"The Economy of Souls"

I've been studying religion for more than fifty years.  And now that I'm pretty close to learning just how much I've learned from those studies (a little dark humor, there), I have some observations based upon that lifetime of research:

Birth, life, death, repeat.  The "Spin Cycle of Life,"   I call it.  All of us are engaged in this little process.  None of us understand it.  I will endeavor to henceforth try...

     I have a theory I call the "Economy of Souls."  Haven't read about it anywhere else, just mine alone.  It means I'm thinking my God wouldn't be so wasteful as to just toss souls away when no they're no longer needed (like the ones which might be assigned to aborted babies, for instance?)  

Sort of like the Hindus, I'm kind of thinking souls must be handed down, from life to life, maybe until, as the Hindus believe, they're either worn out from being mistreated and dispatched to "down there," or they've achieved "Nirvana."  Which, BTW, I achieved for most of 1968 while stationed in Germany.  And I did it without any outside influence from any deity (I was told it was a pretty good year, BTW, but I couldn't say for sure).

Did I mention I pretty much single-handedly won the Cold War?  No?  Another story, perhaps...  

Anyhoo, I'm thinking that the theoretical "spark of life" gets infused into us, someway somehow, and everything else that lives, and "poof!"  We're ALIVE!  And then we're born.  Then we grow up and then old, and then we die.  And then the whole thing repeats itself like the CCTV loop at your local 7/11.  Except maybe you get smarter?  Or wiser?  Or more willing to accept God?  Assuming there IS a God?  Don't know.  Beyond my pay grade.  In fact, I don't HAVE a pay grade, 'cause I'm no longer employed.  Bringing me closer to actually checking out that theory of mine...

So I figure it this way (pay attention here folks):

     -  There's either a God, or there isn't, period.  And we won't find out which until we die.  Unless, of course, there's no God, in which case we won't find out at all.  As in, "lights out."  "Buh Bye!"  You'll become a wisp in the wind, never to be heard from again.  That old dust-to-dust thing.  A memory.  Nothing more, nothing less.  

You buy that?

And furthermore, it seems to me that once you die, that "spark" of life has left you.  The remains will either molder in the grave, or be roasted until well done by your local crematorium.  But in either case, it seems rather wasteful to prepare and bury a no-longer-needed hunk of withering protoplasm.  Expensive embalming, expensive casket, expensive burial.  The $Bucks needed for such a wasteful enterprise should rightfully be spread among the heirs.  So they can frolic all thither and yon.  Trust me, they'll need it more than the "dearly departed."   

Think about it: we've been doing this arcane practice since time immemorial.  If we hadn't, we wouldn't need archeologists, now would we? 

It also seems that this rather Medieval practice is performed for the living, not the dead.  As a reminder, the dead...are DEAD!  A pretty casket and the dearly departed in his finest suit is not going to change things.  So I'm planning to ask those I leave behind to just ship my useless hull off to the local cremator guy.  I'll no longer be needing it.  In fact, I'll be damned happy to be done with it.  (Ooops!  Remove the "damned.")  I've had nothing but pain and torment from all sorts of physical abnormalities for more than 25 years.  Aches, pains and torment shall be at an end once I croak.  Good riddance, I say!  I even have a neurological disease I cannot even pronounce!  Don't feel sorry for me when that time comes.  Feel sorry for YOU, if you must, and I thank you in advance if you feel the need, but I ask that you don't.  Death is what it is.  Just a part of life.  

That last part...

Oh, presuming once again that there's a God, you'll go on to your reward, whatever that is.  But I'm thinking I'd rather have that "reward" than to do without it.  Especially if "lights out" is my other choice!  So I'm therefore on the side of God unless or until I find out my belief in Him is misplaced.  And guess what, fellow Pilgrim?  I won't find that out unless or until there's a God!  And if I do, I will have guessed right!  

Got it?