Learned people tell us that there is nothing to this world, save that which can be observed, measured and recorded. They state quite firmly that we must savour things in this life, because there’s nothing after we die. All talk of loving Gods, eternal spirits and afterlives spent with the ones we love, are just the stuff of storybooks and make believe, so they say. In their view, the world we live in now is the objective truth. There is nothing after we die. Our brains and bodies simply terminate and we perish. Belief in the afterlife is scientifically unverifiable, unfalsifiable, untestable and so pointless. But here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter what you believe, the outcome will be the same. We all die. Beliefs don’t change the inevitability of death, and they don’t make an afterlife true or false, but they do affect the meaning of your life in the here and now. If your beliefs bring you comfort and reassurance, then they aren’t pointless. They have value and purpose. And surely, it’s better to have positive, afterlife affirming purpose, than negative, nihilistic nothingness. In this way, believing in something really is better than believing in nothing. Besides, these two beliefs don’t negate each other. It’s perfectly plausible to believe that life is to be lived in the now, while still believing in the reality of an afterlife. That way, you absolutely can have the best of both worlds.