What comes after

I watched Hereafter on DVD last night. It's the Matt Damon movie that came out earlier this year. It was particularly poignant for me right now.

I tend not to think that big-budget movies are likely to be accurate when it comes to science or technology—or much of anything else. Accuracy is often sacrificed for the sake of whatever story they're trying to tell. And of course, we don't know what happens when we die, but it's been the subject of popular entertainment as long as there have been humans.

Anything resembling omniscience would
be a great playground for Sandy

That said, the treatment of the afterlife in this movie resonated with me. It seemed to reflect what I've inferred from my experiences with Sandy since she died: a lack of pain, a feeling of weightlessness, a sort of omniscience, and the ability to become almost anything. I've communicated with her enough to know that she's not in pain, not even depressed anymore, but that she has felt some distress over my pain. She's explained the barrier between the planes as a sort of plexiglass that she can see through but not cross through. She has not explained how, then, she can sometimes move objects. Or so many other things. How I want her to write me a long letter, describing the full experience, from the moment of her last breath to now!

Instead, I try to be content with the contact we do have, the information she is able to share. And I seek wisdom and insight wherever I can find it. The representations of post-death existence in the movie gave me great comfort. I'll take what I can get.