Discussion Anyone hope that death ISN'T just nothing?

[ayanti]

I wish there was something after death; not exactly sure what. However, I would love for reincarnation to be real, I'd love to experience life again but this time, do it right.

 

[BoneWeary57]

Life, human or animal, is energy. Energy can't be destroyed, it can only change form so..what's next? I don't know, but I do know, that taking all religious/spiritual view points out of the discussion, we go somewhere.

 

[Campanella]

I used to be terrified of anything other than nothingness, the thought of me continuing to exist in any form always seemed deeply wrong, I shouldn't and never wanted to. At the same time I am a Christian and have came around to the vague idea of Heaven, distinctly for being vague and impossible to imagine; the typical ideals of it never appealed towards me, a person without a family or anyone to meet, and I have so little knowledge of the world I have little to want or look forward to either; but even if I can't imagine it I would like something peaceful, I haven't lived without some nature of abuse waiting for me, often daily, haven't been allowed to go out much besides clinics/hospitals, and haven't lived without the pain of my medical conditions -- I wish to find anything else, and some sort of moment without pain, tenseness and memories hounding me, it seems like Heaven could give me that chance if I could make it there. I only hope I won't have to remember my life in either case.

 

[Cress]

I get that most people think it's the most likely scenario, but does anyone else hope that there is more than an endless nothing after death?

I understand that maybe it wouldn't be worth risking, but the thing is that I am in this moment already suffering, and whether it's a void or something else I will end up there eventually.

In the relative space of the universe, it doesn't matter whether I die now or later because in the end it's the same result and the amount of time I felt I experienced would be the same (no time at all) if it's a void. A void means no suffering, but if there is an afterlife or reincarnation, going by NDEs, it also means there is no suffering...until the next life, of course.

I don't believe in any kind of hellish realm for various reasons.

I don't want this to be the end, but if this is to be my life I just don't want it. It feels too unreal and bad.

Something can also be just as terrifying as the current reality. Imagine your soul just plops out and you don't quite understand how to move around and your mental faculties are greatly diminished. You end up stuck in a small area with very little understanding of what's going on around you.

In some ways having there be "nothing" is a little bit more compassionate than having there be "something"?

 

[BlackMoon]

A part of me irrationally wish something like reincarnation, like a new chance to have a better start in life in a better era but I know it's dumb and useless.

 

[fatladysings]

I just cant believe in an afterlife or reincarnation. Why would anyone choose to reincarnate in Africa, particularly as a female? In Africa there are millions of little girls who have undergone FGM and have been held down by family members whilst their genitals are sliced open, with no anaesthetic. Who is going to hang around in heaven, preparing to reincarnate, and saying to themselves "yeah I am going to leave paradise and shoot on down to planet earth and have my genitals cut off with a piece of broken glass so that I can live a life of constant pain from the age of six onwards"?

And what about all those kids you see on TV with cleft palates who are born in Third World countries and who live a life of, again, constant pain plus being rejected by society because of their appearance. And all of the above is before you even get around to the mind-numbing poverty, the water teeming with pathogenic bacteria, the dysentery and cholera, the famines and starvation, etc. Who the heck is going to voluntarily leave heaven to come and spend forty years in Africa?

I just don't believe they would have any takers for a life spent in Africa.

I also am the product of two alcoholic parents and it has left me with schizoaffective disorder (schizophrenia combined with bipolar disease) and frankly I would never have chosen to be born into the family I'm in. My dad is dead now but I loved him very much, and I love my mum so much that I'm staying alive until she dies, but I still would never have chosen to be born into this family.

 

[soonatpeace777888]

They exact opposite. Complete nothingness is all I want.

 

[CantDoIt]

Something can also be just as terrifying as the current reality. Imagine your soul just plops out and you don't quite understand how to move around and your mental faculties are greatly diminished. You end up stuck in a small area with very little understanding of what's going on around you.

In some ways having there be "nothing" is a little bit more compassionate than having there be "something"?

Definitely in some cases / ways

 

[pinkywinkydinky]

I do! I hold hope that it's somewhere I'm happy for once. As long as I'm okay and not alone, I don't care what it is. I think I'm banking on being able to fix my mistakes or having what I've always wanted for once

For anything spiritual, I've always believed that your truth is your reality. What god or rules or whatever you believe in is the one that applies to your life. If I believe in an afterlife enough, I'm praying I end up there

What's interesting is that I've never once believed in the afterlife because the thought of existing even more haunted me. It changed, however, once I finally felt happy. Even though it wasn't enough to keep me here, as I'm planning on going Sep 1st, I don't want to let go of this feeling and I want it back in the afterlife. The fear of losing it and everyone I know permanently scared me into wishing there was something, especially something where my happiness is guaranteed.

This was a good life, even if the good came a little too late. I don't want to forget it, I hope I remember it and am able to have a second chance on living

 

[CantDoIt]

I do! I hold hope that it's somewhere I'm happy for once. As long as I'm okay and not alone, I don't care what it is. I think I'm banking on being able to fix my mistakes or having what I've always wanted for once

For anything spiritual, I've always believed that your truth is your reality. What god or rules or whatever you believe in is the one that applies to your life. If I believe in an afterlife enough, I'm praying I end up there

What's interesting is that I've never once believed in the afterlife because the thought of existing even more haunted me. It changed, however, once I finally felt happy. Even though it wasn't enough to keep me here, as I'm planning on going Sep 1st, I don't want to let go of this feeling and I want it back in the afterlife. The fear of losing it and everyone I know permanently scared me into wishing there was something, especially something where my happiness is guaranteed.

This was a good life, even if the good came a little too late. I don't want to forget it, I hope I remember it and am able to have a second chance on living

Thanks for your answer! I feel close to what you're feeling. I am going to try and manifest something by believing it as strongly as possible.

I'm glad you were able to feel happiness and that happiness brought you closer to somewhere in which existence would be ideal for you.

 

[pinkywinkydinky]

Thanks for your answer! I feel close to what you're feeling. I am going to try and manifest something by believing it as strongly as possible.

I'm glad you were able to feel happiness and that happiness brought you closer to somewhere in which existence would be ideal for you.

Wishing the best for you :]

 

[Kadaver]

If I could pick I think I would pick to just relive all my happiest memories over and over.

Ive always felt like happy times were very fleeting. It would be so perfect to just live in a time-loop of sorts where I just skip all the bad and only see the good

 

[whydidthishappen]

There are things about life that I enjoy/ed. I would like to have a peaceful, normal, enjoyable life instead of a life where I made all the wrong decisions and had 5 mental illnesses and the world maybe hadn't gone to shit.

Or, if there's an afterlife, I would like to understand what it's like to be one with everything or to be healed for some time.

Was gonna ask what happened.

Same.

Same, same. Same.

 

[uncat_]

i personally do believe in an afterlife. but not the sort of heaven or hell in a lot of "religious" texts. thats a dumbed down/mistranslated version of the afterlife.

i think we'll all be met with love and a lot of grace, and those who die by suicide are given a lot of empathy due to their circumstance and pain.

this is what i believe as a baha'i and from listening to countless near-death experiences. i dont think it will be nothing —even though that sounds amazing, but i dont think itll be as bad as you think.

 

[trs]

Life, human or animal, is energy. Energy can't be destroyed, it can only change form so..what's next? I don't know, but I do know, that taking all religious/spiritual view points out of the discussion, we go somewhere.

And we have a winner, very good my friend.
And remember, everything is energy both "living" and "non-living" (for lack of having a more appropriate term). As long as it is matter, it is also energy, and also changes form, and also has its origin beyond the veil. (And that's not even getting into hidden dark matter/energy). What we perceive in the 3d appears to only be the tiniest fraction of what energetically exists within all planes.
Some people have even described from shamanic journeys, near death experiences, etc. as spending brief periods experiencing consciousness as a stone and what have you. And the earth itself is a conscious being.
So much we will remember and experience once we've moved on again.

 

[korra]

idc all we are is a walking bags of meat

 

[fleetingnight]

Kind of. I don't like existing, but I think it's mostly existing in these circumstances. I can't wrap my head around how it would be to not exist, so the idea of it scares me most of the time

 

[pinkywinkydinky]

i personally do believe in an afterlife. but not the sort of heaven or hell in a lot of "religious" texts. thats a dumbed down/mistranslated version of the afterlife.

i think we'll all be met with love and a lot of grace, and those who die by suicide are given a lot of empathy due to their circumstance and pain.

this is what i believe as a baha'i and from listening to countless near-death experiences. i dont think it will be nothing —even though that sounds amazing, but i dont think itll be as bad as you think.

The suicide empathy part I also believe in! Because after so much pain I really hope everyone gets their peace

 

[CantDoIt]

i personally do believe in an afterlife. but not the sort of heaven or hell in a lot of "religious" texts. thats a dumbed down/mistranslated version of the afterlife.

i think we'll all be met with love and a lot of grace, and those who die by suicide are given a lot of empathy due to their circumstance and pain.

this is what i believe as a baha'i and from listening to countless near-death experiences. i dont think it will be nothing —even though that sounds amazing, but i dont think itll be as bad as you think.

Thanks for the thoughtful response. I realize that what a lot of people want is "nothing", but a suicide victim met with empathy sounds great. Only unbearable mental or physical pain brings one to that place.

Kind of. I don't like existing, but I think it's mostly existing in these circumstances. I can't wrap my head around how it would be to not exist, so the idea of it scares me most of the time

Same, I'm scared by the idea but you can't experience pain if you don't exist. In these terms, it would have to be preferable to existence by default.

 

[rebelnow111]

I get that most people think it's the most likely scenario, but does anyone else hope that there is more than an endless nothing after death?

I understand that maybe it wouldn't be worth risking, but the thing is that I am in this moment already suffering, and whether it's a void or something else I will end up there eventually.

In the relative space of the universe, it doesn't matter whether I die now or later because in the end it's the same result and the amount of time I felt I experienced would be the same (no time at all) if it's a void. A void means no suffering, but if there is an afterlife or reincarnation, going by NDEs, it also means there is no suffering...until the next life, of course.

I don't believe in any kind of hellish realm for various reasons.

I don't want this to be the end, but if this is to be my life I just don't want it. It feels too unreal and bad.

me i feel the same i think after death will be better

 

[whiteboyswithars]

I want to talk with my dead friends, and if I can't do that I wouldn't mind reincarnation

 

[Ffaxanadu]

I get that most people think it's the most likely scenario, but does anyone else hope that there is more than an endless nothing after death?
[...]

Well, I believe that after my death my conscience is lost, because I believe it is linked to the brain contained in this body.

But I like to think, to hope, that there is an immortal soul that can reincarnate itself, preferably on other planets, in different civilizations.

 

[CantDoIt]

Well, I believe that after my death my conscience is lost, because I believe it is linked to the brain contained in this body.

But I like to think, to hope, that there is an immortal soul that can reincarnate itself, preferably on other planets, in different civilizations.

Yeah, I sort of have a similar thought! I base my thoughts on the NDEs I've read.

 

[Ffaxanadu]

Yeah, I sort of have a similar thought! I base my thoughts on the NDEs I've read.

I've had near-death experiences that make me hope for the existence of the soul, but I'm afraid they're "jokes" of the brain it invents when it's about to shut down. Who knows!

 

[Ariii]

The afterlife for me ideally would just be floating around as a ghost and then after a little bit disappearing forever. I kind of have this weird fantasy of just being able to explore ppl's houses and other buildings and going outside at night. Though I don't want to do that forever. Maybe a month or so of being a ghost then dropping of the face of existence

 

[CantDoIt]

I've had near-death experiences that make me hope for the existence of the soul, but I'm afraid they're "jokes" of the brain it invents when it's about to shut down. Who knows!

Hate the idea of could be a joke....I hope it's real, sometimes life seems so pointless for some people and it's just unfair

The afterlife for me ideally would just be floating around as a ghost and then after a little bit disappearing forever. I kind of have this weird fantasy of just being able to explore ppl's houses and other buildings and going outside at night. Though I don't want to do that forever. Maybe a month or so of being a ghost then dropping of the face of existence

I like this one, it feels very sandboxy and simple

The afterlife for me ideally would just be floating around as a ghost and then after a little bit disappearing forever. I kind of have this weird fantasy of just being able to explore ppl's houses and other buildings and going outside at night. Though I don't want to do that forever. Maybe a month or so of being a ghost then dropping of the face of existence

I like this one, it feels very sandboxy and simple

 

[divinemistress36]

If there is an afterlife then I hope we can all meet up and talk about how ridiculous being a human was

 

[CantDoIt]

If there is an afterlife then I hope we can all meet up and talk about how ridiculous being a human was

I'll definitely be doing this if so, haha. But knowing me I'll try to get right back in.

 

[divinemistress36]

I'll definitely be doing this if so, haha. But knowing me I'll try to get right back in.

Damn reincarnation

 

[hibikikyuxx]

I'm not religious but that doesn't mean that I'm against the idea of an afterlife. We need to keep in mind that our brains are very limited and unable to comprehend many things, like the sheer size of the universe, distances in space, higher dimensions, infinity, the list goes on. The way I see it, the universe is fundamentally incomprehensible for human minds.

I'm just gonna copy this in: "The "observable universe" (the bit we can actually see) has a radius of about 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles. That's 27 zeroes. The radius of Earth is 4,000 miles. So the observable universe is roughly 750,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times bigger."

It sounds ridiculous as fuck, no? Not to mention that it is estimated that there are between 200 billion to 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. Compared to the universe as a whole, earth is nothing more than one of the many billions, trillions grain of sands. We haven't even started life on another planet yet, how could we possibly know how the universe works?

The afterlife is whatever you make of it or whatever you believe it is. There isn't a definitive answer. That's why near death experiences vary from person to person.