Why didn't I channel my inner Keanu?
On answering life's big questions.
What do you think happens when we die is a great question. I was asked this recently during an interview with Angela Catterns and Ian Rogerson in the Suddenly Senior podcast (you can listen here or wherever you get your favourite podcasts).
I felt like I blew it. I felt unprepared.
Ian asked: ‘what is your attitude towards where we’re going next?’
I wanted to be certain he didn’t mean where was I heading next in my career, or something like that. So to clarify he said ‘after we’re gathered.’
After we’re gathered? I sounded surprised. I thought we were going to talk about becoming old, not becoming earth-dust. I said that while I was not a believer although I have always been a seeker.
We chatted about how it was good to see life as a finite resource.
And then I thought about all the hours I’d spent wrestling with faith (I will definitely do another post on this soon). Of course, the truth is that whatever we think happens to us after we die, nobody’s sent back a peer-reviewed report. Or video. It is a mystery.
When actor Keanu Reeves was asked this question by Stephen Colbert in 2019, Reeves replied,
"I know that the ones who love us will miss us."
I wish I had channelled my inner Keanu and come up with a better answer. While I’m at it, what’s the life question you’d like to answer? Share it with us!
By the way, if you live within reach of the NSW Central Coast, I’ll be moderating a discussion on ageing at Words on the Waves Writers Festival on Sunday 4th June 2023
I'm only just becoming comfy with my own concept of faith as I'm edging closer to 60. I've had a couple of out of body experiences at times of extreme stress and having a conscious awareness of watching yourself from a space far above your own body raises all sorts of questions about where "consciousness" is situated. Given that my background with "religion" has been complicated I put aside alot of this for years but in last 4 or 5 have been deeply exploring more the quantum understanding of our makeup and finding myself feeling more embedded into surety around having a higher consciousness that is part of something much bigger than me. It's bringing me much comfort when previously it's all felt too much (religion divided my family when I was younger,). I don't think you'd be alone Jane in wrestling or grappling with answering this question esp when not expecting it at that time. I've usually taken a neutral stance for years trying to be mindful of others maybe alternate views whilst striving to fully understand my own fluid opinion but now I feel more solid and accepting of my own internal experience it no longer fills me with angst.
Great expression that articulates exactly how I feel "I said that while I was not a believer although I have always been a seeker". Thank you.