Round Ten: A Philosophical Journey Through the Afterlife

Copyright © 2007, 2009 by Jimmy Jones.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-0-595-53003-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-0-595-63056-1 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 12/17/2008

Knowledge is organized science, Wisdom is organized life.

Immanuel Kant

Thank you friends and family for your support.

Contents

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIV

Chapter I

Hell! I am really late. I rushed to put my clothes on because I took a mid-afternoon nap. I was supposed to meet the boys at Starbucks thirty minutes ago. Where is my shirt? Oh there it is on the floor next to the alarm clock which looks to be unplug, must’ve of happened when I through my shirt on the floor. Oh well, what the hell. As I hurry to get ready, let me explain myself. I am a twenty-two year old kid in the midst of college at Nogero State University, where I am currently studying zoology in hopes of being an underpaid veterinarian or at least an over-qualified state worker. See at Nogero, I am also taking a philosophy class about religion where we learn the different types of religions and their beliefs. This is the reason I am supposed to be at Starbucks right now. With that said I conclude this biography of myself.

Get the hell out of my way! Why are you going so slowly? This is not a residential street get over you p.o.s! I never will understand why people cannot go the speed limit it’s a simple thing to do. If the speed limit is 40 mph then go at least 40 mph. I also cannot understand why adult males from the age of 16-25 get charged up the anus in car insurance fees when this person I just pass is easy a middle-aged white bread going really slow and talking on his damn cell phone. Get off the fucking phone while driving you simple-van-simpleton I yelled at him through the window. I really hate cell phones; they are so bad that we invented ethics on how to behave while using cell phones. Now that’s just ridiculous.

I arrived at Starbucks where the crew is sitting outside having a smoke and chitchatting up a major storm. The crew consists of Jason, Anthony, Ellery, Aaron, and Brandon. These guys and I have been kicking it since the middle school years. They’re mostly all right but as a collective we can be a bunch of assholes. Although at times we’re definitely the most considerate people in the world. I gave my greetings and apologies and headed into Starbucks to get my usual drink, an Iced Grande Vanilla Latte.

While I waited in line behind about six people, I pondered the upcoming discussion about religion and other various life queries that my friends and I are going to debate and ultimately never figure out. That is the major reason why I am fascinated about philosophy because no matter how much you discuss religion, death, or some other topic it never gets figured out, it just becomes another endless circle. Thinking, I noticed that this lady around my age who is two people ahead of me and next one in line is aimlessly looking at the ordering board seeming very confused. She is now in line and ready to order or so I thought.

Uh, yes I want a caramel frapp… No I want uh, I don’t know, do I want to try something new or will I get my usual? As she speaks to the clerk.

Well ma’am do you like it sweet or not? The clerk regurgitates to the lady.

Oh hell, I will just get a white chocolate mocha, sixteen ounce, skim, and no whip. She giggles as she tells the clerk.

Grande nonfat white chocolate mocha! The clerk yells to his compadre who looks very frustrated at the lady and begins making the drink. All this time I am fixated on the lady and her purse. She has not taken her money out in fact she grabs her check book and begins writing a check for her purchase. She stops mid way through and looks in her purse digging around abruptly for change. I will never understand why a person can stand in line looking at the board forever, get to the register, and have no clue what the hell they want to order. If you don’t know what you want to drink or eat then do not for Christ-sake stand in line when the person behind you is immediately ready. Also, if you do know what you want to order then have your money ready, how hard is it to look in your wallet or purse and obtain the correct change. Once again this requires that you know what you want and therefore knowing before you get in line and while in line getting the correct money to cover your purchase it’s that simple. The lady finished her purchase and walks by me, giving me a smile, all the time I am glaring at her with the rudest face I can give her. I obtained my beverage and headed outside for the discussion.

What up kid, how the hell are ya? Aaron said.

Not bad just took a little nap. I said, taking the seat facing the window. This seat sucks! I hate when I cannot people watch. Being a new thing of mine, people watching is fascinating. It’s funny to see people’s faces as they talk to one another.

Jones we were discussing how religion affects the world. So far there are two sides. One side is that religion helps many people with their morals and how to live life. Also religion eases the fear of dying in solitude. The other side is that religion is corrupt and leads people, many of them, to become codependent on a factitious entity. Also religion is only there to make money and instill many unscientific values on the world. Brandon spouts out. Brandon is a philosophy major at P.S.U.

Well as you know, I believe religion is an opiate for the masses. I cannot stand when religious people believe so blindly in the fact that God exists and will be our savior for the rest of eternity. I will give religion a heads up in regards to morals. It gives people a way to live life that will not affect the rest of the peers to offensively. Other than that religion is ridiculous. Why would I want to go to church to pray and talk to God when I can do it at home? I quipped out.

Church has many community aspects to it. They have a little community that helps each other out and if they want to believe in God, then they should be able to do that. Anthony squeaks out.

You are right. Church is a little community in a much bigger community. However to not feel so insignificant, they want more people for their community hence they send out missionaries to recruit people to enlarge their community. Aaron says.

That pisses me off more than anything. I do not want a person knocking on my door, spitting in my face with propaganda that God will save me and that I am a sinner. With total devotion to God then I will be saved from a lifetime of hell and torment. I say kind of heatedly.

How do you suppose they try to reach people if they cannot go door-to-door? By word of mouth and associations is how we communicate new information! Exclaimed Jason.

Well Jason, people telling other people about certain things is fine and dandy but soliciting a person’s residence and telling them that God is the only savior to the millions of sinners on this world, seems far fetch. Most of these missionaries believe so blindly that they are analogous to soldiers who take orders without questioning the ethics behind the order. How did they become missionaries at such a young age? They were spoon fed there religion from a dedicated teacher, such as a priest, and they believed that God is the only one. Hence why not get other people to join them. Now did this moment of clarity come from one’s own deduction or did the years of brainwashing help them? I rejoinder back at Jason.

I agree with Jones, in that I wish they would not knock down my door, but that they are brainwashed is a bit judgmental and narrow-minded. Brainwashing implies that they had no choice in the matter and that requires no free will. The priest or religious teachers as I will call them only provided the material and a way to incorporate that knowledge into everyday life. The person has a choice to believe or not believe what the religious teacher is teaching them. Anthony interjected.

Bull shit, you know that at a tender age of sixteen to nineteen, millions of kids travel to far places of the world to teach the unfaithful about God and how they should give up their polytheistic gods for a much more powerful all-knowing monotheistic God. Yes a person has a choice as to whether to believe or not and that choice in itself is very difficult, but many young teenagers are still impressionable and they tend to be pushed into a life decision based on the upbringing and parents. Hence in most situations when a young adult becomes a missionary the environment dictates the decision. Brandon said.

Enough of that shall we discuss another intriguing question. How did God come to exist? Ellery piped in for the first time.

One way to look at that question is to postulate that God does indeed exist and created everything our sense perception tells us exists. Jason answered with a puzzled look.

Well let’s take the faithful way of looking at God’s existence. This is the sole basis for Christianity to work. In the Bible God created the heavens and worlds in six days and rested on the seventh. God is a separate entity outside the universe and watches his creations with a care and divine justice. Now religion presupposes that by believing in God’s existence and accepting his divine wisdom and decree’s that there will be lasting salvation for eternity. What a gift for people who fear death and all that is unknowing about the afterlife. Assumed by believing that you will transcend to a higher place of pleasure and peace. Brandon stated.

Why do people fear death? Is it merely an end to a means? Meaning that life is precious and that a person should live life to the fullest. That way when a person is about to die they can say for sure that they lived life and won’t regret anything that happened. Aaron chimed in.

Ah! Epicurean way to satisfy the insatiable curiosity of the human desire palate! By merely believing that you do whatever you want as long as it does not bother anyone else too terribly is just too hard to carry to the rest of the world. A good way to live for a small minority, but let’s assume that the Epicurean way of life could be extended to the rest of the world and was the mandated religion; it would bring about total chaos. Spoke Jones quietly and staring right at Aaron.

Bull shit Jones! Chaos would not come about if the whole world lives, as they wanted to. Everyone is doing that for the most part, with certain laws in place. Aaron gasped.

What did you say? With certain laws in place, people can live however they want. Where did the basis for these laws come from? I asked.

The laws came from a consensus of people for the people and they grew up understanding what works for there community and what doesn’t. Aaron answered chewing on his toothpick, which was trademark.

Your right for a democratic system that listened to most people in the community and tries to enact laws that benefit all people in the community. However not everyone in the world follows democracy and therefore does not get much of a say as to how to live there lives. How do you propose that people live as they want as long as certain laws are in place be continued throughout the whole world? I replied completely slouched in my chair.

Well, if no laws are in place there would be total chaos anyway and everyone would do whatever they wanted! Anthony replies sitting upright and staring at this girl that was over Jones shoulder.

Precisely! If everyone did as they pleased and lived the Epicurean way of life, chaos would ensue and no one would be eternally happy. So to get back to the original question why do people fear death? I asked.

Well people fear death because they feel that by not believing in God that they will go to hell or some horrible place and live eternally in fire pits and be tortured with their worst fears. Jason chimed in.

In order to resist going to hell or whatever bad place people chose to believe in a God that will save them from damnation, even though they do not really know whether God or the Devil really exist. Anthony rebutted still looking at this really hot brunette sitting inside on a purple couch.

Man it’s getting late and I got to work hella early in the morning! Ellery says yawning at the end.

Yeah it’s getting late but I have this last thing. Let’s just say that no one really knows if God or the Devil really exists but if they do exist I issue this challenge to the devil himself. That when I die, I will inevitably go to hell because I am agnostic and by not believing in God outright, I challenge the Devil to mortal combat and the winner controls hell and can do whatever one pleases. I exclaimed as I got up.

Everyone laughs and pushes their chairs into place, deposits their trash and walked towards their cars. I entered my car and turned the engine on and placed some enigma into the cd player. I sat there pensively reflecting on the conversation that took place, its summaries, and the questions that arose. I come back to the lady who did not have her money ready for the cashier and just laugh thinking how anal it was to get so mad over such a little thing, but really the lady should have been more courteous to the people around her. Everything has a flow and if the flow is interrupted or slowed, people get mad. I placed the car into gear and drove off.

Easing the car out of the Starbucks parking lot, I headed toward the traffic light. I come up to this car in the left turn lane and who do I see? A young tough-nut punk with his hat to the diagonal and his stereo bumping really loud, I literally can feel the bass throughout my whole body. I make eye contact with him he gives me the west-coast sign. Then flips me off with the bird, I stared with disbelief at this young kid and mouth a few choice words to the kid. He revved his engine, I see the light go green and off we go! All of a sudden I see bright lights.

The bright light is fading away from me. The white light seemed to be at the end of this really long tunnel that is getting longer as it moved away from me. I turned over to see where I was falling and there was this red fiery glow. It felt really warm like my eye lids feel when I am sleeping face up to the sun.

Chapter II

Hey kid wake up! A dark voice bellowed in my ear.

Where am I? I answered still having my eyes closed.

You’re in the middle of the street. You were in an accident. You really need to get out of the street before you…

Okay, I’ll get out of the street! Feeling no pain I finally sat up. Thinking I was fine, I opened my eyes suddenly, the sky was a dark gray, not black, just an eerie gray as if the sky was lit by a distant light. Where am I? I asked getting up slowly.

You are in the middle of the street and we need to get out of here soon! This dark figure with dark glowing green eyes staring at me said. In the middle of the street stood this dark figure with a dark black robe on, not your typical police uniform I thought. He stared at me wildly, motioning me to follow him. I finally looked around; I saw my car completely upside down with the tires spinning. I notice no other cars, police cars, or an ambulance anywhere around the intersection. Which I quickly thought was kind of weird. I also noticed that there were a lot of people walking around the intersection not making eye contact with me. I felt that they were looking, even watching, me intently but as soon I looked at them they looked down and away. I suddenly felt that I was not in Nogero anymore.

Where am I? I repeated the question to the dark figure.

We need to get out of here! The dark figure grabbed my arm and pulled me toward a side street.

What’s your name? I suddenly jerked my arm away from him and started to walk with him.

The answers you seek will be given soon, but first you must follow me. Do you remember anything? The mysterious figure asked as I followed him out of the intersection.

I remember being at this intersection with this young tough nut trying to out race me. I saw him going and I took off when this bright white light flashed and then you saying wake up. Other than that I do not remember much. I know that it was dark and now it’s gray and very warm. Is it close to morning? I walked with this esoteric that was walking to the alley really fast.

I honestly cannot tell you what time it is because I really don’t know. Now that we are out of harms way let me introduce myself. I am Kunle, a guide to help you journey through this place. You may ask any question from here on out and I will help you find the answers. I can only help, I cannot do for you. You control your own limits to your knowledge in these lands. Set no limits and infinite knowledge could be yours. Now that you have asked who I may be, let me tell you where you are. The sky is gray because a distant fire, one that washes this place in its only source of light, is lit at the palace of the ruler of these lands. You have entered a place with no time, so asking what time it is, is irrelevant so do not ask questions which the answers are obvious. Remember that knowledge is power and power grows from learning. Kunle finally faced me with a composed look checking me over for