the afterlife could be anything.

[SuicidalOrganism]

u could go to heaven or hell for an eternity if you believe that, maybe reincarnate again, but the fear of unknown still persists. what if u get reborn in a fantasy world like they are portraiyed in fiction media, or in a different realm as a different entity? the afterlife could be anything, good, ok, or bad.
death could be considered a gamble of fate. but if we want to be more simplistic gamblers and ignore the infinite possibilities, either afterlife itself exists or not. because no one knows how this world works.

very weird existential thought!!!

 

[Kalista]

it's not a weird thought. it's a realistic thought.

no one truly knows even with the studies being published about what an afterlife can be. it's all speculation. safe to say lots of it is based on religion which is basically fantasy in itself written by multiple people over the span of centuries, influenced by their own values and beliefs.
having a happy or bad ending beyond death is a convenient story that has been taught to children for a very long time, generation after generation to keep everyone in check by use of comfort or fear. it's always easy to insert 'conveniences' towards the unknown.

the afterlife is whatever people believe it to be at this point. the belief is stronger if you were exposed to such ideas since you were a child and all throughout adulthood.

i don't believe in the afterlife, but i still would like to be reincarnated in a fantasy world. for the most part a world that doesn't have the issues i've experienced in this one and more. a place where real peace and comfort exists that i can return to, a place of sword and sorcery, while adventuring with my cat.
the chances of that happening? no one knows.

 

[SuicidalOrganism]

it's not a weird thought. it's a realistic thought.

no one truly knows even with the studies being published about what an afterlife can be. it's all speculation. safe to say lots of it is based on religion which is basically fantasy in itself written by multiple people over the span of centuries, influenced by their own values and beliefs.
having a happy or bad ending beyond death is a convenient story that has been taught to children for a very long time, generation after generation to keep everyone in check by use of comfort or fear. it's always easy to insert 'conveniences' towards the unknown.

the afterlife is whatever people believe it to be at this point. the belief is stronger if you were exposed to such ideas since you were a child and all throughout adulthood.

i don't believe in the afterlife, but i still would like to be reincarnated in a fantasy world. for the most part a world that doesn't have the issues i've experienced in this one and more. a place where real peace and comfort exists that i can return to, a place of sword and sorcery, while adventuring with my cat.
the chances of that happening? no one knows.

nicely said

 

[theboy]

another better life

 

[AbusedInnocent]

Consciousness is really absurd when you think about it, we are aware of ourselves and the world around us, we think and feel, and yet that all comes from a lump of fat we call our brain.

I think conscious beings are just another part of the universe like any other, like stars, planets and black holes conscious beings arise due to the same laws of physics.

I don't think that we are special, we came from nothing and we will return to that nothing and an afterlife seems highly unlikely to me.

If there is an afterlife though I would agree that it's probably going to be something we've never thought of before.

 

[Unicr0n]

I don't think that we are special, we came from nothing and we will return to that nothing and an afterlife seems highly unlikely to me.

Considering that we're the only animals on earth with the capability that the brain has allowed, I'd say we're pretty damn special. We didn't 'come from nothing'. We came from the Hydrogen of the Big Bang [tentative and changing as science expands] and the fusion of stars. Our decaying bodies will return to the earth to feed someone else until the Sun expands to the point where we move out of the Habitable Zone, the atmosphere destroyed, and our atoms scattered to the cosmos until all energy eventually depletes... but where did that hydrogen come from? How did the Big Bang occur? HOW DID THESE THINGS ALREADY EXIST if energy cannot be created or destroyed? Why is it there? If you've played the Sims, given enough AI technology, they too would ask these same questions... How did they get here? Luckily for them, they have a god that interacts with them bluntly and can tell them. The being that created this universe is very hands off. [Not saying it's a Christian god or anything... but how did the photon come into being?] I really want to know these answers before I die. I just want.. .to know... Dang physics nerds need to get their butts in gear. I want to visit the Large Hadron Collider before I die, too.

I've seen unexplainable accounts of reincarnation—only two that have no reasonable explanation of how it could've happened, which gives me a belief that there is some form of afterlife. It scares people that there's nothing after death. So what if there isn't? All we have is now. Make the best of it.

 

[AbusedInnocent]

Considering that we're the only animals on earth with the capability that the brain has allowed, I'd say we're pretty damn special. We didn't 'come from nothing'. We came from the Hydrogen of the Big Bang [tentative and changing as science expands] and the fusion of stars. Our decaying bodies will return to the earth to feed someone else until the Sun expands to the point where we move out of the Habitable Zone, the atmosphere destroyed, and our atoms scattered to the cosmos until all energy eventually depletes... but where did that hydrogen come from? How did the Big Bang occur? HOW DID THESE THINGS ALREADY EXIST if energy cannot be created or destroyed? Why is it there? If you've played the Sims, given enough AI technology, they too would ask these same questions... How did they get here? Luckily for them, they have a god that interacts with them bluntly and can tell them. The being that created this universe is very hands off. [Not saying it's a Christian god or anything... but how did the photon come into being?] I really want to know these answers before I die. I just want.. .to know... Dang physics nerds need to get their butts in gear. I want to visit the Large Hadron Collider before I die, too.

I've seen unexplainable accounts of reincarnation—only two that have no reasonable explanation of how it could've happened, which gives me a belief that there is some form of afterlife. It scares people that there's nothing after death. So what if there isn't? All we have is now. Make the best of it.

We're certainly unique but I wouldn't say special, there are plenty of other animals with abilities we don't have.

I didn't mean that the matter that composes us physically materialized out of nothing although it could have, I mean we experienced nothing before our consciousness began.

We may never know how the universe began to exist, everything outside of our universe is outside the realm of science as it's untestable, unmeasurable and unobservable, it will remain in the realm of metaphysics, for all we know the universe could have come from nothing and without a cause.

 

[Unicr0n]

We're certainly unique but I wouldn't say special, there are plenty of other animals with abilities we don't have.

No animal has the intelligence of an adult human nor the capacity for everything our brains can do. More than one species can be special at a time with an ability not shared by any other animal. Example: The only animal that can naturally, without tools, take down a great white shark is an orca. That makes the orca special, too. We're only species that can take down basically any other species via tools is human. The only species that has managed to escape earth intentionally and survive is human. Humans are the only species that can speak multiple verbal languages fluently. The only species that can master multiple written languages. The only species that has elongated the lifespan of not only itself but other species through advancement in medical treatment. The only species to turn metal into technology. The only species actually recorded to be able to commit suicide (There are 'cases' but none of them are actual intentional suicide). There is no other species that can adapt to any environment like humans can. We are the only species that has intentionally genocided other species into extinction. The list goes on as to why humans are special. No other species has this many special things about it that doesn't overlap with any other species.

 

[DarkRange55]

No animal has the intelligence of an adult human nor the capacity for everything our brains can do. More than one species can be special at a time with an ability not shared by any other animal. Example: The only animal that can naturally, without tools, take down a great white shark is an orca. That makes the orca special, too. We're only species that can take down basically any other species via tools is human. The only species that has managed to escape earth intentionally and survive is human. Humans are the only species that can speak multiple verbal languages fluently. The only species that can master multiple written languages. The only species that has elongated the lifespan of not only itself but other species through advancement in medical treatment. The only species to turn metal into technology. The only species actually recorded to be able to commit suicide (There are 'cases' but none of them are actual intentional suicide). There is no other species that can adapt to any environment like humans can. We are the only species that has intentionally genocided other species into extinction. The list goes on as to why humans are special. No other species has this many special things about it that doesn't overlap with any other species.

No other animal that we know of has the intelligence of an adult human nor the capacity for everything our brains can do. More than one species can be special at a time with an ability not shared by any other animal. Example: The only current animal that can naturally, without tools, reliably [to exclude giant squid, which occasionally take out a sperm whale] take down a great white shark by force [to exclude parasites] is an orca. That makes the orca special, too. We're only species that can take down basically any other species via tools is human. The only species that has managed to escape earth intentionally and survive is human. Humans are the only species that can speak multiple verbal languages fluently. The only species that can master multiple written languages. The only species that has elongated the lifespan of not only itself but other species through advancement in medical treatment. The only species to turn metal into technology. The only species actually recorded [biased sample - we understand and record humans far more] to be able to commit suicide (There are 'cases' but none of them are actual intentional suicide). There is no other species that can adapt to any environment like humans can. We are the only species that has intentionally genocided other species into extinction. The list goes on as to why humans are special. No other species has this many special things about it that doesn't overlap with any other species.