Discussion Keep an open mind.

[NitriteAnatomy]

Probably the wrong portion of this site to be posting this and the discussion tab seemed apt. I just posted this video link up, in response to a thread discussing how religion/religious beliefs are frightening to an individual and their wanting to CTB. On a personal level, I've found it a comforting message, even if only written by a sci-fi author as a short story originally. The message it conveys may be able to bring some form of comfort or relief to any of you and I hope it does.

Perhaps, it'll be the right step into assisting someone to not be as afraid of their decisions as they currently are or maybe it'll just brighten someone's day. I don't know and can't say for sure. But, I digress, here it is.

 

[notjustyetagain]

this was previously posted in the "afterlife and related discussion" thread by user @Im2high4this. some pointless musings...

it's too solipsistic for my (non)sensibilities, and it doesn't provide a satisfactory explanation of e.g. being born as the hundreds of millions of children who die before the age of 1... as just one example of egregious, futile suffering. that and the billions of other examples of egregious, futile suffering are what lead me to view this model as the gravest possible threat, at the very opposite end of "comfort" of any kind. i suppose it's no more (or less) torturous than non-reincarnation models; the amount of suffering is the same, just spread out through less souls... one.

but "the optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears this is true"? and who am i to say that the purpose of life isn't suffering? it certainly seems to be, though the "god" in this model doesn't seem to reflect this.

this also seems anthropocentric. or can i be born as nonhuman life under this model? if so, am i also every extant bacterium? virus? plant? RNA precursor? self-replicating crystal lattice? where is the line for "living" drawn? or is it just homo sapiens -- no erectus? if so, how (and why?!) was my most distant common ancestor ensouled? and, as always, what happens to my soul in rogue, dissociative states? anyway, isn't there something obscene about being both jesus and his crucifiers? talk about self-harm!

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[NitriteAnatomy]

Who said this was meant to be the answer to everything, when I've already made it clear why I posted it. Copy paste from what I said in my original post, in case it was missed, since it seems everyone is focused more on what the video entails, than what I wanted to convey.

The message it conveys may be able to bring some form of comfort or relief to any of you and I hope it does.

Perhaps, it'll be the right step into assisting someone to not be as afraid of their decisions as they currently are or maybe it'll just brighten someone's day.

Nowhere did I state that this answers life's questions. Nowhere did I state I believe in a man on a cloud. Nowhere did I state that I believe we're the man on the cloud. A lot of people are afraid to die, even those of us that want to CTB badly. Is it wrong to make an attempt to comfort others, so that they can not feel so scared? Maybe this will help people that were afraid for whatever reason, yet everyone wants to focus on the 'hurr hurr, we gawd' aspect. It's called reading between the lines and just because WE may not believe in what the video says we are, does NOT mean that it can't be believed by another. If that is what brings them some tiny bit of peace, then awesome.

Basically, stop focusing so much on what the video implies and see that I had meant the post to help others confront/be comforted against their fears.