Human desire
For many people the idea that they can carry on after they die is a profound hope. Amongst these are people: who have become famous and enjoy the adulation of their fellows; have achieved power and would like to continue to exercise it; have not achieved power, wealth or fame and would like this reversed; feel they have suffered at the hands of others and want an opportunity to correct this injustice; like to think that their enemies will burn in hell; like to believe that a dead person will be able to appreciate their efforts to perpetuate his or her memory; want to meet up with a dead relative or friend when they die; would like an opportunity to observe what will happen in future, perhaps to a child or grandchild; or simply want to be loved unconditionally.
So it is fantasised Hitler is in eternal torment or that Ghandi, like other famously 'good' people, is more accessible to the average dead person than he was in life; you can just wonder up and have a chat.
Some, who believe to one degree or another are scared; of not being good enough; that their investment in the fantasy of a better life may be in vain; or that their schadenfreude is misplaced.
Living in fear is a form of enslavement. Those who live in fear are not free.
Running through this fantasy is a cultural expectation that the Universe is, in some hidden way, just - that Devine retribution and Grace will put its blatant injustices and unconscionable sufferings to right in the end.
As Bob Dylan says:
| For the loser now; Will be later to win;... The line it is drawn; The curse it is cast; The slow one now; Will later be fast; As the present now; Will later be past; The order is Rapidly fadin'. And the first one now; will later be last; for the times they are a-changin'. |
Thus those ‘who chose their parents badly’ or suffer 'the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune' will somehow, sometime, be redeemed or compensated by a just universe; that there is a heavenly ‘Hays Code’ that monitors the script and ensures that evil is punished; good prevails and the balance is redressed.
But hope or desire are not the same as fact. The main impact of these profoundly held desires is to reinforce religious beliefs; to perpetuate fruitless activity aimed at protecting one’s immortal soul; and ultimately to enslave their adherents.