Afterlife

There is an afterlife isn't there?Oh,there better be!!
I am reading this book called "Swerve"by Stephen Greenblatt-a Pulitzer prize winning book .
It is about this ancient text recovered by an avid collector of classical books(Bracciolini Poggio,who lived in the 15th century,so classics don't mean Dickens!!More like Ovid and Cicero...).A humanist by nature he comes across across a book titled"On the Nature of Things" written by Lucretius,a follower of Epicurus.
I haven't read the whole book yet,but I am currently on page 190 something,reading the crux of the original book and by extension the very basis of "Swerve".
Lucretius thoerizes that the universe is made up of atoms which are constantly in  motion and the occasional swerve is what introduces randomness and hence all that goes on on earth.
Greenblatt summaries the whole book in a few bullet points,some of which are thought provoking and some make you wonder at the perceptiveness of a person who lived before Christ's birth and hence was not privy to all the scientific and technological advances that gives us our present day advantage(or so we wrongly assume!).Brings your ego down a notch!!
Lucretius says that humans are nothing special(duh!!),just like the rest of the animal world,and more importantly,the world is not here for our convenience and at our disposal-climate change naysayers take note.While groping for the word for naysayers,I asked my husband ,"What is the word for people who do not believe in climate change?Out spews a one word answer,"Idiots?"-Ha Ha!!
Most importantly,THE SOUL DIES and THERE IS NO AFTERLIFE-got that one?And because the soul dies,death is the end for the person dying-and hence there is no sorrow in it for them.
It is a shocker to read what this segues into.All organized religions are superstitious delusions!Really?Religions are invariably cruel-wow!!
The ultimate conclusion-live for today.There IS No afterlife!Whew!!That is a huge relief!The fact that Lucretius was a follower of Epicurus makes sense-the Epicurean philosophy being-eat,sleep and be merry,for tomorrow I die-no afterlife,so no point in staying away from pleasure in the belief that the afterlife is better for those exercising control now.
Some independent conclusions you come to by yourself and pat yourself on the back for being so prescient-someone figured that one out a couple of millennia before you.I am not so special after all-which is kind of  spelt out in the book already!!
Anyway,reading it makes you feel like the world from that perspective makes sense-and then Friday happens-the worst imaginable horror-and that is why,I want there to be an afterlife-both for the victims and the perpetrator.The six and seven year olds budding into life,snatched away from life here on earth deserve to have a good time somewhere-lots of candy,but no sugar high,all the fries in the world but no love handles,school but no homework,Sesame street for real,all the good weather in the world,dreamless slumber,never ending days,no fear of the dark,no demons under the bed,no gun wielding madman-just love,happiness,and joy all the time.
As for the one who snatched their life away-the Bible's dark hell-where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth-seems apt enough.Sorry,I am not as kind or fair-minded as Emilie Parker's dad.
So ,while my saner self seems to nod every time  Lucretius comes up with a salient philosophy,my emotional self disagrees-vehemently but knowing deep inside that the one question that has never been answered will probably vex fellow humans millions of years from now when probably"Swerve" is unearthed by an avid reader with a yen for humanist theory.