I good friend of mine passed away over the weekend after a short battle with cancer. He often wondered about the after life. I know he is in a far better place. I have spent hours with his family, I find it difficult when they talk about the after life. I don't really know if I believe in a afterlife concept, do you?

no

why?

slm4m said:

Because I do not believe in ideas of heaven, hell, a soul, the afterlife, etc.

All that I am is bound up in the physiological structures of the brain. My actions are based on a set of electro-chemical messages in my nervous system that direct my action. When I die, the electrical current will leave my body and my brain will cease to function... thus I will be gone.

Implying that life after death exists is to assume the existence of a soul and therefore to discount the importance of the brain. Since all of my behaviors are produced and governed by the brain, the destruction of the brain will cause all of my traits to die as well.

We all know that injury to the brain can render a person so very different personality-wise and emotionally that they are not the same person, due to the disparity between the "old them" and the "new them" after the brain trauma.

We are the sum total of our appearance and our interactions... these things are bound up in the physiology of the body and cannot survive death.

"If you love to fight...U're a double drag fool...I'm going to another life...how bout U???


Sincerely,
Prince Rogers Nelson

Yes i do. I dont believe in an catholic heaven and hell but i believe that our energy (or willingness) survives after the dead before the next reincarnation.

is the afterlife anything like after TAXES
cos if it is... THEY BOTH STINK!!!

yes, I believe in a afterlife. I don't believe in the burning lake hell that is mentioned in the Bible. I believe the only "Hell" there is is the hell we go through on earth and the lower astral plane.

IceNine said:

Realistic viewpiont, not a lot of people would think of it that way.

yes, I do.

I've always wondered - what exactly do people do in heaven? Do they play video games all day? REALLY huge orgies? Or does everyone just say 'God is just sooo cool!!' and 'We really, really dig you Jesus; thanks for saving us man!' Wouldn't that get kinda boring after the first million or so years??

No.

Besides what kind of term is "afterlife" for people who believe we go on to live in one form or another?

slm4m said:

More people than you think...

I think that is the mystery of life, or should I say, the afterlife. I wonder about that. It seems like it is so hard for those who died, to reach out to the people they know who are still alive. I think that even if they tried, if they are still alive in some form, it is so hard for them to do so, which is why we don't ever communicate with them. I think that once you die, you are not in control anymore, that God, the ruler of life, is in total control which is why we have no contact with spirits or souls.

I know someone who believes that people who so called die before their time have their souls moving about, because they are not in peace with themselves, but I personally think, and would like to think, that those who have died just stay in a deep long peaceful sleep until God decides that it is time to wake them up.

But I think that's God's business to deal with, and that's why there's no 'real' way for us to find out, and that's why it's something people will always continue to wonder about.

I believe in an afterlife...it's called death.

It depends on how you define "life." Afterlife with the same consciousness where we see our family members running around in the streets of gold in the land of milk and honey? No.

But a return back to the universe... the source.

Energy is neither created nor destroyed.
Matter is neither created nor destroyed.

A transformation that we may never be conscious of, so live this life as though it is your only one.

Afterlife is achieved by the good works you do in this life and the people whose lives you affect while you are alive, these ones who "survive" you, they are the ones that will weigh the scale of your deeds and judge in their hearts and mind what kind of person you were... and determine where you shall rest--either in "heaven" (the best place in their mind where thoughts of you will always conjure positive thoughts) or in "hell" (the worst place in their mind where thoughts of you will conjure negative thoughts).

It is in the ones who live on AFTER your LIFE, where you will have your afterlife. Whether it's genetic offspring (biological survivors) or social offspring (people whose lives you touch), your LIFE interaction with them is how you will achieve a LIFE AFTER your physical presence on earth.

I keep the ancestors alive by summoning their memories and practicing lessons they taught me at every turn... and I hope to leave a legacy for others to do the same.

My

PopcornFetus said:

... Ok who said that? Woody or Ingmar?

Mmmm Ive been wanting to talk some about this lately but slightly concerned how people would judge me.
Am I a head case??? You decide...

Last year I had a very close brush with death,there was no tunnel with a light at the end.Just nothing,I felt my last breath go thru my whole body and at that very second I knew it was the end.

Judge for yourselves,this is just my personal experience.

Does death scare me? Yes very much so

Much love Pochacco

I do, yes...

Pochacco said:[quote]Mmmm Ive been wanting to talk some about this lately but slightly concerned how people would judge me.
Am I a head case??? You decide...

Last year I had a very close brush with death,there was no tunnel with a light at the end.Just nothing,I felt my last breath go thru my whole body and at that very second I knew it was the end.

Judge for yourselves,this is just my personal experience.

Does death scare me? Yes very much so

My friend seemed calm, he kept telling his wife he did not want to go. In the moments before he died he kept saying too his Wife "I love you." then he died. He died at home surrounded his family & friends.

Im so sorry slm4m I didnt mean to appear insensitive,Im so sorry for your loss.

Much Love Pochacco

Yes, absolutely. It has been proven to me personally for me to believe.




JD

Pochacco said:

It's okay, there was nothing wrong with your post. Thank you.

More people than you think...[/quote]

I tend to understand that when you die it is over. I also want to believe there is something beyond this world, but I think Icenine is close to the truth.

I HOPE there's an afterlife. I also HOPE we get reincarnated because that would be neat, but believing in it is taking the easy way out.

Realistically speaking, IceNine has probably hit the nail on the head. But many of us can't take the truth when it's presented so brutally honest to us, so we make up stories about Heaven and Hell to make ourselves feel better, etc etc etc. That's all MHO though so please don't flame me.

But I'm still hoping to go on living after I die...

We are not at the mercy of our brains.

IceNine said:

I was trying to think of something to say but couldn't think of anything better than this.

NuPwrSoul said:

I like this too.

I believe our legacy is carried on in others. Good or bad.

Yes on this one 110%

I believe in the afterlife, so long as I can come back as bkw's beer mug.