After Death

[Chakra-X]

Aw gee, looks like we got ourselves one of 'em 'ol fashioned ESF Forum controversial-philosophical threads.

I was thinking about people's perspective on religion and then the idea of how an "after life" differed from people's minds. And yet, I feel we have no concrete sources to what a state after death is like.

I personally do not believe in the literal "after life" of most religions. I actually really do not know what happens, so I am open to various ideas. Reincarnation is something I could see happening, because I have a strong feeling that the sentient life we have is too complex to only exist to run it's course and never contribute again. In almost all instances, matter can never be created or destroyed, and I kind of feel the same about life.

Even birth actually comes from something, the genes of two people, meaning you were apart of those two people. To me, this means we become something at our death. This is where it gets fuzzy. I've read "Near Death Experiences" claiming a range of feelings, like regret, seeing a light, serenity, etc. What I doubt is the idea of being complete conscious as we are now for the rest of eternity, as in, being transported to a literal paradise of a garden or clouds. The same goes for just "rotting in the ground". If there is "nothing" after death, the only feeling I could comprehend is an eternal sleep. Or since it's death, perhaps a whole new feeling.


Anti-Paragraph version

Could there be a spectrum/dimension where our "souls" inhabit? I wonder if the post-death state is what our subconscious makes it to be? Or do we pull a Lion King and become one with the environment as we decompose? Or is it the ultimate bliss where we lose the burden of a body and mind and are set "free"?

What do you think :X?


OH. And please, I do not want this to get in to a "you're going to hell/you're beliefs are silly" argument.

 

[Deman]

My current beliefs are this. There is, for lack of a better word, an all encompassing energy or spirit of everything that pulses in every living being, and is ultimately connected. But connected may be the wrong word. Maybe just expressed through every living thing. Leaving our mortal shells will bring us back to that one-ness and likely lose any sense of ego or self.

 

[final shine]

well basicly heaven or hell if youre christian (you have to get bathtized to become one) if you die unbathtized, well to the ded newborns theres a place called Adam's *i dont know how its translated*, but still its uncertain, unbathized adults, noone knows where they go

about reincarnation, well basicly its just bs after you die youre relitives will find a litle of you in every person make a asociation and think that youre reincarnated, those that apear on tv are pure publicity, they actualy gain money for that...

and the "ghosts", well they could actualy be the ones unbathtized sice it isnt known certainly what happens to them, i know they exist, there allways was freaky stuff in my country, and i'm not talking about light orbs,photograhic stuff and dracula, the real hauntings...

edit:

oh yea, thread was about afterlife

most people didnt notice it but heaven(paradise) was described in the bible sice the first pages it was eden, we have no shame, no complexions, we are truly inteligent, and this we will never achive in life

hell : undescribeable pain...

edit2:

i just realized something,
all the brightest mids of the world are looking for aseurs people never ask, like how the universe was created, wold this cure cancer or anything else?, it will only anseur a question that you wold most likely say "wow cool!", the money spent on those reserches cold be used for something more noble than that, is that true inteligence?

 

[Brosiris]

You're going to hell, your beliefs are silly.

Seriously, I don't know what to believe. There are so many speculations out there.

But I guess I think that after you die, that's it. You just lose consciousness and it's like you're knocked out. You just never wake up. No dreams no nothing. You no longer exist.

If you've ever been in a coma, or if you've ever had a concussion. I suppose it's much similar to that.

I got a concussion once from falling off my dirt bike and hitting my head on a tree. I didn't remember anything until my memory starting coming back. I figure it's like that time period where I hit my head and where i woke up and started remembering things. I figure it's like the part where i didn't remember anything. You just...no longer exist.

 

[Barney]

I would like to think that when you die you "ascend" to another plane of existence, much like Daniel Jackson does on Stargate-SG1 (which I have been watching a LOT of). Whether I believe in that or not I don't know. But I do believe in heaven, not so much hell, but maybe a part of heaven where the not-so-great people go. Kind of like purgatory I guess, but since I'm not Christian I don't believe in purgatory specifically.

I also believe, since I believe in God, and God is supposed to be all around everywhere, that our souls are connected to God, and when we die we return to God in a sense, which could very well mean that you just go to heaven. I'm sure there's loads of details in Judaic books about this stuff that I'm definitely not well versed on, but I think that's the basic belief of most Jewish (keep in mind I'm Modern Orthodox, which is basically just Orthodox) people of my caliber.

 

[final shine]

interesting well i'm Christian-Orthodox, are ther non christians but orthodox people? did i miss something or what?

 

[SailorAlea]

I'd love to wake up after I die and find out I'm in the biggest, most complex MMO ever designed, with all sorts of interesting statistics about my character and gameplay session.

 

[VideoJinx]

I'd love to wake up after I die and find out I'm in the biggest, most complex MMO ever designed, with all sorts of interesting statistics about my character and gameplay session.

LOL ~~~~~!!!

I think after death the first thing well do is snap into a different Universe/dimension/galaxy, because we could possibly no longer be part of the living physical perceptable to this universe/dimension/galaxy.

As much as I dont want to think this life as some sort of gigantic school, I cant help but to think were some sort of extremly similar but also very unique being with vast abilities beyond our "developing knowledge/experience".

So when we die, I think the our journy will continue through an immensely greater illusion or with an immensely great revealing of truths.. possibly a bit of both...

the huge goal.. possibly becoming actual adults of our uniqueselves aka a completely possitive entity that assists other unique entities to creat a paradise society of entities

 

[shadowcast]

I fully believe that once you die, kind of a same thing happens when you fall asleep, your brain doesn't function anymore and your dead, eternal sleep is for you to do.
And honestly, I think the concept of heaven and hell was created just as an illusion for people, think about it, living your whole life knowing that after death nothing is waiting for you, hehe its a lot easier to say I'll live in eternal paradise when i die, and lying to yourself to try to ease up your life.


In all fairness this is my opinion and I wouldn't like to insult anyone

 

[ZeroNightmare]

You should know by now that its a "Baptism"

 

[Spunky]

It's my belief that we can never know what happens after death, until we die of course. Simple as that.

 

[Prozac]

I think I might offend some people with this but yeah..
it's my opinion.


I think it's egocentric to believe in afterlife.
Because really, what makes us so special to have an afterlife just for us?
we are just a small speck in the universe, on earth we are just another species of animals who happened to evolve our intelligence instead of other attributes.

Does that really make us special? or is it just in our mind.
we have no proof of a afterlife, all books about the afterlife are written by people who were still alive, so they can't know more then we do.

 

[Pieter Paul Rubens]

I find it hard to believe that when the body shuts down (aka. you die), that it's all over. So in a way, I believe that the soul keeps living on, but not in an afterlife persé. I believe that souls travel between bodies upon death and birth, keeping awareness of the world, but in a different "life"..

Then again, all this can be debunked by the fact that there are more births than deaths + the fact that a lot of people don't die natural deaths anymore.. Unless sould travel between every living being..



In short: I find it hard to believe that it all turns black for eternity when you die.

 

[kam!]

I think the concept of a paradise isn't that awesome. To me, it would be ****ing boring.
And I've never heard that you could just "quit" paradise, so you're stuck in it too.

While the thought of simply ceasing to exist after death might be frightening at first,
it's actually not that bad. I mean you won't even notice it.

To me life is already awesome enough (if you live your life) I don't need some fantasy land after death.
What would be awesome is being able to explore the universe as a ghost-like entity. And after you've seen enough, you can just fade away at will.

 

[DJ-Ready]

We're bilocical machines. When you die and the machine stops working its all over. Nothing more nothing less

So instead of thinking about whats going to happen after you die, you should think about what to do before you die.
Enjoy life as long as it lasts because its all you've got.

 

[Tenzo]

I find it hard to believe that when the body shuts down (aka. you die), that it's all over. So in a way, I believe that the soul keeps living on, but not in an afterlife persé. I believe that souls travel between bodies upon death and birth, keeping awareness of the world, but in a different "life"..

Then again, all this can be debunked by the fact that there are more births than deaths + the fact that a lot of people don't die natural deaths anymore.. Unless sould travel between every living being..



In short: I find it hard to believe that it all turns black for eternity when you die.

I agree with him!
Something has to happen to our souls!

 

[Prozac]

We have souls?
last time I checked our consciousness is formed by electric bolts being shot through our head.
I mean if we died, which part of us would transent? were is our soul located?

 

[-Origin]

I'm hoping the eventual afterlife will be like how it was portrayed in Planescape: Torment.

A kickass battle between the legions of hell and the forces of good.

I'm ready for some asskicking.

 

[-Blaze-]

After i'm gonna die i think i'll go to explore the whole universe, gain wisdom, see what i wanted to see...Death could be an OBE, or something like OBE, or nothing like OBE at all.(Out-of-Body Experience)
I wont find out until i die. Travelling the Universe in astral body sounds like fun Still, it wouldnt be very fun if i was forced right into paradise after death.

 

[Tenzo]

We have souls?
last time I checked our consciousness is formed by electric bolts being shot through our head.
I mean if we died, which part of us would transent? were is our soul located?

How much do humans know about their own brain? Or, how much percent of the brain do humans use?