I want to preface this by saying that I'm not a religious person at all. However, since the death of my sister and my grandparents, I *want* to believe something is out there in our world. And there have been a fair number of studies - [some done in a very rigidly scientific fashion](https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/after-bruce-greyson-md/1136900814?ean=9781250263049) \- that do seem to indicate that near-death experiences (people whose hearts have stopped and are \[however briefly\] 'medically dead') produce some eerily similar (and, in some cases, downright supernatual) outcomes... including acquiring knowledge that would be deemed as "extra sensory."

But in FFVII, at least for any non-Cetra (or non-Sephiroth), the future - as far as we understand it - is pretty darned bleak: you perish, and you vanish. 

And while FFVII does a bang-up job examining certain elements of dying, it doesn't even begin to address the spiritual and social outcomes that this kind of vague awareness would have (and what I mean by that is: most people in *our* world hope some kind of afterlife exists; most people in *their* world - if they are even remotely informed - are at least vaguely aware that no afterlife exists. How this would impact concepts of basic morality \[so much of our morals as humans are based on vague concepts of post-death retribution\] is an issue that is never once touched-upon).

In terms of Clerith, though, the implications are pretty black and white... and downright shitty. Aerith has an afterlife - she exists in some kind of preserved, spiritual form within the planet. Cloud - and the vast, overwhelming percentage of humanity - won't. His spiritual essence will be recycled into the Lifestream; his personality and consciousness will be evaporated. He will cease, in any manner, to 'be.'

I have to say, this personally irks me quite a bit for a number of reasons:

1. **First, death is (and should be) inherently unknowable** \- it's the great, looming wall that rises up at the end of all our journeys; it in almost all ways defines life. But in FFVII, not only are a lot of people running around with significant information regarding what happens afterwards, but they seem to be relatively unaffected by the insight that their existence ends in an irresistible void.
2. Second, there's **the idea of 'afterlife for thee but not for me.'** I get that the Cetra have a special bond with the planet. But ultimately, they are just humans. And yet their lives are so much more unique that the world 'takes care of them' upon death while essentially just disposing of everyone else? That's messed up. **Either all human experience is precious, or none of it is.** The notion that Aerith (and other Cetra) are essentially born into an eternal covenant while everyone else is fucked is... well, that's just ugly. 
3. And, finally, of course, there's the problem of Cloud and Aerith - specifically the idea that their **love is not eternal;** that even if she is brought back, their relationship will end upon his death. And when she dies, she'll face an eternity without him. That's also a really ugly outcome - not just for this ship, but for the notion of soulmates and true love in general.

Ultimately, what's so bizarre about FFVII isn't that its concept of death is nihilistic (because theming like this comes up again and again in Japanese culture), but that it is *selectively so* \- that the nihilism only extends to certain lives, but not others. 

That's always bothered the living hell out of me - it's essentially a form of Calvinism: the notion that some people are, no matter what, 'saved from birth,' while others are similarly condemned. And the fact that FFVII never once comes close to addressing the implications of that arrangement is kind of awful.



Does FFVII's "concept" of an afterlife bother you?