I do not know what will happen to us after we die. Most likely we simply cease to exist. Is it possible that a reality of us survive after we die? No one can’t be sure of that and I say probably the answer is “no”. There are a lot of things that we humans still do not know. Is it possible that the world is more complex than what meets the eyes? Could there be other words with different dimensions parallel to ours of which we have no knowledge? Even if such worlds exist, we have no evidence of then and therefore they belong to the realm of speculation. It is not wise to hinge our lives around things that are speculative in nature. There is only one life of which we can be certain and it is this life. We must make the most of it.

The best way to make the most of this life is to make our species advance. We humans are social animals. Our happiness depends on the happiness of our fellow beings. Nature has made us such that the greatest pleasures we feel is in giving and in helping others. Those who help others do so because they enjoy helping. There is no pleasure greater than making others happy. Animals do not have this sense. Empathy is something that has evolved in us humans. An animal has a natural drive to provide and protect her own offspring. Beyond that, except few gregarious species, animals don’t have a great sense of empathy.

A study shows that the area of the brain associated with higher-level thinking, empathy, and guilt is underused by teenagers. When considering an action, the teenage medial prefrontal cortex, located in front of the brain, doesn’t get as much action as adults. Empathy is a basic part of human nature that allows people to care about others. This study suggests that empathy is a learned behavior that develops in humans as they age.

Another study suggests damage to the brain limits empathy. When asked if they would kill someone for a greater cause, such as saving more people, those with damaged brains often responded positively while the subjects with normal brains were not prepared to kill someone even for a greater cause. According to Dr. Antonio Damasio, one of the study’s lead authors, “Part of our moral behavior is grounded … in a specific part of our brains,”

Some cultures are noticeably more empathic than others. High on the list are Hindus and the westerners. Low on the list, are Muslims in general, irrespective of their race or nationality. They often rationalize the pain and suffering caused to non-Muslims, citing Abu Ghraib, Hiroshima , Palestine and other unrelated topics to justify their own atrocities. Muslims do not feel the pain of other Muslims either. They are constantly fighting and shedding each others’ blood. The very Islamic belief that God would burn the non-Muslims for eternity, and their inability to see anything wrong in this patent injustice is a clear indication of their lack of empathy.

Now, it would be unreasonable to assume that Muslims as a group are brain damaged. However, it is fair to say that their level of empathy is comparable to those with damaged brains. So how can we understand the general lack of empathy in Muslims at large? This conundrum can be explained through the findings of another study.

A French and American team of social-cognitive neuroscientists have identified a network of brain regions that are involved in human imitation. The scope of the research was to find the neurological basis of social interaction, particularly empathy. The team is headed by neuroscientist Jean Decety of France ‘s Institut de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale and a visiting scientist at the University of Washington ‘s Center for Mind, Brain & Learning, and developmental psychologist Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the center.

Their study suggests that empathy is learned through imitation. “This work is important because imitation is a natural procedure. We don’t learn to imitate. It is part of our biological nature and we are born to imitate,” said Decety.

Children learn empathy if they see empathy. It is a mistake to assume all cultures are equal or buy into the lie that all people are the same and that bad and good are equally distributed among all nations. There are definitely nations that are better than other. There are societies that generally lack empathy. In the western society good is the norm and bad people are exceptions, Among the Muslims the reverse is true. Now this makes no sense, since we are all genetically made of the same stock and are the same species. The only difference is education, belief systems and ethos.

Westerners are very likely to give money to charities, even when they are not necessarily wealthy. Muslims in general do not give to charities unless they believe they will be rewarded for it in the next world. Islamic charities are not geared to help the poor but to promote Islam, such as build mosques, pint the Quran and distribute it for free, or finance Jihad. This is how a Muslim perceives charity. Muslims also give to the poor. However, the intent is not to improve the life of the poor but to gain the pleasure of Allah and be rewarded in the afterlife. I recall once I stayed at the home of an aunt and a beggar knocked at the door asking for something to eat. My aunt went to the kitchen, got a piece of bread and some cheese and gave it to him. But before, she rotated the food around my head. I perfectly knew why she was doing it. According to her belief system by rotating the food around someone’s head she was taking away the ill surrounding that person and giving it away to the beggar. As a child I believed this to be true and felt guilt. I did not want someone else take away my ills just for a piece of bread. This kind of charity is called sadaqeh. The intent of sadaqeh is to send away the ill and give it to someone else.

An entire society can lack empathy. If the ethos of a society does not promote empathy people do not learn it. The evolution of empathy in the West is recent. Only a hundred years ago the westerners felt no qualm colonizing other nations, subjugating them and exploiting them. The Opium war that the British waged against the Chinese is only a token of the lack of empathy of Europeans towards other people. Another example is what the Germans did only sixty years ago. However, it is unlikely that either the Germans or the British of today would allow their governments to commit such acts of inhumanity. The ethos of these people has changed and as the result their level of empathy is also changed.

Many ex-Muslims will tell you that prior to their rejection of Islam they had no empathy for the pains of the non-Muslims and some have even confessed that they were genuinely elated when they heard about the September 11 calamity that killed many kafirs. Even the westerners, upon converting to Islam lose their empathy. Yvonne Riddley, the BBC journalist who converted to Islam, has given her support to the terrorists and has justified their murder of innocent people including the children of Beslan. Joseph Cohen, a Jew who changed his name to Yusuf Khattab after converting to Islam, has also expressed his approval of the killing of Israelis, including their children.

It is clear that we can develop empathy or lose it through education and belief. Actually it is amazing how fast one can acquire empathy or lose it. I felt no pain or sorrow upon hearing the violent death of Musab al Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who had killed over a thousand people in Iraq , nor did I feel any sadness upon the execution of Saddam Hussein. I must confess that I even felt relieved, and the news of their death felt good. Now, this feeling is generally alien to me. I often feel the pain of others, not just in my mind but even in m body. Watching the picture of a woman being stoned makes my body ache, as if I am being stoned. Despite the proliferation of the videos of beheadings, I have not been able to watch any of them yet. I feel the knife on my own throat and have to stop the video or close my eyes. The only way I can explain this double standard is that we humans must have the ability to switch on and off our empathy “button” at will. When terrorists are killed I justify their death and feel good and when innocent people are killed I feel I am being violated and empathize with them. This is the choice I have made. The Muslims who find themselves on the other side of the fence and sympathize with the terrorist empathize with them while rejoice anytime an innocent person is killed. What separates good people from bad people is the causes that they embrace and since the definition of good and bad for each person is different, people commit evil with clear conscience once they embrace ideologies that are evil.

This makes our problem very clear. It is evil ideologies that reduce people into bloodthirsty beasts and heartless killers. It is these ideologies that we have to fight and eliminate. People are the same everywhere. We were all born innocent. What makes us different is our belief systems.

Muslim children are nurtured with the hatred of the non believers, particularly the Jews. Even a “moderate” Muslim like Dr. Mahathir, the ex-Prime minister of Malaysia, who probably has never had shaken hand with a Jew in his life, was so much filled with their hatred that in his speech addressed to all the Muslim leaders of the world, blamed the Jews for everything that is wrong in the Muslim world. When people grow in such an environment filled with hate, there is little room for empathy. As the result Muslims have no empathy.

Empathy makes us not only feel the pain of others, but also their happiness. Isn’t it true that seeing someone happy automatically makes you happy? The reverse is also true. Seeing a person in pain and anguish saddens and concerns us. Those who have high levels of empathy can rejoice in the happiness others. This is the crux of the matter.

Why should we be kind to others, help our fellow beings and striving to bring happiness to their lives, if there is no hell and heaven? The answer is that once we develop empathy, we do not need other compensation for our good deeds. The fact that our deed is going to help someone and make him or her happy is by itself rewarding. It is the happiness of others that makes us happy. We feel the pain of others and rejoice in their happiness. There is no other reward needed in making someone happy. The reward is instantaneous and it is in our very deeds.

So, why we have to be good to each other? It is because it makes us feel good. That is all there is to it. The reward and punishment for our actions are right here in this world our very actions.

What about those people who have no empathy, like criminals, the brain damaged and the Muslims? They are mishaps. Criminals and the brain damaged. Muslims must be weaned from their cultic belief. As long as they are Muhammadan’s and to the degree that they follow that psychopath, there is very difference between Muslims and criminals or brain damaged people. The actions of their terrorists are eloquent testimony to this claim.

Whether we like it or not and whether it is politically correct to say it or not, we have to accept the fact that Muslims, and here I mean those believing and practicing Muslims who regularly go to the mosque and fill their minds with the venomous sermons, have little empathy for the rest of mankind. What distinguishes us humans from lower forms of life is empathy.

As I stated above, empathy can be learned and it can be switched off and on. Once Muslims leave Islam they often acquire empathy quite fast. Suddenly they can see other humans as fellow beings and feel their sorrow and happiness. The reverse is also true. Once a non-Muslim falls into the trap of Islam, it takes very little time before he or she starts hating everyone and everything.

Dante described hell as a place where there is no hope. I agree with that description and add one more. Hell is where there is no love. By this definition, Muslims live in hell. They wake up every morning and go to bed every night feeling nothing but hatred of mankind? A hatred that is fueled by lies, so intense that derives them to commit suicide in order to take their revenge. This is hell.

We humans care about each other. That is because our survival as a species depends on it. Therefore, empathy is natural and a necessity of life in us humans. In giving, we enrich our own lives. Giving validates our sense of humanness and makes us feel complete. We feel pleasure in giving, in helping, in making others happy and in alleviating people’s pain. This is very natural to us humans, unless we lose it through evil indoctrination. One does not need any religion or belief to have empathy because it is part of our evolutionary make up, just like intelligence. However, like intelligence it has to be nurtured to develop. Since religion is the expression of everything that is noble and good in us humans, most religions emphasize on this aspect of our humanness and encourage us to be giving, loving and helping. Nonetheless, it is a mistake to assume that it is because of religion that we have empathy. It is actually the other way round. Religions have adopted what is intrinsically human and as much part of our evolution as is intelligence.

Islam is a different story. Islam is the invention of a very sick psychopathic mind. The author of Islam was a narcissist. The religion that he invented was intended only to advance his own narcissistic dreams of grandiosity and power. As the result Islam is extremely evil. Unlike other major religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or Zoroastrianism, Islam reduces its followers into zombies and evil beings. It takes away their humanity and makes them monsters, unworthy to be called humans. Other religions are mix bags of good and bad. Islam is all bad. With false promises of a shamefully orgiastic afterlife and threats of hell, it rubs the intelligence and the conscience of its victims reducing them into little more than beasts. Once you lose your humanity, there is nothing left in you than bestiality. Take a look at what is happening in Iraq and Palestine these days where Muslims are killing one another in the most savage way. This is not new. Muslims have been tearing each other apart since the day Muhammad died. That evil soul laid the foundation of bestiality among his foolhardy followers and reduced them into mindless killing machines.

Whether there is an afterlife or not, we don’t know. Assuming there is, of one thing we can be sure, and that is evildoers will not be rewarded. Muslims who follow Muhammad and inspired by his teachings of hate go against human nature and kill their kind can’t expect to be rewarded. If there is a hell Muhammad is in the pit of it. Every Muslim who follows him and abuses other humans in the name of Islam will also be sent to hell. If there is a hell it is filled with Muslims. If God exists, he must be just. He will not leave evil people unpunished. Ignorance is not an excuse. God gave all humans the faculty to distinguish right from wrong and Muslims willingly chose evil.

The Quest for Immortality

It is my belief that we humans are the only species that is aware of its mortality. In fact I recall the day I became aware of human mortality. It was a traumatic experience. I was about eight or nine years old when an elderly lady who was our aquatint was hit by a truck and died. I was shocked by the realization that she was gone for good. I kept asking “why”. My mother reassured me that she has gone to a better place. I accepted her explanation because it made me feel better.

Because we humans are aware of our mortality, we seek immortality. We want to beat the death. How we do that depends very much on our maturity and our ability to think rationally. Primitive humans solved this problem by promoting the belief that they will transcend death by either resuscitating or by acquiring an incorruptible body in a new (spiritual) dimension. Rational people find it hard to accept this assumption. They satisfy their quest for immortality by trying to leave a trace of themselves behind. This sentiment was beautifully expressed by Orianna Fallachi, who in her last days, while cancer was fast depleting her vital energy, ran against the time to write three books, warning the west of the looming danger of Islamization of Europe. She said, “Through these books I will die a little less.”

This is what derives people who do not believe in an afterlife. They seek their immortality, by leaving a trace of themselves. Painters, poets, writers, philosophers, inventors, strive to die a little less through their work.

One does not have to be necessarily a painter or a writer to become immortal. We can outlive our death and acquire immortality through our deeds. Our deeds have a ripple effect and their echo lasts for decades, centuries or even millenia after we die. Abused people abuse! This abuse passes from one generation to another. Acts of kindness also pass from one generation to another and last. In this sense we are all immortal. We all live through our deeds.

So, the answer to your question, what will happen to me after I die, is: I don’t know. My guess is that I cease to exist. I return to nothingness just as I was before I came into this world. However, like you and everyone else, I too seek immortality. Unlike you I do not seek my immortality in a bogus promise of a mentally deranged man and a pedophile, psychopath mass murderer. That would be the acme of stupidity. I seek my immortality through my deeds. I strive to leave a trace of myself in this world – the best part of me. I do my best to ease people’s pains, to bring joy where there is sorrow; to shed light where there is darkness, to impart knowledge where there is ignorance and to spread understanding where there is confusion. I have chosen my goal and have determined my purpose of life. I want to be an instrument of peace. I will not be fooled by spurious promises of the afterlife but will cling to what is real and concrete. Goodness is real and I strive to be good and do good.

Goodness will survive after we die. Of that I can be certain. Can you be certain that your “soul” will survive after you die? What if Muhammad lied? What else he said that was true? You are the big loser because all you did in this world was to plant hate and do evil. You came to this world and left it worse. You took the evil that Muhammad brought and spread it. You wasted your life chasing a wild goose and in the process brought more pain and misery to mankind. You have made life hell for yourself and others. You belong to hell, while I belong to paradise. My paradise is right here. I want to render this world into paradise.

Anyway, these four men finally came upon an elephant in the zoo (and were apparently allowed to touch the animal). Now an elephant is much larger than a man, so none of them could actually feel the entire girth of the elephant.

One got hold of his tail, the other, his legs, the third his stomach and the fourth his…well, lets not talk of what the fourth guy laid his hands on.

Soon they were back home and began discussing the encounter. The first man, who had got hold of the tail said that the elephant is like a rope, the second who had felt the elephant’s legs said that he was like a tree-trunk and the third argued that the elephant seemed like a huge wall to him.

In truth, they were all wrong, since none of them was able to perceive the elephant in its entirety with the limited senses they had, and thus asserted and believed only what they had felt to be true.

A theists experience of god (if he/she/it/them exists) is quite similiar. They have never seen god, nor heard him, nor tasted him, nor smelled him nor touched him- they can only feel god within, and assume that the world has been created by him.

The picture becomes even more complex when you add the concept of Satan, or a demonic force to this. Most people believe that this force is the cause of Evil in this world, and is uniquely different from God.

Theists also argue that Jehovah and Allah can not be “Gods” since they are genocidal and evil, and God is good and benevolent.

Just like the blind men argued that the elephant was like a rope or like a wall, theists argue over many characteristics of god, with the consistency of one belief: that God is benevolent.

What if they are like a group of blind men who got hold of the tail?

What if the evil force is the stomach, another side of the God?

What if the god they perceive is not complete but encompasses the evil as well?

What if there is no God at all, and all they are feeling is just the workings of a mortal brain? What if they are like the blind men who went to see the elephant, but were duped into seeing a donkey- since they had never seen an elephant or a donkey, how would they differentiate between the two?

What if?

Living a purposeful life can effectuate only when we live it to the whole and make others life worth living as well. Nature has provisioned us with enough ways and means through which we can make ourselves happy and make others life blissful. The energy present in abundance within us is one such means by which we can change the meaning of our lives as well as the life of others around us. There is, in my view three ways, which allows us to know and further this zeal.

1. Spread Lightness

Every one is happy, but you should be more. Be a ray of happiness. Whenever you beam, it must be full of juice. Make yourselves a powerhouse of zest and zing so that it should reflect in every step of yours. But it must not be dramatic. This energy should emanate from your inner self.

2. Your Feelings

To live a demiurgic and inspirational life, it is not necessary that you should be a god gifted artist. True creativity is the knack which is unique to every individual. Dexterity is the mix of your imaginations, thoughts, and the experience of life. When this creation in the form of feelings, touches the hearts of others, the aura of inner moxie spreads all over.

3. Ruminate Yourself

To give zest to others, your have to be full of energy all the time. But this is not easy owing to that thoughts varies continuously and as such to maintain the energy level becomes very difficult. So always spend some time introspecting yourself.

The previous night it had rained heavily ( first of the monsoon season ). But till morning the rains almost subdued . Next day on way to my place of work, an unknown person gave me a sign asking for a lift. I stopped by and asked him to sit behind me. As we were passing, he broke the silence saying it was a good downpour last night. I said, yes indeed it was good as I was awake at that time. Soon thoughts started ushering in my mind, like the Hindus will thank Lord Indra, Muslims will thank Allah, Christians will thank God for the good rainfall of the previous night. I thought I am neither of these, so to whom should I give my thanks. Being atheist, without a second thought, my thanks went to the ever caring and loving Mother Nature.

I am Saif Ahmed, 31, Single, Atheist, Indian . In summer 2007, I lost my faith and turned apostate.

I am Ahmed Mehdi, 22, Atheist, Indian. I lost my faith in 1998 but kept up appearances till fall, 2003. Now I claim my apostasy publicly.