Afraid that conciousness doesn't come to an end

[1up]

I am worried that I will still 'be' in some way after I die. I fear reincarnation or some kind of retributive justice, and I don't know how to make myself feel better about this.

Are there any resources that will help me realize that nothing happens after death?

 

[toforigivelife]

I wonder if I'm the one who put that fear into your mind with all my comments about near death experiences and consciousness.

I'm sorry if I created your fear of a never ending mind or a never ending life. I really am sorry.

From what I can gather, if there is survival after death or if there's nothing but nothingness after death we have nothing to fear either way.
I wonder if I'm the one who put that fear into your mind with all my comments about near death experiences and consciousness.

I'm sorry if I created your fear of a never ending mind or a never ending life. I really am sorry.

From what I can gather, if there is survival after death or if there's nothing but nothingness after death we have nothing to fear either way.

 

[Mukey]

I am worried that I will still 'be' in some way after I die. I fear reincarnation or some kind of retributive justice, and I don't know how to make myself feel better about this.

Are there any resources that will help me realize that nothing happens after death?

I am the exact opposite. I am terrified of eternal oblivion and forever ceasing to exist.

 

[1up]

I'm sorry if I created your fear of a never ending mind or a never ending life. I really am sorry.

Don't worry you are fine! Thank you for the response :)

 

[Chockles]

I too am scared I will have to pay for my mistakes in some way in an afterlife but I also don't really want nothingness as would like a 2nd chance at life if I were in a healthier body & mind as I know my life has been a mess now both physically & mentally since I was born yet there have been a few good times in the past despite all my trauma I really wasn't suicidal until things went horribly wrong a year ago with absolutely no chance of physical recovery.
All I know for sure is that death no matter what form cannot be any worse than my current barely existing status in agony. I don't believe in hell after human life ends. I think earth has become hell for me & that whatever death brings will be better than this.

 

[demuic]

There is no proof of anything existing after death. The default assumption should be that there's nothing rather than something.

 

[deflationary]

There is no proof of anything existing after death. The default assumption should be that there's nothing rather than something.

Especially when every sign points towards our brains being what generates consciousness. Once our brains stop working, we stop existing.

 

[Mashedout]

No one knows what happens when you die, despite what they tell themselves and others. Any scenario is possible currently. The mind can think up some truely horrible possibilities. The rules of reality are not understood and may be far stranger and more complex than we're capable of grasping. Just as we were forced to participiate here, we could be forced to participate somewhere else as the origin of conciousness hasn't been nailed down and could exist outside of this decaying meat. These are the hard truths. All an individual can do is prepare themselves as much as is possible.

 

[FuneralCry]

Of course, there is no evidence of any reincarnation, it is a fictional concept. Yes, reincarnation is an awful thought but I am not scared of it, as I do not believe in it. I think there is nothing after this, just like before we were born. I think once we lose consciousness, that is it for us. Death is true peace and a end to all suffering.

 

[fox_wannabe]

I am not materialist, do not hate on me.

I am worried that I will still 'be' in some way after I die. I fear reincarnation or some kind of retributive justice, and I don't know how to make myself feel better about this.

Are there any resources that will help me realize that nothing happens after death?

I am disappointed to report that I also wanted oblivion but I found that reincarnation might be real, but not necessary.

I generally do not push my believes, even tho I sometimes try to, but this time I feel called out.
I would advise to do extensive research into Near Death Experiences and previous life regressions also things like out of body experiences. This are all subjective experiences, but it does not make them unreal or something that can be dismissed, the fact that there are many independent cases of such happenings make it worthwhile evidence of phenomena.

nderf.org




If we ignore stuff like: NDEs or out of body experiences or children remembering past lives we can assume there is nothing after death. But remember that we cannot really prove that brain creates consciousness. We cannot make the jump from dead matter to subjective experience, and truth is majority of us do not know our own minds. From the other side there are traditions that are based on research upon subjective experience through meditation, which is observing the nature of mind. These traditions state that we are made of impermanent (senses, feelings, perceptions, thoughts, suffering and desire) and permanent and unending (awareness, being).

It is not something to be scared of. Being aware is not equal to suffering. Quite opposite, It is rather peaceful and not boring, it just is. I personally belief that our awareness can go through life to other life, but does not have to. Some people retain their memories as they are part of their soul. There are documented cases of people remembering their past life and this is something I would call evidence.

Saying that I mean that there is world beyond our perception. We are in very limited bodies and cannot see souls, like in waking hours we do not see dreams. Once we die we leave body and can experience what is after. There are no natural processes of judgment, but there are accounts of beings posing as Jesus/god/relatives/guides/angels etc. this is really common to see such things in NDEs but I won't get into that.

There are theories that reincarnation is a trap and a scam and that It can be avoided and stopped and we can become free. But I will speak of them only when asked. (you can dm me, I am not selling anything. actually the links I provided explain it all esspecially last one)

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

Study the latest findings in brain research. I did so, in order to be sure that there will be no hell for suicides. The result was very reassuring. If your brain is not living anymore there is no consciousness, no mind and no soul.

 

[fox_wannabe]

Study the latest findings in brain research. I did so, in order to be sure that there will be no hell for suicides. The result was very reassuring. If your brain is not living anymore there is no consciousness, no mind and no soul.

Could you link the study?

 

[Trueform]

Quantum immortality, the worst possible outcome for me. Id rather go to hell.

 

[motel rooms]

Are there any resources that will help me realize that nothing happens after death?

"Now, we know this from 150 years of neurology where you damage areas of the brain and faculties are lost and they're clearly lost, it's not that everyone with brain damage has their soul perfectly intact and they just can't get the words out, everything about your mind can be damaged by damaging the brain. You can cease to recognize faces, you can cease to know the names of animals but still know the names of tools... the fragmentation in the way in which our mind is parcellated on that level of the brain is not at all intuitive and there's a lot known about it, and what we're being asked to consider is that you damage one part of the brain and something about the mind and subjectivity is lost, you damage another and yet more is lost, and yet if you damage the whole thing at death, we can rise off the brain with all our faculties intact, recognizing our dead grandma and speaking English."

-- Sam Harris

 

[fox_wannabe]

"Now, we know this from 150 years of neurology where you damage areas of the brain and faculties are lost and they're clearly lost, it's not that everyone with brain damage has their soul perfectly intact and they just can't get the words out, everything about your mind can be damaged by damaging the brain. You can cease to recognize faces, you can cease to know the names of animals but still know the names of tools... the fragmentation in the way in which our mind is parcellated on that level of the brain is not at all intuitive and there's a lot known about it, and what we're being asked to consider is that you damage one part of the brain and something about the mind and subjectivity is lost, you damage another and yet more is lost, and yet if you damage the whole thing at death, we can rise off the brain with all our faculties intact, recognizing our dead grandma and speaking English."

-- Sam Harris

I had to think about It. I agree with this in terms that this what we call "us" or II" is impermanent and is function of the brain. We even had a conversation in other thread showing how biology dictates our personality (in that case it was just sexuality). The thing I question is how does changes in the brain affect consciousness.
It cannot. Because consciousness (fact of experiencing) is not at all affected by what it experiences. It is completely unchanged by whatever happens to the brain.

We are very much attached to the sense of personhood, the sense that we should be something eternal as "I", although this is something experienced in some NDEs It is not necessarily true. The ego and personality is created by our thoughts. And this is not at all reason or justification to commit or not commit suicide, i need to point out. Changes in our brain change the person but does not change awareness, for somebody who identifies as a person with memories Alzheimer will be devastating. For trained Buddhist monk nothing will change. For a person who no longer can identify with anything- it is not a person, just awareness in a body.

When we die we either pass on to next life, go to heaven or hell when our consciousness expresses through vehicle different than our current physical body or we achieve nirvana, which is closest thing to atheistic oblivion out of all states described in Buddhism.

So if whether you are monk or a suicidal person- your goals will be same- to stop suffering. Monk can achieve this before bodily death and suicidal person only after, except that you are never sure what is on other side. Following materialistic logic there should be nothing rather than something, and this is one of the biggest problems to hypothesis of oblivion.

 

[deflationary]

The thing I question is how does changes in the brain affect consciousness.
It cannot. Because consciousness (fact of experiencing) is not at all affected by what it experiences. It is completely unchanged by whatever happens to the brain.

Not really sure what you're saying exactly, so I don't know if this connects with what you're saying, but obviously we can be unconscious. And you'll be able to tell whether someone was conscious or not merely by looking at their brain scans. So the brain clearly does affect the basic fact of experiencing.

 

[motel rooms]

When we die we either pass on to next life, go to heaven or hell when our consciousness expresses through vehicle different than our current physical body or we achieve nirvana, which is closest thing to atheistic oblivion out of all states described in Buddhism.

There are about 4,300 religions in the world. What about their speculations about the afterlife? Do you have the guts to jump down that rabbit hole?

I have a thing for ancient Greece (surprise, surprise lol).
"The Greeks saw the afterlife as meaningless. The continuation of the existence of the inactive, powerless dead person's soul in Hades was considered merely a remembrance of the fact that the person had once lived."

What if the Greeks were right & we all end up in Hades? I dare you to disprove it.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

Shit gonna happen anyway and we have no evidence to believe we can influence whatever happens after death (if we don't accept the arguments about the brain producing our experience).

 

[catman]

as far as i can gather, and scientifically, all of our existence is directly tied to our brains and how they function. think to people with dementia or any sort of severe degenerative memory disease. they eventually cease to be the person they once were.

personally, im absolutely terrified of an afterlife, but im also terrified of nothingness. i feel i was completely fucked over a good life by things out of and somewhat in my control. oh well. either way, its out of this particular existence, right?

 

[44nutz1977]

I have tried to simplify things about an afterlife as much as possible. Back in Summer 2018 I met an amazing guy online. We clicked. He introduced me to Adidam (a fascinating man called Adi-Da)... Check website adidam.com if so interested.

What I took from my time looking into this is that old cliche 'everything is one'. Everything is 'energy'. Adi-Da explains that as humans every problem we build is false. It is never real. Never. Prior to what our human mind creates there is only energy. One. A vibration. What our minds make up is a contraction. A dilemma.
It's not. Fucking. Real. We have built up so many self delusions. It's insane.

I also know that not one person has come back to tell us about an afterlife. Not one. Not one single person has come back to tell us all about the afterlife... For good reason I believe.

Now I have had spiritual experiences during my life. I am 44. I believe certain people alive and dead have helped me in some ways. But I don't know why... Or how.

So I go back tothe 'everything is energy' idea. We connect. Vibrate. We feel each other as one. And let's face it. As death is absolutely guaranteed, whatever happens after death we have NO control over.

The rich powerful religious dogma groups want you to think you can shape an afterlife. By being something specific and following certain rules...
Bollocks to that. No one has come back to prove it. So nah..

Death is inevitable. Don't make yourself fear what you cannot control. You cannot control. what happens if you choose to take your life or if you die naturally.

Should reincarnation happen. You won't remember the previous life anyway.

We are not supposed to know why we are here and it's highly likely as humans we are unable to comprehend it anyway.

 

[Tempest]

Other people have said it all more eloquently than I could have, so I'll leave this clip here:

 

[fox_wannabe]

There are about 4,300 religions in the world. What about their speculations about the afterlife? Do you have the guts to jump down that rabbit hole?

I have a thing for ancient Greece (surprise, surprise lol).
"The Greeks saw the afterlife as meaningless. The continuation of the existence of the inactive, powerless dead person's soul in Hades was considered merely a remembrance of the fact that the person had once lived."

What if the Greeks were right & we all end up in Hades? I dare you to disprove it.

Did my opinion offend you in any way? Are this sarcastic emojis necessary?

I wrote about heavens and hells because of what I have seen people go through during Near death experiences where body dies and comes back to life. I did not write it because I believe in any of those religions. For me calculation is very simple: to be prepared in case there is something, because when there is nothing there won't be any problem. We will know when we get "there". Nothingness is scary and comforting.

Might be that in reality hells and heavens are state of dying mind, does not mean they are untrue. They will be true for time being, same way your dreams are true. So true you could never doubt It, and for that reason I advise researching about people who were dying and came back to life, because If you want to die you better know what can happen.

There is no point for both of us to go back and forth talking about it. Especially if I am gonna be mocked by you. I know you have beef with all religious people but there is no point in taking that anger on me.

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

Could you link the study?

This is not only one study, it is a lot of literature you have to work through critically. You can use Wikipedia as a starting point. I ignored religious and philosophical theories, they had their chances for thousands of years and made no progress. I like the work of Benjamin Libet.

 

[Banshee]

I am worried that I will still 'be' in some way after I die. I fear reincarnation or some kind of retributive justice, and I don't know how to make myself feel better about this.

Are there any resources that will help me realize that nothing happens after death?

The way I look at the thought of reincarnation is that, assuming it's always been a thing… what were you last? Do you have any memories of another life? Do you remember living as a bird, platypus, or a turnip? If reincarnation is real, yet we don't have the ability to remember or live it, what harm would it be if it was real?

 

[fox_wannabe]

I ignored religious and philosophical theories

Yeah I will leave and ignore this thread.

 

[Lucifer'sRight]

I am worried that I will still 'be' in some way after I die. I fear reincarnation or some kind of retributive justice, and I don't know how to make myself feel better about this.

Are there any resources that will help me realize that nothing happens after death?

retributive justice would need a very precise and causally sound mechanism in place, where good and evil would be quantifiable and also where retribution for evil would be distributed according to persons preferences (like for exmpl. for some people being gay would be the most horrible punishment possible, for others.. well, not) which - taking under consideration the variables, and the fact that emotions and attitudes change - is almost impossible.

there would also need to be validity to the idea of "guilt and punishment" and "evil"
as opposed to just making mistakes while evolving.

and this strange mechanism would need a designer, and possibly operator?


idk if I helped but to me it sounds very unreasonable. especially that for a contract like that to exist according to the idea of fairness there would first need to be clear disclosure of the rules and consequences, and most importantly your conscious acceptance of the contract. without it the mechanism would be pure coercion on the part of the judge/executioner.

Yeah I will leave and ignore this thread.

unfortunately hardcore materialism is one of the primary religious dogmas in our society. the truth is none has been proven so materialists are not ahead of spiritualists, nor are they more reasonable or logical.

from a purely logical perspective you can't disprove the unknown, so yea i don't get where people get the belief in oblivion but it sure isn't logical reasoning. it's an idea in peoples minds.