Home / Life After Death (October 2026)

At risk of massive oversimplification, religions can be grouped into three broad buckets when it comes to what they believe happens after death: nothing, permanent heaven/hell or reincarnation. It's interesting to think about how these beliefs could influence my decisions in everyday life.

If I believe nothing happens after death, it would push me toward prioritizing day-to-day happiness. On good days that could manifest as going surfing, because I'm going to be dead soon. On bad days that could manifest as moral lazyness, because why waste energy caring about my impact on the world when we'll all be nothing soon. In the limit, the risk of athiesm is hedonism and Nihilism.

If I believe in a permanent afterlife, like heaven or hell, it would push me toward prioritizing my impact on the world. On good days that could manifest as trying to live by positive values. On bad days that could manifest as martyrdom or self-sacrifice - why care about my happiness in this life when it's just a warmup for eternity. In the limit, the risk of an afterlife is martyrdom.

If I believe in reincarnation, it would push me toward balancing day-to-day happiness and my impact on the world. On one hand, this would be the only time I get to be this person at this time, so maybe I should go surfing. On the other, my actions in this life will impact all of our many future lives, so I'd better leave a positive impact. In the limit, the risk of reincarnation is indecision.

Obviously everyone will be influenced by beliefs in the afterlife differently. Perhaps you're an athiest who spends their entire life helping others and the planet, because you care deeply about future generations even if we'll be dead and nothing for nearly all of eternity. Amazing!

What I find most interesting, is that if there is an afterlife that's influenced by this life, the optimal strategy would be for us not to know. "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." The purest test would be to see how we all act, given the freedom to believe whatever we want. If we all knew for certain there was heaven, we'd all be aiming for it.

While it's important to consider how whatever I choose to believe will influence my day-to-day choices, I've come to realize that what I believe doesn't matter as much as what I do. Instead of choosing "the right" religion first, then doing what it says to do second, I prefer to figure out how I want to act first, then pick a belief system that helps nudge me toward behaving however feels most true.

For my particular psychology, Daoism has been the most helpful. I'm prone to binary thinking and overthinking (as evidenced here!), so a humble and lighthearted reminder to trust the universe and balance day-to-day happiness with impact has been helpful in nudging me toward the person I want to become. However, I'd never prescribe it to anyone else, because it seems the universe gave us all the freedom to do and believe whatever we want, and I choose to believe that's exactly the way it's supposed to be.