Discussion Afterlife (and related) general discussion

[Cashewmilk]

It took me a lot of de-brainwashing and a ton of research and reading online and watching reputable educational documentaries, educating myself on human evolution, evolutionary biology, anthropology, history etc, when I was about 20 years old. I am a highschool drop out and barely listened to anything in highschool, and I was raised as a moderate muslim. So I was extremely brainwashed to believe that I would be burned and boiled in a firey hell. Fuck I am so glad I'm suicidal, because that's the only way I found out the truth, and that it's all immature bullshit lies. I can understand why billions of people still believe it, I get it, it's terrifying, it's extremely scary to even think about these things, most people just don't like to go too far and too deep into a lot of things, heck most women are scared of their own fucking vaginas that they have no idea what's happening down there! I'm not like that. I have learned to just keep on going deeper in my thoughts, rebel, I'm a rebel, it's weird because I wasn't like that as a kid, I was a shy scared little innocent girl. But growing up and depression has made me this way. That's why I think a lot of people aren't like this, they stick to what they're told, even religious people will have a priest or a mullah to tell them what to do, they won't even bother reading their holy books for themselves, or even doing research online. They're scared to think outside the box, because if you do, God will know and he will know that you're having questions and doubts, and bam - you're going to get punished. I mean anyone with any sense should be able to see through all of it...the afterlife is so wonderful, but OH you can't kill yourself to get there, suicide is a sin!!! Haha, otherwise everyone would kill themselves. Religion is a scheme created to answer questions, and to control people, it's simple politics and God is a scapegoat.

I find it hilarious that religious people are terrified of nothingness after death. It's the same damn thing that happened before your birth! Or when you're asleep and you're not dreaming, or even being unconscious, or black out drunk. I don't know, I guess it must be really terrifying for some people. It was for me too, but I just had to find out for sure. I had my doubts, but deep down I really truly believed and was so scared of hell, I didn't care about heaven, I just wanted nothingness, but even though I had so many doubts and I was never religious and I always did the "wrong sinful things" like sex before marriage, drugs, etc, I still was terrified of hell. After I educated myself properly, in my own way, and really took the time to REALLY understand science and history, I felt so stupid after. I was angry, how could everyone lie like this? I lashed out at my parents and my family, at everyone. I was pissed because I had been lied to about such grand things. Even in school when I did go to class and we learned about planets and space, and evolution, I dismissed it and didn't listen, because it was totally wrong from my religion. And if any Muslim knows, Islam is literal, you have to believe literally everything in there completely, I was raised to believe that the western culture and "white" or Christian, American etc culture was totally wrong and evil, and that all the barbaric shit in Islam is totally 100% true and if you don't believe it you'll suffer an extreme eternal non-stop hell. Turns out it was ALL wrong, even Christianity or the 3 Abrahamic religions, they're just copies of the tales of that time. "God" was just another one of many gods at the time in that area, and people DID travel and they did spread the word. And why are humans so special, what makes us so special that we just HAVE to be eternal and immortal? We are a product of evolution, there is DNA evidence, I'd believe in Ancient Alien theories before I believe in fairy tale stories of magic, we're not even that smart, most of the population are just simple animal robots, there's only a very tiny percentage of people that are truly intelligent.

I thought I was so happy and enlightened after my discovery, but it turns out I was terrified and shocked, because shortly after that I got addicted to heroin. Now there might be other factors here like I had a bad breakup and I was already depressed and suicidal and bipolar, but I just remember right after I figured it all out, I loved getting high and talking about it and pondering about the universe and looking up at the stars after. It's been 11 years since then and I'm still totally firm in my beliefs, but I no longer lash out anymore or get angry at religious people. I accept their beliefs and I understand why they believe it, they're just scared, simple as that. It's a very scary and empty feeling knowing that we're all alone, like on a boat in the middle of the ocean and we have no idea how the ocean or the boat exists, or how or why we exist, it's a scary thought indeed but I'm desensitized to it now.

 

[Tiktok]

i think it's so obvious that there is no afterlife and our consciousness is dead basically and there's nothing after life.
before you were born, there were millions years of existence. all of the historic events you read about all happened before you were even born. and all this time you didn't exist. you just go back to the state of pre-existence. just nothingness.

 

[AllDoneLivedAGoodLif]

I'm torn on this one. I like the idea of there being something after, but logically there is likely just nothing.

 

[JoeFailure]

I've gone through a ton of existential anxiety going over this again and again...and I've very firmly landed on "I don't know". I'm still trying to find spirituality, if anything like that really exists.

But here's the thing about "nothingness" that I keep getting tripped up on...it can't be perceived, and on the timeline of eternity, an infinite amount of time, I just find it hard to believe that whatever perfect storm had to happen to create "you", a consciousness that you perceive, wouldn't happen again. It could be a number of years that we don't even have a name for because it's so large. But on a scale that long, I almost think the odds on that not happening again is impossible. Hopefully for everyone here it doesn't mean it's the same life, or that you would even be the same person. But maybe it's just the awareness and that's what we call "past lives".

Or I'm just overthinking it.

 

[red_pen]

just refuse to believe in a heaven/hell. i think, that when we die, we are either
> are reincarnated at random, or on some obscure formula/condition(s) human beings aren't meant to understand
> go to a paradise, in which everyone is allowed to live the lives they want, whenever and however.

 

[Joey]

In reality, nobody really knows but it's possible that there can be an afterlife. There's so much more to the world than we do realize. Religion and science are like two opposite sides of the coin, we need both to exist.

What I do think that happened possibly was, there was some deity or powerful being who made us. They put us here for a reason, like on how we evolved and became who we are overtime. It was possible that one of us as humans did have the right answer to all of this but the important information got lost with thousands and thousands of years of misinformation and since the human race is a shit show, it's so easy to make so many man-made religions and then have people twist their words, control the masses, narcissists, and so forth.

I could possibly be wrong though and for all we know, we could just be as good as we can get and could be some accidental freak accident.

Believe on whatever you believe but just don't be a dick about it.

 

[ExistentialEntropy]

Here's what I think: anything is possible. Particularly if you consider that there could well be infinate universes with differing laws of physics. Infinite possibility, infinite probability.

The famous flatland thought experiment shows that there could well be dimensions that we are incapable of observing, simply by the nature of our first person, three dimensional, ego burdened, materialistic interpretation of reality.

From our current perspective. Where, for most practical purposes, all matter is subject to the laws of general relativity. Death is the end of our experience of the physical universe. We lose consciousness and the matter of our body decays and is dispersed into its constituent components. That, logically, is the end of the line; since dead people don't tend to re-appear with the same body, memory or persona. Even if reincarnation were true in some way, it wouldn't matter, because it's a different person and a different ego, with no memory of the previous incarnation (unless there's any truth to rare cases where memories do seem to have been passed over).

With all that said. If there's any kind of continuation of experience after our death in the physical world we observe from our current perspective; I propose that it would be so unlike the reality that we currently know, as to be beyond our ability to begin to comprehend. I doubt it would involve a literal continuation of the ego and memory that we build up in our mortal lifetime. If anything I think it far more likely that any sense of individuality is obliterated, in a way that we are quite unable to imagine from our current perspective. If there's any experience at all, I expect it would be more along the lines of a universal whole. A feeling of being outside of time and space and looking in from all perspectives at once, if that makes sense at all.

But it won't have anything to do with our current, biologically evolved interpretation of reality. It won't be you as you are now, crossing some kind of threshold, taking your identity with you. At least I wouldn't have thought so.

Or maybe experience ends there. As it began seemingly out of nowhere with our birth. But if that's the case, there's nothing to fear in death, because you won't be there to worry about it. You won't have to sit through an eternity of nothing, just as you didn't before birth. Again, this is just as difficult to imagine as the continuation of experience.

When I think back to my earliest fleeting memories. All I remember is a feeling of amazement at the fact that there were physical shapes and materials, that there was experience at all. From my perspective the universe appeared fully formed, complete with intelligent human civilization. From my perspective the universe will end much as it began.

Personally I'd love to wake up on the other side with my own perfect version of reality for me to enjoy. Complete with a nice cottage in a beautiful mountain landscape. But I know that's just my first person ego self projecting what it wants onto the unknowable reality of death.

 

[HeavensOpenDoor]

Is there an afterlife? We all ask this question at some point. Me personally, I believe there is an afterlife but I love and respect views to the contrary. I think that we can all agree that life is a journey and we get bumps and bruises along the way. I have been a channel for a few years now and while it's not my intent to push my beliefs on anyone, I would just like to relay this message to take or leave:

"Greetings,

You are loved and valued, while your world values you as just a number and a face, you are much more than that. You are priceless. Think about your choices and why you make them, think about how you feel before and after these choices. There tends to be a stigma around choices of life and death not understood by your masses.

Feelings of being misunderstood, labeled, and even shunned by family can and does occur. Whatever your choice, whatever your belief (or unbelief hehe) rest assured that you are loved unconditionally. When you feel like the entire world has turned it's back on you, that you are stuck on an island like your Gilligan, know that you are never alone.

Life is all about choice. Whatever you choose to do, or not to do; your motives, your drives... are personal to you. Embrace them, love yourself because you are loved. If you love, love; if you sorrow, don't mask it but embrace the pain as it's part of being alive.

There is no judgement regarding what you believe, do, or feel passionate about. The world judges because that's what it knows, and can a Leopard change it's spots? However you feel about life, or the afterlife as you call it is true because it's YOUR truth. Truth can be validated, challenged, or changed. In any event, there are no judgements. Do what thou will, you are free to live or die, to love or to hate, to agree or to disagree. To be or not to be is the question."

Warmest regards,
_

 

[Cantdothisanymore]

Has anyone read any books on the afterlife? There are a few I have read that, along with medium readings, seems to describe the place I have in my mind. There's a lot I don't understand or try to as we can never know until we are there, but it gives me hope it'll be better than here.

I just can't wait to hold my daughter as I never got to, I wish I could see what she looks like if she looks like me or her dad. That's probably what I am most excited for.

 

[HeavensOpenDoor]

Has anyone read any books on the afterlife? There are a few I have read that, along with medium readings, seems to describe the place I have in my mind. There's a lot I don't understand or try to as we can never know until we are there, but it gives me hope it'll be better than here.

I just can't wait to hold my daughter as I never got to, I wish I could see what she looks like if she looks like me or her dad. That's probably what I am most excited for.

Yes, there are (2) in particular that I have confirmed through my channelings as being legit.

1: Conscious Creation as channeled by Bub Hill
2: Ramtha, the white book by JZ knight

As with anything just eat the meat and throw away the bones, I hope this helps!

 

[Greenberg]

I respect everyone's' opinion of the afterlife.

Sadly or happily, I do not subscribe to the afterlife. Life existed before I came to this world and I have no memory prior to living. I do not remember living before or having any recall of pre-birth events. Similarly, I do not expect to be "living" after my death; even though, the world as we know it will continue to unfold as it always does.

One analogy I would like to propose is that of information we store on a flash drive or any other storage device. Once the file of information is permanently erased from the media, it is forever gone and irretrievable though the media may survive the file itself. We are that file of fragile information. Our lease to remain living is sadly short-lived.

 

[ExistentialEntropy]

I also respect every view, as it's impossible to really know one way or another without dying.

With that said. It's impressive how many people become more open to the idea of an afterlife, or at least other planes of existence, after taking a big hit of DMT lol.

 

[JoeFailure]

I also respect every view, as it's impossible to really know one way or another without dying.

With that said. It's impressive how many people become more open to the idea of an afterlife, or at least other planes of existence, after taking a big hit of DMT lol.

I've heard this too and would love to take some, I just don't know how to get it.

 

[kovkay]

I have been scared of Hell for a long time. Here is a post I found a while ago about how the evidence from the Bible isn't that strong and Hell most likely doesn't exist:

This concept of "Hell" as a place of 'eternal suffering in a lake of fire' that Christians so often try to scare people with is all made up by humans and doesn't even exist in the 'old testament' and is not well supported by the 'new testament' either...

every single 'old testament' reference to "hell" is a mistranslations of the Jewish concept of "Sheol" which is distinctly different from what most people today refer to as "Hell".

* 1: Sheol is temporary - not 'eternal'. you are only there until 'judgment day'.
* 2: everyone goes to Sheol to await judgment day. (good or bad, believer or not).
* 3: everyone in Sheol atones for their misdeeds in life. everyone, regardless of whether they "have faith" or not. You don't escape punishment for your misdeeds in life just because you 'have faith'. THAT was an invention (apparently of Paul).
* 4: after judgment: the 'truly wicked' are annihilated: They 'cease to exist'. They are not "punished for the rest of eternity. (That view is not supported by anything in the bible outside of 'revelation' (and even that is pretty thin)
* 5: after judgment: everyone else goes to "Olam Ha'Bah" (aka "the world to come"; "gan eden" or "the Garden of Eden). - This did NOT require belief in or worship of "YHYH" it was based on whether you were a decent person in life; not "blind faith".

outside of 'revelation" The "New Testament" does not refer to this concept of 'eternal punishment' at all. not once, not anywhere. It is ONLY mentioned in the "Book of Revelation" (aka "The Apocalypse of John") and even those references are pretty flimsy evidence.

every "New Testament" reference to "Hell" in modern translations are mistranslating one of two words. "Tartarus" (which appears only one time in 2 Peter 2:4) and "Gehenna".

* Tartarus is a specific reference to the pagan concept of the 'lowest level of hades' - this reference from 2 Peter is talking about a place where "fallen angels" are sent and is never mentioned as a destination for humans. - Also note that this same specific verse clearly limits the time spent in that place to "until judgment".

* Gehenna is an actual physical place in Jerusalem, it was (in the first century CE) a trash dump, garbage and dead bodies were taken there and burned in a 'eternal fire' (a constantly burning fire that was always burning garbage). it was considered a "cursed place" due to legends about people sacrificing children there. It was mentioned in a lot of parables; often 'jesus' talking about wealthy people ending up in Gehenna (just like all the poor people). essentially saying that all their wealth doesn't save them from eventually dying and being thrown into the trash heap. - The parables did seem to imply that "Gehenna" was some undesirable place but it's very dishonest to claim that the word literally translates to the common concept called "Hell".

The words translated into "Eternal Punishment" in Matthew 25:46 (for instance) is also a mistranslation. The word they translate as "eternal" there is "αἰώνῐος" which is more correctly translated as "lasting for an age". If you note the same exact same word is mistranslated to 'eternal' in modern translations of Jude 1:7 where Sodom and Gomorrah are supposedly destroyed by "eternal fire" - Those fires are clearly not burning today as we've never found any such remnants anywhere on earth of this supposedly never ending fire. The other part of that phrase for "Punishment" is also a poor translation of "kolasis" which was an agricultural term basically meaning "cut off" or "prune" - possibly suggesting the concept where you "prune away part of a plant and the rest of the plant gets stronger". Somewhat more likely is that it refers to "punitive correction" as opposed to some eternal torment or possibly it refers to being 'cut off from paradise/eternal life' which is effectively what happens when you cease to exist. - you aren't suffering but you are denied eternal life and entry to paradise 'for eternity'.

Outside of Revelation the most common thing people tend to bring up to support this 'eternal suffering in a lake of fire' nonsense is the story from Luke 16:19-31 of "lazarus and the rich man". That parable however does not suggest "eternal suffering" at all.

* 1: Abraham, Lazarus and "Rich Man" are all in the same place. - That already sounds a lot more like "Sheol" than "Hell". the claim that all of them talking to each other is clearly not a reference to one being "in heaven" and the other "in hell" since these places are always depicted as separate.

* 2: "Rich Man" is suffering but... he's complaining about "being thirsty".... if he were burning in a lake of fire I think he'd have bigger problems than 'parched lips'.

* 3: Nothing about that story says anything to suggest that the suffering is eternal; it only implies that "Rich Man" is suffering currently, not what his fate would be down the road.

Then we have the claims from "Revelation":

* 1: the ["Second Death"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_death) is mentioned 4 times in this book; and described as the "Death of the soul"

* 2: Revelation 20:6 only people named in the "book of life" (those "on the right") receive "eternal life" - this gift of eternal life is ONLY for the righteous people that pass into paradise.

* 3: Revelation 20:10 states that the 'beast', the 'false prophet' (aka the antichrist) and 'satan' are cast into the lake of fire where they will "suffer for ever and ever" - note that none of these entities are 'human'.

* 4: then in Revelation 20:15 - the people who's name did not appear in the 'book of life' (those "on the left") are also cast into the same lake of fire where they "suffer the second death". - Note the different language... it does not say "suffer for ever and ever" but instead states that they "suffer the second death" - this suggests that their soul dies.. which is "Annihilation" not "eternal suffering". How can there be "eternal suffering" for people that do not have "eternal life"? - (see note 2 above).

Nothing about "eternal suffering" is consistent with anything in the bible. "Eternal suffering" is sadistic cruelty without any purpose or benefit. - It makes no rational sense if they are also trying to claim that 'god' is benevolent, loving, merciful etc. - Totally logically inconsistent with this view.

> **John 2:2**
>He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

>**Romans 5:18**
>Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

>**Romans 11:29-32**
> for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
> Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
> so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.
> For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

>**Titus 2:11**
> For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

In the early days of the christian church there were several competing views of the afterlife that are a lot more consistent with the rest of the bible:

* "Annihilation" is the belief that "after judgment" the "truly wicked" are annihilated; they 'cease to exist' and that's it... no further suffering; they are gone. end of story. This is exactly what the Jewish traditional view of Sheol mentioned above taught and is logically consistent with the 'old testament'.

* "universal salvation" or "universalism" is the belief that eventually everyone is saved. - This view treats suffering/punishment in the afterlife as reformative/corrective/judicial - meant to correct the recipient and is finite in duration - once you have atoned for your sins you get to move on to paradise with all the other people that ever lived. These were both pretty popular views in the early christian sects prior to ~425 CE;

The early christian sects disagreed considerably about which of these three views was 'correct'. "Basil the Great" specifically commented in ~370CE that the dominant view (of the time) was a belief in a limited purgatory, and others (such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Didymus the blind, Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia wrote extensively about Universalism. There were some (mostly in Northern Africa around the coast of modern day Tunisia/Algeria) that were advocating the view of "Eternal Torment" but it wasn't until 425CE that the church unified on this 'eternal suffering' doctrine (largely through the writings of Augustine of Hippo – who came to Rome from a city near what is now Annaba Tunisia). This became the official version the church went with and the other views were deemed "heretical" and banned along with any early christian scriptures that supported those opposing views (such as the "Apocalypse of Peter").

fun fact: on December 13; 2013 between 40-70cm (16-19 inches) of [snow fell on Jerusalem as seen in this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RuhXbspXjQ) so there could have been some pretty epic snowball fights in 'hell' that day...

Ideally I would like afterlife to be a sort of reincarnation where you choose the parameters of your next life yourself. Probably sounds stupid, but it would be fun to pick and choose the type of adventures you would like from life.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Just some recommended reading. Just food for thought, and highly recommended to have an open mind.

"Road to Immortality" by Jeraldine Cummins

"Life after death" by Arthur Ford (hard to find that book)

"Raymond of Life and death" by Sir Lodge

. In Christianity, it is taught that suicide is a sin.

That is what I used to think too, but over the past few years I have spoken to many pastors, priests, and christian scholars who have stated that there is no assertion in the Christian bible that suicide is a sin.

 

[Maravillosa]

Just some recommended reading. Just food for thought, and highly recommended to have an open mind.

"Road to Immortality" by Jeraldine Cummins

"Life after death" by Arthur Ford (hard to find that book)

"Raymond of Life and death" by Sir Lodge

That is what I used to think too, but over the past few years I have spoken to many pastors, priests, and christian scholars who have stated that there is no assertion in the Christian bible that suicide is a sin.

Yes, the Christian Bible does not necessarily state that suicide is sinful, but the Catholic and Orthodox Churches are not sola Scriptura. These Churches rely as much on traditions that have purportedly come from the early Church and ultimately from Jesus Himself. (This can be verified by John 21:25: "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.") I think this reliance on Holy Tradition (not to be confused with merely human traditions) is why Christianity has usually seen suicide as sinful.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Yes, the Christian Bible does not necessarily state that suicide is sinful, but the Catholic and Orthodox Churches are not sola Scriptura. These Churches rely as much on traditions that have purportedly come from the early Church and ultimately from Jesus Himself. (This can be verified by John 21:25: "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.") I think this reliance on Holy Tradition (not to be confused with merely human traditions) is why Christianity has usually seen suicide as sinful.

Yes that would make sense. But one has to wonder if suicide-is-a-sin was a mechanism installed by those who were in charge of early organized Christianity. It would seem that every religion has some kind rule against suicide.

 

[ManWithNoName]

,Also, I don't mean this is an offense or a jab towards believers, but the Christian God, as He is described in the Bible, really isn't that great of a guy... So why would He gives us an eternal (or not) "wonderful afterlife"? Why couldn't we go directly to this wonderful place?

I'm a Christian and I do not take any offense to that. While I was being confirmed, I had many questions about the Bible because of the contradictions, etc. And that a white lie is considered an equally high offense as systematically killing 6 million people I have a hard time comprehending.

The other issue is that the history of Christ and New Testament were supposedly passed down by word-of-mouth before it was ever written down. One can only imagine the how much of the history of Christ, events and what he stood for could have gotten embellished, or warped, or even fabricated. As the expression goes "voices carry"

Christianity is a part of who I am and I base (well, I try to anyway) my moral compass on the 10 commandments. But I can see how some can be put off by the contradictions one reads in the doctrine.

 

[Soul]

Ideally I would like afterlife to be a sort of reincarnation where you choose the parameters of your next life yourself. Probably sounds stupid, but it would be fun to pick and choose the type of adventures you would like from life.

I quite like the idea that we all chose the type of adventures/roles we have in *this* life. Why the hell I chose as I did I do not know, but I can hope it made sense at the time.

 

[Meditation guide]

rest assured that you are loved unconditionally.

By who? If this is love I wouldn't want to see what would happen if I'm hated.

 

[Jumper Geo]

Here's a strange story of 3 people who received organ donations and took on the traits of the previous owners.




I had to throw a ghost story in, lol





Cheers

Geo

 

[Joey]

Here's a strange story of 3 people who received organ donations and took on the traits of the previous owners.




I had to throw a ghost story in, lol





Cheers

Geo

I definitely think it has to do something with their DNA

 

[InterstateFlowers]

I don't know what's going to happen after I die but I like to believe that people's souls can exist without a physical body and chilling in some dimension. I'm excited to see what's going to happen, whether it be nothingness or an afterlife.

 

[toms_space_station]

When I pass I hope to experience
My mind floating away from my body
And into the moon and stars
And take a spaceship so far away
Where no one could ever find me
Until their time is ready
For I am always waiting for you
To come back to me
Softly

 

[IrishViking22]

I really hope it is nothingness, like before being born. Hopefully just like flicking a switch

 

[ebt88]

Whatever happens doesn't involve the body, so it's likely happening already.

 

[InaccessibleHour]

First off, let me give a fair disclaimer: absolutely not one of us knows what happens after death, until we get there. So declaring anything as fact regarding this matter is pointless. What follows are my personal views and opinions on the topic.

I'd like to think I'm pretty open minded and can see both sides of the coin, as this deals with subjects that are left unproven either way. One of the main questions that needs to be asked is:
Is consciousness a product of biological processes taking place in the brain?

Maybe. Maybe not. There is evidence in both physical and metaphysical realms that support either conclusion. Without even diving deep into neuroscience it's just known fact that the consciousness, the sense of self, must have something to do with the brain. Why is shooting oneself in the head so much more effective and painless than shooting oneself in the foot? It's common sense that the local sensation of consciousness lives somewhere within our heads. Now, on the more sciencey side, many a study and experiment has been conducted in the search for a materialist explanation for consciousness, and some neuroscientists believe enough evidence exists to support such. However, I believe they're ignoring too much contradictory evidence of the contrary: that consciousness can and does exist outside of the brain. Without that, their framework wouldn't be so big of an issue, but it's evidence of the metaphysical that ultimately biases me towards the belief that there's something else beyond this physical plane.

Now, I know what most scientists or materialistically minded people in general think: "no, the evidence isn't strong enough, it's mostly anecdotal". First off, I believe this is partially due to limited serious research being conducted on the metaphysical. There are some, but not that many, scientific studies focused on discerning whether consciousness can exist beyond our brain's boundaries, including astral projection, remote viewing, psychic phenomena, and the like. Most of such studies end up being reported as "flawed" or "biased" in one way or another, and combined with the overall stigma against considering anecdotal evidence, most materialists tend to bias themselves towards a physical explanation of things. I can see why anecdotes are often ignored and dismissed: they're not controlled, subject to confirmation bias, hallucinations, the account might not be accurate to what actually happen, the story might be a complete lie. etc. But I think something important to note is that there's a wealth of stories, both individual and collective, involving NDEs, hauntings, ghost stories, misc. paranormal occurrences, AP, RV, psychic phenomena, visits to heaven, collective hallucinations, and anything else that contradicts a materialistic framework, that it must be assumed some are true, unbiased, and accurate to the actual experience.

Beyond anecdotes from others, I think the strongest evidence anyone needs to convince oneself of the metaphysical and the afterlife and such is a personal experience. Ideally it'd be something that can't be passed off or explained physically, such as weak coincidences, hallucinations, drugs, dreams, childhood memories, etc. Not to say that those wouldn't be valid pieces of evidence given the right circumstances, however those are more prone to being weaker pieces of evidence that may lead one to a misguided conclusion. Personally, I've had some pretty eye-opening and shocking experiences that I still can't explain physically, and after hearing about others who tended towards atheism and materialism only for the same thing to happen to them that resulted in an abrupt and sometimes uncomfortable change to their worldview, people can yell "brainwashing" all they want, but people have come to these conclusions on their own.

Thus, I ultimately lean towards an agnostic mindset. I think that something must have put us here, some higher power. I tend to believe that this higher power may actually be a collective consciousness, and other than people dropping acid or munching on shrooms, or some people getting very deep into meditation, all of which seem to almost always arrive at similar conclusions, I have a few reasons why I believe this could be the case

I often hear people likening death to the place we existed, or more accurately not existed, before birth: absolute nothingness. However, I just can't bring myself to believe this to be the case. I'm not arguing that temporary nonexistance and unconsciousness exists. It happens to all of us when we go to sleep every night, to some of us when we blackout drunk or faint due to other causes. But do you notice a pattern? We always come back. No matter what the circumstance, we always "wake up" somewhere, appear somewhere and end up fine. We're never send into this void of eternal oblivion...... heck, maybe the people who actually died did, but the point I'm trying to make is I just don't see it as being possible to suddenly NOT exist. We already know it's possible to forget, as we lose memories all the time. But for there to be a moment where that's it, game over, no more consciousness or awareness from moment to moment? Sorry, something just doesn't click for me. Which is my first reason as to why I think consciousness may be a fundamental property of the universe....... it may not be possible to just not exist permanently, thus we're here instead.

And I always wonder why we were born in an age like this, and furthermore born as humans....... born as any other creature on the planet, we wouldn't get to enjoy the pleasures of modern living. Yet somehow, we ended up being human, and somehow simultaneously ended up in one of the most interesting ages of human history. The world has never been changing so fast, there's much beauty to be seen in this world, we have these devices that can link us up to anywhere and anyone, and if we ever get bored of living in our safe little world where death is (unfortunately for most of us on here) not too easy to come by, we have these stories that can be consumed in many different ways, some of which involve more adventurous themes that as far as we know aren't present in our reality. It all just seems a little too well made, like we were meant to be here for something. I know this sounds a little optimistic and bloomerish for the tone of this forum as a whole, but it can't be denied that by just some throw in the dark chance to end up in a world like this........ it just doesn't make sense if you ask me. Obviously not saying or trying to encourage anyone to stay or not to miss out, since lots of people have many issues in their lives. Me being no exception, otherwise I wouldn't be here writing this message out right now. It's obviously not the best world to live in either, there are many adversities and challenges to face. Some of which are just very bland, plain, and boring....... or just too stressful for some of us to take.

Went off on a little ramble session there....... the heart of the matter was, I could have just as easily been born as someone else. Why, of all people, did I end up being born into my body? Yes, other people are probably conscious and have feelings just like I do...... why does my sense of self exist here and not there even though there shouldn't be any real difference because we're all conscious? At the time of my conception, what or who decided that "I" get to live in that body? Not an insignificant insect's, nor a spider's, nor a cat's, nor a dog's? Furthermore, in such an interesting age of human development? This is more of a line of thinking that supports a "somebody created this" worldview, specifically the "this not that" brain occupation thing might actually serve as more evidence that a collective consciousness doesn't exist....... I think to be more accurate, perhaps all "viewports" so to speak are possible, just being experienced at different times yet all at the same time from the vantage point of a higher time dimension? Language barriers dictate that the meat and potatoes of what I'm getting at might get lost in translation for some, and it's kind of hard to understand........ but these are just some really abstract thoughts I've been having recently and that I wanted to get out somewhere. Maybe it's just one consciousness, slowly going through and choosing, and perhaps creating, everything along the way......

An ideology I picked up after researching certain communities is the concept of eecksperiencing things. What if this world is nothing but a dream, dreamt by the one consciousness? What if that's everything that can ever be? This might also fix the issue of contradicting evidence mentioned much earlier in this post, being that if we just have the experience of doing all these things such as gathering evidence that "consciousness" exists within the brain, but still having the experience of NDEs and such...... maybe we're living out an experience of consciousness temporarily being filtered through the brain, an experience from the viewpoint of a person-in-a-world where such is the case.

So maybe I'm biased in all this seeing as there are actually certain dreams of mine that I have that require metaphysical stuff and the afterlife to exist....... I mainly went in search of evidence and communities that supported my dream, that introduced some of these ideas to me. And I found hope in them..... but still, despite this I sometimes try to be critical and challenge these ideas where possible, play devil's advocate in a sense. This is where I'm going to start really resonating with the OP on this........ something that you'd think would be as conclusive as collective hallucination may only happen because the brain can sometimes act in very predictable ways. For example, most people have similar experiences on LSD and shrooms, but is there something about the chemical composition of another hallucinogenic but on the opposite end of the scale for some, being a deliriant....... Datura? That produces, once again, somewhat of a predictable response in the brain? Even Salvia can produce unique experiences, and some report there being subtle differences in acid and shrooms as well. Again, this might all just be a setup and a consequence of having an experience of being a person in a world that works like this, but it's not impossible that's just out of the question altogether and the answer is purely physical. I think though, regarding collective hallucinations Occam's Razor must be taken into account. I haven't researched too many accounts of this phenomenon, but it really depends on how specific and vivid the details were. If it was just something about flying but the minor details were totally different, it's much easier to just chalk it up to coincidence even though minor metaphysical action may be taking place anyway. If it's far more specific like the people were in the same room together, it started and stopped at the exact same time, colors were in the right spots as independently verified amongst all members, as well as other details, it's far easier to conclude that the chances of even just two brains acting the exact same way in that moment is slim and none, and it's easier to choose the simplest conclusion with the least assumptions: something else is at work here.

Like the OP, if my dreams end up being impossible than nothingness, even though I don't believe it exists, is also a great choice. Although unlike most on here I'd just rather if my OCD just got deleted with no trace of it ever existing, as if I'd totally forgotten about it. Or, even more ideally, the things I worry about never existed in the first place with no trace of those either. I'm honestly open to the idea that we are meant to suffer and learn from adversities and challenges, heck maybe we were sent to this world, maybe I was sent to this world to make it a better place seeing as everyone tells me I'm supposedly so smart and have the brain to figure things out and fix this world up. I'm smart enough to know that one person alone can't do it though, unless what I said before about reality being an ultimately malleable dream as a result of it being the product of consciousness is true. Everyone has to pitch in I think, if this world is to become a better place. I'm fine with living in a world with suffering and adversity, in fact that's what I want. Just not this kind that is simultaneously incurable and I worry over what is essentially nothing. It's the worst kind of pain IMO, the toughest....... I just hope that if there is a creator, this isn't my final trial, and that it's some sort of trick final question where you think "oh hey suffering over nothing, that's easy to overcome" but it's actually such a bitch but then I'd get to do whatever the heck I wanted afterwards, because that's kind of what I want. Not the part about this being my final trial though. Fuck this!

 

[Aloha]

I had a dream of a very bright yellow light which felt calm and peaceful. So bright that it woke me up.

 

[eeyore9128]

sometimes it feels like this reality is some kind of limbo between a mortal life and the after-life (whatever that may be), and it's more of a test than an existence to enjoy. has anyone seen The Good Place? it got me thinking.. there's no way to know, of course, and I'm not religious, but when things happen a certain way it makes me wonder: am i being f***ed with right now? is this a test?

 

[nurplexkid]

I can't think of a single afterlife scenario that I'm not terrified of. The impermanence of life really bothers me. I'm so afraid of being separated from my loved ones. Reincarnation is one of my biggest fears.