What do you think afterlife is like?

[bridge-walking]

the thought of nothingness scares me a bit, but not enough to stop me from doing what needs to be done. if there is an afterlife that'll be good but im not counting my chickens

 

[Chronicoverwhelm]

Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed....

I have no idea what comes after death, but recently after the passing of my dog, I've experienced quite a few 'coincidences'. And some things have happened that are unexplainable, that have left me with more questions than answers.

 

[Thanksforeverything]

Energy cannot be created, nor destroyed....

I have no idea what comes after death, but recently after the passing of my dog, I've experienced quite a few 'coincidences'. And some things have happened that are unexplainable, that have left me with more questions than answers.

Could you elaborate?

 

[leloyon]

Am inclined towards an afterlife(not the traditional heaven/hell) and reincarnation. I just can't wrap my head around nothingness.

Same here, even when I consider nothingness it still feels like I would be conscious... just left in a void for all eternity, but still fully aware of it all.
Personally though, I believe in reincarnation. Mainly because of this:

 

[AnonymousL]

I believe reincarnation and heaven / hell were made up to comfort people.
We don't know what happens after death and for some people that's a very scare concept so they believe their existence means something. They don't wanna believe that they just die and will be forgotten after years.

 

[Labyrinth]

Two things never happen exactly the same way. I think we will become intergalactic dust

Long before you were born, you were nothing. Long after you're dead, you'll be right back to being nothing.

Welcome to reality.

 

[sammiechzxv]

Nothing. But I've always thought if reincarnation exists I would want to be a cat.

 

[4g1vvvven]

You guys are not gonna like this but unfortunately I must tell you:

When you die by suicide you'll wake up later on a horrible ash ridden mine in hell with one of the devils henchman (a large deformed gargoyle) smacking you in the stomach with a pickaxe and grunting at you whilst gesturing to a pile of rocks to mine to make space for newcomers. All around will be fire and lava and harpies flying around dragging the unwilling away for torture. In hell no-one dies and you spend a year there for every day you loved on earth. You feel pain and you can't die.

Or maybe you just cease to think or feel and the lights go out ... yer lets go with that instead

Oh jheeeze, really would prefer the second

 

[Quantum Particle]

I'm a very logical individual and based my life around facts; your senses are processed by your brain in a specific way that leads to the illusion of time as something that goes forwards, when in truth it's not a flow. Such misunderstanding makes you think that events happens in different moments, when you are actually being born and dying right now. I'm not going to delve into scientific explanations too much, but I always consider how you'll wake up when dying in your dreams as the answer:

You find your own life, again and again, and never remember anything of it, excluding small recollections that people commonly calls deja vu.

You are a ball of energies blissfully ignorant about being inside a cage, keeping reliving the same choices, gains and mistakes, over and over again.

Is it logical to dismiss the second law of thermodynamics
I'm thinking there's no chance of reincarnation. Imagine all the creatures on the planet right down to a microscope level. The thought of returning as an anal worm whilst my host has wind after a curry and no way out this time.

 

[Chronicoverwhelm]

Could you elaborate?

Sure, I can in a PM since there will be some personal details about me for the back story. You're welcome to PM me this weekend but it might take me a day or 2 to get back to you, as my weekend is busy. It's going to be a lot of typing on my part!

 

[femmedelaville]

the thought of nothingness scares me a bit, but not enough to stop me from doing what needs to be done. if there is an afterlife that'll be good but im not counting my chickens

couldn't agree more

 

[The Ninth God]

Is it logical to dismiss the second law of thermodynamics
I'm thinking there's no chance of reincarnation. Imagine all the creatures on the planet right down to a microscope level. The thought of returning as an anal worm whilst my host has wind after a curry and no way out this time.

Many people mistakes genetic memories for past lives, but there's no reincarnation. I researched about time because I perceive it in a very different way, compared to others: I don't feel it as a flow, not entirely, and I cannot tell if an event happened one or two weeks before, they all feel the same moment for me. If I think about my "past" it's like experiencing it again, which is why I couldn't do that when I was younger, since it was full of pain and I was much more sensitive to it. If you ask me to wait 30 minutes, once you're done I cannot tell if you were away for much more or you returned faster, because for me it's the same moment. I can distinguish between events happened farther or closer in both past and future, but that's because I understood what people meant with such things, for me they aren't perceived that way. I'm convinced time is an illusion, or at least...time as a FLOW, which is how humans perceive it. I had many proofs that what is called "destiny" or "fate" is real and your choices already exists, those I knew who understood the same got terrorized by the fact they cannot change it, since it's already happening. Can't blame them, honestly; if you're convinced of the opposite for your entire life and then you realize all of that it can be terrifying. Humans don't like the idea that they cannot change their fate, even if in reality they are choosing it.

 

[sserafim]

Nothing. But I've always thought if reincarnation exists I would want to be a cat.

Same, I've always wanted to be a cat as well. They have the best lives

 

[ijustwishtodie]

Unless if a new scientific discovery were to occur that would change my perception of consciousness and therfore what would happen after death, I'll keep on believing that death is just permanent non existence. This is the most rational conclusion to me so far

 

[ThymeToLeave]

I believe in nothingness because it's hard to see anything else as being different from a fairy tale, a story that brings people comfort even though it's not real. Science is real and it says the universe is 14 billion years old, so the book that says the universe was created in seven days can't be real right?

But that's the easy route. It's so easy to dismiss ideas like God and heaven/hell because you can't see them but then why are there billions of religious people? What do they know that i don't? Should I just be willfully ignorant / arrogant and say "well they're all sheeple NPCs, that's why their beliefs are different"? Is the belief in nothingness not just as comforting because it means I don't have to try to live up to the standards of a strict, judgmental God?

 

[hibikikyuxx]

No idea. It can't be non-existence because nothingness literally doesn't exist, it's nothing, you can't experience or perceive it, and it would be over in an instant anyway. I'm lazy/too depressed to write a long new comment on this thread (since this topic gets brought up every week with a new thread), so I'll just copy my opimion on this topic from one of my replies from an old thread;

Near death experiences and out of body experiences give us a good idea of what might happen after death. I'm guessing it depends from person to person, that's why every near death experience is different. It makes sense, because it's not like everyone expects the same thing to happen after death.

We don't even know where consciousness comes.

• We know how each part of the brain works yet we can't locate consciousness anywhere.
• Children remember past lives.
• Many people remember something that happend pre-birth.
• Clinically dead people who had no brain activity were able to tell what was going on around them.

By the way, saying "I don't remember before I was born so it was nothing" is a bad argument because it's not like we remember our birth, yet we know it happend because we are here. I'm saying this because I see argument often brought up in threads like this. If not remembering what happend before your birth means that it was nothing, does that mean that you were nothing as a baby? Of course not. You were already alive, you just don't remember what being a baby is like, but that doesn't mean you were never a baby.

We know that babies are conscious as they can smile, laugh, and cry, but their ego (when they begin to like things and dislike things) gets developed during the first three years of their life. So there's a clear difference between consciousness and the ego. I believe consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe like time and matter is.

Nothingness/Non-existence is not an option. "Nothingness" literally doesn't exist, it's NOTHING. Even if nothingness "happens" after we die, it would be over in an instant. Because you can't perceive or experience nothing. And assuming that everything came from nothing and became something, if death leads us back to nothingness, then we would eventually become something again anyway.

So here are the possible options:

• Reincarnation in this reality.
• Reincarnation in another reality (the multiverse theory is a well known one).
• Endless dreams (our dreams prove that we don't require a body to do things).
• Astral plane (Astral Projection is legit proof).
• ???

As for heaven and hell, they are definitely fake as they are things made up by humans, so I'm not even going to consider them.

Also, a afterlife doesn't have to do with anything with God. The afterlife would prove that consciousness is immortal, that we are conscious beings in temporary human bodies; not that there's an old magic man in the sky which is absurd.

There are many people who were clinically dead and had no brain activity going on, they were considered dead, but they still experienced an out of body experience during that time where they were able to tell what's going on around them. If consciousness is part of the brain then that wouldn't have been possible because there was no brain activity going on.

Pam Reynolds case:

"Pam Reynolds Lowery (1956 – May 22, 2010), from Atlanta, Georgia, was an American singer-songwriter. In 1991, at the age of 35, she stated that she had a near-death experience (NDE) during a brain operation performed by Robert F. Spetzler at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Reynolds was under close medical monitoring during the entire operation. During part of the operation she had no brain-wave activity and no blood flowing in her brain, which rendered her clinically dead. She claimed to have made several observations during the procedure which medical personnel reported to be accurate. Within the field of near-death studies and among those who believe in life after death, the case has been cited as well-documented and significant, with many proponents considering it to be evidence of the survival of consciousness after death. Reynolds reported that during the operation she heard a sound like a natural 'D' that seemed to pull her out of her body and allowed her to "float" above the operating room and watch the doctors perform the operation. Reynolds claims that during this time she felt "more aware than normal" and her vision was more focused and clearer than normal vision. She reported seeing the surgical "saw" but said it looked like an electric toothbrush, and this is in fact true. She said she could hear conversations between operating room staff, even though she had earphones in her ears which were making a loud clicking noise many times per second in order to monitor her brain function. At some point during the operation, she says she noticed a presence and was pulled towards a light. She says she began to discern figures in the light, including her grandmother, an uncle, other deceased relatives and people unknown to her. According to Reynolds, the longer she was there, the more she enjoyed it, but at some point she was reminded that she had to go back. She says her uncle brought her back to her body, but she did not want to go, so he pushed her in, and the sensation was like that of jumping into ice water."

There was also a study about 10 patients whose hearts stopped and the ones that had vivid afterlife visions were the ones without brain activity while the ones with brain activity didn't have those experiences. Scientists have no explanation for people who experienced out of body experiences without brain activity going on.

The fact that our conscious awareness continues after death in an environment we call the afterlife was proved by four of the top scientists of their time back in the early 1900s:

Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) – Co-originator with Charles Darwin of the natural selection theory of evolution: "My position is that the phenomena of communicating with those who crossed over - in their entirety do not require further confirmation. They are proved quite as well as facts are proved in other sciences."

Sir William Barrett (1844-1925) – Professor of physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin for 37 years, "I'm absolutely convinced of the fact that those who once lived on earth can and do communicate with us. It is hardly possible to convey to the inexperienced an adequate idea of the strength and cumulative force of the evidence (for the afterlife)."

Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) – A physicist and chemist, the most decorated scientist in his time. He discovered the element thallium and was a pioneer in radioactivity. "It is quite true that a connection has been set up between this world and the next."

Sir Oliver Lodge (1851-1940) – Professor of physics at University College in Liverpool, England and later principal at the University of Birmingham, Lodge achieved world fame for his pioneering work in electricity, including the radio and spark plug. "I tell you with all my strength of the conviction which I can muster that we do persist, that people still continue to take an interest in what is going on, that they know far more about things on this earth than we do, and are able from time to time to communicate with us…I do not say it is easy, but it is possible, and I have conversed with my friends just as I can converse with anyone in this audience now."

The afterlife has also been demonstrated by 100 years of experimental research into quantum physics, including the experiments that won the Nobel Prize in 2022.

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness." - Max Planck, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and the father of quantum theory.

"The atoms or elementary particles themselves are not real; they form a world of potentialities or possibilities rather than one of things or facts." - Werner Heisenberg, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics.

"Observations not only disturb what is to be measured, they produce it." - Pascual Jordan, physicist, early contributor to quantum theory.

This means death cannot end consciousness because consciousness is fundamental and is what causes all of our experiences, including that of having a physical body in a physical world. Consciousness has been demonstrated fundamental, not a secondary effect caused by "matter" and "energy," neither of which exist outside of consciousness.

Consciousness doesn't seem to have physical properties. If consciousness was physical then we would know by now where it is located but we don't. We know what our brain, heart, limbs, and muscles are there for, we can see them, but we can't see consciousness. I believe consciousness is a fundamental property of the universe and is neither physical nor mental.

Interesting enough, the structure of the cosmic web and galaxies are practically the same as the structure of brain cells.

 

[Tommen Baratheon]

I don't believe in an afterlife per se, but years ago I experienced what is labeled as 'psychosis' and although it included paranoid feelings I also had some sort of spiritual awakening. It left me with a feeling that there is something more. I see proof of this in synchronicities.

I talked to other people who were 'psychotic' at one point and one woman was even convinced this dimension we live in isn't even real. She as well was a true believer in the concept of Synchronicity.

 

[throneofdispair03]

I think that nothing will happen after one dies. I think that the concept of an afterlife was created so that people have closure about dying, but realistically we just kinda poof out of existance.

 

[todiefor]

I think it's just nothing, no consciousness, but it's also impossible to prove something doesn't exist I guess so one can always speculate. It is difficult to wrap our minds around nothingness, perhaps it's comforting to speculate something exists and that everything means something to the universe and that we r somehow especial. We have no proof of anything beyond just this chaotic world that we can see, a world that has no objective meaning or overall plan other than survival of the species I guess.

But just for funsies sake i wouldn't mind being reincarnated as a cat, or giraffe

 

[kawaiiphantom]

I really wish there was an afterlife but honestly I think it's just nothingness, which is both comforting and terrifying to me

 

[Barkhan]

I think some form of reincarnation awaits us. But I don't think so because I profess any religion. Rather, I myself came to the conclusion that this is the most likely option.
The logic is something like this:
1) Once your consciousness has already appeared in this world. This took billions of years after the big bang, but nevertheless, you are now here, perceiving the world from your eyes.
2) Since you appeared once, what prevents you from appearing again? It seems to me nothing. The probability of this will be incredibly small, but it is definitely greater than zero, since you have already appeared once.
3) We cannot be aware of anything after death. No matter how much time passes after death, we will not be able to notice it.
4) Considering the previous points, it is simply inevitable that one day we will recognize ourselves as existing in some form. It will probably take 10^10^10^10^10 years. Perhaps even more. But as time tends to infinity, the probability of becoming aware of oneself again tends to 1.
Naturally, you will no longer have your current personality and memory. You will almost certainly not even be human. Hell, it's very possible that this will be in another universe, after our universe finally dies and there's a new big bang.
But one day you will again realize that you exist, as you already did once in childhood. (at least I remember the moment when I began to become aware of what was happening around me).
I won't say that I like this fate. I'd rather be a ghost and knock on people's windows at night =)
If anything, I apologize for the tongue-tiedness and errors in the message. I don't know English and the message was translated by a translator

 

[bluebird16]

I really hope that there's no reincarnation.

 

[WeirdGirlAnon]

I don't know if I totally believe this or if it mostly just comforts me but either way, I think death is the physical body dying but sort of a freeing of the 'soul.' Our physical bodies are like training wheels and death is the loss of them. The loss of limits that used to keep us safe and comfortable but are now just limiting us.