You Don't Have To Be Spiritual, Religious, or Believe in God.

Something I've recently noticed about members of our Love After Life Facebook group is that, in terms of "the afterlife," the group has been decidedly less spiritual and less religious than any other afterlife group that I've been a part of over the last nine years. Even groups or sites that have very secular-sounding titles are infused with "spiritual" teaching, interpretations, characterizations and perspectives, so much so that it seems like a bait-and-switch. It's like being homeless and hungry and going to a "free meal" clinic, only to find out it's run by a local church and you are given a sermon along with your dinner.

After many years of contributing to Reddit under the user name WintyreFraust, it became clear to me that people who were searching for afterlife information because of the death of a loved one and their ensuing grief, or because of fear of death, are generally different from people who search for such information for other reasons - such as, those who are trying to find a way to understand the world, their place in it, and acquire a sense of greater meaning and purpose. For those first two groups of people, those spiritual characterizations are very often barriers in terms of acquiring any relief from their grief or fear. Concepts like "spiritual growth," reincarnation, karma, life reviews, soul groups, "higher selves," ego dissolution, unity consciousness, etc., just add extra troubling and upsetting thoughts and worries to an already troubled mind, and does little or nothing to alleviate their core issues.

Speaking for many (likely most or all) who are in our group, we have no fear of death. The only reason we, generally speaking, sought out afterlife information was in the hope of finding information that assured us we would be with them again, that we would be reunited. While that information was most often available from those sources, there were always - always - "spiritual" caveats that - generally speaking - reduced such romantic pairings to secondary considerations in a large spiritual scheme of purpose, meaning, value and inevitable "spiritual progress." These common spiritual tropes diminished the importance of such relationships, often painting them as ultimately superfluous.

Yes, it is obvious from the evidence that there are locations and large groups of spiritual and religious beliefs and metaphysical structures, you don't have to live in those places in the afterlife; you don't have to adopt their beliefs; and you don't have to participate in those metaphysical structures. This applies to everyone: you have free will in the afterlife, and the evidence indicates that the afterlife has an infinite capacity to provide every individual with a "home" location and community that completely resonates with each individual.

IMO, it's as simple as this: embrace what resonates with you from sources of afterlife information and ignore what does not. If you don't want to participate in a system of sin and forgiveness, or karma and reincarnation, or spiritual progress toward some ego-free Nirvana, just don't believe in it. Keep your mind set and focused on that which already resonates in your heart, and let your path in life and death naturally take you there. You don't even have to figure out how to get there other than that, and don't let anyone here or in the afterlife talk you out of it.