Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 3.144.7.9
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
There are only 2 possible outcomes when it comes to what happens to you, your consciousness, at death: either you become extinct, 'nothing', or your self continues as a sentient consciousness, one which existed before your birth and will exist after the death of your body and brain--what poets and the Holy Books call the soul. Many today would vote for the former-- that is nothing new. At the time of Christ many Jews--and Romans-- believed death meant extinction; so it is not because science is ascendant that materialism [the belief that only matter is real] seems the default position of so many. I held to that myself as a young man and might still do if I hadn't had an NDE when I almost drowned at 24: I allude to the details in some poems/essays on Soup. That was a terrible time, yet I am 50 years on grateful for it--to paraphrase a great writer, the hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men. A year later I was given further 'proof' of my soul in a much sweeter way when my former fiance and I were 'canoodling', as young folks are wont to--suddenly we are conscious outside our bodies, only for a moment or two, and no, there was no liquor or drugs involved--just love in the afternoon. Sadly, we were both still too neurotic/fearful to talk about this wondrous thing we shared, something I regret to this day. I write this on Easter Sunday, marking the return to life of Jesus, who freely and knowingly gave up his life for the entire world [ then as now ]. Many will say not possible, but there are myriad accounts of people who have been visited by deceased relatives 'in the flesh' as it were. A friend, a former psychiatric nurse and one of the most rational people I know, told me how 30 some years ago she was coping with stage 4 breast cancer, abandoned by her partner, with a young son, and at the depth of despair one day when her father, dead 15 years earlier, suddenly appeared to her in the flesh [he even touched her shoulder], and told her she would be completely cured--and she was! This plague has caused mass fear worldwide; perhaps that is less so for those who can 'sense' that life never really ends, and instead of being meaningless, as atheism must logically posit, there is a myriad of meaning to everything we think, feel, and do. That is why I chose as a title for a collection of my poems a trade publisher released last year, 'The Enormity of Existence' [under my pen name, Nolo Segundo], because your soul is truly enormous--eternally so.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required