The Afterlife (was Re: Of Sorting and Snape)

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 175723

 
Adam wrote:

Which  brings us to the Resurrection Stone figures.  It's hard to  judge
entirely based on the children's story of the Three Hallows… that  is,
we know, a story, and likely exaggerated, but those who return  from
the dead are not happy and cannot truly be home in the world of  the
living.  This leads me to believe that the presences that  accompany
Harry really are the souls of his loved ones – they appear to  even
choose their own images, as James is dressed the same as the night  of
his death, but Sirius & Lupin imagine themselves younger and more  hale
than Harry last saw them alive.  I have to wonder how Tonks,  Moody,
etc. were when the four of them were suddenly blinked out of  one
existence into another.  A comment from Lily letting Harry know  he's
grown over the last 3 years would go a long way to identifying  whether
the same consciousness was present in GoF, but alas, not to  be.




Julie:
My response about the Afterlife will reflect a bit of my own views,  and
I'm going to add in some things I've read recently here, and in  fanfic.
And I'll use Snape for an example (sorry, but you probably knew that
was coming!)
 
Alla mentioned in one post that she would view Snape being forced to
see Lily and James together in the Afterlife as very fitting  Karma (I
think I got the gist of Alla's meaning right anyway!). On a personal 
level, I don't agree, since I do believe Snape redeemed himself, and
that no one has to go to the Afterlife (whatever that may be) having
corrected/repented every misdeed or healed every problematic  aspect
of his/her life or personality. Sirius died still bitter and angry, not  yet
having overcome his worst faults, still unkind to Kreacher and  immersed
in fruitless hatred of Snape. Dumbledore died a man with many faults
and an unfinished need to atone to Harry and others by his own 
admission. So why shouldn't Snape die still bitter and unable to 
own up to the unfairness in his treatment of Harry or his  meanness
to others in general, yet still be eligible for Afterlife as a  redeemed soul
like the other flawed people in the books?
 
Sorry, that was really a tangent to the main discussion. I don't see
the Afterlife, the actual one should that be the case, or the one we
glimpse in the HP books, as some sort of linear continuation of 
life. It's not like James and Lily continue as they were, setting up
house on some heavenly little cloud, or the Marauders (minus
Peter presumably) get together again and prance about in some
grassy Elysium Field in their Animagi forms. Or that could be
one small element of it...
 
I recently read a fanfic where after Snape dies he finds himself in 
the Afterlife, and who should come to join him but Lily. Snape  is
gratified but wonders why Lily isn't with James. Lily tells him that
it doesn't work like that "here." She isn't just in one place. James'
Lily is with James, while Sev's  Lily will remain right here with him.
Eventually, Harry's Lily--his mom--will be with him too.
 
In other words, souls don't have the same boundaries as living
people. Their existence isn't just in a different "place" but also of
a different nature altogether. So for me, I don't see Snape,  Lily,
James, Dumbledore, Cedric, etc, etc, existing in soul form as
single individuals in some heavenly place, all getting along or
trying to get along, occasionally being summoned through wands
or resurrection stones to visit the living. Whatever the soul's
existence entails, it must be broader in scope, far less defined 
within physical space and time, than the existence of the  living.
 
And no doubt completely incomprehensible to us mere humans,
but this is my best guess put into words.
 
Julie (who suspects the souls that accompanied Harry looked the
way *Harry* wanted to see them...)



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