I don't believe in the idea of non-existence

[Death is beautiful]

Hello everyone, I am an atheist and all the time I believed that after death we would fall into oblivion, I believed that we would not even realize that our attempt was successful and we died. However, now I stop believing it, it seems to me that not everything is so simple, I think it's because of my derealization. In any case, I liked to believe in non-existence after death, it was very comforting for me

 

[eternalmelancholy]

Before you were born you did not exist. Just think of dying as returning to your pre-existence rather than non-existence if that helps you. Dying is actually harder when you know this is it.

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

The brain doesn't produce consciousness, then? I think standard physicalism is the best guess so far, but idk.

 

[darkwater]

All these billions of years and right now I am here that makes no sense to me. Maybe we have already infinite existences behind us and infinite before us. I see the life as two states which alternate existence and non-existence.

I ask myself in the question what separates our consciousness from each other. The matter?
And why am I this particular matter and not you.

 

[BluesRunTheGame]

Perhaps we'll somehow live on in Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse

 

[Rational man]

The cosmos is mysterious. The cliff in my icon is 200 million years old. Compared to our lifespan, we are just the blink of an eye.

 

[deflationary]

I barely even identify with the "me" from 10 years ago. Or even 5. There's the shared history and memories but I'm not really subjectively the same person anymore. So there's not even a stable self while you're alive, just this body going around having experiences and creating illusions for itself. There's really nothing which could survive death. I'd give life after death less credence than solipsism or last Thursdayism.

 

[FuneralCry]

I do believe there is nothing after this. Of course it is impossible to comprehend what not existing is like, as existence is all we know. I think once we lose consciousness, that is it for us, we are gone. There will be no more suffering and I will be at true peace, peace that I cannot find in this life. I was perfectly fine not existing until I was forced to live.

 

[fox_wannabe]

Hello everyone, I am an atheist and all the time I believed that after death we would fall into oblivion, I believed that we would not even realize that our attempt was successful and we died. However, now I stop believing it, it seems to me that not everything is so simple, I think it's because of my derealization. In any case, I liked to believe in non-existence after death, it was very comforting for me

existence does not mean having body or suffering.
Also watch this if you have spare time:

Spoiler: for atheists

Atheistic interpretation of Buddhist view of afterlife and life in general is following:

Human is created by mixture of 4 elements, water, air, fire and ground. When body dies, the elements leave the body. Understanding that we are creation of elements leads to understanding that what we sense and what we are is impermanent creation of such elements. This leads to understanding that in fact there is no such thing as permanent self, which leads to liberation.

Buddhist atomism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I encourage to watch this very rooted to ground explanation of sense of self. It is based on scientific facts and very well presented by Susan Blackmore.

In Buddhism there ae so called bardo states- states after death.
Do not worry we can explain such states as simply brain hallucinations after we pass out or during we pass out. No need for paranormal explanations of these phenomena. In those Bardo states we can achieve nirvana -permanent dissolution of self = oblivion.

But I surely would be liberated from my bodily existence by any Buddhist scholar who would read this, because I am not one and I am not certified Buddhist teacher and I might be wrong lol

Spoiler: for spiritual or agnostic people

For people who believe we have soul/ exist after death as conscious entities. Whether you choose to believe It thanks to NDE research, previous life research, OBEs, your personal experience with plant medicine, ayauhasca or mushrooms, or any sort of tradition or body of knowledge. I will bestow upon you my interpretation of existence as it is and as I see it.
Ekhem
In my opinion:
We do not exist as single entities, and illusion that we are individual souls/egos/persons/identities, and that we are bound by karma or have to learn something (this whole new age "earth is a school" bullshit) is false.
If we are something we are not permanent and if we are not something we do not age, because how can nothing ever end or be destroyed. The illusion that we think we are something is just a product of our experiences. What are our experiences? Just things that pass in our awareness. The subjective experience is this illusion of separation between seeier, seen, and seeing. Lets think about It.

We can observe things, thus how can we be the things we observe?
How can I be sense of touch when I sense It? Thus It is not me. How can I be something outside of me?
How can I be any bodily sense? They all appear to me. Touch, taste smell, sight, hearing.
How can I be my body? I sense it and use It, but it is not me.
How can I be my thoughts? They all appear to me and are gone. I see them? How can I be something I can see?
How can I be thought "I am" or "I". I am not that thought.
I am also not a thought "I am not a thought"
Do you see?

Without that knowledge we are tempted to associate with form like body, soul, spirit no matter if that things are real or not. It is important to understand that If anything, our real identity is awareness and formlessness, without name, and any quality to It. Thanks to that emptiness awareness can be filled with sensations creating subjective experience. The cup can be beautiful but the empty space inside makes it useful.

Thus among atheist I am most spiritual one, and among spiritual people I am most atheistic. But I do not belong to any of those because how can I belong anywhere?
May this knowledge free you from illusion of self and from reincarnation.

Spoiler: in case death is not the end

Disclaimer: If anybody here comes this far and starts arguing about how it is not real or I am wrong because "MUH SCIENCE" and "we are the brains" and all that crap I promise I will ignore you. I do not want to argue about It becasue nothing good will come out of It. I have my reasons why I believe that and they are based on reaserch and observations. nderf.org, forever conscious research channel, r/reincarnationtruth,


If that is the case, which is suggested by NDEs and research of reincarnation
Check :

This is my worldview based on knowledge and accounts of NDEs, observations of the world, history, accounts of remote viewing and the process of death.
As well as things that helped me put this all together: Gnostic myth and teachings, Plato's cave allegory, r/ReincarnationTrurh, all accounts of NDEs, this video:



Do not agree to be reincarnated.
Do not trust any disembodied entity.
Do not trust anybody who says you need to learn something by reincarnating.
Do not go into the light even if it overwhelms you with love or you see your family in it, it is a trap.

For everybody who deals with the strange and forbidden, afterlife is just a part of the Matrix. I am gnostic. I do not believe that my being in a body is something normal and desirable. My life seams like prison, working, studying, and being brainwashed by media and entertainment from birth to death. Why would afterlife be exempt. Nothing is as it seams.

Why do people who say they see Jesus or Buddha in afterlife trust these visions? Why do they always do as they told? For me this is matrix. Literally and figuratively.


I have said too much and you may not understand, this is my personal opinion and I post it while knowing that I risk being mocked and laughed at by people, so If you see them do that do not join them because I do this to help you In case you want to try lurking behind the vail of death.

 

[existtosuffer]

Existence is just preserved jizz.

 

[fox_wannabe]

Existence is just preserved jizz.

lmao

 

[Rational man]

I do believe there is nothing after this. Of course it is impossible to comprehend what not existing is like, as existence is all we know. I think once we lose consciousness, that is it for us, we are gone. There will be no more suffering and I will be at true peace, peace that I cannot find in this life. I was perfectly fine not existing until I was forced to live.

' Forced.to live ' !!!!! Interesting♥...In the same way that human life is forced to die by illness, old age, etc.

 

[chocolatebar]

existence/non-existence is a really tough topic. If we think about complete non-existence, how could something come to exist in the first place?

however, when thinking about my existence, I have evidence that there are moments when this thing that I can only call "what feels to be me" stop existing, like when sleeping and it seems plausible to think that it will be gone when I die, even if something that constitutes me still exists

 

[Chockles]

I don't care anymore. I've spent months worrying about survival instinct, what lies beyond. The simple fact is there's either afterlife or there's nothingness. Either is better than current status of barely existing torturous hell. Nothing can be worse my only fear is receiving N with no issues, & getting it drunk quickly enough without falling asleep or puking. I have swallowing issues & digestive problems but if that all goes ok I will be over this crap.

 

[Raminiki]

I'm atheist and nihilistic (or perhaps absurdist), and logic would suggest inexistence before and after death is the way of things. However, I've experienced evidence of a sort of universal unconsciousness, a vague ability of one's (un)consciousness existing outside of oneself inasmuch as it can be 'read' by others. I've 'read' others and been 'read'. This frightens me, as it makes zero sense by the extent of modern science. Spirituality has a thousand pseudoexplanations about how it might be. None are proven but we all know extremely strange examples of abilities that can't be explained.

In the end, I've accepted I have no real choice other than to seize my own death or suffer the consequences of progressive mental illness and brain damage that will rob me of autonomy of self. If there's something more beyond death, if consciousness echoes into this inexplicable universal unconsciousness, I just pray it's no longer 'me' as I don't want to carry round the trauma of my existence beyond death as well as before it.

If there's a choice to join this collective unconsciousness or erase oneself from all data, I want the latter. Suffering is the only guarantee in life, that is how I must judge potential after death. I do not weigh the risk as worth it.

Thinking about the nothingness of pre-birth brings me a level of comfort, but it's overshadowed by potential past life memories, precognition about my life, and insane spiritual experiences during mania or meditation that expand the mind infinitely beyond what it's capable of normally processing. I've 'seen' things and 'done' things I dismiss with skepticism when I'm not in those states of mind. But those states of mind are part of me, part of my inexplicable experiences of something 'more'.

Something 'more' terrifies me far more than inexistence.

 

[forgotten15]

I am afraid there is no such thing as nothingness after death. I wish it were because I just want to dissappear and not know or feel anything. But honestly I do often get to a point where I don't even care what comes after death, all I want is just out of this world. I simply hate being here.

 

[chocolatebar]

I'm atheist and nihilistic (or perhaps absurdist), and logic would suggest inexistence before and after death is the way of things. However, I've experienced evidence of a sort of universal unconsciousness, a vague ability of one's (un)consciousness existing outside of oneself inasmuch as it can be 'read' by others. I've 'read' others and been 'read'. This frightens me, as it makes zero sense by the extent of modern science. Spirituality has a thousand pseudoexplanations about how it might be. None are proven but we all know extremely strange examples of abilities that can't be explained.

In the end, I've accepted I have no real choice other than to seize my own death or suffer the consequences of progressive mental illness and brain damage that will rob me of autonomy of self. If there's something more beyond death, if consciousness echoes into this inexplicable universal unconsciousness, I just pray it's no longer 'me' as I don't want to carry round the trauma of my existence beyond death as well as before it.

If there's a choice to join this collective unconsciousness or erase oneself from all data, I want the latter. Suffering is the only guarantee in life, that is how I must judge potential after death. I do not weigh the risk as worth it.

Thinking about the nothingness of pre-birth brings me a level of comfort, but it's overshadowed by potential past life memories, precognition about my life, and insane spiritual experiences during mania or meditation that expand the mind infinitely beyond what it's capable of normally processing. I've 'seen' things and 'done' things I dismiss with skepticism when I'm not in those states of mind. But those states of mind are part of me, part of my inexplicable experiences of something 'more'.

Something 'more' terrifies me far more than inexistence.

I'm intrigued. Can you talk a little more about the experience you had?

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

It seems to me very unlikely that there is an afterlife, but we cannot know for sure. In the end it doesn´t matter unless we would change our afterlife with our actions in this life. The old story of heaven and hell, probably invented by the authorities to control us in this world. When I decided to commit suicide it became important for me, to check the probability to end in a hell like those painted by Hieronymus Bosch. The result of my research is that I will take the risk.

By the way, we can help to to bring some light into the dark. A friend of me, she is very interested in everything regarding afterlife, asked me to give her a sign after my suicide. I promised to do my best. She wants something mystic, but I will try to send her the future winning lottery numbers.

 

[Raminiki]

I'm intrigued. Can you talk a little more about the experience you had?

It hasn't been one single defining experience that I could dismiss as coincidence, but a great many which each could be random, but together perhaps not. They're all vague enough that they can't be proven real, as is always the case with questionable spiritual experiences.

Preface to say I'm seriously mentally ill, and have gone off the rails aplenty, and am not a reliable author. But I have enough 'other' stuff going on that scares me out of absolute nihilism.

Met a medium when young who outed me for being suicidal, was entirely aware of it having just met me, and I hid this from my family and had done nothing to give it away.

This lady spoke with me several times and read all my secrets and inner world with plenty of specific details. Read all my trauma and personality, how I hid in my room and felt extremely lonely and friendless, when she knew nothing about me.

I've daydreamed characters and a paracosm as a form of escapism and inserted myself into it as a sort of roleplay, and the large scale events I invented ended up mirroring into reality in ways I couldn't control. Specific dates I'd dreamed up for imaginary events came up and actual events occurred outwith my direct control. People I imagined and invented, whose portraits I drew and who came up in my dreams were born into my family. They've grown into faces I've drawn.

One nephew has red and one blue as favourite colour and I put correct background colours to their prelife portraits. One is always on the left, the other on the right in family photos. I drew them side by side in the correct positions. Correct hair colour, similar facial structure.

Added a blonde haired girl to the imaginary family, from a different line to her brothers. She was later adopted in reality. Predicted my brother's first son, including his first name. Predicted the name of his second son. Without making these suggestions for naming in reality. Drew my partner, complete with frowny face and beard, before I met him.

Have a weird thing with specific numbers. Two numbers I pay attention to when they turn up in reality. I once put on a lottery to see if I could influence fate as a joke and my two specific numbers came up, just those two. Odd and silly, but other times I've seen my numbers crop up when I should pay attention.

During manias I have waking dreams, have invaded a dream of a friend and answered specific questions with knowledge I shouldn't have when tested.

Outwith the dreams I've 'read' said friend, told her secrets about herself and her knowledge I shouldn't have known. And she's done the same to me. Like a psychic link. Guessed the specific gemstone she was thinking of as one example. Brought up names I got out of nowhere that ended up being people she knew that I didn't. 'Met' characters from her imaginary world when thinking up ones for my own, same appearances, personalities etc.

Stories I've written have paralleled my real life. I write fantasy and mythology, the symbolism therein refers across to specific events that happen in my life. If you research into it, mytholgical figures such as dragons for example, occur across many civilisations unconnected to each other, suggesting an underlying unconsciousness people draw ideas from.

Dates I've imagined will be important in my life have become so. I imagined significant scenarios such as falling out with family, milestones with my partner, and traumatic incidents to the age I would be when they happened. They happened. Also know the age I should die, curious as to what horror might drive me to it that awaits me, and whether I will avoid self-fulfilling prophecy.

During a mania I had a vivid experience that brought back a repressed memory of a deceased family member and what he said to me, his instruction to stay in school and not quit like I was thinking. I thought I failed him as I dropped out after a major depressive episode. When this experience happened, I'd just succeeded in completing college after getting back into education, and it was so shocking that the memory came back, I 'knew' he was reminding me of what he said and saying he was proud of me. I broke down in sobs and felt seen by spirit, watched over.

The manias are the most intense. I go into a whole different level of consciousness and suffer a constant thoughtstream of images and symbolism that when I look it up and research the meaning of, tell specific stories as if the universal unconsciousness is communicating information to me. The symbolism includes things I draw from dreams and hypnagogia and hypnopompia, and reflects upon reality in bizarre ways.

The past life memory stuff relates to what the medium dragged out of me. Specifically that I'm repeating events I never overcame once before and have to repeat because I didn't learn my 'lessons'. This relates to my fantasy stories and characters, my drawings, happening in real life after I've recorded them in writing or art.

Also relates to my death because I 'remember' I killed myself before, and am at that point again. And afraid that if I do it again, I'm repeating the failure of two successive mirroring lives and doomed to continue in the cycle of suffering until I overcome it.

Mad, absolutely. And I have to pretend all of this is nothing in order to present any face of normality to people around me. My sister and brother don't know I drew their kids before their births and haven't seen the drawings.

 

[motel rooms]

Existence is just preserved jizz.

It's disgusting how jizz-centric everyone on here is. You people make me feel so dirty.

 

[Insomniac]

Hello everyone, I am an atheist and all the time I believed that after death we would fall into oblivion, I believed that we would not even realize that our attempt was successful and we died. However, now I stop believing it, it seems to me that not everything is so simple, I think it's because of my derealization. In any case, I liked to believe in non-existence after death, it was very comforting for me

this is what I have been saying. Most people don't remember their childhood ( 0-3yo) but it doesn't mean that we didn't suffer or have painful traumas. Babies cry all the time so they do suffer...

just because we don't remember what it was like before birth, doesn't mean there was nothing. and it doesn't mean there was peace either.

suffering probably transcends dimensions. yeah, believing in nothingness is deeply comforting. but nothingness always seem to be in the distant past or distant future (after death). In other words, things that we can't remember or conceive yet.

 

[eternalmelancholy]

just because we don't remember what it was like before birth, doesn't mean there was nothing. and it doesn't mean there was peace either.

Well our consciousness is our brain's perception of the world and of itself. Before we had this functioning body our consciousness simply did not exist.

Unless you believe in souls or reincarnation which is more along the lines of voodoo magic than observable science.

 

[Someone123]

Before you were born you did not exist. Just think of dying as returning to your pre-existence rather than non-existence if that helps you. Dying is actually harder when you know this is it.

I have seen a lot of nde - near death experience - videos that are pretty convincing that our soul lives on even once our body dies- and many of these were post by atheists/ people who didn't believe in an afterlife before. There have also been indications that many have lived before - some reincarnation experiences have seemed quite convincing. I don't know how all the pieces fit together but I do think that our souls live on in another place after our bodies die - hopefully it's a good place; most experiences say yes, some no

 

[eternalmelancholy]

I have seen a lot of nde - near death experience - videos that are pretty convincing that our soul lives on even once our body dies- and many of these were post by atheists/ people who didn't believe in an afterlife before. There have also been indications that many have lived before - some reincarnation experiences have seemed quite convincing. I don't know how all the pieces fit together but I do think that our souls live on in another place after our bodies die - hopefully it's a good place; most experiences say yes, some no

I've had a near death experience and it was exactly like anesthesia for surgery. Just a pure void. I don't believe those stories. When I go to sleep I dream some crazy shit. But that is not convincing evidence that some kind of parallel universe or dimension exists.

 

[Someone123]

I've had a near death experience and it was exactly like anesthesia for surgery. Just a pure void. I don't believe those stories. When I go to sleep I dream some crazy shit. But that is not convincing evidence that some kind of parallel universe or dimension exists.

Each person has their own perspective and experiences, but I have been amazed by stories of atheists seeing things they couldn't have seen unless they were outside their bodies. Even if you don't believe in an afterlife it may be possible that your soul will live on once your body dies - and most likely in a much happier existence than anyone gets in this world, based o9n what many people have experienced. I have seen a lot of nde videos on youtube that are pretty convincing to me- though some contradict each other, especially on the topic of religion, so who knows for sure.

 

[eternalmelancholy]

Each person has their own perspective and experiences, but I have been amazed by stories of atheists seeing things they couldn't have seen unless they were outside their bodies. Even if you don't believe in an afterlife it may be possible that your soul will live on once your body dies - and most likely in a much happier existence than anyone gets in this world, based o9n what many people have experienced. I have seen a lot of nde videos on youtube that are pretty convincing to me.

The problem is the side making the claim that something exists also have to provide the proof. It is not on the otherside to disprove the claims. Also I think it is a bit disingenuous to say each side has their own experiences when the overwhelming majority of people share the same experience of nothingness.

People are so desperate to reject the reality that this is it, our one and only chance at existence, they invent an after life to justify their meaningless suffering. That is why religion was formed. To prey on the fears of people and offer them false promises of a better life in exchange for total obedience.

 

[Someone123]

The problem is the side making the claim that something exists also have to provide the proof. It is not on the otherside to disprove the claims. Also I think it is a bit disingenuous to say each side has their own experiences when the overwhelming majority of people share the same experience of nothingness.

People are so desperate to reject the reality that this is it, our one and only chance at existence, they invent an after life to justify their meaningless suffering. That is why religion was formed. To prey on the fears of people and offer them false promises of a better life in exchange for total obedience.

There is a lot of truth and some interesting ideas in this, but the fact is that no one knows for sure. It can't be proven one way or the other in this world. But there does seem to be an extreme sincerity from people who had ndes who swear it was a much more real experience than any dream, at least that's how it seems to me.

 

[motel rooms]

There is a lot of truth and some interesting ideas in this, but the fact is that no one knows for sure. It can't be proven one way or the other in this world. But there does seem to be an extreme sincerity from people who had ndes who swear it was a much more real experience than any dream, at least that's how it seems to me.

Do acid or shrooms & you'll have a much more real experience than any dream as well

 

[eternalmelancholy]

There is a lot of truth and some interesting ideas in this, but the fact is that no one knows for sure. It can't be proven one way or the other in this world. But there does seem to be an extreme sincerity from people who had ndes who swear it was a much more real experience than any dream, at least that's how it seems to me.

Who am I to judge. If it helps them cope with living and dying then that's their choice. But preying on this fear of death to exploit people is what disgusts me about religion.

 

[marinekiwi]

Even if there is nothing more than pure void, i'd be happy with it.
In that void there is nothing, no pain, no anxious feelings of despair. Nothing. Eternal nothingness is way better than to live in a fucked up world.