Think that electricity becomes heat which then mutates into boiling water in its turn. Whose energy is being transferred onto the matter of the vegetables that become food for you to eat, so that you can sustain yourself and get the energy to grow more vegetables and start the process all over.

Matter and energy are being constantly recycled, in a similar manner that your own flesh and soul will be reused. The first will rot and be part of the Earth and its living organisms one way or another, while your soul-which is pure energy, will move on with its own journey to a new state of existence.

-Sorry to interrupt, but how will my spirit be “recycled”. What comes after death in a spiritual sense?

-As material things decompose, they release energy, often in heat form, don’t they? Well in your soul’s case when it is being released, it is often broken apart and joins the cosmic luminous entity, or what you call “god.” It becomes part of the “whole” once more.

If your soul is cleansed, it will convert into light that will have positive impact on future human generations. It can be recycled as someone “enlightened”; a leader, a scientist or even as a thinker that will help humanity make strides in its evolution, adding to the common good.

Each random act of kindness in your world, is being triggered by such energies that are released from humans and they can be passed on. Inspired or simply felt, sometimes compelled by an energy or “vibe” as you call it, that although you may not know the source, you still act upon it. You often identify this energy as love, compassion, friendship and so on.

If your spirit is not cleansed and travels through the darkness of “Hell”, it could re-enter the circle of what you perceive as human life, with all the negative aspects of your species’ nature and your previous experiences; your mistakes, vices and weaknesses will be passed on to its new existence.

What you call “Hell”, is in fact a place in my realm, where souls that cannot let go of their guilt, shame, anger, and regret end up. Your demons are nothing more than spirits, energies, cosmic entities that went through their human experience and never shed all this negative accoutrement. They held on and were mutilated by it in the end.

-So, you mean that bad people do evil things, because they carry emotional baggage from someone else’s previous life?

-Doug you have the freedom of choice. Nothing is imposed on you. However, as some scientists have discovered recently, memories can be transferred to new generations through DNA, via inherited epigenetic memory and meiosis of your biological cells.

“In other words, your negative experiences and emotions can influence future generations, although your environment can alter or affect this transfer. If this is true for your biological bodies, how much do you think is accurate for the energy that inhabits them; your soul,” Fin explains.

The two men were facing each other now, as their discussion intensified and absorbed them into a whirlpool of a philosophical, theological, scientific, and existential quest for knowledge. Doug was still leaning towards the bedhead, but now he was lying on his right-side facing Fin, who was sitting on the edge of the armchair, leaning towards Doug, and waving his arms emphatically with every word.

-So, Fin tell me; do all entities of the shadows resemble you? Are there any demons, with you know; bat wings or the stuff you showed me earlier on.

-Hahaha. You humans are an amazing race. You are so weak and insecure and just like children, you like blaming anyone or anything else for your own actions. I tried to explain to you, that there are no demons or angels in the sense you understand.

“You used to personify your own passions or feelings, creating a pantheon of gods and deities that ruled you and dictated what you do, in return for reward or punishment. Then most of you turned to monotheistic religions, replacing the ancient gods with demons, angels, or saints,” Fin says.

-From Aphrodite the goddess of Love and Mars the god of War, you turned to little goat-like, bat-winged demons that make you do evil things. The funniest thing is with you, that once you understand that you did something wrong, instead of asking for forgiveness from the person or group of people you harmed, you seek to get it from an old man that lives in the sky.

“In addition, you treat charity, justice, good and kindness as brownie points to get you into Heaven. You seem to be acting on them not out of altruism, but of pure fear of the unknown afterlife, or for cultural reasons that were imposed on you over the centuries by religious and societal upheaval,” Fin adds.

-This is a sign of a very immature species, that has not yet completed its journey. That is understandable, as you are one the newest “creations”, a blip in the earth’s overall history. But if you ever want to reach your full potential, you better start taking off the blindfolds of outdated doctrines, dogmas, or religions.

Doug continues listening Fin discussing about everything that he was either unaware, or never bothered to talk about with anyone while in the land of the living. His usual social circles included other business minded individuals, family members or many of his lovers, friends, and drug dealers, who surrounded him with all sorts of trivial matters.

Power games, envy and petty arguments, gossip and personal complexes deriving from unfulfilled individuals, were all that he experienced through his routine interactions with others. Yet he now suddenly finds himself dying, discussing deep existential topics with a spirit. “That is seriously messed up,” he thought.

Fin brought him back into the conversation by describing how the boundaries of what is good or evil are fluid, and that both light and darkness are necessary to keep the balance of this world and the whole universe.

-There can be no absolute victory of one over the other, in reality. No one can live in constant light or perpetual warmth. Just as day takes over from the night and seasons change, darkness and light similarly battle and complement each other eternally.

“Sometimes darkness is more necessary than light, while the latter can do more harm than good. Like the sun can give you sunburn or the night is necessary for people to rest and replenish their energy, the continuous shift between good and bad or destruction and restoration, is what keeps the evolution and balance of everything going,” Fin says.

-You mean that God can at times do some very evil or bad things?

-Well have you read Noah’s story in the Bible? Wasn’t your “god” that destroyed an old, corrupt world to re-establish a new, better one? I am not claiming that this book is accurate or should be considered as factual. I am just trying to present you a familiar example, of how sometimes “good” can cause bad things in order to bring balance back into its surroundings.

- “Cleansing and transformation, just as fire destroys but yet replenishes the land,” adds Doug as his thoughts become loud.

-Exactly!

-So where do our modern religions stand in all this Fin? If let us say humanity one day realises all that you say by itself, do you think that they will chose to destroy or maintain religion?

-Religion as you know it is a man’s fiction. It is the need of your species to understand why you were created and brought into existence. You need to know what to do during your lives and because you are still unaware of how the universe works, you seek guidance. You are afraid.

“Thus, you have created religion in the form of different dogmas, ideologies, or a way of life, in order to use it as a compass to guide you through your human realm. Partially, your religions did a very good job in offering you some solace, in your existential searching. However, as all your scholars, priests, shamans, or spiritual leaders were mere human, their knowledge was never complete or accurate,” describes Fin.

-Hence, the damaging effect of organized religion. By letting another human to lead and guide you, you gave them absolute power with such great trust. And power as you know corrupts.

-Shall we abolish it then Fin if nothing good ever came out of it?

-I never said that nothing valuable resulted from organized religion, Doug. It has given or fostered humanity through some of its biggest achievements, from music to architecture and art, literature, humanitarian service, medicine and so much more. However just as everything it has its dark side. Humans are imperfect and since they imagined every religion they have created; these institutions are prone to be too.

Abolishing religion can leave a huge gap in your psyche, and the way you organise your societies currently. There must be some gradual weaning, coupled with enlightenment using science. Religion itself must be reformed, but as anything human, it is change resistant.

-You are speaking of modernization Fin. But come on, things are not as bad as they were, we have made huge progress. Most of the people I know, do not follow any religion.

-The problem with humans Doug, is that they go from one extreme to the other. As a reaction to the negative aspects of a dogma, you decided to abandon your spirituality altogether, which is itself unnatural. As I explained to you earlier, there is a balance in everything. You cannot have logic or pure, dry science guiding you, without morality or emotion. It will feel like having sex without love all the time.

“If religion manages to reform itself from a dogma into a morality instrument, then it has a chance of survival and to remain relevant in a modern era. You humans need that balance, as you are a new species, incapable of grasping a lot of things about how the universe works,” Fin explains.

-Too much science can be catastrophic in your hands, just like a packet of matches in the hands of a child. You are just not ready to bear the responsibility of all the knowledge that exists out there, so a reformed type of religion can act as a spiritual compass.

-How can you say such thing Fin. The past few decades only, we discovered so many new things, cured almost every disease. Technologically we are way ahead from the previous generation, and we keep exploring and developing every day.

-Yes Doug, but are you sure you know how to handle all this knowledge, without let’s say destroying the environment, starting a new war, or distributing this knowledge and its benefits equally among you, without the influence of petty power mongering.

-So, you are saying that religion can save humanity? I thought that it was actually an impediment to progress.

- The way people use it, it sure is Doug. It is one thing to follow a doctrine or a dogma blindly, but different to be spiritual, connected to the energy that exists around you and among you fellow humans.

- So perhaps you are speaking of paganism, and other animistic religions, should we all return to these very old beliefs?

- Haha. Again, what is with your kind and religion. Why do you always feel that you must convert in one, plus force or encourage others to do so? It is not a tribe or social club.

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The painting: Two Elemental Mermaids that accompanies the text, is Christos Mouzeviris’ creations.

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Fin Elegy
Chapter 1: The Visitor. Part 1 - Part 2

Chapter 2: Fin's Theory. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Chapter 3: About Doug. Part I - Part 2 - Part 3 

Chapter 4: Loving Doug. Part 1- Part 2 - Part 3 

Chapter 5: Jenny. Part 1 - Part 2  - Part 3

 Epilogue