what is the most likely outcome after death?

[wildflowers1996]

I know it's impossible to be objective, but if you really, really try to be objective - what do you think happens?

I feel like I'm not really educated enough to comment. But I feel like the most likely thing is that death is nothingness. Brain activity is gone, so I am too.

I suppose I am just still so scared of hell after reading Christian websites as a child. I still have thoughts like "the devil is making me go on this website. The devil is tricking me". But maybe it's the Christians who were tricking me. I don't know who to trust. Who to believe. Maybe I'm being put through this because I deserve to suffer. Maybe I'm already in a mini-hell.

Christian apologists try to give logical arguments as to why believing in Christianity is a rational worldview (and there are some apologists for other religions).
Honestly, I just feel too stupid to weigh up the arguments, but I don't feel convinced by anything I've read.
I'm no historian, so I can't weigh up whether the evidence for the Resurrection is "good" evidence or not.

Then some people believe in reincarnation but I feel like the evidence for this is very weak. Near death experiences have other explanations. Children "remembering" past lives has other explanations. I don't think any scientist would take this seriously. But I'm ignorant and open to having my mind changed. It's just very difficult to avoid cognitive bias.

 

[sserafim]

Personally I think that permanent non-existence is most likely, followed by reincarnation. I don't believe in heaven or hell. This world is already both of those according to your perspective. It's hell for me and it may be heaven for others. I believe that this world is a prison planet. It's a hell that we're all trapped in, with no escape.

 

[FuneralCry]

Non-existence, I believe consciousness is stored in the brain and once we die that is it for us, we are gone. To me anything related to religion is completely fictional, I believe humans invented it as they have the ability to be conscious and aware unlike animals and didn't wish to accept how meaningless existence truly is.

 

[rosenwasser]

I don't think there is anything after death. I grew up in a mostly atheistic country and never worried about hell. I'm aware that this hardly helps with a deep-seated fear of hell but there seems to be little argument for there to be something after death.

 

[Soontobegoner]

It is continuously occurring question... If anyone have any belief in Buddhism... Than budhha had told his stories of past life... They are known as Jattaka... He mentions his previous life going back eons... Different planes and different beings...

 

[wildflowers1996]

It is continuously occurring question... If anyone have any belief in Buddhism... Than budhha had told his stories of past life... They are known as Jattaka... He mentions his previous life going back eons... Different planes and different beings...

I just feel like there's so little evidence for this though

 

[sserafim]

I just feel like there's so little evidence for this though

There's no evidence for heaven or hell either. All there is is some alleged reference from a book. No one has lived to see it or to tell the tale. I haven't personally read the Bible, but I believe that it's all tall tales and allegories. None of it is real. Children have had past life memories which have been verified. Therefore, I believe that reincarnation is more likely

 

[Soontobegoner]

I just feel like there's so little evidence for this though

Actually there is one documented story regarding reincarnation... It's in India funnily... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanti_Devi

 

[wildflowers1996]

There's no evidence for heaven or hell either. All there is is some alleged reference from a book. No one has lived to see it or to tell the tale. I haven't personally read the Bible, but I believe that it's all tall tales and allegories. None of it is real. Children have had past life memories which have been verified. Therefore, I believe that reincarnation is more likely

There are people who claim to have died and gone to hell and come back, but I know there are other explanations

What stresses me out is Christian apologists. They think they DO have evidence - they think there's historical evidence for the Resurrection and the Bible is accurate historically so that suggests we should believe what it says about hell too

 

[Soontobegoner]

There's no evidence for heaven or hell either. All there is is some alleged reference from a book. No one has lived to see it or to tell the tale. I haven't personally read the Bible, but I believe that it's all tall tales and allegories. None of it is real. Children have had past life memories which have been verified. Therefore, I believe that reincarnation is more likely

Heaven and hell is all what we can go through.... For people looking to die... It's hell on earth... While there are people who actually having some good life..... There are billions of galaxy and billions of solar system... Different type of life forms... I don't think consciousness is only for us humans

 

[RosesFlourish]

Hm, the one thing that weirds me out about Christianity is the threat of hell. Instead of saying, "If you don't believe in Jesus, you won't have a relationship with God," they're saying we will burn in hell if we don't believe. Why are we threatened with Hell instead of being encouraged to want a relationship with him?

That aside, I have no fucking clue what happens after we die. All I know is when my loved ones go, I think to myself, "Through time eternal, I will find you."

 

[PetrichorBirth]

I know it's impossible to be objective, but if you really, really try to be objective - what do you think happens?

I feel like I'm not really educated enough to comment. But I feel like the most likely thing is that death is nothingness. Brain activity is gone, so I am too.

I suppose I am just still so scared of hell after reading Christian websites as a child. I still have thoughts like "the devil is making me go on this website. The devil is tricking me". But maybe it's the Christians who were tricking me. I don't know who to trust. Who to believe. Maybe I'm being put through this because I deserve to suffer. Maybe I'm already in a mini-hell.

Christian apologists try to give logical arguments as to why believing in Christianity is a rational worldview (and there are some apologists for other religions).
Honestly, I just feel too stupid to weigh up the arguments, but I don't feel convinced by anything I've read.
I'm no historian, so I can't weigh up whether the evidence for the Resurrection is "good" evidence or not.

Then some people believe in reincarnation but I feel like the evidence for this is very weak. Near death experiences have other explanations. Children "remembering" past lives has other explanations. I don't think any scientist would take this seriously. But I'm ignorant and open to having my mind changed. It's just very difficult to avoid cognitive bias.

There is evidence for increased brain activity shortly before everything shuts down for good. I believe that during this short increased brain activity, we experience whatever is deep rooted in our beliefs about death. We might just have an intense dream, in which we experience that which we know as heaven, or whatever you believe happens after death. Maybe something very soothing and good, that will calm us down, and make us really die in peace. Then the "real" death sets in i guess, and then it's probably nothingness, but you might die believing that you're in the afterlife.

 

[theboy]

I am a Christian and you don't go to hell after you die. That's a Catholic thing. On the other hand, I believe you can go to paradise if you receive Jesus Christ in your heart. So there is no deception

 

[Darkover]

either nothing forever or rebirth

 

[RosesFlourish]

I am a Christian and you don't go to hell after you die. That's a Catholic thing. On the other hand, I believe you can go to paradise if you receive Jesus Christ in your heart. So there is no deception

That makes sense, thank you!

 

[ExitEd]

I struggle with this question, too. I don't believe in hell so that's never prevented me from making my exit. It's the unknown that can really mess with your mind. Non-existence sounds peaceful when life becomes unbearable, but it's also scary to contemplate eternal nothingness. The idea of being reunited with lost loved ones and having some sort of spiritual existence after death is much more appealing to me.

But I don't live in a world of beliefs. I believe in facts and science. Science doesn't have the answer to this question yet, and that does weigh on my mind heavily sometimes, especially after losing so many loved ones and not knowing if they had a good or bad experience when they passed. Was it confusing and frightening? Was it a blissful release? Do they exist on some spiritual plane now? Will all of us on this site who ctb find the peace we seek? I wish there was hard data to prove one way or the other.

 

[AliceTheGoon]

We were all not alive once and we know two things about it:
1. We don't remember it
2. It didn't last forever.

So based on that I surmise that the next time we're not alive:
1. We won't remember it
2. It won't last forever

 

[Oliver]

After listening to Alan Watts, I started thinking about it this way: You were in the same spot before you were born, as you will be when you are dead, and yet you still happened to exist, so why can't you exist again, after you are death - probably not his exact words but something like that, which I somewhat agree with. I'm probably putting my bets on reincarnation of some sort.

 

[ExitEd]

Last two posts are good stuff! That kind of thinking can give one hope for what comes after.

 

[Agon321]

No one knows. This year I am 21 years old. The visible universe has existed for about 14 billion years (according to our current knowledge). There is a high probability that "something" has been around much longer. Other universes, dimensions, whatever (yes, I like fantasy). I had to be somewhere this whole time. I don't know in what form, I don't know where, I don't know if I liked it, but there had to be something. I find it hard to believe in complete nothingness... it would be completely nonsense

 

[Homo erectus]

It seems most people will totally forget everything. It would be like nothingness. But some people say they had memory and dreams in the first few years after birth of things they shouldn't have known. Maybe a few people are affected by some previous existence.

 

[wildflowers1996]

Our brains didn't exist before and I think consciousness is created by the brain
So if our brains are destroyed forever, surely our consciousness is gone forever?

 

[hopeless08]

I'm not sure what happens after death but my hope is that we will reunite with our loved ones. Hell? We already living in hell the thought that we would end up going to hell when all we want is to escape it, is beyond cruelty but you never know, with my luck that might actually end up happening, going to hell for being in hell….

 

[Chronosphere]

Universe doesn't give a shit about our thoughts and plans. Neither about stories we come up with to cope with senselessness of our existence.
Nothingness is the only possible outcome. And it's the only good thing about this universe.

 

[Ernest1964]

When I had my gall bladder removed the doctor gave me a shot and I became 100% unconscience... nothingness. THAT is what I think will be the hereafter, until I am whipped from that state and my soul is placed into another body. We are NOT bodies with a soul. We are all souls without a body until we are given a body.

 

[DreamEnd]

Our brains didn't exist before and I think consciousness is created by the brain
So if our brains are destroyed forever, surely our consciousness is gone forever?

Science has not proven at all that consciousness comes only from the brain. There is evidence from psychedelic experiences however, that consciousness continues after death and is not dependent on brain activity

 

[wildflowers1996]

Science has not proven at all that consciousness comes only from the brain. There is evidence from psychedelic experiences however, that consciousness continues after death and is not dependent on brain activity

can I ask what evidence that is?

 

[DreamEnd]

can I ask what evidence that is?

Things like this

Ayahuasca-induced personal death experiences: prevalence, characteristics, and impact on attitudes toward death, life, and the environment - PubMed

The study's findings highlight the prevalence, safety and potency of death experiences that occur during ayahuasca ceremonies, marking them as possible mechanisms for psychedelics' long-term salutatory effects in non-clinical populations. Thus, the present results join other efforts of tracking...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Our results indicate that APDs occur to more than half of those participating in ayahuasca ceremonies, typically manifest as strong and transformative experiences, and are associated with an increased sense of transcending death (study 1), as well as the certainty in the continuation of consciousness after death (study 2).


There is much more with regards to what kinds of experience can be produced. Grof studied at least 4500 cases of lsd in his book lsd the doorway to the luminous.

 

[AlternativeBagel]

I grew up in a christian household. While I am no longer in the faith, there's still a minor nagging voice in my head saying I'll go to hell for killing myself and the associated fear with eternal suffering. However I don't think it's loud enough to stop me from doing so. As for what I believe? I believe that we as a species don't know for sure what happens afterwards and that's ok. We don't have to know.

 

[TiredOfAllThis]

Rebirth with the same autistic traits, pain, and sorrow would be hellish.