144 visions of the future // "I must be late; I just missed the train to the afterlife."

[i_themagician]

It's been one year, three months, two weeks, and three days since I arrived here quite intentionally. I suppose that's shorter than some have been here but longer than many, and I've yet to leave even once. I don't keep it a secret that I am deceased, but while the fact that my life is over doesn't bother me at all, there are some aspects of being

Comments

[absinthe_eyed]

"Unfinished business"? That makes us sound like ghosts.

It doesn't matter how we feel. We can't go home; if we leave the City, all we can anticipate is whatever--if anything--comes after death.

[i_themagician]

"Things you were going to do that you didn't get around to because you died but would like to get back to if it were possible" seemed a bit long-winded.

While that's true, I intentionally did not mention the practicality of the matter because it has a tendency to cloud the truth. If someone would like to go home, being unable to will do nothing to change that and failing to admit as much to themselves will only make it worse.

[absinthe_eyed]

That is cumbersome.

I think practicality is more likely to clarify than to cloud. Coming to terms with our inability to go home--and the fact that we'll never have an opportunity to complete anything we left undone in life--will help us let go of things we can never change and concentrate on what the future holds for us.

If we have futures.

[i_themagician]

While I agree, I think people need to come to that conclusion on their own. Even though I actually did finish everything I meant to in life and outwardly accepted what death really means, it has taken me a while to actually come to terms with moving on. When I did, it had nothing to do with what I thought I should feel. I can only imagine that I had an easy time of it compared to others here.

We must have futures; whether or not we have futures as ourselves is a different matter, but I can hardly imagine that so much consciousness and energy would simply disappear. I suppose we're getting into philosophy and religion now, though.

[absinthe_eyed]

How did you know when you had come to terms with your death, fully? Is there a point at which all residual regret disappears?

Philosophy and religion are worth talking about--philosophy especially. I don't know if either has much to do with an afterlife if whatever exists beyond death follows the same rules of physics as the rest of existence. From personal experience, I'd guess there's not much beyond life.

[i_themagician]

I didn't, and don't, but I suppose there comes a point when one ceases to look back and begins looking forward.

My experience says differently, but that may be written off as one of the differences between worlds. It strikes me as odd that the very rules that hold the universe together do not remain the same from one world to another.

[absinthe_eyed]

That's a difficult task when there's nothing to look forward to.

I don't understand it. Physics should remain constant across all universes, and if they don't, different universes shouldn't be capable of intersecting.

[i_themagician]

Indeed it must be. One hardly has a choice but to look back, then.

You'd think that, but apparently it isn't and they are. It would be an interesting mental exercise to try and figure out how this is possible.

[absinthe_eyed]

How familiar are you with theoretical physics?

[i_themagician]

I haven't been formally educated in it, but I might not be wholly unfamiliar. What are your thoughts?