For most of my life I believed that when we die we would ascend into Heaven and live in eternal peace. There are many who still believe this and for them I am sure that this thought brings great comfort, especially as life is often viewed as being such a painful experience in which we have to tolerate living in this awful world.

However, through being introduced to Asatru, belief in the Norse pantheon and through a realisation that without Gods interfering in my life I did not have to feel guilty about the way I behave, I began to see that believing in an afterlife was taking away from my enjoyment of living and distracting me from the real beauty of this Earth.

Instead of denying yourself an enjoyable life, it is easy to rely totally on a God's influence and to focus on everything ending up ok when you die and are reborn into "Heaven". All you are really doing is creating a negative living experience for yourself and for those around you because you and they are continually reminded of how terrible life is but how much better everything will be when you die.

Well, in my view, life is for living, not dying and the longer I get to enjoy this world the better. While I am here I will be industrious, take great care of the natural world, appreciate the sun, the view I have of our galaxy and live my life to the full with my family and friends. Every second is time wasted so I live each moment as it comes to the fullest it can be in the circumstances I find myself in.

My life has nothing to do with any God, they are concerned with my spirit and when it is necessary this relationship will become more apparent and more important but for the time being I am a physical reality in a physical world who wants to live for a long time before I ever see any afterlife, if such a thing exists at all.