacui)- which speaks very much in favor of the existence of the Kingdom of Heaven forever as an alternative.
“The resurrection of the flesh” is also a natural desire of man, a yearning proper to man. Yet if we looked at the resurrection as something irrational, it would generate frustration. This is what he called ‘the tragic feeling of life’. The Word made flesh wanted to live in the flesh, and when death came to him, He went through the resurrection of the flesh. Thus, we must understand that this desire, proper to people, is in itself a quite rational argument for believing in God.
As St Augustine describes: “‘And they shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.’ What shall be your delights? Peace shall be your gold. Peace shall be your silver. Peace shall be your lands. Peace shall be your life, your God, Peace. Peace shall be to you whatsoever you desire..."
Thirdly, St. Thomas Aquinas, in the fifth of his Five Ways, helped us to see that all things have a purpose, but that, if we ask ourselves about the ultimate end of everything, we run out of questions and end up having to admit the existence of some intelligent being by whom all things are ordered to their end, and this being we call God, the only One to create the universe with an ultimate purpose.
The fourth way of St. Thomas is that of the degrees of perfection. This consists in the fact that all things exist with a certain degree of perfection (an amount of goodness, truth, beauty, etc.), so there must be Someone who possesses all these things to the highest degree, to which all other beings can be compared and measured to, and in which they participate.
Some excerpts from Ignacio Crespí de Valldaura
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