Continuing the Journey

I've spent some time in the past while thinking about the next world. What happens after we pass away? Is it relevant to how we live our lives?

For a long while I grappled with the concepts of science and religion (and I still do). One of the uneasy truces I reached early on was in my thoughts regarding the nature of the soul. I felt that in some way, our souls were linked to the universal source and cause of matter. To put it another way, our being is made up of energy, that energy IS the soul, and this energy is the same energy that innervates the rest of creation. This is a similar thought to that of panpsychism, that everything in the universe that is made up of energy has some level of consciousness, however, we are different in the level of consciousness - the level of information processing we are capable of. In this way, I was able to create an intellectual link between the spiritual, esoteric aspects of faith (such as the soul) and the hard, facts, theories and proofs of science.

I'm beginning to see holes in my earlier logic.

I see links between the soul and the energy that innervates our every particle. Possibly the two are closely intertwined, but then I think of death and what comes afterwards.

I believe we do have an existence after we pass away, I also believe that we are to be held accountable for our actions after we pass away. This means that when we die, we cannot join the universal stream of energy that innervates all of creation. At least not immediately. Accountability for our lives on this Earth, accountability for our actions, our deeds is an integral aspect of all religious traditions. It isn't something that can be lightly cast aside, because it doesn't fit a particular theory.

Possibly, both of these thoughts are not so divergent - maybe when one dies, one joins the universe until the end of creation, the Day of Judgment - after which judgment occurs. But this seems a very... incomplete journey for the soul. The more I think on it, the less likely it seems to be. How do I know this? I don't... but maybe, just maybe, something inside of me is telling me that what seems to work outwardly is not always sound when examined with an eye that can see what is hidden.

Maybe that's my inspiration talking?