Everybody is left speculating about what happens after death. While ancient religious sages and saints seemed to have insights into our fate beyond this life, they never conveyed it with absolute certainty, leaving some room for suspense. The same also applies to new age thinkers and philosophers, who fluctuate between religious beliefs and scientific explanations. None of them come out and confidently assert what happens after life. Same goes with scientists who are all too sure about science but seem baffled when discussing concepts of life after death. If you compile all the beliefs and ideas from renowned thinkers, both past and present, you may find yourself more confused than ever, left scratching your head amid the complexity of their views on this topic.

The thought that life is filled with mystery—one that no thinker, past or present, can fully explain—came to me during meditation one day. And I wondered, where did this random thought originate? Was it just my brain forming patterns from all the information I had been absorbing (I had been reading a lot about the brain lately)? Or did it come from something beyond the physical—a deeper consciousness, the soul, or perhaps even a message from the other side?

In either case, was it ever truly within my control? The thought seemed to emerge on its own, as if out of nowhere. This made me realize that every thought we have follows the same pattern—we never truly know what our next random thought will be. Unless we consciously direct our focus or attempt to quiet the mind, both of which usually last only briefly. But even the decision to take conscious control originates from a thought—so was that thought itself really within my control?