Death holds no terror for me. I certainly don't want to die; I want to live a long and productive life. Yet I dismiss the belief in an afterlife as a hopeful self-delusion. People are so terrified of death that they concoct this fantasy of an afterlife. If there’s an afterlife for people, then why not chimpanzees? Lemurs? Dogs? Grasshoppers? Elms? Weeds? Bacteria? Viruses? Oh, yes, we humans have souls -- that’s the immortal part, right? But why is there a cut-off with Homo sapiens? Did Homo Neanderthalis have a soul? How about Homo Ergaster? Homo Rudolfensis? Australopithicus? Where was the point when a soulless mother gave birth to a child endowed with a soul? Is there a gene for a soul?
Living in the forest for decades has given me a greater sense of just how close I am to the other living systems around me. There really isn't that much difference between me and the skunk or the red-tailed hawk. For that matter, I have a great deal in common with the Douglas firs and bunch grasses on my land. It’s all a system of processes; I’m just one of the processes, and my goal is to execute the processes that most enrich the system.
A comparison of Eastern and Western styles of thinking illuminates this problem. While the Westerner sees reality as a collection of distinct objects, the Easterner sees relationships. We have plenty of psychological research demonstrating this difference in perception. Thus, the Westerner sees himself as an isolated individual with a beginning and an end. The Easterner sees himself as a part of a never-ending system. That’s why Easterners have no need for belief in an afterlife.
