I empathise too with the profound cynicism she expresses in relation to the established dogmas, teachings and doctrines of organised religion, which seem to have alienated as many people, if not more, as they have comforted, over the centuries.
But I would respectfully suggest, and hope, that this brave woman will be pleasantly surprised when the time comes, as it must come for every human being, for her earthly journey to conclude.
The contemplation of the vast mysterious universe, of galaxies and planets and unfathomable space stretching into infinity can daunt the human mind and support a belief or suspicion that humankind is a mere speck in the whole infinitesimal scheme of things.
It can also, in another frame of mind or viewed from a different perspective, lend credence to the belief that such an intricate, ordered system of events and movements and life situations can only have been set in place by a great entity or mind or creator …by some unexplained or inexplicable force beyond our understanding.
I have devoted a lot of time and energy to researching the proof, alleged or otherwise, for life after death. Amateur though my "digging" has been, I have been utterly amazed and impressed by the weight of evidence supporting the belief that we do indeed survive bodily death.
The annals of the British Society for Psychical Research alone, I would submit, provide compelling reasons to accept that life continues after the brain gives out and the heart stops beating.
The many bona fide mediums investigated, as distinct from the bogus ones; the thousands of near death experiences, in which people declared clinically dead report encounters with spiritual beings, the death bed apparitions of people worldwide; the well documented out-of-body experiences of people still alive…all of this certainly points, or adds up, to what I honestly believe is the strong likelihood that there is SOMETHING waiting for us after death, leaving aside any orthodox religious views or entrenched beliefs on the matter.
Nuala O' Faolain has opened up a very necessary debate on the one subject that intimately concerns everyone.
I think it's time for all of us to emerge from denial of this ultimate showdown with reality…and to start looking closely and honestly at what may or may not happen to the human personality after death.

Yours,

John Fitzgerald