In my Developmental Psychology class we were on the topic of death and dying. What amazed me was that in talking about death, students were concerned that if there was no afterlife then there was no reason for the actions in their lives. Why would we be moral and virtuous if we were not being judged?
Is this the only reason we live good lives? Do we only behave because we think that we are being watched by an entity who is recording our actions? A cosmic Santa with a naughty and nice list?
I read years ago that 80% of people don't steal because they are afraid of getting caught. Does that number apply to the afterlife as well? If we ramp up divine retribution, will our societies improve? What about the afterlife promises of virgins for martyrdom?
Maybe the problem with our world is that we don't have a consistent view of what will happen when we die. Maybe if we did we could all get along better? Or we could all be blowing ourselves up.
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