Now I'm afraid of Hell and what is in store for me when I die.

[Judy Garland]

I can't get this out of my head. I can't unsee what I've read from @Insomniac 's post. I'm not sure if you all saw it but it was detailing the different hells that Buddhism teaches. It got me so scared now. From running on a hot iron ground burning as you run, to freezing to the point your skin splits, and blisters form at well below temperatures on a mountain range; reading about those hells was horrific. I can't unsee what I've read, and I'm afraid. I tried to be a good man. I tried to live a good life like my Grandparents. And I failed at everything that came to me. How do I get past this? I'm so afraid now of where I'm going when I die. I'm afraid I'm going to be plunged into a nightmare. If you're sensitive to topics like the afterlife, like I am. I do not recommend reading about this kind of topic unless it's good things.
A while ago, I had a dream that I was one with everything. I felt in this dream, "I'm made up of the same stuff that everything is made up of" and it was pure serenity. I then woke up. Another dream I had I was just standing and I was pushed back into a dark abyss. When I awoke it felt as if I had landed on my bed. The darkness is a symbol of this place, judging from what I've experienced in the dream and by living here.
My own beliefs are that there is no judgement, only what we judge ourselves in. Heaven is HOME and we all came from there, and that is where we will return. But that damn thread about those different hells. I can't unsee that, and I want to so bad. I'm very afraid. I tried to be good. I tried to do the right thing, and so many times I messed up and did the wrong thing. Does anyone have any good experiences with dreams or the afterlife to calm me? I'm in need of some spiritual guidance. Please understand, that saying we do not exist after death does not help. So if anyone has any dreams of Home, or good feelings about death, please share them with me.

 

[honir]

can you give me a link to that post? It seems that I keep seeing comments about those hells.

 

[Judy Garland]

can you give me a link to that post? It seems that I keep seeing comments about those hells.

This is the thread that freaked me out. Scroll down to see the "Naraka" or 18 stages of hell. I had no idea that Buddhists even believe in hell. I thought they were completely peaceful.

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/what-if-this-is-heaven.95995/

 

[Smart No More]

Think about it like this - those examples are based around human understanding and constructs. A hot iron exists nowhere but on earth. Therefore this is a concept dreamed up there. If there were any type of hell then we are entirely unaware of it. At this point it's nothing but a hypothesis dreamed up out of fear or the desire to instil fear for control. There is no way we can know what happens once we die other than what we've seen which is a decaying body returning to the earth.
Also, if there were a hell or multiple hells who's doing the upkeep. Who is maintaining such a place that contains more people than the earth could hold? Even if there were a 50-50 split between those that go to heaven and those to hell both 'places' would have to manage more entries/members than the current population on our planet. All the people that have lived would apparently be going to one of these two places and creating multiple instances of hell (whilst spreading the membership) would require a lot of maintenence for no knowing return.

 

[FuneralCry]

Just because someone writes something on the internet doesn't mean that it's real. There is no actual evidence of there being a hell apart from the one that we already live in. It's just best to avoid reading anything like that.

The way that I see it, death is inescapable and even if there was something after death we would have to face it one day no matter what, so to me, death is certainly not something to be feared.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

Aren't there like several thousand religions in this world? All believing in different things? Does it make any sense that that all these different religions came into being with ONLY one being right? And about being right....................we all know that man is imperfect. Nothing man teaches, nor understands, nor claims to understand, therefore, can be right. And only this small minority of people on this earth, the Buddhists, have the market cornered on being right?

If it doesn't make sense, it can't be true...........Judge Judy

 

[akana]

what @Smart No More said. only on earth and in humans do these concepts exist. they're concepts created to induce fear. hell and heaven and our brains are an amalgamation of how we construct reality. just like how we all have different ideas of what hell and heaven are, its due to what we've learnt, and the connections between things we've built in this lifetime.

The fact you feel any fear is a pretty good thing. the worst thing you can be is apathetic that's basically equivalent to death itself

 

[honir]

This is the thread that freaked me out. Scroll down to see the "Naraka" or 18 stages of hell. I had no idea that Buddhists even believe in hell. I thought they were completely peaceful.

https://sanctioned-suicide.net/threads/what-if-this-is-heaven.95995/

I was raised a catholic. This is almost quite similar to the hell catholics or christians made up. On a lighter note, here is a joke which may make you change your perception.

Maybe hell is how we perceive it.

A man dies and goes to the hell. As usual, he gets a tour from the devil to know, where he actually came to.

They visit a first room with many tables and people are playing all the card games in a big style. The man asks, what is going on and the devil explains: "Those are people, who got to the hell because of the gambling habit. Here, they can finally play how much they want."

They visit a second room full of smoke, themed as a bar and the devil again explains. "Those are people who got to the hell because of their drinking habits."

They visit a third, soft red light covered room, where hundreds of men and women having the greatest sexual orgy ever. The man, very excited, listens again to the devil's explanation: "Here we have all the people that got to the hell because of fornication.

They got to the last room. There is a huge cresset full of boiling water, people screaming inside and other devils pushing them back with pitchforks when they try to escape. The man shockingly asks: "Hey, what is that? Why do you have such a terrible thing here when the rest of the hell is so awesome?" The devil answers: "That's fine, those are just Christians, they wanted it that way...".

 

[Hope:-)]

I believe the exact same thing as you believe about heaven. Heaven is home.x

 

[Ethereal Knight]

I suggest checking Richard Dawkins videos on youtube or reading his book, or finding other atheism and skepticism resources on the internet.

if you use logic and reason, you won't believe religious things, because they don't pass the test of reason.

cheers

 

[Dried_Ink]

I take all religious/philosophical conclusions about the afterlife with a grain of salt. I enjoy the mystery of not knowing.

 

[drakthing]

I had this same issue - whatever religion you may have, or whatever you may believe, if there is a higher power. Why would they send you to "hell" as punishment for taking your own life? I'm suffering with the life that was given to me and I've tried making it work, and doing what I can to survive. If I lose, and leave this existance, it's not because I rejected the gift of life, I want to live. But by my own personal circumstances, it's difficult/not possible.

 

[Doombox]

It's fiction, written by men. We have no evidence of an afterlife. Also, every religion has its own hell. If you pick the wrong one to worry about, will you go to another?

 

[Mr2005]

If this isn't already hell to you then you shouldn't be killing yourself anyway

 

[Insomniac]

I can't get this out of my head. I can't unsee what I've read from @Insomniac 's post. I'm not sure if you all saw it but it was detailing the different hells that Buddhism teaches. It got me so scared now. From running on a hot iron ground burning as you run, to freezing to the point your skin splits, and blisters form at well below temperatures on a mountain range; reading about those hells was horrific. I can't unsee what I've read, and I'm afraid. I tried to be a good man. I tried to live a good life like my Grandparents. And I failed at everything that came to me. How do I get past this? I'm so afraid now of where I'm going when I die. I'm afraid I'm going to be plunged into a nightmare. If you're sensitive to topics like the afterlife, like I am. I do not recommend reading about this kind of topic unless it's good things.
A while ago, I had a dream that I was one with everything. I felt in this dream, "I'm made up of the same stuff that everything is made up of" and it was pure serenity. I then woke up. Another dream I had I was just standing and I was pushed back into a dark abyss. When I awoke it felt as if I had landed on my bed. The darkness is a symbol of this place, judging from what I've experienced in the dream and by living here.
My own beliefs are that there is no judgement, only what we judge ourselves in. Heaven is HOME and we all came from there, and that is where we will return. But that damn thread about those different hells. I can't unsee that, and I want to so bad. I'm very afraid. I tried to be good. I tried to do the right thing, and so many times I messed up and did the wrong thing. Does anyone have any good experiences with dreams or the afterlife to calm me? I'm in need of some spiritual guidance. Please understand, that saying we do not exist after death does not help. So if anyone has any dreams of Home, or good feelings about death, please share them with me.

I'm sowwwyyyy I didn't want to freak anyone's out. HUGS.

I don't think your fear is misplaced however. I personally think that life is terrifying and sometimes, we chose one things to concentrate that terror on. like people who have hypochondria or when we can't get over that one horror movie. Sometimes we just get randomly freaked out by certain things and it's okay I think. The only thing we can do is to wait for it to pass (or comfort ourselves with endless, empty rationalisation ). we're fragile beings. every religions and intemporal philosophers agree on that fact. I enjoy reading about versions of hell because it just puts words on my deepest anxieties.

a few reasons how I keep calm (some of the time):

1. we're likely to misunderstand everything we read. Meaning that I don't understand it the way it was intended (for example, Buddhists seem to believe that everyone goes to Hell unless enlightened so its not a question of you being good or not..)

2. I only believe in hard determinism and am convinced that I'm a slave to fate so there's nothing I can do even if I wanted

3. all the lit people are in hell.

 

[Murasa]

These concepts are worth less as you realize how much these beliefs have changed since their conception, that's why many are self-contradictory. There is no reason to immediately believe something that is claimed and take it for granted, the burden of proof falls on the person who makes the statement and not the other way around.

 

[Insomniac]

These concepts are worth less as you realize how much these beliefs have changed since their conception

exactly.

 

[Hiraeth Grimoire]

What do I really know about anything right? What does anyone else really know either? All we do know for certain is that we are experiencing something rather than nothing at any given moment. Any further assertion is one requiring faith. Now some assertions require less faith than others, and these are more probable descriptions of our reality to me; one example is believing that other people indeed exist. These assertions appear to lead one to intellectually less risky positions than ones requiring greater faith, such as claiming a hell exists besides the one we currently find ourselves marooned in. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence if they are going to be given any weight in the mind of a skeptical, intellectually rigorous individual. Most religious doctrines can be swiftly sliced to their rotten heart by the cold blade of logic, occasionally revealing small flecks of truth amidst the carnage of lies. It is these small amounts of potential truth that are worth further contemplation, not the fire and brimstone dogma that can easily be explained as a monetary racquet to keep the masses in check. Now in regards to the Buddist tradition that you mentioned in your post, I shave away their description of various hells as either mythological dogma left over from Hinduism, or as a racquet, fear-mongering the average person with an ill-described and weaponized teaching of karma. However, aside from this baggage that all religions are prone to obtaining, Buddhism contains much knowledge that is compatible with skepticism and modern science, such as concepts like nonduality and the empty self. Both of which are teachings that I subscribe to due to self-inquiry. My own leaning as to what awaits in the afterlife (keep in mind I claim to know nothing, it is just an educated guess) is that currently we are constructed by an immaterial consciousness/awareness within a physical avatar with the illusion of selfhood due to biological programming, when all yet nothing is actually the true, eternal self. This self that can be known in all things and yet in no things is what I believe one will rediscover upon death. The droplet will be returned to the sea as unmanifested potential once more.

 

[Forever Sleep]

One of the 'problems' I have with any kind of described afterlife- whether it be heaven or hell is that they seem quite often to require bodily sensations- pleasure or pain. Our bodies and brains are destroyed however we die and however our remains are disposed of. Makes you wonder whether the ancient Egyptians ever investigated whether their carefully prepared mummies made it into an afterlife...

I guess you could believe that somehow the soul leaves on mortal death and materialises into an identical body in either heaven or hell- always wondered what age you materialise at if that's the case...

Still, it's hard to imagine any kind of existence beyond what we know- so I guess it stands to reason heaven and hell have been concocted of the very nicest and worst physical human experiences imaginable.

As for who gets admitted into heaven- that's always pissed me off. If Jesus said to murderers that they could join him in the kingdom of heaven if they said 'sorry' and joined his fan club but someone who has lived a good and honest life but doesn't subscribe to a religion doesn't get in, something is truly fucked up.

All that said though, if you've been brought up with certain religious ideas, it's quite hard to shake off the fear of hell completely.

 

[eternal_life]

I can't get this out of my head. I can't unsee what I've read from @Insomniac 's post. I'm not sure if you all saw it but it was detailing the different hells that Buddhism teaches. It got me so scared now. From running on a hot iron ground burning as you run, to freezing to the point your skin splits, and blisters form at well below temperatures on a mountain range; reading about those hells was horrific. I can't unsee what I've read, and I'm afraid. I tried to be a good man. I tried to live a good life like my Grandparents. And I failed at everything that came to me. How do I get past this? I'm so afraid now of where I'm going when I die. I'm afraid I'm going to be plunged into a nightmare. If you're sensitive to topics like the afterlife, like I am. I do not recommend reading about this kind of topic unless it's good things.
A while ago, I had a dream that I was one with everything. I felt in this dream, "I'm made up of the same stuff that everything is made up of" and it was pure serenity. I then woke up. Another dream I had I was just standing and I was pushed back into a dark abyss. When I awoke it felt as if I had landed on my bed. The darkness is a symbol of this place, judging from what I've experienced in the dream and by living here.
My own beliefs are that there is no judgement, only what we judge ourselves in. Heaven is HOME and we all came from there, and that is where we will return. But that damn thread about those different hells. I can't unsee that, and I want to so bad. I'm very afraid. I tried to be good. I tried to do the right thing, and so many times I messed up and did the wrong thing. Does anyone have any good experiences with dreams or the afterlife to calm me? I'm in need of some spiritual guidance. Please understand, that saying we do not exist after death does not help. So if anyone has any dreams of Home, or good feelings about death, please share them with me.

I do believe in life after the death of the physical body. I believe that we are, above all, spiritual beings. There are enough testimonies (thousands or perhaps millions) of near-death experiences that, when the body is close to death, the spirit comes out and is able to see the physical body from above. People who have experienced this explain basically the same things, and feel that reality when leaving the physical body as more real even than physical life itself.

Anyway, this is a very short summary, but I have read a lot on the subject and I am quite convinced that there is life beyond the death of the physical body. And among those experiences I have heard of people who have attempted suicide and seen hell and say that it is the worst thing you can imagine. I have also read experiences of other suicide attempts that have not seen hell, but have been in a kind of limbo. From what I understand, suicide is something that is not well seen by God, there are people who have had this explained to them (by angels or divine beings) after trying to kill themselves, according to them themselves have narrated.

So that's another reason that particularly makes me think of no CTB. But I respect all beliefs and that there are people who think that after life there is nothing, and that heaven and hell are inventions or hallucinations of people in a dying state. I respect all beliefs.

 

[Mia Wallace]

The absolute truth is nobody knows for certain where we go or what happens when we die. It's a risk we take when taking our own lives. I like to believe things will get better though. Even if it means an eternity of nothingness. That's better then what I deal with now.

 

[Mofreeko]

Every version of hell has been made up by the human mind. People are afraid of eternal oblivion after death so they make up that our consciousness or soul or whatever lives on in heaven and to fix the idea of bad people like murderers getting into heaven they had to make up hell. It's as simple as that.

 

[veryhappyhuman]

If you study about the origins of how these concepts came into being, I think maybe there will be less anxiety around it. I'm not saying this to freak you out further, but Hinduism which is older than Buddhism, has the same plus an even more expanded set than what Insomniac posted. I'm sure the more primitive religious sects before Hinduism had these too. Overall, it's impossible to shake the feeling that some guy thought it up somewhere and then it was copied and spread worldwide over centuries. Like a slow version of a social media thing going viral. Seems very artificial.

Also, hell being just different kinds of physical pain feels kind of.. I don't know.. superficial and redundant to me. What would they do to someone who already went through a lot of physical pain before death, but was still an evil person? These days you have plenty of people unfortunately suffering cancer and other painful diseases for example. Plus it simply defies logic that omnipotent, cosmic beings would do the same thing to you as say, some drug cartel boss on earth. Or what rulers from the middle ages used to do to criminals.

Finally: Unless one is going to live an absolutely pure life from hereon-in i.e. no impure thoughts, no lust, greed etc etc, I'd say the longer one lives, the more sins they'd accumulate. So it really boils down to -- is suicide a bigger sin than all the sins combined that I'd accumulate by living say 20 more years? It doesn't make sense. But on the other hand if someone takes this as inspiration to indeed live on AND as a flawless human being, then more power to them.

 

[Dried_Ink]

I'm not sure if you all saw it but it was detailing the different hells that Buddhism teaches.

Buddhism also teaches that if you chant the mantra 'Namu Amida Butsu' 10 times before death you'll be reborn in the Pure Land regardless of your past karma… I've always had a hard time accepting things on blind faith, but can't hurt try it out when the time comes.

 

[gimzero]

An option is something like hades with souls as shadows that forget the life in bodies but if is not a hell what is! And as hypothesis how many bilions of souls can gather in hell or paradise! I wonder also if jesus xhoose murdurers for the kingdom then what we assume.

 

[7b48hl]

 

[ojinzo]

I can't get this out of my head. I can't unsee what I've read from @Insomniac 's post. I'm not sure if you all saw it but it was detailing the different hells that Buddhism teaches. It got me so scared now. From running on a hot iron ground burning as you run, to freezing to the point your skin splits, and blisters form at well below temperatures on a mountain range; reading about those hells was horrific. I can't unsee what I've read, and I'm afraid. I tried to be a good man. I tried to live a good life like my Grandparents. And I failed at everything that came to me. How do I get past this? I'm so afraid now of where I'm going when I die. I'm afraid I'm going to be plunged into a nightmare. If you're sensitive to topics like the afterlife, like I am. I do not recommend reading about this kind of topic unless it's good things.
A while ago, I had a dream that I was one with everything. I felt in this dream, "I'm made up of the same stuff that everything is made up of" and it was pure serenity. I then woke up. Another dream I had I was just standing and I was pushed back into a dark abyss. When I awoke it felt as if I had landed on my bed. The darkness is a symbol of this place, judging from what I've experienced in the dream and by living here.
My own beliefs are that there is no judgement, only what we judge ourselves in. Heaven is HOME and we all came from there, and that is where we will return. But that damn thread about those different hells. I can't unsee that, and I want to so bad. I'm very afraid. I tried to be good. I tried to do the right thing, and so many times I messed up and did the wrong thing. Does anyone have any good experiences with dreams or the afterlife to calm me? I'm in need of some spiritual guidance. Please understand, that saying we do not exist after death does not help. So if anyone has any dreams of Home, or good feelings about death, please share them with me.

You're already here, honey.