Cosmic recalibration
I always thought it was a waste of time to think about the afterlife.
I was wrong.
In his book, "Sum; forty tales from the afterlife", David Eagleman invents what afterlife could be. As the starting canvas is blank (who knows what afterlife is?), there is no limit to his imagination. What if we wake from death all equal? Sounds cool. But maybe it is not.
Last night, I read the tale "Angst". In this afterlife, we wake as cosmic creatures whose job is to prevent the Universe from collapsing. Every three hundred years, we're allowed to take a holiday in a form of our choice. We always choose to become human. No more infinite cosmic responsibility, just human sized experiences and worries about our immediate surroundings.
It reminded me of the standard comments adults make to children: “You’ll soon discover how lucky you are not to have responsibility”. It infuriated my younger self. What did they know? I had exams to pass, love disasters, friendship betrayals.
I closed the book.
I considered my worries: what to do with my life now that I have jumped out of the corporate wheel? is Greenland worth the stress? have I ruined Capsula’s hull paint by using the wrong cleaner?
And I fell asleep.