Lonely’s thoughts on the Afterlife

lonelyspelltoconjureyou:

Sometime ago someone asked me if I’d like to talk about what it’s like to be Brazilian and a Hellenic polytheist. Well, I used to think that being Brazilian didn’t change much my religion, but today I see I was wrong. I have said before about my difficulty to see the sea as the kingdom of Poseidon, since in Brazil Yemaya is a very popular orixá, she’s always referred to as “Yemaya, the queen of the sea”.

As much as I’m a hellenic polytheist, I also live in a country of big religious diversity. So, I don’t share the same beliefs of the Ancient Greeks when it comes to the afterlife. Well, actually I do, but I interpret it differently. Brazil is a country full of all kinds of diversities that are able to talk to each other, so I don’t believe in A Place For All The Dead. Mythology, for me, does not talk about The Truth, mostly because I don’t believe it exists, but about The Truths. And I don’t believe we are bond forever to the Afterlife Place of our religion.

For example, the ideas of greatness have changed. Nowadays there are no more heroes like in Ancient Greece. For me, that does not mean that to enter in the Islands of the Blessed you have to kill a great monster or win a huge war. Acts of bravery in our times are different. We no longer live in Ancient Greece and can’t and shouldn’t pretend to be ancient Greeks. I am Brazilian.

Another example, I agree with the ancient Greeks that after death the dead have no longer the fire that the we the living have. But I really don’t believe it’s not life anymore. What I believe is that our existence in the afterlife can be seen as numb and lifeless when we compare it to the mundane life. Some of us still will crave mundane delights like wine, milk, honey and bread.

I believe It’s just… different. We no longer are able to see and feel Helios’ divine light, we’re no longer in Gaia’ earthly divine body.

I personally believe we have the choice to reincarnate, to reborn, to learn, to stay there and forget or remember everything, to go valhala, aruanda, the paradise or to hell. If you made your way to these places in life.

My views on the afterlife don’t deny the ancient greek’s views, I just see it from another interpretation. The times are not the same and we all know that. To me, mythology isn’t about the truth, but about a truth. A metaphorical one.