Any ideas of how to escape potential spiritual fallout from CTB?

[excinephile]

If you're a firm believer in any kind of blissfull afterlife or eternal void/nothingness I'm happy for you and you can stop reading here.

This is for those more on the fence when it comes to these issues. I'm not convinced at all that consciousness stops alltogether after death and I intuit some kind of continuity between our mental states in life and in the hereafter. That said I'm not convinced by any of the common religious or spiritual conceptions of this whole buisness. My best guess is that some version of analytic idealism could be true - meaning that we are dissociated alters of a single unified consciousness and rejoin it after death. But I still feel that the way how we exit life may have some kind of bearing on the way how we continue existing. Many of us have been driven to the brink of suicide by tragic life events or unfortunate conditions. That makes it somewhat difficult if not outright impossible for us to leave in a spiritually balanced way. I ruminate about this a lot and ask myself if there might be still any possibility for us to mitigate the potentially bad spiritual fallout resultikg from the act of self annihilation. Maybe there are some rituals or affirmations we could bear in our heart while leaving without pledging alliance to any specific dogma or doctrine?

 

[CantDoIt]

Good question. I dont believe exactly what you do but there are aspects of my belief which overlap with yours.
For example, i believe that we are all souls broken up from the universal consciousness in order to experience life here. However, I don't really believe distress can carry on for any significant length of time after we die. Instead, I believe we are wiped clean of negative earth emotions after going through a life review or something similar. I am basing this on NDEs.

However, it is said that people can create a negative reality for themselves for some amount of time while in the in between phase. In this case, you can call for help and will be rescued.

In addition, going with your view. You are eternal and you are great, because you are a piece of the collective. The universe is all powerful and all knowing and you are the universe observing itself. You are only limited by the human body and understanding of consciousness.
Because of this, will the type of continuation that you need.

The danger in negative manifestation after death is that you are all powerful and you can create negative experiences. Knowing this, as an alter of the collective, remind yourself that you cannot be trapped by negative individuality after you have already rejoined.

Maybe you can will this before death and while dying. You can repeat it as sort of a mantra or something.

 

[Themogger]

All our ahh going to hell . Or maybe we're already there. I'm gonna shut up now

 

[Forever Sleep]

Maybe that's true but then presumably, to end up where we are now- perhaps we've already taken our lives in previous existences. All I can think of to break the cycle- if we truly are damned for committing suicide- is to not do it! Will that be enough to redeem us though? Do you care that much about the next incarnation of you? Do you think they'll be similar to your current 'you' at all?

Let's say you did commit suicide in a previous life. How would you feel about that previous incarnation? Would you think they were weak and pathetic? Would you curse them for setting you upon this cycle of self destruction? Or, would you feel compassion for them? Why did they do it? Why were they given more than they could handle?

Let's go right back to the first incarnation that took their own life. What were they being punished for? If a difficult life is the punishment for a bad past life or, screwing up in this one, just what could they have done that was so bad to warrant that? And, why are you now being punished for all that?!! Just seems weird and terribly unfair to me. Especially considering, most of us don't even remember how we screwed up in previous lives. How does that help us to better ourselves? Maybe it is what happens but if so, it's a truly weird set up.

I'm similar to you in that I'm on the fence about all this stuff. I wish I did have firm beliefs or- non beliefs actually. I wish I was a confident atheist. I worry about any kind of religion or spiritualism being true because- look at the state of this world! I don't fancy another try anywhere else.

I guess I try to combat all of this with logic. Although, it doesn't entirely help. Religions or rules don't actually have to be logical or fair. But still, I can't help but wonder what the point of it all is. What's the point of putting people through a series of mortal lives? To test them? To teach them? To prepare them? For what? What could we be aiming for? Why punish people? Again, what the hell are we supposed to be learning from all this? It just doesn't make any sense. But then, I suppose the religious folk will just say we're too imperfect and inferior to understand and it's not for us to question God or whoever's will.

Does fear of an afterlife scare you more than the process of death itself? For me, the possible fear and pain surrounding death still frightens me more but it's just something else to worry about.

 

[excinephile]

Good question. I dont believe exactly what you do but there are aspects of my belief which overlap with yours.
For example, i believe that we are all souls broken up from the universal consciousness in order to experience life here. However, I don't really believe distress can carry on for any significant length of time after we die. Instead, I believe we are wiped clean of negative earth emotions after going through a life review or something similar. I am basing this on NDEs.

However, it is said that people can create a negative reality for themselves for some amount of time while in the in between phase. In this case, you can call for help and will be rescued.

In addition, going with your view. You are eternal and you are great, because you are a piece of the collective. The universe is all powerful and all knowing and you are the universe observing itself. You are only limited by the human body and understanding of consciousness.
Because of this, will the type of continuation that you need.

The danger in negative manifestation after death is that you are all powerful and you can create negative experiences. Knowing this, as an alter of the collective, remind yourself that you cannot be trapped by negative individuality after you have already rejoined.

Maybe you can will this before death and while dying. You can repeat it as sort of a mantra or something.

Thank you, sounds plausible.

Maybe that's true but then presumably, to end up where we are now- perhaps we've already taken our lives in previous existences. All I can think of to break the cycle- if we truly are damned for committing suicide- is to not do it! Will that be enough to redeem us though? Do you care that much about the next incarnation of you? Do you think they'll be similar to your current 'you' at all?

Let's say you did commit suicide in a previous life. How would you feel about that previous incarnation? Would you think they were weak and pathetic? Would you curse them for setting you upon this cycle of self destruction? Or, would you feel compassion for them? Why did they do it? Why were they given more than they could handle?

Let's go right back to the first incarnation that took their own life. What were they being punished for? If a difficult life is the punishment for a bad past life or, screwing up in this one, just what could they have done that was so bad to warrant that? And, why are you now being punished for all that?!! Just seems weird and terribly unfair to me. Especially considering, most of us don't even remember how we screwed up in previous lives. How does that help us to better ourselves? Maybe it is what happens but if so, it's a truly weird set up.

I'm similar to you in that I'm on the fence about all this stuff. I wish I did have firm beliefs or- non beliefs actually. I wish I was a confident atheist. I worry about any kind of religion or spiritualism being true because- look at the state of this world! I don't fancy another try anywhere else.

I guess I try to combat all of this with logic. Although, it doesn't entirely help. Religions or rules don't actually have to be logical or fair. But still, I can't help but wonder what the point of it all is. What's the point of putting people through a series of mortal lives? To test them? To teach them? To prepare them? For what? What could we be aiming for? Why punish people? Again, what the hell are we supposed to be learning from all this? It just doesn't make any sense. But then, I suppose the religious folk will just say we're too imperfect and inferior to understand and it's not for us to question God or whoever's will.

Does fear of an afterlife scare you more than the process of death itself? For me, the possible fear and pain surrounding death still frightens me more but it's just something else to worry about.

You sum up pretty well why I'm not comfortable with any religion or spiritual doctrine. None of them plausibly explain why the fuck we have to go through this earthly nonsense, especially if it's marked by unimaginable, meaningless suffering that just can't be chalked up to "learning", except if we assume that "learning" also implies having to go through unimaginable meaningless suffering... but then again, to what end, to be gods somewhere else.

As it stands the most plausible picture - biased by my unimaginable suffering - is that we experience good things to have them ripped away from us.

Our best bet probably is on some kind of grander scheme of things human beings just cannot comprehend and that may end up not totally detrimental to our poor souls.

And yes, I think that afterlife worries are the main thing standing between me and my self inflicted death by now. I have every fucking reason to pull the plug on myself.

 

[Kali_Yuga13]

My best guess is that some version of analytic idealism could be true - meaning that we are dissociated alters of a single unified consciousness and rejoin it after death.

I like the way you worded this. One of my fears of ctb is that I'll awake on the other side with the thought that I have made yet another mistake.

 

[excinephile]

I like the way you worded this. One of my fears of ctb is that I'll awake on the other side with the thought that I have made yet another mistake.

Yeah, this is the shittiest feeling of them all.