All Souls Day. One day in the year we honor our dead. Some remain vivid in our memory, most are faint recollections. The rest we hardly know at all. However, we stand as living proof of their existence. Thus we; lay flowers, light candles and say a few prayers on the spot where their mortal remains are laid. The body lays there until it returns to the elements. But where is the soul? Ever since a few chemicals rose into consciousness on the shores of the ancient sea to the time he lifted his eyes above the horizon to the skies until he acquired weapons of mass destruction, which threatened to wipe out his existence, man have come a long way. Despite his progress, man is not yet definitely sure where he really came from and where he is really going...

The ancients lived in a wholly material world. The concept of good life is existence free from material and emotional cares. But that is not always the case. There are more periods of uncertainty than fulfi llment. From the spotting of the game through the chase, he is not yet sure of the kill. From the tilling, sowing and cultivation, he is not yet sure of a good harvest. There seem to be powers affecting his hopes and those powers are beyond his control.

His consciousness, unconsciousness, sleep, dreams and death convinced man of his having a body and soul, living in a universe divided into a material and immaterial or spiritual, natural and supernatural. Man had acquired religion and except for a few like the Sadducees of early Judaism, man believed in afterlife. Religions in the East like Taoism and Confucianism believed proper attone4ment to the natural order would lead to blessedness. Hinduism and Buddhism believed in karma which requires series of reincarnation until Nirvana or personal incarnation with the Absolute. Judaism waits for the coming Messiah and the perfect world to come.

Cross pollination of Jewish and Grecian cultures influenced both Christianity and Islam, twin daughters of Judaism. Hell is sea of fire reserved for the ungodly while the faithful are admitted into heaven or paradise. In Islam paradise is a glorified oasis where all desires are fully satisfied. In Christianity, there are those who describe heaven as the Kingdom of God, which is to yet come. However, there is also paradise. When crucified, Jesus said to criminals crucified with Him “Truly you will be with me today in paradise” Luke 23:43. In the Bible Dictionary King James Version, Paradise is described as temporary abode for the righteous dead while heaven is the “where God live”. Metaphysically confusing. Perhaps this is where belief and logic part.

Our favorite poet Omar Khayyam wrote thus:

Strange, is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, No one returns to tell us of the Road, Which to discover, we must travel too