2026031 - Is there a 3rd possibility...?

 

​I am assuming you are a human reading this... 

Typically we believe in the following 2 (main) things:

1. Category 1: 

We (humans & all life on Earth, for that matter) started as single celled organisms several million years ago (​We don't know exactly how - just assuming it was a freak incident of nature). Anyway, since then, through further accidents (mutations) over several million years, we developed into various species and evolved to what we are today. 

Now​, why evolution decided that every living entity has to die (& not live forever), I don't know. However, as each species evolved, it decided to cap its life tenure and that life must end.

For us humans, typically ​that limit is 75-90 years nowadays. 

So there is no real purpose to life. We take life by chance and die​ eventually since evolution has baked it into us.

That 75-90 years is not even a flash in the pan on the universe's timescale.

2. ​Category 2: 

Life has a grander plan (which we don't fully understand). There is a greater power than us (which we also don't understand). 

So, we were created on earth (not just us humans but all life) , sure there has been some bit of evolution, but the initial blueprint was made by a bigger power and that blueprint also capped the lifetime of all life (different to each of the species)

​In this category, there are a few variations​/ sub-categories to what we believe might happen afterwards - 3 prominent variations come to mind:​

(a) The individual is very religious and depending on their religious beliefs, they will go to a Heaven (or Hell) and that place and what gets one there is probably described as well​. 

(b) The individual is not very religious but ​has a spiritual bent a bit so, believes there is something after this term here. There don't know what it is but have enough belief/ faith in the existence of the superior power so surely ​believe there is something there afterwards..

(c) A further variation of 2(b). The individual believes in the superior power, believes there is something more, but also believes in cyclical nature of life - ​i.e., the body is limited and capped but life is not. Their life will come back in another body/ form/ avatar/ species and life will continue.

I am sure there are many more variations that exist and folks subscribe to, but as a broad brush, those are the 2 main beliefs...

What is my belief?

I was born into a typically South Indian family with a fair share of temple visits, family functions on festivals with some form of worship etc. This was peppered with ample stories and mythology. nobody told us what to make of everything around us. We just assumed things for the most part. So, in my growing up years (probably till after teenage), I was a ​category 2(a) person - believing there is a God etc. We didn't even know what God means, a diety means, etc . I am pretty sure adults around didn't know either as any deeper questions would be brushed aside.

As I grew up, I became "educated". Science started dictating my thinking and everything was looked at with evidence and rationale. So, for a number of years (probably 2½ decades), I became a ​c​ategory 1 person. Basically everything is chance/ coincidence.

After this phase, over a period of time, I realised science does not have the answers to everything (at least not yet). Everything around was just too wonderful or complex or perfect to attribute it to chance/ coincidence alone. So, I slowly started to gravitate to a ​c​ategory 2(b) person. I knew there were no clear answers, I didn't know what or where to find the answers and I was looking for it. Not an intense search by any measure, but curious always.

In recent years, while I do still believe (blind faith) that there is a bigger explanation, I think life is cyclical. For no other reason than this: everything in the universe and perceived reality is ​p​roving to be cyclical. From planets, to stars, to satellites, to days, seasons, years every cosmic and astronomical reality. Everything is cyclical!

So just supported by this fact I now believe in 2(c) - I e, Out bodies might perish after its useful period but the life/ spirit / soul/ atma (whichever term you are comfortable with) just cyclically comes back after whatever it's cyclical duration is.

Given my condition now (being imprisoned in this broken body) and supported by the current belief of mine, I am really really looking forward to shedding this broken body and release this spirit so it can come back later/ whenever and (hopefully) I will come back in a whole functioning body to experience life to its fullest...

​My question is, is there a big 3rd possibility I have not thought about...?