Does life come from and return to energy?
Often times I have pondered the idea that maybe life is everlasting, certainly life cannot end at death. Throughout my younger years, brought up as a child learning the catholic faith, I was always taught there was only one God, and he was the creator of life. I was also taught that after death, if we truly believed in our God, paid our penance for our sins, our souls would be saved and we would find everlasting life in heaven. Speaking of heaven, this brings me to wonder about our universe, the stars, the moon, the sun and all of the other planets. Bursting with energy, the unknown space, like life and death, is forever a mystery.
As I grew older, I began to experience the pain of losing loved ones to death. Their parting was usually not easy. They died in ways such as horrible car accidents, terminal cancer, or suicides. I couldn’t understand why if we had such a loving God, why did he allow us to suffer as we did? Finally a friend told me that God sacrificed his only son for us, so that we may live forever, and to journey through death was our time to sacrifice our bodies. I thought about this and wondered how one God could be so powerful, to create all of life. Where did God come from?
As much as I tried to follow this religion, I had so many questions that I felt could not be answered. Though I had doubts about where life came from, I never doubted the existence of a higher power. I also realized at this time that my beliefs were not the same as everyone else’s and that each person has their own belief about what God is or isn’t to them.
Over the years I have learned that some things cannot be explained. I had a close relative that knew they were going to die, he told everyone goodbye, but did not tell me. After his suicide, I realized that I was the only one that he did not say goodbye to. I was devastated over his death and this reality seemed to worsen my pain. Two days later, his first niece was born. I couldn’t help but wonder if he exited our world to make room for her? On the third day after his passing, I was driving along the highway with my husband, when suddenly my car ran out of gas. My gas gauge was not quite on empty, my gas- light never came on, but suddenly here I was pulling over, out of gas. While I was sitting in my car waiting for help to arrive, I was wondering why my nephew did not say goodbye, when suddenly I saw a shooting star move across the sky. I was shocked at the energy I seemed to feel from just that small miracle. Was it a sign from God to have faith or was it my nephew leaving this world as a ball of energy, ready to return to the vastness of space?
I felt a weight lift off my shoulders and over time, I was able to grieve and move on. I never forgot about that ball of energy in the form of a shooting star. A few years later, he had another niece born on his birthday. Could this be a twist of fate?
Yesterday, as I was attending another viewing for a loved one, I was outside the funeral home waiting for some other family members to arrive, when suddenly right above the funeral home, I saw a circular rainbow. Once again, was it possible that this was a sign from God, or was this a life in disguise as a form of energy? This just seemed so coincidental.
The Bible says that God is eternal, outside of time, with no beginning and no end, and anyone who disbelieves is devoid of understanding.
The Big Bang theory is a scientific theory that states the universe was created over ten billion years ago from a cosmic explosion. Does this mean matter, such as light particles found creating the rainbow, may form from energy? How about a shooting star? Certainly a shooting star comes from dust and space matter, which once again makes me wonder, does life come from energy and does it go on after death?
Several religions preach of a God, creator of all life, while other religions do not necessarily believe in God as a higher being. Religion and faith is different for each person, and though I continue to have faith that there is life everlasting, I often wonder if I make it through purgatory, will I find a rainbow at the other end or a shooting star?
