Strange Bedfellows: Stephen Hawking and Dr. Raymond Moody

Great question, Nicole. Thank you. Like you, I have science-based leanings. Stephen Hawking said once that we live in a defined physical universe. And that like it or not, this is where we are. Whatever there is beyond today is not in our purview. Hawking self-admittedly lived his life and science based on the physical limitations of our universe…our universe as we are meant to know it.

I consider faith a gift. When I pray, I pray as did my forefathers for generations before me. In times of grief, faith gives me comfort. In times of sadness, it gives me hope. And there are worse things on which to base your life other than, “Do unto others, turn the other cheek, love God, love your neighbor…”

As a direct answer to your question: Our universe doesn’t seem to include us after we die. Is the resolution we are given as we die physically a part of our biochemistry? Or a part of a greater dimension to our lives? Are our lives merely cocoons for a spiritual existence? Are Dr. Moody’s experiences more than descriptions of a dying brain?

Back to Hawking: He said we have no evidence of an afterlife. And as far as our present universe tells us, this is it. But then this man who struggled so, and gave us so much…this man who could not even speak…he said that is such a great honor to have lived. And that he feels blessed beyond anything he could have hoped for. I cried when I heard that. Here am I, with a great life. And yet I whine and complain…

If there is an afterlife, maybe you, me, Stephen Hawking, and Dr. Moody can sit around and discuss it. It sounds like a great definition of heaven to me.