Discussion Afterlife (and related) general discussion

[hotblooded]

I really don't know what to believe. I know that religion has influenced how I used to picture the afterlife but religion is just something man made, so why would their idea about the afterlife be right? I do believe in a soul because we are alive somehow, but I think that after we die either our soul disappears or it is released? Maybe?

 

[niiina]

I believe in the nothingness, there's nothing after you die, just like there was nothing before you were born

 

[jodie]

As many people here, I also believe there is nothing after we die. I was born in a catholic country in a catholic family, but throughout my life I've seen that most of it is just for show, for "what will people say". I started having very serious doubts about all that and having trouble making sense of what religion is saying at around the age of 6-7 and by the age of 10, I became a 100% atheist. To me, the religious believes or how they picture this whole "afterlife" could not be put into any logical whole even at such an early age.
I know there are people to whom this belief brings some kind of solace (?), hope (?), helps them somehow and, as long as it's not this oppressive, organised, self-righteous religion used to order others around, I have no problem with that.
To me, however, the certainty that as soon as the electrical, chemical and whatever other kind of activity in my brain ceases, I will be no more, feel no more, experience no more, is a source of great relief and feeling of peace. I cannot imagine any kind of world where I could be myself and not be a worthless, poisonous and at the same time miserable and suffering being. If I were to change in some diametrical way, have my believes, opinions, fears, desires, needs completely altered, I would no longer be myself, and if it was no longer me, then it would mean that my existence was over. And if I stayed myself, it would essentially be just what it is now so the thought of my existence continuing past my ctb-ing would bring utmost terror to my heart. I'm fortunately quite sure that it would not be possible as we do need our brain functioning to keep existing.

 

[niiina]

I believe in nothing but if I'm wrong and there's a god I'd be screwed, I probably did all the wrong things and, no matter in which religion or even paganism, I fucked up.
Even not believing I'm low key afraid of *poof* waking up in some sort of hell lol (not really lol)
I believe SI is making this to my mind tho. Hopefully.
I don't know how people are so adamant with their beliefs, I never died before how can I fucking know something about it

 

[UnlimitedPain]

I think 2 things even tho my belief in the 2nd are not what they use to be

1 is that's it there is nothing beyond and we just end and that's it

2 we go off into an infinite dream we won't awake from that's peaceful maybe even lucid

 

[nochu]

i want to believe, but really it's probably just like before we were born. if there was really something out there looking out for us... then why would they allow all of this to happen? but that's just my personal belief. i would like to have a second chance or to be a cat if that were possible lol

 

[Sorrowful Paradise]

There is nothing after we die.

 

[Lonerzepam]

Either nothing or reincarnation. Hell etc. is bullshit imo. We all die. Who's to say what's right and wrong. When we die we all go the same way. All your actions just have it's consequences during your lifetime. Why would anyone be treated differently. There's nothing wrong if I kill an animal and eat it. Why would it be different if I kill a human and eat it. Humans are also just animals after all. So why would I be punished for that when I die. It doesn't make sense. Sorry if this is a rather odd example I'm not that good at it.

 

[BornHated]

A consistent dread I feel about suicide is that I believe in the possibility of reincarnation, but not in the traditional religious karmic sense- more of a randomized event sense. "Karma" is rather the collective actions of all living things leading to what you get a chance to be born as a member of what species are alive (as opposed to the ones extinct). I believe your current actions don't decide whether you get to become a human again or something. Something about your atoms when you die decide where your next consciousness will be. I watched Amoebas trying to eat various things and you can see the survival instinct kick in even within microbes; Our own cells when they chase out intruders, even.

Just like in gacha games, getting something better is rarer. Consider the number of plants and animals in general we have to kill to survive just another day, let alone in life. A quick glance at a food chain shows what I mean. Same concept of humanity: Lots of poverty and abuse, with considerably less people at the top... And, well, someone has to take the job of piloting the conscience of those poor life forms in the slaughterhouses and lower parts of the food chain. (Not trying to preach veganism, promise.)
Karma? Instincts are like condensed ancestral memories hallmark to a species. Ducks rolling round objects that aren't even their own eggs, cats bringing home random prey animals to care for as babies when their hormones surge, moths following the light of what they think is the moon. These things are founded in some long-repeated set of choices that survived and contributed to species' evolution. You can be born a solitary/paired species like an eagle, or you can be born to a cut-throat hyena clan.

It's also made my appreciation of death all the greater. Those suffering are put out of their misery and tyrants cannot reign forever. Deer and Lions must die alike, however it may be. Death is the fairest part of life.

Man, I hope I get to be a tree or something.

There's also an interesting theory I once heard. It's about how every conscious thing is actually an extension of a central... consciousness? Kind of like a surveillance camera room. All conscious forms are just variants of some same central conscious form, just occupying different bodies (space) at same or different points in time. Wild idea that I don't know the name of, but I liked it. We all run on DNA/RNA, after all. That primal cell came really far in its shenanigans.

 

[Teddybear]

You can not disprove the presence of (a) God anymore than you can prove his/her/its existence.

But you can prove that it makes no damn difference in *this* life wether you believe or not. Heck, even (self-)rightheous believers "catch the bus" if they can stand it no more.

The Epicureans found that out already 2300 years ago.

 

[Jason Steele]

The odd chance that we all could be resurrected in the far future by an advanced alien civilization scares me. Maybe it's already happened.

 

[deathissosad]

I dont know what i believe is in the afterlife. All i hope for is that we are reunited with our loved ones.

 

[Illidan77]

I believe in reincarnation. It is all related to Buddhism philosophy / explanation but taking out religion or philosophy, I guess it would explain why some people born with some innate talent, personality, etc.

 

[koitenchi]

I always see these articles about how the brain 'flashes' when someone dies, and I've always really wanted to experience that more than anything, whatever it is; I hope however I die does not include head trauma because of it

 

[sadmeltie]

I'm a Christian but its kinda mixed with believing in us being in a matrix and what I know is
That people that are scared of suicide think we are going to hell because we committed suicide but I dont believe in that I believe if you die before you get your own beliefs in the right place then yea you could end up in a troublesome situation
Christians are lucky cause there's this strong belief in * Jesus christ the savior they hang on to this belief and then die but don't know the rest so they end up in a place that is still "in the matrix its good to believe that you are saved in believing in christ im not shutting that down but I am one rare christain that also believes we are in a matrix that is a trap of sorts one we unwittingly chose to be part of over and over and over again

My point in saying this is everyone has their own version of their beliefs or mixture of beliefs
My strong belief is yes once saved always saved but at the same time God helps those who helps themselves and we should know to try to do that too

When you die dont just look into the light say oh theres my long dead family members and jump into the light because thats a big mistake instead ignore everything that approaches you and look around you but most importantly move up and look up if you find that you see a grid surrounding you from above then you'll know what im saying was true you dont have to believe me just look up after you die and search for the grid before you do anything else

Then when you see it look for holes or tears and just imagine yourself moving through it once your on the other side THEN you can look for family or friends your FREE

Till you get out of the matrix you will keep being pulled into the reincarnation death trap weather you believe in Jesus or not

This is what I believe you do not HAVE to believe me just look up and search for that grid after you die and if you see it you'll know I was telling the truth
best of luck friends and I hope this helps someone

 

[chicagodollhouse]

Nothing exists beyond death. That's why mental illness sucks. We get one chance. We suffer through it and reflect on the good times, wanting it back, sanity. Happiness. Suffering...emptiness It sucks.
I wonder what I'll hear when I'm dying. Will I be calm? Will good memories surface... Will I be panicking... Deep down, I want community... Connection... Friendship... I have a feeling I'll likely panic.. or if I'm drugged enough I'll be relaxed, falling asleep, waiting for the journey to end, have accepted it..

 

[PurpleBlack]

i really think nothing happens. Like a broken lightbulb there's just no energy going through our brain anymore, so it's done. In the end all we are are just a bunch of electricity between neurons, and when they stopfiring we are done for. i dont find that a scary thought by any means nor do i wish it was different.

 

[melancholyc418]

This stuff is

 

[redisblue]

I believe that there's either nothing, or that there's a nice place where all our loved ones are waiting for us. I feel like the nothingness after death is more realistic, but I like to believe the latter since nothing being there after death scares me. If reincarnation is what occurs after death, I want to come back as a cat - it would be so much more relaxing. As for heaven and hell, I'm not religious so I don't believe in it. If other people do though, that's okay!

 

[HadItAll]

All of us actually have already been dead - before we were born. That is the only experience we can therefore compare afterlife to. A timeless, colorless, odorless void of nothingness which you cannot feel and experience in any way.

 

[Next-to-Nil]

Pure opinion, of course, but since no god or other otherworldly entity has made itself publicly known since the age of camera recording, I'm almost certain that the concept of an after-life is just escapism from the reality of death and comfortable, eternal, nothing.

 

[anguila_anguila]

Nothing.To me, what we view as ourselves is just a collection of cells, which in turn are made of a mass of atoms.
I actually find this less scary to believe than the christian idea of an infinite afterlife, which is what I was taught to believe.
Although I would love there to be something else - maybe we move into another dimension, like the 4th dimension or something. Maybe there are 4 dimensional living things here now, but we cannot perceive them as such. More of a bizarre pipe-dream than reality I think though.

 

[andweallfloatonok]

i like the idea of heaven, but it's most likely just pure nothingness

 

[Sulyya]

No matter how bleak things appear, or strong the atheist materialist perspective is, my certainty that everyone has a soul is always there.

 

[iknowitsover666]

This sounds absolutely hellish but I believe in eternal recurrence. If I could choose between random reincarnation and eternal recurrence I'd choose to live my life on repeat. Fuck living the lives of every human/animal throughout history, can you imagine the level of suffering? I don't believe in nothing after death, I think existence can't be turned off.

 

[Homo erectus]

Maybe there is a soul. But the soul is finite. Karma affects only a few generations. We forget the past, but it nevertheless will affect the future. The problem is I don't know what actually creates good karma. Sometimes we want to do good, but what we do turns out to be bad.

 

[bythefire12]

I talked to my grandmother about this before she passed very recently. She didn't know she was just about to die but she was aware she had been on borrowed time for a while at that point.

We basically agreed that there is something that "lingers". Maybe it's the impression we made on the world, maybe it's an energy, maybe it's just our social impact. But we also both felt like there is something "godly" in the interconnectedness of everything. Somehow the universe is all these different things that work together. Even if a sun dies, the system of the universe does not, because the system is the whole and relies on all the variation within it. The fact we experience the world as though we are somehow separate from it is...an illusion, or maybe something more divinely influenced, but no less it involves our sense that we are separate from the rest of the world and universe somehow. And when we die, we lose that illusion. I think this tracks with how people describe NDEs, as an overwhelming comfort at dissolving back into the sand of everything after we got to take a certain, self-aware shape for a while.

I like to think that something of our consciousness lingers. My spouse does, my grandmother did to an extent. I am not as confident but I am wrong all the time, and I hope I'm wrong here. Either way we lose the sense that there is an "I" separate from all that is around us, but maybe that "I" remains somehow.

If there is an afterlife, I hope it's one where all people can be without the violence and cruelty in our life. If a god runs it, I hope he accepts me as someone who tried to live a life of love and compassion and empathy, but I haven't lived a life that most major religions would consider heavenly (e.g. being LGBTQ). My greatest fear is to CTB and wake up in hell, in eternal torment. I don't think I believe in such a place, but the possibility I'm wrong genuinely haunts me.

I hope some day we all get to be back to being part of the system, while retaining some sense of who we were as people. I want to be with my spouse in some way for eternity, even if not quite in the way we understand ourselves as conscious beings while alive. But I think more likely, nothing of the "self" really remains outside of the aspects that impacted others.

 

[lemmein]

Since there are numerous threads about afterlife, reincarnation, heaven and hell, limbo, nirvana, the list goes on, I thought it was a good idea to make a general thread for the subject.

Let's try to respect each other's views. No one knows what awaits us after we die, if anything other than nonexistence awaits us at all. So, views on the matter are purely opinions, shaped by subjective experiences rather than solid, irrefutable evidence. I think if respect is kept, the thread could be really useful in more ways than just one.

Peace.

I hope there's no afterlife. I grew up Christian (Evangelical, no less!) and while I long rejected the beliefs, I still can't fully rid myself of the notion of a heaven and hell. If that stuff is true, I'm screwed. As for reincarnation, ugh, I would hate to have to go through this crap called life again. Barf! I just wanna go to sleep and be done, cease to exist.

Then again, if I had to be a floating spirit, I'd love to dedicate my eternal existence to terrorizing all the bullies, racists, a-holes, etc of the world. How fun!

 

[Viranamari]

Personally, I don't believe in an afterlife. Maybe it's because I'm an atheist but I try not to bring religion into such topics. I believe that when you die, there is nothing. No conscience. No memory. In fact, you probably wouldn't even know you are dead. It's identical to an eternal slumber but with no dreams. After all, there is no evidence that hell, heaven or resurrection even exists. In my opinion, hell, heaven and resurrection were just ideas made by humans so that they can have some sort of peace and the drive to have a good life to end up in heaven. Or maybe they feared the unknown and tried to make it known that there is life after death. I'd like to be proven wrong but I don't believe in such.

 

[Jaqen H'ghar]

If we believe in the Law of Karma, it means everything destined to happen will happen; it is happening and has already happened.

Past, present and future are in the now. So our bodies will be recycled by nature. Our soul or consciousness, as we call it, will return to the light source as we live with the borrowed light from the one and the only source of consciousness.