This is why the belief factor is so important in helping to effectively program in the positive guidance factor.  Belief is the key to allowing an individual to more fully tap into his free will potential.  Remember, the definition of belief used herein is: concentration on a thought to the exclusion of anything that would contradict that thought.  Thus, the stronger we believe that something will happen, the more focused we are on that thought to the exclusion of any contradictory thoughts and therefore the stronger our will to bring about this happening - even in the face of negative programming (negative contradictory thoughts). 

Those among you who are adherents of Determinism need not feel that this approach to free will contradicts your beliefs - if you define determinism as the lawfulness of nature rather than the opposite of free will as some mistakenly do.

What is the opposite of free will is the concept of fatalism.  If you believe that your life in preordained or predestined and that you cannot change it from that, you are a fatalist and do not believe in free will.  The question we wish to answer now is are some aspects of religion fatalistic?

One example that comes to mind is the use of the following thoughts when something tragic has happened:  "It is (or was) God's will" or      "We  must learn to accept God's will, that no matter how tragic a situation is, it fits into God's overall plan for you."  Some people may interpret this as being fatalistic but it does not have to be so.  I feel that what people could be saying here is that no matter how tragic a situation is, you can always find something good that may come from it if you follow God's way - a sort of "always look for the silver lining" philosophy.

The bottom line here is that any religion that believes in the concept of free will is by definition non-fatalistic.  They can be deterministic in the sense of believing in the lawfulness of nature but at the same time believing that we can to a considerable extent control our own destiny.

Is Religion Needed?

Based on the above, we can now answer the question of whether religion is needed.  We can see that people can definitely benefit from religion in that we can all benefit from (a) allaying our fears of the unknown as well as getting (b) positive guidance and (c) ways of increasing the belief factor so as to better absorb into our lives this positive guidance and thus be able to achieve optimum peace of mind, fulfillment and happiness.

It should be made clear here that when we refer to achieving happiness, we do not mean simply satisfaction of immediate desires without regard to the possible negative consequences for yourself and others.  For example, constant play and no work could deny us the satisfaction  of  long  range goals,  and of  course  stealing  and  killing  to achieve our ends can definitely be detrimental to others.  This type of behavior would of course be considered negative and the programming in those of us who are prone to such purely self-centered behavior could be described as the devil in us.  Also, such purely self-centered behavior would deny us the vast sources of satisfaction that can come from doing things for others, from being brotherly (from being altruistic).

What Is The Basis of Altruism?

It would seem that a major part of the guidance factor in many religions is the concept of altruism.  “Love thy neighbor.”  “Love thine enemies”.  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.  These are all examples of this concept of altruism as part of religion.  The question is, is there any rational basis for this type of behavior?

I feel that the basis of altruism (as well as the concept of oneness) is the fact that all humans (and perhaps to a limited extent some other living creatures as well) have the ability to imagine and thus have the ability to place themselves in another person’s (or other living creature’s) shoes.  Consequently, when we do something for another living creature, we know how we would feel if someone did the same for us, and we can vicariously share the relief of pain, the satisfaction or the happiness this creature experiences as a result.  And the more others we can help, the more vicarious pleasures we can derive.  Also, we can see from this definition of altruism that the motivation to help others does not have to come from the quid pro quo rewards from such behaviors (such as  getting something in return; or being praised for being good; or even increasing one’s chances of going to heaven, etc., which of course could be icing on the cake) but because of the direct vicarious satisfaction derived therefrom.  As put by S.D. Luzzato, a rabbinical scholar over a century ago, the quality of compassion “is the root of love and kindness and righteousness; and it alone brings us to the doing of good deeds without ulterior motives.” (Donin, 1991, p. 43, italics added.)  All this can also help us to understand the concept of unconditional love.

To verify the concept that altruistic behavior is directly satisfying, one could conceivably use brain imaging techniques (e.g. Nash, 1997) to measure dopamine activity (a direct measure of pleasure derived) during altruistic behavior.  Amount of dopamine activity could then also be compared to self-report measures of direct satisfaction.

What Is The Purpose Of Life?

Many feel that the purpose of life is to serve or devote oneself to God.  If this can be interpreted as meaning to follow God’s way through life, I couldn’t  agree  more, since   following  God’s   way   according  to  the definition given above will result in optimum fulfillment and happiness.

This certainly seems to follow from Christ’s own words: “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”  (The Bible, John 10:10).  And I wouldn’t be surprised if it would also be compatible with the teachings of other great religions.

One can thus say that the purpose of life is to live life in such a way that you live life to the fullest; that you bring out all your God-given potential to the fullest so as to get the most out of life, including and especially the vicarious satisfaction that comes from giving to others.

Unfortunately, there are some who feel that the purpose of life is to lead an entirely selfless, self-denying life completely  dedicated  to  doing  things for others, never thinking of one’s own needs or desires.  The ideal, however, I feel is to establish a nice balance between the satisfaction  that comes from doing things for others with the filling of one’s own needs and desires. (See the chapter on happiness in Towards Greater Freedom and Happiness,  Barrios, 1985.)

To carry the idea of doing things for others to the point of being totally self-denying would, I feel, be actually going against God’s way, not only denying ourselves additional sources of fulfillment and happiness but also in the long run lessening the amount we can give to others.  [As an extreme example, it would obviously be self-defeating if you were so all-giving that you gave all your food to the hungry.  In so doing, by eventually starving yourself to death or by being so hungry all the time  as to be in a poor state of health and mind, you obviously would not be able to give as much to others in the long run.  There are some who feel that being too selfless can even lead to suppression of the immune system and predispose one to cancer (e.g., see Temoshok, 1993, pp. 76, 77, & 361)]  On the other hand, if you also spend some time on yourself, on developing your full potential while satisfying your own needs and desires, you will have that much more to give to others, to share with others in the long run.  The happier and more fulfilled you are, the happier and more fulfilled you can help make others.

Can There Be False or Dangerous Religions?

To the extent that the guidance factor could be "mis-guided", some (false) religions could actually be harmful.  Certain recent dangerous cults could be looked upon in this way (e.g., the Jim Jones cult in British Guiana or Marshal Applewhite's Heavensgate cult in San Diego, which led to the untimely death of many of their followers).

The Aryan supremacy cult of Hitler would of course be the most obvious example of how much damage can be done by such cults.  Hitler's ideology certainly had a very powerful belief factor empowering it but it was obviously guided in the wrong direction teaching for instance that Aryans were the superior race and other “inferior” races, such as the Jews, should be eliminated.  This shows that a strong belief factor alone does not make for a good religion.

It also makes it clear that helping people develop mind-power alone is not enough.  The recent New Age movement has focused heavily on developing the power of the mind - to achieve health, wealth and happiness - and there are many in the religious community who have voiced their fears of such a movement.  And understandably so, for to the extent that this mind power may not have sufficient positive guidance coupled with it,  it could produce negative results.

Can Some Religions Be More Effective Than Others & How Can We Measure This?

If the ultimate goal of religion is to help us achieve greater peace of mind and happiness in life, then whatever means can be used to measure these  results  either  directly  or indirectly  can   be  used to determine the relative effectiveness of each religion.  Towards the end of directly measuring these results we could, for example, use certain measures of peace of mind and happiness, perhaps in the form of certain questionnaire-type tests and/or certain physiological measures of anxiety and depression.

One major indirect measure of the effectiveness of a religion would be the overall health and length of life of the individuals in the religious group since it has now been scientifically shown that a person's state of mind and lifestyle (level of stress, depression, bad habits) can play a major factor in health and disease.  (See for instance Head First: The Biology of Hope by Norman Cousins, 1989.)

Another factor to be considered in determining overall effectiveness of the religion would of course be the number of people that can be  reached and benefited by it. This could be influenced greatly by its methods of building the belief factor as well as the scope and depth of its guidance factor.  For instance, if the religion relies too heavily on super-natural explanations for building the belief factor, it could turn off and consequently not be able to reach individuals who strongly believe in the lawfulness of nature aspect of God.

Also, a religion is more likely to be effective if it is also open to systematic scientific or rational ways of  (a) increasing and using the belief factor (e.g. see the SPC techniques in Chapter III of Towards Greater Freedom and Happiness, Barrios, 1985) as well as (b) further elucidating and expanding the guidance factor.

Is Faith Healing Real?

Many studies in recent years have shown that a person’s state of mind and lifestyle can definitely play a key role in determining his or her state of health.  We know that excess stress (or more correctly, one’s inability to deal with excess stress) can eventually lead to such diseases as stroke and heart disease by causing high blood pressure and cholesterol buildup in the arteries.  (See book Type A Behavior and Your Heart by Meyer Friedman, 1974 pp 75-83 & 120-121.)  And as mentioned above, certain negative lifestyle habits such as excessive drinking, eating, smoking, etc. can eventually lead to disease and death.  We also know that certain negative mental factors (such as hopelessness and inability to express one’s feelings and needs) can suppress the immune system sufficiently to make a person more susceptible to such diseases as cancer.  Evidence in support of this can be found in the book The Type C Connection: The Mind Body Link to Cancer and Your Health by Temoshok, 1993, pp. 136-138 and pp 202-209.  See also the studies of Glaser & Glaser, et al; Levy & Heberman; and Stein, Schleifer & Keller regarding the direct suppressive effects on the immune system by mental states of depression and hopelessness as reported in Norman Cousins’ book Head First: the Biology of Hope, 1989, pp. 39 & 85.  Two other studies by the Glasers, also reported in Cousins’ book - pp. 39 & 40, indicated the enhancement of positive emotions can have the effect of boosting immunity.

If we accept the fact that a person’s state of mind and lifestyle can play a significant role in affecting the body, then it should be obvious that anything that can play a major role in affecting the mind, such as belief and faith, could be a major factor in affecting health and well being.

Evidence of the power of belief to affect the body healthwise can be found in many studies on the power of the placebo (see for instance the book Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief, 1996, by Herbert Benson and the section on placebos in Cousins book Head First, pp. 229-232.)  Dramatic effects of the power of the placebo on the body were presented above in the section on belief.  One classic study showing how the placebo can affect the body was the study reported in Levine (1978) where an expectation or belief that a  certain injection would relieve pain led to a release of endorphins (natural pain killers produced by the body) into the bloodstream.  This even though unbeknownst to the patient, the injection was merely saline solution.

However, there is something that needs to be made clear.  Although strong belief of being healed can be very effective in producing at least temporary improvement in one's health (by allowing for a stronger immune response and creating greater peace of mind at least for the moment), in order for this temporary improvement to remain permanent, the belief factor must also be used to help fully absorb the guidance factor so that the immuno-suppressive psychological factors can be more likely to be permanently removed (see Barrios, 1985, pp. 124 & 125).   Thus we can see that one way of differentiating between the concept of belief and the concept of faith  is  to   point  out  that   faith  usually  means  “guided” belief or belief in a certain way of life.  When we say that a person's faith healed him, we are saying more than just that the belief he would get well was what got and kept him well.  It was his belief plus the positive permanent changes in his state of mind and lifestyle produced by following the new guidelines for living which he incorporated through his new found or re-strengthened faith.

One way of determining how much more effective faith is than belief alone in affecting permanent healing would be to do a thorough search of the placebo literature or to do further studies on the placebo to determine whether the positive effects of the placebo (or belief alone) are long lasting if there were no significant lifestyle changes also taking place.

This basic idea that belief alone is not as effective for insuring permanent healing to take place as when the belief is also used to bring about positive lifestyle changes is illustrated when the case of Jolee Marshall is contrasted with some of the other cancer patients I have worked with:

Jolee Marshall:

After a very strong emotional upheaval, Jolee had developed an inoperable cancerous tumor of the intestines and had been given two weeks to live.  I worked with her for a period of four hours [with the hypnotic belief-building and imaging techniques section of the self-programmed control-psychoneurourimmunological (SPC-PNI) approach presented in the chapter on cancer in Towards Greater Freedom & Happiness (Barrios, 1985)] and left her with a very strong belief that her body's natural defenses would clear away the tumor.  The tumor did  disappear (in fact overnight) much to the astonishment of her doctor and Jolee did live cancer-free for one more year.  However, upon experiencing another similar emotional upheaval one year after my first and only session with Jolee, the cancer returned and this time Jolee soon succumbed to it.

The strong belief that she would be cured was apparently sufficient to heal her for one year.  However, in the case of Jolee, the complete SPC-PNI approach (which now also includes helping the patient make certain necessary lifestyle changes) had not been followed. (Unfortunately, at this point in time I had not fully realized that belief alone was not enough.)  Because of this, there had been no real follow-through for making  the  necessary changes in her way of life that could have helped her more effectively prevent the second, and this time fatal, emotional upheaval that occurred a year later.

This is in stark contrast to other cancer patients I have worked with where the more complete SPC-PNI approach  was followed.  The following synopses of the approach taken and results achieved with a number of these patients will give you some idea of the different outcomes that can be expected when a more complete “faith healing” approach is taken towards eliminating the contributing psychological factors (hopelessness, etc.):

Adele Bucanan:

As opposed to just one session with Jolee, I saw Adele once a week for eight weeks.  At the time I first saw her, Adele, age 45, was suffering from a fast moving cancer of the spine, lymph glands, the rib cage and the base of the brain - a metastasis from an original cancer of the breast.  (At this point in time the only treatment she was undergoing was a very low dosage chemotherapy, as she had had a strong negative reaction to the standard dosage.)

Because of the extended amount of time with Adele, I was not only able to build up a strong belief in her body's ability to cure itself of the cancers but through this heightened state of belief I was also able to bring about some major changes in her way of life.  In particular, she was able to develop a more assertive personality.  This allowed her to break out of the hopeless life situation that had most likely played a key role in making her more susceptible to cancer in the first place.  She was now able to stand up to her very dominating and controlling husband. Six months later the cancer had disappeared   in all four areas and three years after that, when last contacted, Adele was still very much alive.

John Roswick:

John had been given radiation treatment for cancer of the tongue.  However, he refused the recommended follow up radical surgery.  At this point he discovered SPC.  The following letter was written in August of 1985 upon my request for him to summarize for me what had happened:

August 5, 1985 Dear Dr. Barrios,

Almost 6 years ago on Oct 19, 1979 1 was told I had cancer of the tongue and had a year or less to live.  I hit the bottom of the pit.  I started praying.  Knew nothing of God or Jesus, never read the Bible, but I started.  I received 35 massive radiation treatments in the neck.  I said to the doctors “am I healed”.  They said we now have to do surgery.  I said What surgery?  They were going to take out half my neck.  I said no.  I contacted you in the summer of 1980.  You agreed to see me once a week for 8 or 9 weeks, instructed me on SPC techniques and other counseling on belief  and  visualization.  I used your  garden technique and visualizing myself 'well' on a mountain top.  During my first visit with you, you gave me your book 'Towards Greater Freedom and Happiness.' You said: you now have two good books (meaning yours and the Bible) and told me to read them both.  I thank God for you and your book, you strengthened my belief in what Jesus said in Mark ll:23 ['Believe and all things are possible']

Dr. Barrios, in my opinion your program is bridging the gap between the mind, and the spirit then the body.  Your program SPC was the beginning in my healing, reinforcing my belief in Jesus teachings, ridding myself of all pent up fear, especially fear, guilt, doubts, anger, unforgivness, and a  bringing together of the Mind, Spirit and Body.

My saliva returned to me during my sessions with you, my voice, and I forgot to mention, MY TASTER. [After radiation] I couldn't taste anything.  The doctors said my saliva would never be the same, that my taster, taste buds, would be about 50 to 75% returned.  Well today I enjoy full saliva, and full tasting abilities I had before radiation.

It is sad to note that medical doctors don't, or won't advise  patients on positive principles laid down in your book or the bible.  I would urge anyone who has an illness of any nature to seek out the SPC program.  It works.  It puts you in tune with the real you, the spirit.  It has for me and I know it will for others.  I firmly believe you are an instrument of God's.  And I thank him for you.  I am not the same person you first met, frightened, confused, oh yes confused!  My condition is healed.  Your holistic approach is a blessing."

Pam Roth:

When I first started working on Pam’s case, she had just gone through chemotherapy and radiation for metastatic breast cancer.  She was also having great difficulty breaking free of a 30 year two pack a day cigarette habit.  The following letter (which she wrote on my behalf when I was nominated in 1996 for the Norman Cousins Award in mind-body health) tells her story:

June 14, 1996 To Whom It May Concern:

As CEO of P.J. Roth & Associates and President of The Public Service News Bureau, I have had the honor of knowing Dr. Barrios and observing his work since 1983.

Through his SPC approach, Dr. Barrios has developed a program that has allowed people worldwide to tap into their own personal power to change their health, their happiness and their lives for the better!  He has made the mind/body link accessible and understandable to the world.

Over the years, I observed the extraordinary development of the clinical applications of his pioneering theories, and his enormous influence on the American public.  At the same time, I felt it had little to do with me on a personal level.  That is until 1992, when I was diagnosed with metastasic breast cancer.  It was then that Dr. Barrios made the mind/body link accessible and understandable to me in the most profound way possible!

In light of my particular case and my prognosis, my physicians encouraged me to undergo the most strenuous chemotherapy and radiation; which I did.

At the same time, even faced with my own mortality, I could not summon up the resources to make necessary changes in my personal lifestyle.  In many ways this was not surprising, after all, I had previously spent years of therapy unsuccessfully attempting to deal with the underlying lack of self worth that showed itself in an aggressive disregard of and for my own physical and emotional well being.

Years of therapy, will power and even cancer seemed to make little difference to ending my two pack a day habit and a 30 year addiction to nicotine.  None of these could change the stress attached to my particular career choice or the fact that I had never developed necessary care and consideration for my physical “self”.  I was in trouble and I knew it.  I had tried everything including traditional hypnosis but nothing seemed to work.

I was depressed, anxious about the cancer that I was sure was still with me, debilitated by my treatment and more out of touch than ever with the body that had betrayed me.  It was then that Dr. Barrios stepped back into my life bringing all the benefits of his years of clinical experience in mind-body health.

Within two sessions, I made the remarkable breakthroughs that years of therapy and prior hypnosis were unable to achieve!  And it was all so easy.  Dr. Barrios’ approach not only convinced me that I had the power to tap into my own subconscious – it showed me how to use and apply that power to achieve deep seated change.

Within weeks, through applying these powerful hypnotic and visualization techniques to my cancer and my personal “mind/body” split – I not only stopped smoking once and for all, I was transformed into a person in touch with and caring for her own physical and emotional needs.

Today, I am a committed ex-smoker, who exercises, eats well and takes care of  herself in every way possible.  I am also, according to all tests, “cancer free” [still  “free” as of December, 2001].  More importantly, I intend to give myself every opportunity to stay that way by continuing to practice the SPC techniques that have made the difference in my recovery.!

It should be pointed out that I am not the only one to report such long lasting recoveries from cancer when a more complete “faith healing” approach is taken.  In her book, Temoshok cites numerous cases of successful cancer cures brought about by her and other researchers in the field using the more complete healing approach.  Take for instance the story of:

Irwin

Diagnosed initially with testicular cancer, the cancer had eventually spread to his lymph nodes, chest and lungs.  One tumor on his neck had grown so large he was forced to keep his head at an odd tilt.  His doctors told him that even with the best treatment at the time (a combination of surgery, radiation, cobalt and nitrogen mustard, which he did undergo) he had only three to four months to live and that he had zero chance of survival.  At this point he sought the help of a psychotherapist who used hypnosis along with traditional psychoanalysis.  Under hypnosis he was much more open to healing suggestions aimed at opening up blocks in his capacity to love and be loved and to work on achieving his long term life goals.  Within six months, he had resolved his love problems and gotten married and was ordained as an Episcopal priest - a lifelong goal.  On the very day he was ordained “he got the news that his follow-up x-rays showed no more evidence of cancer.  His lymph nodes and lungs were completely clear. This seeming miracle occurred six months after his original diagnosis...Today, thirty three hears later, Irwin is alive, well and cancer-free.” (Temoshok, 1993, p. 320, italics added).

It should be pointed out that my presentation of the above anecdotal evidence of cancer cures through a form of faith healing is done more as support for, rather than definitive proof of the ability to cure cancer by using a mental/spiritual, “faith healing”, approach.  For this definitive proof we will need larger, controlled studies.  In such studies, among other things, all the important variables can be studied systematically and under scientifically controlled conditions.  For instance, such studies would include accurate and more complete measurements of how strong the belief factor was and how complete were the necessary lifestyle changes for each individual case.  The latter would I feel help throw light on the question often posed: “How do you explain counter anecdotal cases whereby terminally ill patients have tried to pray for their recovery substantially but to no avail?”  One answer to such a question might be that the degree and length of healing would be directly correlated to strength of belief and depth of relevant life changes that took place.

How Does Prayer Work?

One other concept related to belief and faith is prayer.  Prayer can be defined as a verbal means of delineating the goal you wish to attain with God's help.  For example, the prayer "I pray to God that He will heal me (or you) of this affliction or illness" clearly sets out the goal one wishes to attain.  Whether this prayer is answered depends on three things:  (1) the strength of the person's belief (both the person being prayed for and the person doing the praying);  (2) the degree to which the individual subsequently incorporates God into his life (i.e., incorporates the guidance factor); and  (3) the lawfulness of nature.  The latter is important too because prayer should not go against this aspect of God.  It would be wiser for someone who has lost a limb, rather than praying for another limb, to pray for the ability to quickly learn how to use  an  appropriate  prosthesis  and  for  the  proper state of mind to not feel inferior for having a missing limb, etc.

However, one should not be too quick to limit prayer for fear that one may be asking too much in the sense of thinking that such a prayer would go against the lawfulness of nature factor.  At this point in time we are not yet fully aware of all the laws of nature.  It could be that on the surface a prayer may be defying the laws of nature; but it could also be that in the future a law could be discovered to explain the miracle brought about by such a prayer.

Now, assuming that the goal of the prayer does not go counter to the laws of nature, how do the belief and guidance factors play a role in determining whether a prayer will be answered?  As pointed out above in the sections headed "What Is Belief?" and "Is Faith Healing Real?", belief itself can produce direct effects by amplifying (focusing) the power of thought to affect the body or influence behavior.  But as was emphasized in these two sections, in order to sustain the physiological or behavioral changes there has to also be a permanent change in one's way of life - one's attitudes, beliefs and life style.  In other words, the guidance factor also has to be incorporated.

There is still the question of whether and how prayer can affect external factors - factors that we do not have contiguous contact with.  For example in the case of praying for someone else, contiguous contact  would include praying within earshot of that person, or the person listening to you pray over the phone or radio, or hearing that you had prayed for him or her.  Non-contiguous contact would mean that the person being prayed for did not consciously know he or she was being prayed for.

Thus, can praying for someone else's healing have any effect  if the person does not know he/she is being prayed for?  Or can praying for rain actually bring about rain?  Well, there are two possible ways prayer could affect such external factors - the direct and indirect way.  In the case of praying for someone unbeknownst to them, the direct  way could involve some form of mental telepathy as a way of reaching the prayed-for-person's mind.  Or in the case of praying for rain, the direct way could invoke some variation of psychokenesis where the mind in a highly focused state could cause droplets of rain to form from the existing moisture in the air - a psychical seeding of rain clouds so to speak.  One can see that the lawfulness of nature aspect would be a major factor here.  (e.g., are mental telepathy and psychokinesis in tune with the laws of nature?)

It would seem that the more feasible way of prayer affecting external factors would be the indirect way.  For instance, in the case of rain, the prayer could help come up with new ideas for producing rain such as the use of iodine particles for actual seeding of rain clouds or for coming up with the necessary money for seeding, etc.  In  the  case  of the possibility of prayer affecting someone who does not know he/she is being prayed for, the prayer could help indirectly by helping the person doing the praying to change in such a way that would have a positive affect on the person being prayed for.

Is There Life Everlasting?

Adhering to the lawfulness of nature, we know that all living creatures must die some day even when following a true religion.  So does this mean that when we die we can no longer have life?

There are many who believe in the existence of a soul that continues on after corporal death.  Here again, although we may not currently know of any laws of nature to completely support such a contention, it does not mean that such laws do not exist and won't someday be uncovered.  As a for instance: perhaps the soul could continue to exist in the form of a unique pattern of energy that is emitted from the body at the time of death and continues to exist in the universe indefinitely.  We know that the live brain does emit electrical waves that can be picked up by EEG machines and we know that at least certain energy waves can exist  long after their original source has died (e.g. light, radio and gamma waves existing for billions of years long after an exploding distant sun has died).  Could it be then that the soul continues to exist after death in the form of some unique pattern of (electrical or some other type of) energy?

But even if the above hypothesis is off, there are currently at least three ways that we know for sure one can live on after death:  For one, we know that the molecules that make up our bodies continue to exist after we die.  They continue to be active and, if allowed to, will reformulate eventually with other living things.  I say "if allowed to" because there are some forms of burial that can interfere with the reintegration with other living matter - such as entombment in a mausoleum.

A second way of living on would be through our progeny - our genes being passed on from generation to generation.

And finally, we can live on in the thoughts of others.  The more people we have affected and the more deeply, the longer this form of immortality will last.  This, by the way, is one way of interpreting the resurrection of Christ, one that would not be in conflict with the lawfulness of nature.  He most certainly influenced and continues to influence deeply a great many people to where, 2000 years later, He is still very much alive in the thoughts of many.

This question of whether there is an afterlife is particularly important for those who look forward to an afterlife in heaven, especially those who seem to be struggling miserably through life.  The problem is that the latter group might decide to put all their hope in this  heavenly afterlife and give up too soon as far as getting anything out of this life.  It seems to me that it would be much wiser to work as hard as possible at following God’s way in this life so as to be more likely to achieve both heaven on earth as well as after.  It seems logical that if heaven after corporal death does exist, you are more likely to enter it if you have followed God’s way while still on earth - by living life to the fullest.

REFERENCES