After death

[Prince Myshkin]

Post speculation on what may happen after death. These do not have to be serious but they can be. This thread stems from a dream I had at some point within the last year. I will start with my own personal opinion, which I feel is most likely.

 

Personally I feel that the most likely outcome after death would be that there is nothing. There is the analogy some people use that it is like a computer breaking and not working again. I feel that because we are a collection of atoms, these are simply recycled within the universe and return to the earth. Because these atoms never meet together in the same structure again (as that would be impossible given the amount of atoms we are dealing with) there is no chance of us having the same consciousness once more and therefore nothingness follows. For people who struggle to comprehend nothingness (everybody) it is worth bearing in mind that there was nothingness before you were born too, so it would be simply the same as that. I do not personally feel that it is remotely likely that reincarnation is possible. We are all, however, part of the universe and are therefore recycled rather than reincarnated. You'll be as much a part of the universe as you've always been.

 

I did have a dream towards the end of last year which I enjoyed speculating on. I like the varied ideas of what can happen after death and have begun daydreaming about it sometimes (not in a glorifying death kind of way, more thinking of unusual things that may happen). Death being vital to life, it's a big thing and often isn't spoken about much (for obvious reasons). Anyway, in the dream, the person who died entered a new world which was populated by hundreds, thousands or millions of versions of themselves. All of these versions were made up of all the conceived opinions of you throughout your life. So there would be awful versions of you made from random strangers who only saw you when you were passing, maybe doing something you regret (if you were drunk in public, or simply shouting at somebody legitimately but them misinterpreting it). There would be taller/shorter versions of you from people who misjudged your height, angry/insanely placid versions of you. There would be gay versions of you, there might be versions of you as different genders (I was often mistaken as a girl when I was young - only by children, not by adults). And this would be everything that has ever been conceived, not what was believed by people. So if somebody imagined you in a certain light even though they knew you were not like that, say if they imagined you as an animal even, you would be there as that too.

 

Then you'd just spend an infinite amount of time meeting the infinite amount of versions of yourself and trying to find the one closest to you, in your opinion.

 

Anybody else have any theories, sensible or not?

[Troxley]

I'm kind of hesitant to post what I believe on this thread. Not in the mood to argue or "debate".

 

Edit: Why did I even reply to this thread in the first place? :thinking:

[Troxley]

Crazy dream, by the way. You should make a movie about that.

[Cyan Kat]

I agree with you pretty much it's hard to imagine it, so like having no recollection of events before you are born and then you decompose and all your atoms become plants and worms and shit and they are constantly recycled and made up into other things. Even within your own body cells are broken down and built up again and everything's a cycle, the chance that your atoms become part of another human being must be so tiny when you think of how big the universe is and to me that's pretty cool.

 

I don't believe there's any afterlife, I like to think there are other dimensions and alternate realities which are every possibility that could ever happen with your life and could mean that you are an entirely different person.

 

I hate thinking about death though because it's just like everything you ever feel or thought or saw in the world is gone and when everyone you knew dies, memories of you are also lost so it's like you never even existed. Then i just get annoyed and feel like i should stop contemplating this and get on with my life while i still have it </3

[Wyrd]

After death is like before birth

[Prince Myshkin]

I'm kind of hesitant to post what I believe on this thread. Not in the mood to argue or "debate".

 

Edit: Why did I even reply to this thread in the first place? :thinking:

 

I don't think you'd be attacked but you don't have to say. It's more likely people would say the chances of the thing you believe aren't strong enough to actively believe in them. The only problems you may encounter are if you said that you'd go to some place where homosexuals or another minority group weren't allowed.

[Prince Myshkin]

Crazy dream, by the way. You should make a movie about that.

 

I like my dreams. I'm thinking of writing some short stories on them. Like the one I had on baby dreams, as mentioned in the Getting To Know You thread.

 

I have some terrifying dreams too though. They aren't even cool terrifying either, just generic terrifying. I either don't remember my dreams, am scared of them or fucking love them.

[Coeurli]

I kinda believe in that heaven/hell thing, even if it's hard to believe. :anxious:

I don't know why exactly I believe in that, I guess I just do. Maybe it's because it helps drawing a line between good and bad, and it makes me feel like in the end there's always some sort of peace and justice. Yeah, that's probably the latter.

 

I guess the most probable thing is that there's actually nothing after death. But for once, we know we'll never know the answer to that.

[Troxley]

I guess the most probable thing is that there's actually nothing after death. But for once, we know we'll never know the answer to that.

Unless there is life after death, than we'll know the answer for sure someday.

[Prince Myshkin]

I wouldn't want for there to be a hell though. I don't think there could be a heaven with a hell. In the same respects that if one person is persecuted, then society is too.

 

I understand what you mean though. I just don't think you need any form of threat or reward in order to make you good or bad, providing we aren't forced into actions by the surrounding culture.

[Coeurli]

I wouldn't want for there to be a hell though. I don't think there could be a heaven with a hell. In the same respects that if one person is persecuted, then society is too.

 

I understand what you mean though. I just don't think you need any form of threat or reward in order to make you good or bad, providing we aren't forced into actions by the surrounding culture.

Actually I don't think there could be a heaven without a hell, otherwise it wouldn't be balanced. How would it be heaven if there was no hell ? It would just be "the place".

 

I guess it's more the idea of justice, for me. To think that there's at least a possibility that someday, even when people are dead, there is a justice, reassures me.

Unless there is life after death, than we'll know the answer for sure someday.

Do you mean personally or do you mean all Humanity ?

[Prince Myshkin]

Actually I don't think there could be a heaven without a hell, otherwise it wouldn't be balanced. How would it be heaven if there was no hell ? It would just be "the place".

 

I guess it's more the idea of justice, for me. To think that there's at least a possibility that someday, even when people are dead, there is a justice, reassures me.

Do you mean personally or do you mean all Humanity ?

 

There wouldn't be a need for justice if it was bliss and everything was right. All sins absolved. That would fit in with the heaven that is often sold to religious people. I'm guessing your focus on justice is more punishment than rehabilitation. There would be no need for justice if people learned from their mistakes.

 

If the afterlife was simply a separation of good people from bad people then it seems a bit weak from whatever would be powerful enough to create such a thing.

 

 

 

 

 

From what I gather I think she meant personally we would find out when we died IF there was an afterlife. And if there wasn't then we just wouldn't find out. That's how I read it anyway.

[Prince Myshkin]

It's worth noting that hell is a more modern invention than heaven, though. It was not decided until much later on that it existed, and this is often speculated as being down to control rather than any form of philosophical realisation of ying and yang.

[Abracadabra]

I believe soul is simply a product of our brain, a complex result of interaction between molecules. It shuts off as the brain does, just like functions of other organs do. Shitty end for such an incredible thing but that's just the way it is. So that's a no to afterlife from me, very depressing thing to dwell on, that. Wicked dream,btw.

[Prince Myshkin]

I believe soul is simply a product of our brain, a complex result of interaction between molecules. It shuts off as the brain does, just like functions of other organs do. Shitty end for such an incredible thing but that's just the way it is. So that's a no to afterlife from me, very depressing thing to dwell on, that. Wicked dream,btw.

 

It can be depressing and depressed me for a while, but it then made me strive to make sure I impact those around me in a positive way and eventually try and fight causes that are worth fighting for for future generations to ensure that their lives are at a minimum as good as mine and possibly, in terms of equality, better. That and also self fulfillment, learning as much as possible and enjoying myself.

[Mrk]

I've always been sure that there's afterlife and that soul exists as a separate entity from the body, and I've never doubted about that. To me all those speculations about neurosciences (decisions and feelings are just a buch chemical reactions and nothing more etc.) are just another way to reduce things difficult to understand to mere scientific laws. Also, as a christian, I of course believe in God, but I it's impossible to know how afterlife was "organised", because our knowledge is and will always be limited about this.

I apologise in advance if I offended someone.

[Coldplay]

I don't really understand what a soul is

[Prince Myshkin]

I love Mrk. It was all "organised" on an Excel spreadsheet by the way.

[The Doctor]

I could make a post about regeneration but I'm not in the mood for talking Who now (there's a baby leaving at Christmas and I need to get my feels right )

 

I don't think there's a real afterlife,

but I used to think there was this giant house where you can be with all you family members/friends/pets/... that already passed away

we would live like we did here but it's so much more fun, 'cause you can be with people that you never really knew or your idols :wacky:

Yeah I love my little innocent 7 year old self :p

 

I'm not ready for the blackness though

[Prince Myshkin]

Apologies for my post Mrk. I'm intrigued at what you mean by mere scientific laws though. Just because you understand the specifics of something, doesn't make it any less enjoyable. We know that the function of sexual intercourse is to reproduce, but when it is used in a manner not to reproduce (when using a condom or simply through masturbation) it doesn't mean you don't enjoy it. Emotion is emotion. It is a pure experience. You can better understand why you feel a certain way and inform your reaction to something but just because you understand the reason you fall in love with someone is to increase the chances you will stay with them after you have a child together so as to improve the chances of that child child reaching sexual maturity themselves and continuing the species, it doesn't mean that you can turn off love because you view it as mere scientific law.

[Batman]

Personally I feel that the most likely outcome after death would be that there is nothing.

that.

 

 

Though I really like daydreaming about that certain topic as well.

 

It would be so awesome if after we die, we could get answers to all the questions we ever had, like, what's the universe made of? Who were my ancestors? And all that. And then, when we know everything, we finally die (lose consciousness/our soul, whatever) and be what we were before we were born: nothing.

[James.]

I don't like to speculate about death. I'd much rather live my life and then, whatever happens happens. I do like the idea of reincarnation though, even if I don't actually 'believe' in it.

[Wyrd]

Apologies for my post Mrk. I'm intrigued at what you mean by mere scientific laws though. Just because you understand the specifics of something, doesn't make it any less enjoyable. We know that the function of sexual intercourse is to reproduce, but when it is used in a manner not to reproduce (when using a condom or simply through masturbation) it doesn't mean you don't enjoy it. Emotion is emotion. It is a pure experience. You can better understand why you feel a certain way and inform your reaction to something but just because you understand the reason you fall in love with someone is to increase the chances you will stay with them after you have a child together so as to improve the chances of that child child reaching sexual maturity themselves and continuing the species, it doesn't mean that you can turn off love because you view it as mere scientific law.

I'd like to add to that, that science can only tell us that much with some certainty. Often enough we thought we knew something for sure and it was proven false, and surely enough there are things we cannot measure, we cannot grasp and/or we cannot sense. Like Mrk says, there's only so much people are capable of understanding and this is also the case for scientists. Scientists may only have made part of the world understandable and very likely to be like that, but that doesn't mean it's the only world there is.

 

I myself imagine death to be the end, like I wasn't there when I got born or the way I was in a dreamless sleep (I mean waking up after many hours and realizing that all those hours passed without you noticing - it's like you're not there). When I think of a concept like the 'soul' this brings basic questions up like Dee's dilemma 'I don't really know what a soul is'. I don't know if Dee meant it like that, but I am wondering in what way people experience a soul and what makes them convinced it is a soul and do different people view a soul the same way? Is the concept of a soul for Socrates the same as for a nowaday christian?

 

I don't fear death because when you die and it is as I imagine, there's nothing. So you won't think 'Oh no, this is all blackness for eternity/oh no I am dead' or something like that.

But

[Prince Myshkin]

Indeed Science can only tell us so much (although it will tell us much more the further we go forward), but I don't understand why you would actively believe something when the chances were so remote and there's a theory behind there not being an afterlife. I can understand entertaining the idea and seeing it as a possibility, but actively believing something so specific like an afterlife seems bizarre. I'm inclined to believe that there is no afterlife but obviously I'm not going to laugh at people for saying they think there will be one. I just find it weird when they say there is one. And if they think there will be one and are more inclined to believe that, then I'm interested to hear why, that's all.

 

But I'm all for random possibilities and musings on possible outcomes, as it's why I created the thread. If it's something you specific that you actually believe, I'm interested to hear why though.

[Cobalt]

I think it's just gonna be a big void of black, nothingness. You won't be conscious of it at all, you won't be anything at all. Though I kinda get a bit scared at the thought of becoming nothing, I was once nothing already...