Discussion Do you want your consciousness to survive postmortem?

[jar-baby]

Yes, scientific consensus says that your brain gives rise to consciousness which means that when you die, you'll no longer be conscious. But beliefs in reincarnation and the afterlife exist.

Regardless of what you think actually happens after you die, what do you wish would happen?

Do you want your consciousness to disappear— to return to the oblivion that preceded your birth? Or something else— maybe you'd like there to be a heaven to go. Or you'd want to be reincarnated as a human/animal, or to become a ghost. And why do you want what you do?

[edit: choosing yes here would mean choosing the ideal destination for your consciousness. Whether that's heaven or reincarnation as someone with a perfect life, or something else. choosing no means choosing nonexistence/oblivion]

 

[Girlfriend]

Idk what exactly will happen to our "souls", if anything…
I just would not want to know what happens after. I don't want to see people hurt and a weirdly selfish part of me doesn't want to know how quickly people move on and are finished grieving my passing. In reality I hope everyone is inevitably fine and moves on. I hope my bf finds someone new and is able to love them better than I was able to be loved. I hope my parents and sister are able to continue being happy. I just wouldn't want to know.

 

[Rational man]

No one really knows but I believe our identity ceases at death. Of course, humankind cannot cope with the notion of death so we invent omnipresent gods, who reside in the heavens. We fear death so much to the point where we carry guilt and and fear about the afterlife, of punishment. But death is coming to all of us in the end so why worry. I see humankind as impermanent, say like natures experiment of all species.

 

[AllFoxedOut]

homie my consciousness is 90% of the reason I even wish to be mortem. no thanks.

 

[chris1979]

I would love to continue after death but in a better place without suffering.

 

[Larysa]

Jesus christ, no. I can't think of anything worse. If I'm out, I'm out.

 

[FuneralCry]

Never, I just want it to be erased, having the ability to be conscious is such a torturous burden, it's unnecessary and just leads to suffering. Only nothingness is ideal where all is forgotten about, I only wish to be unaware for all eternity, to me that is true peace.

 

[Tokugawa_Yoshinobu]

I mean... if this theoretical scenario means that my consciousness would still exist but without the burden of life currently I wouldn't mind. It's just very unbearable to keep on living for me.

 

[Eudaimonic]

I think I'd like my consciousness to be extinguished, because I'm tired of existing. I want to fade into oblivion.

Never, I just want it to be erased, having the ability to be conscious is such a torturous burden, it's unnecessary and just leads to suffering. Only nothingness is ideal where all is forgotten about, I only wish to be unaware for all eternity, to me that is true peace.

In a blissful afterlife, it wouldn't be torturous or burdensome for any. And yet, I still can't bring myself to desire that over simply ceasing to be.

 

[ChronicallyCynical]

I mostly want to say no, because that'd just make things worse unless reincarnation were also available and you forgot all your trauma from your past life and had a stab at living a life where you get a better start. I wouldn't mind if part of me survived if it went without suffering. It's the suffering that's the problem.

 

[LaVieEnRose]

I can't focus on what I *want*. I have to focus on what "*is*.

 

[passivethought121]

No. I'd be real pissed if I tried to stop my thoughts the most successful way possible, only to still think.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I used to want to go to heaven and be reunited with all my dead family members. There's still a part of me that would love to see them again. But then- when I really think about it- what on earth would we do with eternity? What if they're disappointed in me? Do I really want to go through all of that?!!

Assuming enough of us survives that we still recognise ourselves- won't that be all the negative stuff too? It's hard to imagine a consciousness that is free from worry and other negative feelings/ thoughts. Honestly- I think I'd rather be shot of all that. I definitely don't fancy reincarnation and I don't fancy an eternity anywhere- unless I suppose we don't experience time the same.

I guess my ideal would be a brief reunion. Hugs all round. I could tell my family and loved ones how much I loved them. How much they meant to me. Then- nothingness would be good.

I can't focus on what I *want*. I have to focus on what "*is*.

Are you sure of what *is* though? I actually wish I had a rock solid belief either way.

 

[Diesel_Punk]

Definitely not. Throughout the billions of years up until I was "blessed" with a consciousness I did not experience pain, suffering, guilt, depression, angedonia or lethargy at all. I really want to return to that state of a blissful void.

 

[toofargone6969]

I would like heaven to be real so I can be with my dog that just passed yesterday. But realistically I know that won't happen. I do wish it was real though. I can't believe she's gone. I hope to be gone soon too.

 

[Girlfriend]

I would like heaven to be real so I can be with my dog that just passed yesterday. But realistically I know that won't happen. I do wish it was real though. I can't believe she's gone. I hope to be gone soon too.

You will be with her forever cosmically. Not to sound woowoo but there are parts of us that never leave and will continue to exist even if our consciousness is gone.

Whether or not you've passed along with her, she exists in the same universe and are both completely random amalgamations of star dust and and bacteria. It was a truly wonderful miracle that the two of you were able to meet to begin with. An inch difference here and there within space billions of years ago and … none of this might have happened.

 

[Minsu]

Yes, I want afterlife but only if there's no suffering and pain there. Otherwise not

 

[S_IsMyUsername]

If I don't have to take my depression with me, definitely yes. I would get some popcorn and watch the world gradually wipe itself out.

 

[DepressoExpresso19]

yeah would be nice if there was a heaven of some kind a place where you can exist thats without pain or suffering. Or if it was some kind of lucid dream like state that would also be cool as when I sleep I often have pretty wacky dreams and thats a nice escape for me personally.

 

[rainseahorse]

heaven/afterlife is just a foreign concept because i was not raised that way. the only way i think it could happen would be for a computer to be advanced enough to copy paste my brain. but then it'd be pretty torturous to be bored out of my mind, hope i can get my own off switch that can't be messed around with.

 

[Aizwrath]

If there's a heaven, I would very much like to go there. Who wouldn't want this suffering to be worth something in the end?

 

[jar-baby]

Assuming enough of us survives that we still recognise ourselves- won't that be all the negative stuff too? It's hard to imagine a consciousness that is free from worry and other negative feelings/ thoughts. Honestly- I think I'd rather be shot of all that. I definitely don't fancy reincarnation and I don't fancy an eternity anywhere- unless I suppose we don't experience time the same.

I guess my ideal would be a brief reunion. Hugs all round. I could tell my family and loved ones how much I loved them. How much they meant to me. Then- nothingness would be good.

I was raised in a religious environment and that's a problem I've had with the general understanding of heaven. If we were all blissful all the time we wouldn't be ourselves anymore— our consciousnesses would've had to have been altered beyond recognition.

Your ideal sounds perfect to me too. Eternal consciousness would be hell.

 

[toofargone6969]

You will be with her forever cosmically. Not to sound woowoo but there are parts of us that never leave and will continue to exist even if our consciousness is gone.

Whether or not you've passed along with her, she exists in the same universe and are both completely random amalgamations of star dust and and bacteria. It was a truly wonderful miracle that the two of you were able to meet to begin with. An inch difference here and there within space billions of years ago and … none of this might have happened.

Thank you so much for saying that. It brought tears to my eyes. That's truly beautiful and I believe it to be true. She was my soulmate.

 

[jbear824]

If my consciousness continues to exist, WITHOUT the mental illness, I might be okay with that. There is so much I want to see of human history, I would like to observe it in some way. But if my consciousness continues with all the issues I have in life, then no, fuck that lol.

 

[alexit]

No, if I wanted that. I'd fight to stay alive.

 

[Scribbilamarks]

I honestly want my conciousness to just dissapear. I want to CTB to make all the endless constant pain go away, and if my conciousness is still around, Ill still be feeling that pain. What would the point?

 

[not_telling]

Really the reasons I'd like to go mostly resolve around failure and future, but if once I'm gone I can still think, I think I'd just ctb right this instant. I hate the things that run through my mind all the time, but the thought of there being "nothing" in place of all that is too scary, maybe because it's something I can't really picture all that well, the absolute nothingness. Even if my conscious were to exist in a sense deprived place with nothing to contemplate other than itself, I still think that would be preferable to me over non-existence. I think. Anyway, that's just a wish, I don't think such a thing could exist really.

 

[Captive_Mind515]

I would be interested in knowing how much my consciousness weighs compared to say my heart for example. (I do tend to have a lot on my mind)

I'm not sure what type of scales they would use during the postmortem? Hopefully they just put it all back in the right place when they're done poking around in there...

 

[jar-baby]

Really the reasons I'd like to go mostly resolve around failure and future, but if once I'm gone I can still think, I think I'd just ctb right this instant. I hate the things that run through my mind all the time, but the thought of there being "nothing" in place of all that is too scary, maybe because it's something I can't really picture all that well, the absolute nothingness. Even if my conscious were to exist in a sense deprived place with nothing to contemplate other than itself, I still think that would be preferable to me over non-existence. I think. Anyway, that's just a wish, I don't think such a thing could exist really.

That's understandable. Nonexistence is incomprehensible and it's natural to fear the unknown.

 

[SVEN]

I guess I'll just have to take what I get rather than what I'd like … Bit like my present existence, really.