|
|
Post by stormy44 on Sept 7, 2012 5:56:37 GMT -5
It's obvious that religion was a huge part of the Egyptian life. And their religion put great emphasis on the afterlife-maybe a little too much emphasis. Because they believed in the afterlife which lasts forever, the Egyptians spent most of their time preparing for the next stage of life. They have a list of prayers and chants that might please the gods (especially Osiris). It usually took them several months to mummify a dead person and build his tomb. The pharaoh's tombs possibly took longer than a decade to finish.
But I began to ask myself if sacrificing your whole life for the everlasting "paradise" is worth the cost. If I were an Egyptian, I wouldn't spend that much time just to build another tomb or publish so called the "Book of the Dead", hoping to enter the afterlife. Dedicating all my life on earth for that sounds extreme. I would rather enjoy the life I'm living today, and make the best out of it!
Soooo.. my question is :)Which stage of life would you rather focus on? The life you're living today, or the life after death?
|
|
kevin
Junior Member
Posts: 86
|
Post by kevin on Sept 7, 2012 7:18:08 GMT -5
I think one can focus on both lives if they want to do so. I mean if I were the Egyptian, I would definitely not dedicate my whole life time preparing for afterlife, but I would try to live my life by working hard and enjoying it while preparing for my afterlife by like praying or chanting that can please the gods. Still, I would put more importance on living the life today, because I don't want to waste my life time by just for preparing afterlife..you only live once, so you should try to live fully.
|
|
|
|
Post by minjaeyang on Sept 7, 2012 21:26:43 GMT -5
I also think that I would not waste my life time preparing for life after death. While it is understandable for Egyptian to do so because they strongly believed in an eternal afterlife, if I were an Egyptian, I would not dedicate so much of my precious time for what is only religious belief. They don't even know for sure whether there actually is an afterlife since they had not a chance to die and prove the existence of the afterlife. So, I would rather dedicate my time to the life I'm living today.
|
|
|
|
Post by sujeonggg on Sept 7, 2012 23:23:20 GMT -5
As you said, I also would not spend ALL my life time, trying to gain eternal afterlife. But since Egyptians believed so much in afterlife, I would still live a good life by praying or chanting as an Egyptian. I think it is worthless to go to the "Land of Eternity" when I've suffered during my life time just to please Gods.
|
|
|
|
Post by sageda on Sept 8, 2012 5:49:18 GMT -5
My religion also focuses on the afterlife. Our lives now are nothing but the journey and the real destination is the afterlife. That doesn't mean that we forget about our world now. We just try to remember what's really important. Just because I don't get to enjoy something now, doesn't mean it's the biggest deal because the afterlife is gonna be so much better hopefully.
|
|
|
|
Post by juliekim on Sept 8, 2012 6:19:25 GMT -5
Since I believe that my life here on this Earth is just a split second compared to my eternal life, I think I would focus more on the afterlife. But that doesn't mean that I would give up everything that I have and start building tombs and stuff. There's a reason and purpose that I have the things I have at this moment, and I think it's worse if I don't enjoy it and take advantage of those benefits and privileges. I would focus on how to share my blessings in this life with others, not just simply refuse them. That's such a waste. But I believe that if I have an eternal perspective, the things that the world tells me are so important wouldn't be so much important anymore.
|
|
|
|
Post by joannekim on Sept 8, 2012 11:52:36 GMT -5
As Sageda said, life is a journey, and I would like it to be a good journey. Good journey is when you enjoy every moment of it and prepare for the next destination carefully-I would like to focus on right now and afterlife equally. I would enjoy my present life and contribute to my community at the same time. I think enjoying a life and being nice to people can be some of the ways to prepare for good afterlife. So, in some way, focusing well on today's life is preparing for afterlife. Focusing on only one stage of life would make life be meaningless and boring.
|
|
|
|
Post by jessicashim2013 on Sept 8, 2012 22:49:40 GMT -5
I think I would also focuss on the life right now. I'm already busy and sturggling enough to just do my homework and study for tests and the SAT coming up. Its important to look to the future but I believe that working hard right now would bring me to a better after life. And if I don't work hard right now, I would regret about it. For now, I want to focuss on my work and learn more about myself.
|
|
|
|
Post by michellelee on Sept 8, 2012 23:28:35 GMT -5
I think I would rather focus on my present life rather than the life after death. I would rather enjoy the things that are given to me right now and appreciate them. I do not want to focus my life too much on the afterlife. But if I were an Egyptian at that time, I would have probably believed in the life after death.
|
|
anica
Junior Member
Posts: 70
|
Post by anica on Sept 8, 2012 23:41:43 GMT -5
I would focus on the life I'm living today. I would make the most of what I have now and continue to proceed on with my present life.
|
|
|
|
Post by ginayang on Sept 9, 2012 1:04:09 GMT -5
I would focus on my life right now rather than the afterlife because I don't want to waste my time worrying about death every moment I'm alive. I want to live my life to the fullest by hanging out with my friends, giving to the poor, exercising, eating good food, and learning. And since I am a Christian, I believe I will have an everlasting life as long as I have faith in God. I don't need to be mummified and be buried in a tomb to live forever.
|
|
|
|
Post by julielu on Sept 9, 2012 3:30:41 GMT -5
I don't believe there's a life after death. Humans are living and thinking because of the heart is pumping. After death, there would really be nothing. I would focus on the life I am living now. Life is one way ticket. Why don't I make the moment I am living now the best?
|
|
|
|
Post by seongrae on Sept 9, 2012 4:29:20 GMT -5
It is important to focus on both lives either life I am living today, or life after death. There was belief that people should be generous and needed to live kindly or nice in the earth or life before death to have better after life. One should not live life with violence harming others. Therefore, to live life both good in life I am living today and life after death, one should enjoy life and at the same time preparing for after life. Also, if one dies, one will send to other places than in earth so, I would rather enjoy my life here too.
|
|
sang
Full Member
Posts: 121
|
Post by sang on Sept 9, 2012 4:51:19 GMT -5
Yeah, I totally see ur point. Investing so much for another life just seems not worth it. I always thought of it as a ticket to something better since Christianity also focuses on the after life. Though one had to suffer a lot in Egypt, probably because they had to build tombs, worship many gods, and do many other things, I'm pretty sure that they didn't just gave up all other aspects of their lives. The background for the poems mentions that Egyptians weren't people just focusing on the afterlife and mummification, but that they also had a lot of festivals and parties to spice up their lives.
|
|
|
|
Post by franicaza95 on Sept 9, 2012 5:03:20 GMT -5
honestly, if you believe that the afterlife is a very important stage, like Egyptians thought that, then i dont see any wrong in trying to make your afterlife be good, but i see your point of having to spend too much time in preparing all those things and i think youre right. i would definitely enjoy my life as much as i can and anything i do i would not regret. i mean there are different opinions to all this but yeah like i mentioned, enjoying your life and the moment is also very important.
|
|
