Life after Death...

[Ghaleon]

"Our religion has never had a surer human foundation than contempt for life: rational argument (though not it alone) summons us to such contempt: for why should we fear to lose something which, once lost, cannot be regretted?" - quoth the Christian Humanist, Michel de Montaigne.
this is something that i've been thinkng about allot lately; is there any possible conception of 'Heaven' (and by heaven, I mean an existence after death that is not necessarily perfect, but one that is better than the existence that we have now) that does not, in some very significant way, devalue the life that we have in the present?
consider and analogy: My little sister makes me a batch of cookies.  I love cookies.  I eagerly take one from the plate and begin eating it.  However, just as I start my sister says: "sorry, I cooked those too long, that batch is dry.  But I just finished antoher batch and you can have a cookie from it as soon as you finish the dry one that is in your hand."  All the sudden this cookie is not nearly so appealing.  I'm going to finish that cookie as fast as I can, just so that I can get to the better cookie.  It is now a means to an end, instead of an end in and of itself.  Before I was told about the better cookie that my sister had in store for me, i was ready to enjoy every bite of that dry cookie, but now...
So what do you think?  Do theories of an afterlife turn our present lives into proverbial dry cookies?

[surfpico]

I know what you mean. I always think about how if this life is so good why don't we all try to get to the next one a little bit faster. I mean - I'm a big fan of Jesus (and that's not me being sarcastic) and all my life it's been fed to me that if I lead a good life here on Earth then I will be rewarded with an even better one in Heaven. Which is grand and all, but lets not kid ourselves, "lifes a bitch and then you die." Even if there is no Heaven...what's the point to all of this?Life is merely a catch22. Heads you win, tails I lose.

[surfpico]

*Edit:I always think about how this life is so BAD why don't we all...*

[Ghaleon]

I actually tend to think that the quality of a life is determined  by the way it is observed.  For instance, I was late for class this morning; as I was walking I bumped into someone and said "exuse me."  This was an odd thing for me to stay, as i'm currently studying in Turkey.  However, the person I bumped into was, apparently, also from America.  He was very excited to find a person from his native country, and who spoke his native tongue, so far away and tried to start a confersation.  I, however, was slightly annoyed by this distraction (after all, I was late for class); I excused myself and continued to class.
Now, that experience left a bad taste in my mouth, because it made me late to class. But did it have to leave a bad taste in my mouth?  I think not.  I could have walked away pleased at having met someone with whom I shared such a strong bond. Instead, I decided to become annoyed.
The colour of our life changes, depending on the light we shed on it.  We can look on events in a positive way or a negative way (at least for most events we can).  My argument, then, is that a conception of an afterlife that is better than the one we have now causes us to view our lives in an unconstructive and negative way.

[Spentkustard]

[quote name='Ghaleon']The colour of our life changes, depending on the light we shed on it.   [/quote]

I like this statement.

But you should always try to meet people wherever you go cause you never know who'll you will meet.

Peace

[Sonthert]

Yes, but what if there is no second batch of cookies? You eat dry cookie after dry cookie with the expectation of better cookies at the end of it all and...end up with the realization that dry cookies are all there are and you should have enjoyed them? More to the point, should you stop eating the dry cookies in the first place and find something more palatable? Besides, what can you say about someone who insists you eat a dry cookie to receive a good one? There must be some motive...

[Ghaleon]

That's a good point.  If there really is an afterlife, not enjoying the dry cookies isnt all that big of a deal.  But if there's not, we've effectively thrown out the only existence we have.
And you're right.  Doesn't it seem weird that a religion would give us this life and then demean it by tempting us with another, better one once it's over?
But i'm curious as to what you mean by finding something more 'palatable.'  Is the problem the cookie, the life we have in front of us, or is it in the way that we approach it?

[Sariél]

Carpe lactis!

[Sonthert]

[quote name='Ghaleon']That's a good point.  If there really is an afterlife, not enjoying the dry cookies isnt all that big of a deal.  But if there's not, we've effectively thrown out the only existence we have.
And you're right.  Doesn't it seem weird that a religion would give us this life and then demean it by tempting us with another, better one once it's over?
But i'm curious as to what you mean by finding something more 'palatable.'  Is the problem the cookie, the life we have in front of us, or is it in the way that we approach it?[/quote]I was referring to a comprehensive or partial life view or philosophy. If we follow a particular belief structure and find it metaphorically dry, then we might seek to find a more palatable structure.