Discussion What Happens to Consciousness When We Die

[Deleted member 1465]

I would like a time machine so I can go back to those years. Has anyone made a time machine yet?

As soon as I make one I shall come back and answer your post.
Right now.
Meh.
Guess not.

 

[yetme]

I believe there's nothing after death, i made a few posts explaining the idea of what nothing entails but basically it sounds better than here and wayyyyy better than coming back reincarnated I'd be so pissed (metaphorically) just for me to plan everything out and im back as a baby

imagine being back as a donald trump's left hairy testicle... there are always options you know ;)

 

[issyishere]

imagine being back as a donald trump's left hairy testicle... there are always options you know ;)

oh god now i'll be thinking of that when i finally ctb

 

[yetme]

I really really hope that there's a better version of the Universe, where there are no diseases, mental issues, wars, politicians, poverty .. where we are pretty and live happy lives, and don't get abused, shot, stabbed... where there are beautiful sunsets everyday and sunrises and oceans and whatever makes you happy

 

[LonelyHopelessDude]

I'm seeing a lot of posts in this thread saying that we go nowhere after death, they are 100% sure that there is nothing and that they know the truth.
It's not because you want nothingness after death that it will happen, how can you be 100% sure of your theory ? That's just stupid.

I'm not saying the opposite, that there is something after death, just that we don't fucking know and everything possible can happen, how can you be sure to know the truth ?

You criticize a lot religious people believing 100% in a "magical" heaven or hell but you guys are doing exactly the same believe 100% in nothingness.

I can understand it can reassure some people believing in nothingness or heaven but come on, let's be a bit more realistic because we can't prove those theories.

 

[Defenestrator]

It's unknown - no one can give you a definitive answer. That's just the objective fact here, the rest is just conjecture.

 

[Naysha]

People believing in some kind of after life are just deluding themselves to feel better. I have existencial crisis I would give everything to be immortal, since I can't undo my birth and dying in any manner must be unpleasant (eventually i will ctb though) so i am one of those people that nothingness scares them and i do not wish it to be true but I am not deluding myself it's any other way. It's really not that hard to stop believing in delusions if you read a lot about psyhics etc.

 

[BlueWidow]

First, let me say I was raised in a Christian church. Southern Baptist with the fire and brimstone sermons and the whole bit. I stopped believing that there was a hell a long time ago. I've believed since I was fairly young that if there is a hell, it is most certainly here and we are most certainly in it right now. But I had always thought there might be the possibility of an afterlife.
However, the longer I stay on this forum, the more I'm convinced that perhaps there is no afterlife. Perhaps there is nothing. Again, I don't know what comes after. Nobody really knows. I used to hope there was an afterlife so that I could reunite with my husband, but now I'm thinking it may be just as well if there's nothing.

Another thing I didn't know was that there was a whole philosophy of thought around the idea of not having children and that birth has no value, which I've believed for a long time. I had never heard of Antinatalism.

I had also never heard of Efilism until @WhyIsLife56 came to this forum, but I find it fascinating. And it all makes so much sense to me.

 

[Starflow11]

I'm just terrified of having to reincarnate again....bless all of the strong souls that have found their way here but I'm ready to go home and leave this Earthly experiment.

 

[Green Destiny]

I think there's nothing after. Just my preference to what I think happens to us when we go.

 

[justwantdeath]

I'm just terrified of having to reincarnate again....bless all of the strong souls that have found their way here but I'm ready to go home and leave this Earthly experiment.

There is no escape.

 

[Starflow11]

There is no escape.

There has to be a way to break this karmic cycle or contract(s) that we have signed to come here, without of course, finishing our time.

 

[Shinbu]

Maybe life is just a VR simulation. There is too many possibilities. We could all just be data for a computer, or yes just plain nothingness awaits after death. That would be funny if all humans were just data for a computer system lol.
If there is a awakening process that is involved when you die. I wonder if that world also sucks?. Am I the same specie as this virtual life?. If my real self isn't human do I share the same weaknesses like humans?. I wonder what was the draw to this VR game?.

 

[Tim101]

ATMA.
we are not the body we are a soul. Vedic Indian philosophy.

 

[ansuperhero]

I have thought a lot about this. I find it incredibly strange how I was born into this specific body rather than that of any other living thing or even non-existence.
From the third person perspective, while watching a living being die, one can only conclude that their existence ends, and there is no afterlife. It is merely a chemical creature that has been destroyed.
However, I am not sure if this applies from the first person perspective.
If we have come into the world once from our perspective, who is to declare that it could not possibly happen again? It could in a different form.
I see life as being like a deterministic movie I watch with no free will, and there is something far grander out there that we could not possibly comprehend. We could come up with a list of a thousand "most likely" hypotheses for what happens after death from a first person perspective, excluding dogmatic nonsense, and we would still probably miss the mark by an extremely long shot, or we would only get the most rudimentary part of the truth correct.
Being able to discover and understand the truth while being a tiny meat sack is like expecting for a bacterium to comprehend the size of the Milky Way galaxy. It's just not going to happen, at least not in this current form of existence.

I'm incredibly tired, and tiredness tends to be what makes me an awful typer, so I apologise if that gets in the way of what I'm trying to communicate.

 

[TimeLawyer]

There are many theories, and even with near death experiences there can be a significant degree of variation as to what the person sees, as well as many different ways to interpret such experiences. There are thousands of different religions and views when it comes to the existence of a god/afterlife. Personally, I'm agnostic, and my gut feeling is that there is just nothing, no awareness after death. But when all is said and done, who knows? Maybe we are all just files on the hard drive of a giant space computer and the nyan cat stopped by and decided to step on the keyboard. Who knows? :)

 

[Tim101]

Just remember you are not your body you are a soul. Google ATMA.

 

[Nnana]

What if when the universe dies another big bang happens again? What if this cycle is infinite? Maybe you get recycled and born again infinitely. Maybe in this sense, reincarnation is true.

 

[martin8383784]

I'm seeing a lot of posts in this thread saying that we go nowhere after death, they are 100% sure that there is nothing and that they know the truth.
It's not because you want nothingness after death that it will happen, how can you be 100% sure of your theory ? That's just stupid.

I'm not saying the opposite, that there is something after death, just that we don't fucking know and everything possible can happen, how can you be sure to know the truth ?

You criticize a lot religious people believing 100% in a "magical" heaven or hell but you guys are doing exactly the same believe 100% in nothingness.

I can understand it can reassure some people believing in nothingness or heaven but come on, let's be a bit more realistic because we can't prove those theories.

you are right, we can't prove it but still science has gotten far enough to hint there is nothing. Unlike the Bible, which is written by humans to control the masses. There is exactly zero credibility in it.

People believing in some kind of after life are just deluding themselves to feel better. I have existencial crisis I would give everything to be immortal, since I can't undo my birth and dying in any manner must be unpleasant (eventually i will ctb though) so i am one of those people that nothingness scares them and i do not wish it to be true but I am not deluding myself it's any other way. It's really not that hard to stop believing in delusions if you read a lot about psyhics etc.

no need to be scared of nothingness because there will be no consciosness to perceive the nothingness. It's like going to bed and sleep so deeply that the next morning you just remember how you went to bed but nothing after.

 

[AlreadyGone]

I believe that your consciousness dies when your brain dies since your brain will no longer be active to perceive anything.

 

[goomsoom]

People lose their memory in accidents, due to old age, they are still alive and don't remember anything. Does that count as rebirth? What happens to consciousness then?

Scientist can create clones right and if sometime in future science could successfully clone your brain does that mean cloning your soul, consciousness?

What happens if like in games you reach a level and save , if you fail you restart from your save. Scientist could create a younger clone and transfer only partial memory (the good part -save) to your new body ? This is not impossible considering how quickly storage technology has developed we can store more and more data on tiny chips.

What does a soul or aatma even means? Anyway we cannot control it if we get recycled well it will happen naturally and there is nothing we can do about it. There are other planets where probably life existed some time and when the right chemical reactions happen life will come back to those planets again. May be this whole thing is just a chemical reaction.

@TimeLawyer may be we are just an AI mining bitcoins lol now we are developing our own AI to make our work easy when it will gain consciousness and it will develop its own AI.

I'm seeing a lot of posts in this thread saying that we go nowhere after death, they are 100% sure that there is nothing and that they know the truth.
It's not because you want nothingness after death that it will happen, how can you be 100% sure of your theory ? That's just stupid.

I'm not saying the opposite, that there is something after death, just that we don't fucking know and everything possible can happen, how can you be sure to know the truth ?

You criticize a lot religious people believing 100% in a "magical" heaven or hell but you guys are doing exactly the same believe 100% in nothingness.

I can understand it can reassure some people believing in nothingness or heaven but come on, let's be a bit more realistic because we can't prove those theories.

like Dinosaurs went extinct we know they existed and now they are 'nothing'. They turn into different chemical compounds over time like soil > plants > food > our body breaks food it other compounds > and eventually all chemicals combines to form a living thing. We know all our emotions everything we feel can be controlled with right chemicals.

@WhyIsLife56 hey I am interested to know what do you think about this analogy (dinosaurs)?

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

no need to be scared of nothingness because there will be no consciosness to perceive the nothingness. It's like going to bed and sleep so deeply that the next morning you just remember how you went to bed but nothing after.

This. I believe there is nothing after death. And what you say there yeah there should be no need to fear the nothingness because it's just as when you were in a deep sleep. I forget my problems once in a deep sleep . So to me death is like a very very deep sleep. it's only when i wake up that i have to get up (Ugh) and deal with all these monumental problems that is the bad part for me.

I have thought a lot about this. I find it incredibly strange how I was born into this specific body rather than that of any other living thing or even non-existence.
From the third person perspective, while watching a living being die, one can only conclude that their existence ends, and there is no afterlife. It is merely a chemical creature that has been destroyed.
However, I am not sure if this applies from the first person perspective.
If we have come into the world once from our perspective, who is to declare that it could not possibly happen again? It could in a different form.

It used to boggle my mind sometimes when i thought about it how did i appear in this specific body. I think it's that first person perspective that kinda distorts our world view somewhat . it
seems as if we are the center of everything . but from a 3rd person perspective you get a more realistic view imo as to what we are and how insignificant we really are.
but i don't believe in reincarnation or any afterlife . I believe after death there is nothing

 

[justwantdeath]

What if when the universe dies another big bang happens again? What if this cycle is infinite? Maybe you get recycled and born again infinitely. Maybe in this sense, reincarnation is true.

This is what Hawking believed based on the background radiation showing black hole remnants from a previous universe. If the big bounce is real, it's 100% certain you'll be reborn in a future universe, even if it takes more than a quadrillion years.

 

[Return2Dust]

Well you may will have a 360° life review. We are all living in one dream, there is no such thing as matériality. It s just a magnificient, omnipotent super consciousness which play by itself for eternity.
You are god experimenting duality. There will be no jugdment in afterlife, no matter what things you ve done.
You can end this life, in the same way you can put off old clothes. But you are the existence itself, death is a' illusion, life have no opposite.

These sound like the teachings of Christian Science.


There was a time when I thought consciousness belonged to each being and continued on after this, absent the body. The body was merely a suit each being (spirit) wore so we could recognized each other. I'm not so certain anymore. If there's nothing after this, then consciousness dies with the body...and what was the purpose of this experience here?

 

[goomsoom]

This. I believe there is nothing after death. And what you say there yeah there should be no need to fear the nothingness because it's just as when you were in a deep sleep. I forget my problems once in a deep sleep . So to me death is like a very very deep sleep. it's only when i wake up that i have to get up (Ugh) and deal with all these monumental problems that is the bad part for me.

It used to boggle my mind sometimes when i thought about it how did i appear in this specific body. I think it's that first person perspective that kinda distorts our world view somewhat . it
seems as if we are the center of everything . but from a 3rd person perspective you get a more realistic view imo as to what we are and how insignificant we really are.
but i don't believe in reincarnation or any afterlife . I believe after death there is nothing

yes that deep sleep makes a lot of more sense.

We are just a tiny creature in this universe, we don't know how big it is. Anything we do is insignificant an asteroid could make our world go extinct. After death we turn into some other chemical compounds and thats the end of this part. Its a infinite chemical process that would happens regardless if we are alive, dead or even exist in our current form. Whatever we did in this life ends with our brain, lose memory and its a new life all your experience, depression is gone. Forget past life we don't even remember our birth, childhood until our brain develops enough and starts storing info.

 

[BlueWidow]

People lose their memory in accidents, due to old age, they are still alive and don't remember anything. Does that count as rebirth? What happens to consciousness then?

Scientist can create clones right and if sometime in future science could successfully clone your brain does that mean cloning your soul, consciousness?

What happens if like in games you reach a level and save , if you fail you restart from your save. Scientist could create a younger clone and transfer only partial memory (the good part -save) to your new body ? This is not impossible considering how quickly storage technology has developed we can store more and more data on tiny chips.

What does a soul or aatma even means? Anyway we cannot control it if we get recycled well it will happen naturally and there is nothing we can do about it. There are other planets where probably life existed some time and when the right chemical reactions happen life will come back to those planets again. May be this whole thing is just a chemical reaction.

@TimeLawyer may be we are just an AI mining bitcoins lol now we are developing our own AI to make our work easy when it will gain consciousness and it will develop its own AI.

like Dinosaurs went extinct we know they existed and now they are 'nothing'. They turn into different chemical compounds over time like soil > plants > food > our body breaks food it other compounds > and eventually all chemicals combines to form a living thing. We know all our emotions everything we feel can be controlled with right chemicals.

@WhyIsLife56 hey I am interested to know what do you think about this analogy (dinosaurs)?

Hopefully @WhyIsLife56 will post something here when she comes back. Her profile says she's taking a little break from the forum.

 

[Dude1983]

One thought there:

for something to exists, it must be the thing, and a consciousness to be aware of it, the thing can not exist without a consciousness being aware of it,, the consciousnes, can exists alone because he is conscious, atleast of itself.

So may be nothing out there, but everything inside

 

[goomsoom]

These sound like the teachings of Christian Science.


There was a time when I thought consciousness belonged to each being and continued on after this, absent the body. The body was merely a suit each being (spirit) wore so we could recognized each other. I'm not so certain anymore. If there's nothing after this, then consciousness dies with the body...and what was the purpose of this experience here?

if we believe in evolution then what used to happen before. I don't think other animals have a religion.

Who created heaven or hell ? What does that even mean? all pain, emotions we feel only till our body works properly, if some part of our body stops working properly we won't even feel any pain in that part and ofcourse we can do it with medicines. How spirit will feel anything and what is it made of?

is there any purpose of life? Our society make rules and we just keep on doing something till we exist. Everything we do is to achieve a sense of accomplishment again a chemical reaction in our brain. Some people use a shortcut and directly use those chemicals, they are called addicts. Aren't we all just addicts in a way?

We are too insignificant to control anything in this universe, to have a purpose.

 

[toomuchgrief]

Death is just like you get put under anesthesia , but it a permanent, forever state, never wake up.

Afterlife is just a concept that human made it up to give them "comfort" due to human nature are afraid of death. So even after we die, we still have a life even after death? LOL. Comfort thinking, comfort. comfort.

Why do other religions have the concept of afterlife? well guess what, afterlife/religion concepts are pass down mouth by mouth. As other religions emerge, it takes what the "mouth" of the ancestor said and pass down.

If there such thing as conscious floating around, there sure be BILLIONS of conscious floating around then. The world have 7 billions as of now, but think of back then, 2000 years back then add those population to the 7 billions population. wow, we sure have billions of conscious floating around. Yeah, sure, whatever.

Dead is the end.

And I don't believe that recarnation kid story, LOLLL sorry. The parents can teach the kid to say those stuff so they can have their 5 minutes of frame on the news/TV. That kid parents could have research about the WorldWar airplane dude whatever, and teach the kid to say that, pretending like he reincarnate and get their 5 minutes of frame.

Whatever.

Listen, soul/conscious out there, if you reading this, reply back here ok, PROVE to me that you the "soul"/conscious exist. Nobody who been dead, decompose their corpse and come back in conscious. NONE.

 

[Backwood_tilt]

Listen, soul/conscious out there, if you reading this, reply back here ok, PROVE to me that you the "soul"/conscious exist. Nobody who been dead, decompose their corpse and come back in conscious. NONE.

I try to think of it like a caricature of pascal's wager: If i'm wrong and i reincarnate or some bullshit, then i'm back. If i'm right and nothing happens, then nothing happens.

Who tf cares. This isn't going to stop me from CTB anyways.