Joy Ngoma: My personal views on life after death and the cycle of life

Firstly, I would like to say that this is a topic I rarely discuss so when the opportunity presented itself to do our short documentary on this topic, I was overly excited . I guess , not necessarily because its a great topic but because I want to know what other people's views on life after death are or where they stand .
Personally , I was brought up to believe that there is a heaven (which is the place one goes to if you lived your life in the good ways of the Bible -follow in Jesus's footsteps AND do no evil ) also to believe in  Hell (which is the place I was told one goes to if they didn't surrender their soul to the lord .)
I was brought up to believe in the after life , from a young age i was told  that heaven is the place  where I will get to be whatever I want , eat whatever AND not to have to worry about a thing , I'll be able to meet angels , touch them and talked to them , play with animals - AND that is what they call "eternity " 

But if I don't do what the bible tells me to do , or what my sunday school teacher taught me about the bible ,Jesus, the Holy spirit and God , that i was  pretty much paving my road to hell (that's where the devil is , I will burn in a dark hole and not have fun at all ) that is the beliefs from the younger me .
 Now that I am older - and can read the bible , evaluate and connect with the stories in a way that fulfills my heart AND not having to worry about judgement day .
I have my own version of what heaven should look like - I do believe that when one dies , there is a higher place that they go to - a place of peace and harmony and in some way I do believe that their spirit is still connected to the living .
I like to look at myself as a spiritual instead of religious individual. Yes, I DO go to church and yes I do read the bible but I am also aware that there's different ways of reaching enlightenment and there is  no wrong or right way of getting there . I live my life consciously AND try my best to be present in this life .

I don't want to walk around with a chip on my shoulders that whatever I do will get me to heaven for sure. But I do want to do things that will allow me to sleep at the end of the day - I want my actions to represent my conversations with God , as i believe my prayers are my actions . I can not curse out my brother or sister begging for money in the middle of the street and treat them less than an animal in the  Jungle seeking for survival ...AND then run to the alter on Sunday to Ask for forgiveness because I want the golden gates to be open for me when i crossover.
I want to be that person who is conscious in my life because that will allow me to treat people the way I would like others to treat me . I want it to be a natural action ,to be of service to others with empathy, respect and compassion,  as natural as blinking ..

Coming back to the topic of life after death - yes I would like to keep the belief that a person has different lives , that when I die - it will not be the end of me -that I will have another life after I have crossed over . Do I want to know how that life looks like ? Nope . Do i want a glimpse of that life through other people who claim to have crossed over and came back? No, But i do respect those who seek for answers and their thirst for the after life experience.
 I have faith that it is there, and that is all i'm content with  ....and maybe I am living it right now- who knows! ...maybe my heaven is somebody else"s hell and somebody else's hell is my heaven ....its not doubt or lack of imagination , but it is what it is,  what it is-   until the day my spirit leaves my body i will continue to believe that my spirit will continue to live long after my body has turned into dust 
The mystery of Life, Death and the after life does not bother me at all - because it is part of who i am, its nature and a puzzle that has all the pieces but no need to be solved just yet.  


-J