Thread: Do you believe in an afterlife of whatever form?

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FactsAreDead

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Something before I go to bed: Do you believe that death is the end of your consciousness or do you believe that the "you" will keep existing, in whatever form that might be?

If no: Why, and doesn't that mean it makes no sense whether you're alive or dead?
If yes: Why, and what exactly do you believe/hope for?


Curious to find out what other people think. Me, personally, I *hope* that there's something, but I'm not religious, so I can't just believe something. But death not being the end would really be pretty awesome ;>
 
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I don't think there is anything as it would cheapen life. Also we would have discovered it by now. Make the most of this life d-pad as it's the only one you got.
 
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What are you, if not the sum of the electrical signals firing between nodes in your brain at any given instant?
When your brain dies, and those signals fizzle out, there is nothing. Anything that could've been considered "you" is gone.

There is no evidence of things like souls, ghosts, reincarnations, etc. These are all cultural manifestations of man's hope that there is something more at the end. Things people over history have told themselves to stave off the fear and existential dread that comes with the thought that death is final.

Because it really is a quite scary though, isn't it? That you will cease to exist. You will reach an end point where there is no "you" left to experience an afterlife, and there is nothing you can do about it. You, the person reading this, will die one day.

I try not to think too hard about it, else it causes me to have a full on panic attack. I wish, desperately, there is more in the great beyond. I want nothing more than to be shown absolute, undeniable, unquestionable proof that there is an afterlife.

I haven't found it.
 
I will never fear nothingness. I came from it, I will return... home is home.
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I believe in spirits, so naturally I believe there's something else, what it is exactly I can't, and wouldn't, say I know for certain, that's where faith comes in for many (and that's a different discussion)

I'm interested in, not a subscriber of, the recycled souls theory, where we've lived multiple lives spaced throughout time and space (sometimes even intersecting with other lives we've lived) as a way of forging the soul to perfection to attain another level of existence. Something a bit like buddhism without all the meditation, but that's honestly just because it sounds wicked cool. Some believers of this theory think it's just one soul living all of our lives, past and present (this is where they completely lose me).
 
I believe that there's a lot what we don't understand and that there's something "more" to us that we currently don't know.

Regarding death, heaven or something after that: nope, it'll be just over. I'm not that romantic.

Can't imagine how that shit would look like. Too many dumb questions that I have.

- from a historical view: from what time are souls being saved, in heaven or in an Afterlife, who qualifies for it? I'm talking about us being some kind of ape like creature that has evolved. Are the apes in heaven as well or at what point exactly did it apply to us as "humans", when we slowly evolved over such a long time?
- Would all dead souls be in one place? Like from, forever? Would that be some kind of society?
- would I meet Hitler or are there a different realms?
- What happens to babies that die, do they stay mental babies or do they like.... Have puberty in heaven?
- what happens to "spirits" of retarded people? Do they stay that way or are magically healed?
- what about dead unborn babies?

and so on and so on.

Though I like the idea of an Afterlife.... But more like this one:

as-an-afterlife-merc-in-cyberpunk-2077-you-can-work-for-gangs-but-not-join-them_feature.jpg
 
I am an agnostic atheist, but you described it as gnostic atheist. I have no reason to assume there is an afterlife, it would not make much sense, but I cannot prove that there is none, so there is an exceedingly minor chance that everything we know about how humans work is wrong and there is an afterlife. It is not much more likely than me winning the lottery although I never play it. I would prefer if death was not the end, but it I would also prefer to be able to fly.
 
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For me, I don't like the idea of an afterlife. It would take away importance and urgency from the life I'm living. Because I don't believe that there's more, I accept that my time here is limited and that I need to plan my life accordingly. Trying to get as much out of it as possible.

Being a good person because I chose to, not out of fear that I won't get to heaven or that someone will judge be after death. Valuing the people I love and the moments we spend together, because it can be over any moment and they won't ever come back. Appreciate life, because it'll all be over faster than you think.
 
Can't imagine how that shit would look like. Too many dumb questions that I have.

- from a historical view: from what time are souls being saved, in heaven or in an Afterlife, who qualifies for it? I'm talking about us being some kind of ape like creature that has evolved. Are the apes in heaven as well or at what point exactly did it apply to us as "humans", when we slowly evolved over such a long time?
- Would all dead souls be in one place? Like from, forever? Would that be some kind of society?
- would I meet Hitler or are there a different realms?
- What happens to babies that die, do they stay mental babies or do they like.... Have puberty in heaven?
- what happens to "spirits" of retarded people? Do they stay that way or are magically healed?
- what about dead unborn babies?

and so on and so on.
Buy a book or two on Eschatology. These kinds of questions have been asked for thousands of years and there are many works of literature that try to answer these questions.
 
Buy a book or two on Eschatology. These kinds of questions have been asked for thousands of years and there are many works of literature that try to answer these questions.

I guess I should, but I'm hesitant to spend time on it. Because no one knows the answers and it just comes down to people using their imagination and fantasy to craft answers. In many cases to fit into their belief systems, whatever those might individually be.

Because there are no facts to base these speculations on. Therefore I would generally question the legitimacy of such books.

Correct me if I'm just being ignorant though.
 
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It's way too fucking complicated for me to explain what I'm talking about without a fuck ton of prep and a huge wall of text, so I'm just going to go with yes, maybe, sort of.

For a bit more detail, I'm an agnostic atheist with a great deal of interest in theoretical physics, the metaphysical and 'the supernatural', and honestly I think a lot of the whole concept of life and death starts to become a bit trickier to quantify once you start moving beyond the 4 dimensional, linear constraints our conscious minds filter the world through.
 
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I guess I should, but I'm hesitant to spend time on it. Because no one knows the answers and it just comes down to people using their imagination and fantasy to craft answers. In many cases to fit into their belief systems, whatever those might individually be.
No, that is not the case at all. I studied Eschatology during my college years and it is an incredible field with some of the greatest minds of our history contributing to it. Testimonies, folklore and religious realities, historical events and others are all studied in-depth to provide satisfactory answers to your questions. Of course they aren't 100% verifiable but they work with the knowledge we have now or had before.
 
It's way too fucking complicated for me to explain what I'm talking about without a fuck ton of prep and a huge wall of text, so I'm just going to go with yes, maybe, sort of.

For a bit more detail, I'm an agnostic atheist with a great deal of interest in theoretical physics, the metaphysical and 'the supernatural', and honestly I think a lot of the whole concept of life and death starts to become a bit trickier to quantify once you start moving beyond the 4 dimensional, linear constraints our conscious minds filter the world through.
Pls give us your full summary of Steins;Gate, you have me interested!!1

(jk, but pls tell us more for real)
 
No, that is not the case at all. I studied Eschatology during my college years and it is an incredible field with some of the greatest minds of our history contributing to it. Testimonies, folklore and religious realities, historical events and others are all studied in-depth to provide satisfactory answers to your questions. Of course they aren't 100% verifiable but they work with the knowledge we have now or had before.

Thanks for the answer. To eliminate my scepticism, could you provide me with some clear factual evidence/knowledge about the afterlife that are the base for these theories? Because "testimonies, folklore and religious realities" are kinda the opposite of what I'm asking for.
 
When you are dealing with transcendent realities you have to work with unnatural events. There is no 1+1=afterlife...

And that's my issue, on a very basic level. If I can't get a clear cut "objective" fact to base on, I question the legitimacy of these books and theories. I can make stuff up as well and wrap it in very intellectual sounding sentences. But for me personally, that is not enough to dedicate my time to read such books.
 
When you are dealing with transcendent realities you have to work with unnatural events. There is no 1+1=afterlife...
If afterlife were to exist, it would be a matter of stem sciences that just is no within our realm of capabilities yet.
 
And that's my issue, on a very basic level. If I can't get a clear cut "objective" fact to base on, I question the legitimacy of these books and theories. I can make stuff up as well and wrap it in very intellectual sounding sentences. But for me personally, that is not enough to dedicate my time to read such books.
It is not making stuff up, mate, if you don't want to read them that is up to you but people dedicated their lives to this field for a reason. There are no clear cut "objective" facts about many things we believe exist, such as black holes, dark matter, worm holes, tachyons, quantum mechanics etc. etc. none of these are 100% real and facts yet we operate with them.
 
In the absence of evidence for an afterlife I assume death is the end. So make the most of the time you have here.
 
It is not making stuff up, mate, if you don't want to read them that is up to you but people dedicated their lives to this field for a reason. There are no clear cut "objective" facts about many things we believe exist, such as black holes, dark matter, worm holes, tachyons, quantum mechanics etc. etc. none of these are 100% real and facts yet we operate with them.

You're not doing your argument any favours. Take black holes for example. The concept has been based on legitimate observations and questions that needed explanation. We even have pictures of one now.

While, as far as I am able to distill it, the base for all afterlife "science" is just people not liking the idea of dying and being gone forever. There are no measurements, no data, no fotos, no base for any legitimate science here.

At least from my current knowledge. But I of course don't know everything and am always glad if someone can lay down good rational arguments for me to question my viewpoints. Therefore my eagerness to learn more. But I need some meat here.
 
While, as far as I am able to distill it, the base for all afterlife "science" is just people not liking the idea of dying and being gone forever. There are no measurements, no data, no fotos, no base for any legitimate science here.
As a Catholic Theologian I consider Bible to be a reliable source and there many times Jesus Christ and others before him talk about the afterlife. As Jesus Christ is the God and the one through whom all is created, he is the most credible source. If you do not believe in the divinity of Christ then I suppose you only got a few options.
1) Read testimonies of near-death experiences
2) Read the theories from the point of view of religious studies
3) Die and find out for yourself
4) Wait until some proof that you consider worthy appears
 
As a Catholic Theologian I consider Bible to be a reliable source and there many times Jesus Christ and others before him talk about the afterlife. As Jesus Christ is the God and the one through whom all is created, he is the most credible source. If you do not believe in the divinity of Christ then I suppose you only got a few options.
1) Read testimonies of near-death experiences
2) Read the theories from the point of view of religious studies
3) Die and find out for yourself
4) Wait until some proof that you consider worthy appears

When I look at the sources and examples that you are listing, they don't qualify as scientific evidence or a rational basis for further studies to me. That's where we disagree and there's no overcoming it, because we have two very different fundamental approaches to this topic. I'm totally fine with people believing in it. Big focus on the believing part here.

Which isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong. Thank you for laying down your reasons, for me to understand where you're coming from.
 
Who says science would be the primary method to determine an afterlife in the first place?

Determining what Is by using material evidence and only material evidence is the belief in materialism, an assumption that everything that Is can be determined by material observations, and anything outside this scope either Doesn't Exist, or it exists based on theory and tertiary observations but simply hasn't been confirmed with material observation yet.

The premise of an afterlife is that there exists an immaterial, non-corporeal, non-corruptible energy that we all contain. This energy came from somewhere and returns to somewhere, like an ancient prototype-axiom of the statement that Information cannot be destroyed. If this energy/information is immaterial then in what way is science qualified to speak on it? The best a scientist can do is declare "then it doesn't exist" or the slightly humbler "for our intents within science, it doesn't exist" or the agnostic "I am not sure whether it exists".

I think the Big leap of faith a modern man or woman faces is that the creator of it all decided to preserve the record of His intentions in a book you can buy on a Wal Mart shelf, and this book is sufficient to enter Correct spiritual relationship with that creator, and that in spite of wars and persecution the lessons of the book have not been lost to time and boredom.

The absurdity doesn't add or subtract from the potential truth of the claim, but it is absurd, one of the most absurd proposals I can think of and yet it is so commonplace that it is viewed as mundane.