Discussion Afterlife (and related) general discussion

[ixkitty]

My opinion is that there is no afterlife - we're just atoms.

...so I (lightheartedly!) I asked gpt (paid, intelligent version that has internet access, not the free one) what it's conclusion was, bearing in mind it has effectively absorbed the entirety of human knowledge up to the current day. I think it's answer was pretty decent!

"Given my role as an AI developed to process and analyze information based on existing human knowledge, including scientific, philosophical, and cultural perspectives, I can provide a conclusion based on the current state of human understanding. However, it's important to note that this conclusion is inherently limited by the current scope of human knowledge and does not represent an ultimate truth.

As of now, there is no empirical evidence or scientific proof of an afterlife. Scientific understanding of consciousness and life suggests that consciousness is a product of brain activity and ceases when biological functions stop. Therefore, if I were to draw a conclusion based solely on the empirical evidence and scientific understanding available up to this point, it would lean towards the view that consciousness does not continue after death, and there is no afterlife in the sense often described by religions and spiritual beliefs.

That said, this conclusion is subject to change if new evidence or scientific discoveries emerge. The question of an afterlife touches on the very limits of human understanding and remains one of the great mysteries of existence. It's a topic where science, philosophy, and personal belief intersect, and where definitive answers are elusive."

This is an amazing reply from AI. I like it

 

[Hysteria]

I don't believe in the afterlife or the paranormal whatsoever. However, I know I had a ghost experience. My mommy and I were sleeping in the same room when I was something younger than 10 because we didn't have the money for more rooms. I woke up to metallic noises at night, and it wasn't Black Sabbath.

I've seen a faint female shape in long, white rags and silver hair standing back to me as I sat in the bed. She was doing something with the jewelry box. I asked: "Mommy, what are you doing now?" The answer below the blanket shocked me: "Why aren't you sleeping?" I was so scared I immediately hid below the blanket and pretended to be asleep. My mommy yelled at me: "Why the f*ck did you wake me up?" And I didn't have the courage to answer. She kept asking for a while, but the cold fear paralyzed me as I listened to the voices.

Morning, I told everyone about my experience. Probably, it wasn't a dream because my mommy recalled the event, but she didn't take her head from below the blanket and look around. I don't know if my mommy could have seen or heard the ghost if she had been more attentive. And I recalled the same dialogue, which suggests I was awake. I don't think it was sleep paralysis because I was speaking and moving throughout the experience. My mommy remembered me sitting up and then hiding in the blanket over the course of several minutes.

No one believed me, and everyone refused to investigate. And I think it was mean because I don't believe in the paranormal myself, but the ghost could have been a thief or a symptom of mental illness. If I had children, I'd definitely be concerned with the possibility of a criminal breaking into their room or their mental health.

 

[BlessedBeTheFlame]

I don't believe in an afterlife. Most people where I live are atheists and I myself am agnostic, so I never believed in afterlife in the first place. I could go on about why I think certain religions are full of crap entirely. I have never seen anyone make a convincing claim to any sort of afterlife, that doesn't become contradicted by some other fact. But I feel like daydreaming about an afterlife helps me overcome some of my fears.

I often imagine myself living somewhere far away from everybody else with only a few people, who unlike everyone in this life, actually love me. I fantasize about how they'd support and accept me somehow. I fantasize about how they'd cuddle with me and how they'd help me recover from my life. I like to think this life is just a dream and the afterlife would be me awakening from this dream. Honestly, I just want someone to pity me in the very end and help me away from everything. I want some place, where I can truly live. Because in truth, I don't want to die, I just know I will never be happy again in this life. I want to keep living, so I can do all these things I always wanted to do, but I know I can't.

I feel like the more I think and see peoples complaints about life here, the more I realize the best way is just to never have existed at all. Happiness is a terrible emotion, since it lulls you into thinking you can keep going. There will always be people, who hate you for what makes you happy. If you count up all of that, then all happiness is outweighed by the pain you will later feel for it. If people don't accept you for what makes you happy, it's better to never have been happy at all. The pain of rejection is just far too powerful to have any happy moment overcome it. Any positive event is negative, when you account for all the little things you don't even seem to notice. The only way to live life to its absolute fullest is to never have lived at all, since having lived only gives rise to horrible things. In the end, I guess the best afterlife is nothingness. I still idiotically feel like fading back into nothingness is a sad fate, but I know now it's the only decent option I have.

 

[dysthymia]

There's this theory that the brain is like a antenna/radio picking up on the signal aka consciousness which is emitted from another dimension. The reason why people become weird after brain damage is because their brain can't pick up on the consciousness properly anymore and people have auditory hallucinations from their brains picking up on other consciousnesses. [(I don't mean to be insensitive about psychotic illnesses (also people can hallucinate without being mentally ill)].

Another theory is that when we die, our senses are reduced to near-nothing. But we know consciousness is generated from our specific brain structure so if someone manages to replicate my brain's exact structure and pathways, I will 'respawn' in that brain.

We know that consciousness is energy and energy can't be destroyed, it can only be transformed. So we live on in the end, our atoms just arranged differently.

 

[WheelSucker459]

I don't know either way

I had ghost experiences once or twice but the idea of nothing and the idea of more after are both scary to think of. Its like theres no winning either way. Im not sure who else feels like that.

 

[Placo]

 

[weirdog]

its ever heaven or hell and the difference is extreme,nothing we can imagine.

 

[astonishedturnip]

It's real. No heaven, no hell. More like the finale of End of Evangelion. I've had people from the other side who have passed on, let me know that they're OK and they're happy. But there's too many questions and uncertainties involved with getting there that make me hesitate to just jump off the nearest building to get there.

And if we're all just a turtle's dream in outer space? I'm not fussed. One day I'll never be able to hug my beloved dad again. So either I get to reunite with him, or I no longer have to live with the pain of knowing I can't see him again. But I trust the process. I've seen too much.

 

[Don’tDoxMe]

How do I cope with the fact that wherever I'm going probably involves eternal and extremely painful punishment? I've done a whole lot of genuinely evil things in my life, and I'm not just saying that out of low self esteem. I was frequently abusive towards people, intentionally allowed two pets to die because I didn't want them anymore, I lie as easily as I breathe, and so on. Whatever's waiting for me can't be good, especially since I'm working on ctb.

 

[raincereal]

i'm unsure how to feel about the concept of an afterlife, because i think if there's an afterlife where you are sentient, it'd just end up becoming suffering. anything that's eternal becomes boring or tiring. for instance, if you could do anything you ever wanted the moment you got into a supposed afterlife, after you did everything, there'd be nothing novel or new to do. even if it could somehow guarantee permanent happiness, wouldn't happiness just become normal? the happiness you'd get would just become your typical emotion and you'd want to experience other things at some point in time, but be unable to (i'd presume, anyway).

 

[Placo]

 

[Evolution9]

Personally i think the afterlife its just a last mechanism activated by the brain when you are about to die,like it creates a dream with some memories and you are stuck in it forever(but there is no sense of time,you cease to exist similiar to when you sleep 7/8 hours and dream a couple second).


But instead i hope its like one of those isekai for the anime watchers.I would love to have powers and kill monsters all day.

 

[Placo]

 

[Groot]

I'm a lil bit spiritual I feel like ur ego deffo dies, so like ur human self dies but energy can't just die it gets transferred, so I guess I believe that when u die ur fully gone but the energy goes somewhere else, but I have no idea what that really means I just feel like it's not complete darkness, I like to believe in a sort of cosmic consciousness but again I don't really have any idea what that would be like

 

[Astoria]

Here's a quote from my journal.

"Sometimes I think about the afterlife and what it would be like if it were real.
I never truly believe the stuff I come up with, but it's worth pondering anyways.
I like the idea that when we die, we get our own pocket reality/tiny universe.
And we can live there and be peaceful.
Like a resting period after the hard work of existence.
I think the realities themselves would be reflections of the persons mind, or how they wanted things to be."

 

[ListlessGaren]

Always been interested in theology and hearing about other people's belief systems. Been a self proclaimed agnostic my entire life since I believe in a higher power, but don't subscribe to mainstream religion.

Inexplicably, with everything that's happened to me in my life, I believe the afterlife has something to do with our own beliefs. I believe personally my afterlife will be much better than this lifetime. I believe in the possibility of the infinite, that we can experience true connection, joy, and happiness. All that we need that wasn't given in our short limited lives. I don't believe it gets worse, but only gets better from here.

While I'm agnostic, I grown up Cao Dai and Buddhist, and always believed in some sort of balance. Even our own bodies attempt maintaining homeostasis. This lifetime is hellish, a lot of us are bound to suffer one way or another. Mental illness, physical illness, heartache, grief, tragedy, and the ever encompassing darkness that consumes a lot of us. Every human ends up where they are because of environment and genetic factors. We're molded by the stimuli around us, and the interpretation of that stimuli (and our method of interpreting stimuli changes depending on how we're raised, our education, environments, etc). With all that said, I believe the rebound to maintain balance in our afterlives will only provide us ways to obtain sustainable happiness.

I respect all religions. I however, believe in a better afterlife that's afforded to everyone. Every action in our lifetime is temporary and carries temporary change. Even the most heinous of individuals are victims of their environment, victims of life circumstances. I feel strongly that everyone can thrive given correct circumstances. Not all of us can thrive and end up living and dying horrible miserable deaths. The particularly heinous inflicting their hurt on others.

I believe we all have a fair shot in the afterlife for happiness. You can call it a feeling based on specialized religious experience. Belief has always seemed to have the greatest sway on me spiritually. Like some other commenters, I definitely believe some people can end up reincarnated, or occupying their own realm so they can experience true freedom without restriction.

For me, it makes the most logical sense that the things given to us in the afterlife will be tailored toward allowing us to flourish. Being able to obtain true sustainable happiness that'll last us an eternity.

 

[1MiserableGuy]

Death is sleep until the day of resurrection. There will be a future date when every dead person will resurrect, some to a resurrection of eternal life and others to a resurrection of eternal death. Heaven is a kingdom that becomes established onto the earth after everything in our current world is scortched in the lake of fire.

 

[Anonstudent]

When you die, you die.

What I mean by that is this; sooner or later everybody has an expiration date.
We are born, then we die.

"Life" is what happens in-between. What does that mean?
To me personally? I think that there are a near infinite amount of variables that result into an infinite number of theoretically possible lives. Human and otherwise.

As one might've heard before. From ashes we rise and to dust we shall return.
And as freaking corny as it sounds... It's correct; from a metaphysical perspective.

The universe began with a BIG bang. Matter exploded outwards and all things were created including about a few billion years ago on Earth. Life.
From what started as single celled organisms we eventually evolved into the mammalian subclass of Homo Sapiens.

And that my friend is the story of life until now.

What follows into a potential "Afterlife?"
If I had to guess it'd be this:

We are complex organisms with incredibly complex lives. Complex in the sense of the layers to it.
Molecules < Cells < Organs < (parasympathetic) Nervous System; into human being.

Similarly I would argue that a human life is "simple" in the sense that it can be cataloged. Complex in the sense of all the variables and layers. What I referred to earlier as a "Human Life".

Thus let me end my essay saying this.
When we reach the end. How we did. But most importantly HOW we lived? That is the summation of a human life. Or more specifically a human lifespan ;)

What follows is metaphysically unexplainable.
I will theorize however that since eventually we all decompose into our most base elements eventually. (Regardless of burial method and how "compostable" that is...)

That Dumbledore said it best. "The next great adventure"

My weeb ass would love to get truck-kunned and sent to a wonderful, magical isekai experience. :P

 

[Saturn_]

I'd say I believe in reincarnation, but in a way that is detached from any religious belief systems like Buddhism or Hinduism, etc. It's a belief which best aligns with my personal understanding of the universe. I like to think of the time (or lack thereof) period that came before the Big Bang. In the beginning, there was nothing... and suddenly, that nothing became everything. How did this even happen? How did everything come from nothing? Isn't that... impossible?

In dismissal of the idea of anything coming after this life, you will often hear people mention that they remember nothing before they were born. But that nothing miraculously transformed into everything, no? Who's to say that after you re-become nothing, you won't re-become everything after this? Who's to say my consciousness can't suddenly rematerialize back into being at a later date, in some other random point in space, or perhaps in a different universe entirely? It wouldn't be the "me" I know, with the "self" I am aware of. But it'd be a reconstruction of me, the observer. A spontaneous reconstruction of my point of view.

"I'd" take on a different vessel, a different personality, but it'd still be my awareness. And maybe even after this universe is no more, it'll come into being again, and so will I, and so will you. And maybe we'll live lives that are diametrically opposed to the lives we live today. Maybe we would see sounds and hear light. Maybe pain and suffering would be a totally unknown, abstract concept to us all.

In a different world, in a different time, in a different universe... maybe things will be better.

 

[godawfulbuttmunch]

I hope for a nothingness so nothing that perhaps even calling it "nothingness" would be too descriptive.

 

[Placo]

Death is a hoax.

 

[Mirrory Me]

I don't know... It must be something unimaginable, something you wouldn't have been able to see or understand in your lifetime. Who could have so clearly perceived even the structure of this life. Are we then so-called "at home"? Somewhere where we belong, or where it's good for us to be.

 

[deathnoted]

I don't know wether I belive in the afterlife or not. I don't believe in heaven, or hell.
But I used to believe in spirits. I thought I could sense them as a kid.
I don't really want there to be an afterlife, though. I want this to be it. Once I die I want it all to end, no more pain, no more feeling, no more consciense. Just death.

The thought that consciousness may continue after death is scarier to me than the concept of dying in itself.

 

[PseudoUnipolar]

I hope that our mind just stops when we die. At least right now I would just want to rest after life. I find he thought that there's a point where my mistakes can't hunt me anymore quite soothing. I don't get why people want reincarnation, the concept kinda scares me tbh. What if your next life will be one the worst ones this earth can offer?
My other theory is that quantum immortality is real. I had near death experiences where I was like "I should've died", I even made up the concept in my mind before hearing the theory because of them, so I find it 100% believable, however I'm scared of this possibility too.

 

[albstr1403]

I want to believe in reincarnation.
In my next life i want to be reincarnated as a comfy house cat, or a cute attractive twink lmao.

 

[Placo]

If any one of us could at this moment be as one about to die, genuinely and honestly, we would understand the mystery of life, because death is the source of life; just as we see in nature when the leaves fall from a tree they mold and rot and this supplies humus from which more plants can grow; it's a cycle. But in every way symbolic and otherwise human beings try to stop that cycle, it is not therefore natural for us to wish to prolong life indefinitely, but we live in a culture where it has been rubbed into us in every conceivable way that to die is a terrible thing, and that is a tremendous disease from which our culture in particular suffers and we notice firstly in the way in which death is swept under the carpet. When one gets to an extreme, that is to say, to the point where you realize that there is nothing you can do about life, nothing you could not do about life then you're the mosquito abiding beyond boom. Well so in the same he said "look, you heard a bomb coming at you, you could hear it whistle, you knew it was right above you and headed straight at you and that you were finished. And you accepted it. And suddenly there was a strange feeling that everything is absolutely clear, you suddenly see that there isn't a grain of dust in the whole universe that's in the wrong place, did you understand completely, absolutely, totally what's all about as you can't say what it is".