Karma

Many Japanese asked me this question: Do you believe in afterlife?

I told them I don't. But to be honest, I don't know. Unless I see it or experience it for myself, I guess I will never be able to say yes to it. But not seeing/experiencing it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. So the actual answer is, I don't know.

And so... when I told them that I am not sure or I don't believe in it, they will very often give me a look and say "It exists, you should believe in it.". And so... "What's the point of believing in it?" I asked. The answer is... "if you do good things, then you will go to heaven and be borned into a good life,if you do bad things, you will be punished in your afterlife".

Something seems wrong in the logic. The reason why you don't do "bad things" is because you are worried about punishments in the future? And it's punishment in the afterlife! Do we need a reason to be nice to people? Do we need a reason to not do things that harm others? Maybe the reason to be a nice person should just stem from a desire to see the people around you happy.