A Book That Changes My Concept of Death

Summary

The article reflects on the concept of death and the meaning of life, inspired by the book "The 5 People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom, which suggests that every life has purpose and meaning, even if it's not evident to the individual.

Abstract

The author of the article shares a personal transformation in understanding death and the afterlife, influenced by Mitch Albom's book. The book presents an afterlife where individuals encounter five people who reveal the significance of their life's events, suggesting that even seemingly insignificant actions can have profound impacts on others. The author grapples with the traditional concept of heaven as a reward for good deeds and questions the balance of eternal happiness for a finite life. The article concludes that life is inherently meaningful, and its purpose is revealed at its end, providing contentment and the ability to let go without regret.

Opinions

The author initially doubted the conventional idea of heaven as a place of eternal happiness in exchange for good deeds, finding it unbalanced and questioning the existence of such a reward.
The article suggests that the belief in heaven often leads to a competition to do good, based on an individual's subjective interpretation of goodness.
The author was dissatisfied with the belief that only good deeds lead to heaven, seeking a more fulfilling explanation for life's purpose.
"The 5 People You Meet In Heaven" provides a perspective that every life, regardless of its perceived fulfillment, has intrinsic meaning and impact.
The author admits to a fear of living an unfulfilling life but finds comfort in the book's message that even an unfulfilling life is meaningful because every person is born with a purpose.
The article posits that the true meaning of one's life is revealed at the end, before entering "nothingness," allowing for a sense of contentment and the ability to accept one's life purpose.
The author encourages readers to live their lives without fear of unfulfilled dreams or regrets, as the significance of their actions will eventually be understood.

A Book That Changes My Concept of Death

The final point of life is always death, whether you want it or not, it is inevitable.

Are you scared of death?

When we talk about death most people think of heaven. A place that offers so much happiness in exchange for all the good deeds we did in our lives. We compete to do good things, one that is in accordance with our idea of goodness, just so we can be rewarded with heaven in the afterlife.

My idea of heaven was the same as the one stated above. But deep inside me, there is always doubt. Heaven for people, in general, is eternal happiness, but to get there, in some beliefs, you have to believe it unquestionably. I can’t, so I adopted a belief that to get there you just have to do good deeds. But I am not satisfied with that belief as well. I think about why would such a place exists, eternal happiness as a reward of a 70-year-old life. Isn’t that too unbalanced?

And so a while ago I read a book called “The 5 People You Meet In Heaven” by Mitch Albom.

Basically, it tells the story of a person in his afterlife. How he met 5 different people that is the key to the meaning of his life. The five people will later tell him why he lived life the way he lived.

In life, some things might not go the way you wanted. Coronavirus, for instance, changes the world. Many planned things are destroyed. Some people can not cope with this and become depressed. Some people comfort themselves by saying that this is meant to be.

But what does “this is meant to be” mean? There is no answer. This is meant to be just because this is meant to be.

Some people live their entire lives in regret, for all the things he never did. Some have unfulfilled dreams until their death. Nobody wants to be like that, but not everybody is meant to live a “fulfilling” life.

But that book taught me a very simple lesson. Not everybody is meant to live a “fulfilling” life (being successful, rich, happy, etc.), but your life will always have meaning even if you don’t see it. In the book, in the afterlife, the key people will come to you and explain why you live the life you lived. How every insignificant thing that you do not even remember, has a huge impact on another’s life.

I have always had a fear of living an unfulfilling life, that I will somehow regret my life as I grow old. But this book shows me that, unfulfilling life is always a meaningful life because you are born with a purpose, you or other people just do not know what it is. The purpose of your life has always been there and you just need to live and do your part in the universe.

And at the end of your life, before you go into nothingness, the purpose of your existence will be explained, you will feel contented because you finally see the true meaning of your life, you will learn to let go as you understand that you have served the purpose of your life in the universe.

So, live your life and wait, one day you will understand what everything means.