However, I'm going to restrain myself, because it's a touchy subject, and everyone who's commented so far is feeling so good about themselves. I'd hate to ruin their party.
But any of you who've kept up with my writing can guess what I'd write. Particularly about how I disagree with the author, and believe there really is an end; there's nothing after death. Not for the individual who's dead, anyway. The survivors have to go on, but the dead are beyond caring. Beyond suffering.
Funny, though, I was just thinking of this quote today:
...To die, to sleep;--
To sleep, perchance to dream:--ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause:...
I continued my exercise regimen today, and walked for an hour through the nearby wilderness area. I saw a doe with her fawn, and also some sort of woodpecker or tree creeper. I haven't determined which yet, but I will, since it was all of three feet from me.
I'm astonished by the people I see out there. I don't think they see anything around them. They're so loud, huffing and puffing, that they scare all the wildlife and wouldn't see it even if they were looking.
What's the point? They may as well be inside on a treadmill.
Here's something from my physics course I found amusing and ties in:
A thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question:
"Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with a proof."
(Note: an exothermic system is on that gives off heat to the surroundings, whereas an endothermic is one that absorbs heat from its surroundings)
Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:
First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving?
I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.
As for souls entering hell, lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to hell. Since, there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to hell.
With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially.
Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant.
Thus, there are two possibilities:
If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose.
If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, than the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over.
If we accept the postulate given to me by a young lady during my first year, "It will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you," then number 2 above is not true and so Hell is exothermic.
Yay high fives for woods walks. You know how much I love them! Have you found an appropriate "pokin' stick" yet? I like to keep one along to fend off possible snakes or rednecks that may come my way. And if luck have it, throw a snake on a redneck.
I'm going to have to give that show a try.