Life After Death??

[Scar]

I got into a long discussion with someone the other night about our theories on what happens when we die. I know you have all had this talk at some point :-) It always proves to be interesting to me unless the person is offended by my opinion, that's kinda a conversation stopper......

I wont go into his theory cause it's long and I wouldn't do it justice, but here's mine:

Imagine there is a color on the rainbow not composed of red, yellow, blue, etc. Someone could describe this color to you in great detail, but no matter how vivid a description it was you would not, no matter what, be able to imagine it. Why? Cause without the colors that exist in our world as reference points, your mind cannot imagine that color. That is what I think death is. I thik it could be described in perfect detail to us but we would still not be able to imagine it. I don't think it posesses any elements of life, I think it is so far removed from our experience on earth that we'll just have to wait to see what it's like.....

anyhow, I hope that my inarticulate explanation made at least a little sense.

What do u all think happens when we die???

[TheDeathKnight]

Nothing.

I'm not saying there could not be something.
Maybe there is.
But I really think that people just REALLY want to think there is something.
But why? Why do we try to imagine this other world, or this other reality?
It's pretty much all fantasy, imagination, theories, religion, myths, etc...
The reason we like to think that, is because if there is nothing, it's scary to most people. You, or your loved-ones die, and that's it? Their brain and body rot, and they cease to exist? That's a pretty harsh reality most people do not want to believe. But what makes us different than animals? Do dogs go to some afterlife? How about squirrels? How about mice? Bugs? Worms? Does every living thing have a soul? Or is it just life force, life energy? That's the only thing that even remotely sounds realistic to me. But if so, that life energy isn't going to have your memories, or your personality, when it leaves your body, and rejoins the rest of the energy circling the world. So in terms of you, and who you are, I think that dies when you die. Will your energy get recycled? Maybe. But to me, it does not matter if you remain part of the cycle of life. Even if you get reincarnated, you still lose who you are in this life. I tend to be a pretty hardcore athiest. I don't think anything happens when you die. That's why I plan on being frozen when I die. So they can thaw me out when they have the technology to live forever... Vampire style!

[Lady Alias]

Nothing.
But what makes us different than animals? Do dogs go to some afterlife? How about squirrels? How about mice? Bugs? Worms? Does every living thing have a soul?

That reminds me of something my father told me over the phone. He said I should feel strongly about my "being saved" status, because only the pets of those who are saved get to go to heavean. I was so angry at his obnoxious comment I threw the phone on the floor.

[Satiate]

i personally like c.s. lewis' ending of the chronicles of narnia in the book "the last battle"... though i'm not religious, but spiritual, the way he described on how energy continued and how colors are brighter/foods taste richer... though i don't necessarily believe that it's really like that... it is a wonderful concept... further upward... further inward... you don't really die, but continue to grow spiritually... my own personal beliefs, well... i need to be drunk to really want to get that deep...

[Mindgames]

I think it doesn't matter, and that if people accepted that, we'd be in a far better place. You may go 'somewhere', you may go nowhere, but you don't come back and tell everyone so there's no way anyone is going to know (apart from the people who talk to Elvis each morning via the voice in their toaster...)

If everyone took a "meh.. we'll see..." attitude then religion would become just a way to pass the time and notes-on-having-a-nice-life, but the feverish striving to work out who will and won't 'be saved' wouldn't matter so much.

last time i had this conversation I nacked the end of Vanilla Sky as a thought experiment:-

You're blindfolded and taken to a rooftop. You're told nothing about it - you may be standing 6 inches off the ground or 6 storeys. Next to you is a religious man who says he can't see anything either, but he believes you're both near the ground. Would you jump, and if so would his opinion make a difference?

[Morning Glory]

You're blindfolded and taken to a rooftop. You're told nothing about it - you may be standing 6 inches off the ground or 6 storeys. Next to you is a religious man who says he can't see anything either, but he believes you're both near the ground. Would you jump, and if so would his opinion make a difference?

I'd reach over and push him, and then wait a couple seconds to see what happens.

[Velvet-Tongue]

I used to believe in an after life..and I still do kind of. When you die whats inside of you decays and the energies inherit in your cells/nutrients..are absorbed so you do kind of live on after death through the bodies of other creatures.

Not that I dont want an epic, awesome fantasy afterlife roaming the planes of reality. But..I doubt it..alot.

[Mr Karl]

it's whatever you build for yourself in this life

[TheDeathKnight]

It seems to me, that religion has two purposes.

One, is to answer people's fear of death.

The second, is to give them guidance about life.

People turn to religion, because science doesn't have a very cool answer for what the purpose of life is. Science also doesn't have a very pleasant answer for what happens after you die. So when people want to know what the hell life is about, or what happens why you die, people turn to religion of some kind, even if it's new age, because science's answers kind of suck!

[Xochitl]

Couldn't agree more on the religious thing, I have seen people believe in some strange stuff even this day & age & in such a liberal place like LA. Honestly, most people don't want to be responsible for their own existence & death & it is much easier to put that on something else or someone else. I am sure that we do something else when we die. Didn't science already cover this? Energy isn't created or destroyed is just turns into something else but most people don't want to know that they are worm food when they go they are doing something good for the worms and anything else that eats up what is left of you. Too unglamourous of a reality for most. Still science has had the best answers as of yet as to what we do while alive or dead. I guess that is my religion, besides when I get sick I get better results when I go to a scientist (MD or OD) not a preacher, priest or rabbi.

[GnArKiLL]

It seems to me, that religion has two purposes.

One, is to answer people's fear of death.

The second, is to give them guidance about life.

People turn to religion, because science doesn't have a very cool answer for what the purpose of life is. Science also doesn't have a very pleasant answer for what happens after you die. So when people want to know what the hell life is about, or what happens why you die, people turn to religion of some kind, even if it's new age, because science's answers kind of suck!

are you kidding, science offers the best answers to life. people just dont understand it, and because of that, they reject it.

[TheDeathKnight]

Yeah, but people don't go to "science church" every Sunday, and have scientific people give them advice on what to do with their lives.

My point is that every time I see someone "get religion", it is usually because of one of two things. Either someone they know died, or they had a near-death experience, and they started wondering what happens when they die. And so when they look for answers, the only "nice" answers come from religions. So they convert... The other reason people "get religion" is when they hit a point in their life, where they ask themselves, "What is life all about? What is my purpose in life?" It usually happens when people do what they are supposed to, and they get a job, or get married, or have kids, thinking that life will all make sense, and be happy. But when they get into the daily grind, the daily routine, they ask themselves, "What is the point of all this? What am I doing here? What am I supposed to do with my life? Just work, raise kids, watch tv?" People need some kind of answer about what they are supposed to do with themselves. They need a plan. And I don't think science offers people a clear answer about what they are *supposed* to do. What is science's answer? To learn? Boring! To seek truth? Whatever! People want a clear message. "The lord wants you to be a good person, and live a good life, and then you get to go to heaven..." OH! COOL! I'LL GET RIGHT ON IT! Science needs a good answer for people who don't know what the fuck life is all about. A good, positive, uplifting idea, about what life is, and why we are here on earth... Otherwise they end up turning to religion...

[Scar]

You're blindfolded and taken to a rooftop. You're told nothing about it - you may be standing 6 inches off the ground or 6 storeys. Next to you is a religious man who says he can't see anything either, but he believes you're both near the ground. Would you jump, and if so would his opinion make a difference?

that's a cool analogy :-) I like it :-)

[Superna]

I've come to believe that we are masses of vibrating energy, focused in physical form, in a liner perception... when the focus is no longer in the physical, our energy (since energy can never be destroyed) will change form to exist wherever our soul choses in the vast realm of infinite possibilities

[Mindgames]

.... because science's answers kind of suck!

Oh I dunno.. let's see if I got this right:-

You die. Sucky but kinda necessary.

You decay, via some slippery moments, into a mixture of carbon and trace elements. And four brass handles...

You pass through a few nightcrawlers.

Some of you gets used to make grass, and sunbathes for a few weeks before heading back underground.

You wait a while, and eventually turn into rock. This bit is a smidge boring...

Roaches take over the universe, George Bush MCMXXVII taxes your place in history to fund the invasion of his executive bathroom.

The sun goes nova, and planet Earth is vaporised. You're hoofed into space alone with a lot of tiny chunks of the abovementioned Mr Bush...

You wait a while, hovering in the blackness of space being blacker than the blackest black.

You go through quite a goth phase because of it...

Gravity pulls you together, slowly, over a billion years, until you form a new star. In an enormous nuclear explosion you burn brighter than the sun you once knew.

The IRS notices you at last, and sends a bill for those taxes.

mG

[TheDeathKnight]

Nice!