All religion aside...

The level of advancement in human knowledge on the workings of energy, time, matter, and space (including the origin of our solar system and planet), is so far beyond what it was even 20-30 years ago (let alone 500+)... it should come as no surprise to anyone that we find more people ably and happily existing today without an afterlife theorem.

 

How in the world do you put religion aside when discussing what happens after death. It is kind of important.

I believe there is nothing after death. So i better enjoy my life as best as i can.

Isabel, I also believe that when people have e better life they tend to not believe as much as they would when they have a difficult life. Just wait for another world war, a big epidemic or a big economic colapse and the percentage of people who believe in a deity will increase.

 

I found this collection of NDEs: http://www.near-death.com/forum.html

 

Yes exactly.

It's akin to saying : 'All women aside, what happens when you have sex?'

 

All weather aside, what happens when a hurricane forms?

 

I've taken 15 minute doze off naps and have had complicated long time period dreams in that short time period of being asleep. I think when you die, you do have a "life flashing before your eyes" moment but it will be different and unique for each person. IMO you can probably almost live another life in that few seconds of passing. Then its a slow fade to black for when the brain goes dead and that's it - a peaceful transition to nothingness. Fin.

 

dum-dum-dumdumdum

yessir.

 

I think it's possible to discuss just thoughts on the afterlife without going into religious philosophy or dogma/specifics.

You talk about what happens during a tornado without going into the weather patterns which create it, etc.

 

there is no afterlife for me and i couldn't care less. people spend too much time harping on what's going to happen when they die instead of using that energy on improving their current lives. get your relationships, phsyical, emotional, and financial well-being in order now and the afterlife will take care of itself.

i always get the "but isn't that depressing?" shtick from the religious nuts when i say the above. uh, no. it actually makes me sleep really well because my mind isn't cluttered with crap i have no control over.

 

I believe in reincarnation but I can't wouldn't even try to prove it scientifically.

Anyway as Macalu says we should spend more time working on improving this life than worrying about the next.

 

I agree.

Because in this life, things are much harder than in the afterworld. In this life, you're on your own.

 

Actually, couldn't it be countered that your own faith is one thing you have total control over?

 

I agree with this. I hate to accept this but I have to. Once you die, that is it.

 

If your faith is that you have control over nothing, it kind of defeats the purpose/creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

i love all the bulletin board philosophers with 10,000+ posts telling me to carpe diem.

i don't believe in heaven, hell, or reincarnation. there is no existence beyond our life. i don't remember an existence before my birth, and i suspect death is similar.

however, i'm not sure how this cosmic 'cease and desist' is perceived by the brain. death, truly being the only incomprehensible activity the brain is capable of, has bred all sorts of cultural, and presumably bioogical, defense mechanisms against this uncertainty. religion and afterlife are two such mechanisms, and i would expect the mind to construct similar defenses to smooth the physical transition.

when people say they see their loved ones, i suspect this is a projection of their consciousness; a sort of memory dump when the brain remains active longer than the body. even if this activity is physically measurable only for moments, i could see the experience being freed from constraints. that ten minutes could be years, or like kevin spacey says in american beauty, that ten minutes could be your whole life. of course this is not a true afterlife, just a dream.

 

All I know is that I'm headed to the light immediately. No way am I going to stick around to haunt some old house and allow the owners to make money off of me by letting those dumb losers at Ghost Hunters come in and do a show.

 

Sadly, I am leaning toward this...

 

How is that faith? Faith is a belief without proof in something... not nothing.

 

Believing that you only have control over your beliefs isn't a belief?

*brain asplodes*

 

Like anyone can even know that.

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