I really feel the pain of telling others you're fine when you're absolutely not. Sometimes I think I would be a great actor because of how much I pretend around others. 8 years and going. I quickly learned that telling others about your pain often just makes it worse for yourself and leaves the person with a sense of anxiety/guilt which is bad for them as well. I lost count of how many times I've smiled to another person's face while desperately trying to hold back tears. Telling people we're fine is the best we can do.
I also don't worry about what comes after death because I'm satisfied with how I've lived my life with my mental disorders and situation. I've fought as hard as I could for years, but haven't even come close to winning this battle and I know I never will. I have called out to God many times but sadly never got any kind of answer or change in my life. My own strength and ability isn't enough to win. Therefore, I don't fear what comes after. If its truly nothingness, then life never mattered and suicide allowed me to avoid more pain. If there is a God or afterlife (which I believe), then I believe that God will understand the horrible suffering I've been through and won't punish me eternally for killing myself. Not to sound prideful of course; I know I have sinned many times in my life and am far from perfect. But if that God is loving at all (I think He is), I truly don't believe I'll suffer eternally for what I've done. I have already suffered enough on this earth :(
As much as I respect Stephen Hawking, he didn't know this any more than you do. Posting your personal beliefs (or repeating someone else's) about the afterlife or the lack of it as pure fact isn't helpful in the slightest.
It's imposable for us to know what happens after death. To say there is no after life is as foolish as to say there is an after life. We simply do not know. We don't even know what consciousness is, sure we have some speculations, but there just speculation.
Yes, this is the fallacy of appealing to authority.
He died not long ago. Normally someone with his condition lives about 4 years, but he managed to survive 40 years with it. Not sure how.
I'm not contradicting you, nor am I interested in arguing a subject that neither side has any evidence for or against. I'm simply saying I don't know, neither do you, and neither did Hawking, brilliant as he was. Stating one opinion as pure fact while lowkey ridiculing the other is beyond pointless, that was my only point.
Sorry, but this is just an assertion. You don't know this.
We can't prove consciousness at all. Heck we can't even define the word. There is no way to know if someone or something is even conscious. You can't even know if you were conscious an hour ago. Claiming when you die consciousness also dies is just as much a speculation as saying consciousness survives.
www.nature.com
I share this feeling too. And we will. We are all find happiness. It can't be otherwise ;'3
As has been hotly debated in previous responses, we have no idea what follows this life, and it's impossible to prove. It may be that this is the only life you get. If the chance to live out a happy life is of ultimate importance to you, then you may want to consider doing all you can with this one. I'd hate for you to put your faith and hope in another life that may never come.
