by Toya Vasuqez

My preferred afterlife theory is that our celestial bodies could be united as one... such as a body of water; like a lake. and during life we are poured into a glass (our human body). When life ends we are poured back into the lake, mixing life experiences, individual perceptions, etc. And again, in the next life poured into the glass, yet this time with pieces of others' souls as well. This theory helps support my idea of us being God's "little instruments of exploration and appreciation". Have you ever felt extremely close to certain people and you don't know why? Perhaps they are soulmates to us on some level. Oddly enough... many people thought they were Cleopatra in a previous life. Many of them could have been. Anyway, most people do not like to adopt this theory because it threatens their sense of individuality.

How could we be born with the rights to an ancient book of answers when we were born with what it takes to find them ourselves (through our own perception)? Is it a good idea for everyone to just read what one religious dogma advises you to read, and assume they have the ultimate answer? Besides, we would be reading their (mysoginistic, out-dated) interpretations and lessons of life and history. I say, take some, leave some. You owe it to yourself to think and feel what you believe is right or otherwise. There is a leader, a follower, a philosopher and a machine within all of us, so shouldn't we find our own balance and ideas? Maybe we should consider the act of utilizing what we were born with to be a form of praise and appreciation to our creator. Besides, if we focus too much on tradition, we may be too closed minded to learn anything new, thus hindering our evolution.

Now, in no way am I belittling law or religion, because as a leader myself, I know that order is highly necessary in this world. Religion is a beautiful, controlled way of feeling like a part of something unexplainable, a warm blanket to the souls of the masses. A way of learning history, lessons, philosophy and a challenging code of ethics. The masses need that. But I am not talking to the masses right now, I am talking to you. An individual. I think deep within most of us is enough strength to do the "right" thing without being bribed or threatened by heaven or hell... and to a lot of people, the "right" thing varies in our hearts. But that to me is the beauty of the balance in the world. The differences in each of us should not only be understood as balance and knowledge, but embraced as such. There is really no such thing as one "right" thing, and very few ever disagree with me on that.

This is only one of my theories, and it is subject to change as I grow. But it's worth thinking about, aye?