My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essays

My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essays My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essay My Learned Philosophy and the Afterlife Essay In the beginning, I dreaded the fact of having to take a philosophy class. It all seemed preposterous to me. Then the final essay topic reflected several emotional responses in the beginning of the class. The Afterlife was only known to this student by means of religious teachings and not researched to the extent of whether or not the Afterlife matters in reference to how we live. How do we live if this unknown place actually exists? Initial readings in chapter assignments opened this student’s eye to a perspective on life that would not usually come up as a topic of discussion. Whether or not there is a God or one ultimate mover is something to struggle with as this student moved further into learning philosophy and its communicators. I have found that there really is not a straightforward answer on discovery or facts of the topic I chose. I found myself learning about philosophers like the great Aristotle. His teachings brought on the questions on everything that existed, the knowledge to find out what it means to be. I have tried to grasp his concepts and reflect this in my final paper. His sense of existence is relevant to me and how I will answer my topic’s questions. Moving further into the weeks I noticed that my thoughts on life changed. I no longer took many things for granted and saw my own life siting in the middle of materialism. This needed to change, the philosophical questions I now asked myself became complex. An example is one question in particular. How do I exist without the everyday â€Å"stuff† I think I need. I have found that existence is not physical but indeed a mental status with a physical body. Studying this helped me decide how to proceed with the research on the way I look at things and the Afterlife. How did others perceive it, this is my question to answer. I found that most of the philosophers I did not agree with but Descartes was not one of those. I still view him the same as I did weeks ago. I am a skeptic to say the least. I question all there is and look for solid proof. For me to write a paper on an unknown object or assumption of a place is challenging for me but have taken the task and hopefully will state matters and not just mere beliefs. Some of my philosophy is drawn to those Eastern influences we discussed but did not know my similarities until reading our chapters on the differences between Eastern and Western. I feel that I am a very spiritual person and hold life and its existence to a higher deity. I pray, I live, I die with honor that I have done all I can to better the lives of those around me. This will move me to a higher place when I die as some of the eastern philosophers believed. In conclusion, I wish to say that this class has taught me how to sit back and look around, question what I do not see and insist on proof of what I do see. I hope that my understanding of philosophy and what I got from taking this class stays with me and the truth will provide proof that the Afterlife is a guide for living. For truth is what we all seek, no matter how we get there and no matter where we end up.