Eternal Life?

Bizarro is brought to you today by Reclaimed Souls.

To my surprise, there were quite a few readers who didn't understand this cartoon. I didn't get into a lengthy discussion with them so I don't know if it was because they are so unfamiliar with recycling that they don't recognize the triangle symbol, or if their minds were so anthropocentric that they could not make the leap between reincarnation/eternal life and recycling.

This cartoon idea came from my dandy buddy, Richard Cabeza, who has contributed some dandy ideas to Bizarro before. As I've mentioned on this blog in the past, my work is also offered in a strip format and since they usually don't entail much extra art – just a reconfiguration of the panel version – I don't bother posting them. This one, however, adds some punch to the church atmosphere, so I'm sharing it with you. Click it for a better view.

Of course, I particularly like the "Mountain Pie" soda bottle.

I've never quite thought of it this way, but our species' persistence in religious beliefs can be thought of as a desire to be recycled. Most people cannot bring themselves to believe that they will end when their body gives out. The way our brains work, it is difficult not to feel there is a difference between "us" and our bodies. I do not believe in any such difference and think that those feelings are a brain function, like everything else we think and experience. And that when I die, I die; that's it, no more me, no afterlife, no purpose. In contrast to the panic that most people seem to feel about an exclusively biological life with no divine purpose or destination, I find it comforting. I no longer fear dying except for whatever pain or fear might occur during the process; I won't exist to care. Much the way I cannot care what happens in another apartment across town when I'm asleep.

Sounds kind of nice, in a way. Not that I'm in any hurry.


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