A Mortal's Theory

What happens when we die

is something no one can know.

Anyone who says otherwise

is simply putting on a show.

With nothing better to do

we will always try to guess.

Crafting paradise in our image

where we live forever blessed.

To whichever one you subscribe

tells much about your worldview.

Not only how believers are treated

but what happens to the damned too.

But what if everyone got their heaven

that also served as their personal hell?

Eternal fate not arbitrarily assigned

but all freely choose where they dwell?

Giving souls exactly what they want

seems to be exceptionally fair.

No need to invent a new path;

all the blueprints are already there.

Excitement fills the recently deceased

as they are told that they were right.

A peace like no other fills them;

stepping confidently into the light.

Perhaps you believe in paradise

for you and a chosen elect.

Belonging to a finite number of people

who have existed within your sect.

Then you would get your haven

and promptly lock yourself inside.

Unwittingly trapped in eternity;

eventually no one will join your side.

You are sure to have known someone

who did not qualify for their salvation.

Secretly mourning the lack of exceptions

granted by your heavenly nation.

Perhaps you believe there is nothing

and that the physical is all that exists.

That you close your eyes only once

and your essence does not persist.

Then this existence is your curse;

free of a flavor of wonder and awe.

Unburdened with holy meaning.

merely an animal bound by law.

The sacred games that others play

do not give you the same stillness.

Death poses an inconsolable horror

rearing its head with every illness.

Perhaps you believe in a constant cycle

where your soul is continually reborn.

With enough practice freeing oneself

from the agony of reality's thorn.

Each time you find yourself on Earth

is labeled a curse instead of a gift.

Spending lifetimes wishing for escape

leads to a constant sense of being adrift.

If you make it to the external ether

outside of the world you've known:

Eternity is a long time to do nothing.

Nowhere a lonely place to call home.

As for me, I do not wish for heaven;

I suspect I would not fit in.

I humbly request free passage

and a new journey will begin.

Visiting friends where I find them,

exploring places still unseen.

Venturing into realms long past

and those that have not yet been.

Enjoying the amenities of paradise

without being part of the fold.

No one will know how I got there

nor would they believe me if I told.

I've already begun my adventure

while in this mortal domain.

Why wait for the coming afterlife

when there is plenty to learn in this plane?

Death remains a daunting threshold

and one I have not yet crossed.

Up to that point, I believe in it all

from the Celestial Kingdom to Bifrost.

This is what my soul craves

but what do I even know?

It's all just a novel flavor

of the same, ancient show.