Life Without Afterlife

[JadedAtheist]

I don't want to die. I am still dealing with that. I wish I could say that it doesn't me all that much but it does. It bothered me a whole lot before I converted and it bothers me a whole lot now. I don't think I'll ever get over it, I just have to put up with it.

[NoGods]

I don't want to die. I am still dealing with that. I wish I could say that it doesn't me all that much but it does. It bothered me a whole lot before I converted and it bothers me a whole lot now. I don't think I'll ever get over it, I just have to put up with it.

 

Most people do I guess but some more than others.

 

I actually had more of an issue with it as a christian. My only concerns with death now are will my family be fine and provide for, and live a happy long life after me.

[Guest wester]

Might I suggest that you are going about this all wrong.

 

I heard this Alan Watts talk 2 days ago.

I'm not a huge fan of him, but the first 30 minutes of this radio program were particularly interesting and applicable to your concerns:

 

KPFK Radio Show Dec 5

 

Cheers

[Guest ephymeris]

Might I suggest that you are going about this all wrong.

 

I heard this Alan Watts talk 2 days ago.

I'm not a huge fan of him, but the first 30 minutes of this radio program were particularly interesting and applicable to your concerns:

 

KPFK Radio Show Dec 5

 

Cheers

 

While I appreciate your suggestion, it is actually NOT helpful for you to suggest we are "going about this all wrong." Everyone finds their own way and it's not necessarily your way.

[stryper]

Since you asked..

 

I personally believe, we go to an afterlife of our choosing and begin a time of life review and rest. Agreements are made between souls and eventually a new body is choosen and the process starts again. Eventaully you learn enough and move on to a differnt level of exsistance.

 

I have no evidence for this. Well at least none that would be accepted in this forumn.

 

The philosphy I subscribe to just seems to "fit the best".

[Vomit Comet]

Wow, I can't imagine how boring living forever would be. No matter how great and wonderful something is, it will eventually get old. I find the thought of eternal existence to be frightening, and I never missed the idea of heaven at all.

 

Well, how about a thousand more years? 85 seems rather paltry if you ask me, and you spend the last few decades of that in a less than optimal state.

 

Also, if your own life is going less well than planned, I think the lack of an afterlife compounds the bitterness. "Wow, this is it...." Just imagine being sentenced to life in prison, or ending up paralyzed from the neck down. That's all she wrote, the end of your story.

[MiggyEvans]

Since you asked..

 

I personally believe, we go to an afterlife of our choosing and begin a time of life review and rest. Agreements are made between souls and eventually a new body is choosen and the process starts again. Eventaully you learn enough and move on to a differnt level of exsistance.

 

I have no evidence for this. Well at least none that would be accepted in this forum.

 

The philosphy I subscribe to just seems to "fit the best".

 

 

With all respect, if you have no evidence, can you elaborate on where this idea came to you from? Is it along the same lines as other proponents of past lives who have strange feelings or reactions to things, or is it something stronger than that?

 

I'm genuinely curious.

[HRDWarrior]

I think the concept of an afterlife gives people an excuse to waste their time. I know, in the case of my mother, that she just wastes her time in this life because she's waiting for the big fun party in the afterlife. She does nothing to improve her life, or her circumstances. She just stagnates while she waits for the party to start.

 

Anything that makes you not value your current life is damaging. Having an 'afterlife' to go to is what helps motivate suicide bombers. In normal people it is still damaging because they don't perceive this life as the only life. They get complacent about stuff, and don't take opportunities.

 

It's probably why people often become more religious in the later part of their lives. The science writer Robyn Williams calls this 'cramming for the exam'.

 

I think it's really just how some people deal with their own mortality -- by refusing to face it and replacing it with a happy ending.

 

 

This, times a bunch...my mother is the exact same way, and heaven is her excuse for hating the life she's got (and doing nothing to change it or her attitude).

 

I don't fear nothingness.

 

To me it's worse thinking of people going to Hell and be forever tortured for things those didn't hurt anybody. Or for things like being born in the wrong country at the wrong time. Or just for a bad thought at the wrong time. According to the Bible even a lot of religious people who devoted all their lives to the Bible (as they understood it) won't make it to Heaven! Because they happen be in the wrong church. Just think of a devout Jehova's Witness who sacrificed all his life for his religion, led a strict life, did everything required from him, but according to other Christian churches he will still go to Hell, because his belief was the wrong one and he misunderstood the Bible..... According to Fundies a lot of Catholics will go to Hell as well. And according to Catholics Fundies will go to Hell.

 

To me this thought is a lot more horrible than the thought of nothingness. Actually the thought of nothingness is not horrible to me at all.

 

When I think of death now, I think of it as just going back to where we started from: the Universe. I look up on the night sky and have this feeling: that's were we belong to! We are star dust and we go back being star dust. Maybe one day a new star will form out of our atoms. Or a new Earth. And maybe new life as well.

 

 

People going to hell forever (and the majority of them with the rules I was raised with) seems far worse...of course, I never met a single christian who honestly believed they were the ones destined for hell - funny how that works, right?

 

 

Personally, I think I was over the whole idea of heaven before I had to worry about losing it. I was already dealing with my mother wasting her life away in hopes of an afterlife, and seeing how that affected her I pretty much began to live the life I wanted...to pursue the goals I really wanted, to enjoy life, and be able to look back and not wish I had done things differently. I already had some of that before I deconverted (wishing I had made different choices, but hadn't because of familial/religious guilt that was nothing but selfishness on their part), so the idea of having to live this life to the fullest and understanding that you aren't going to get back lost time was already implanted in my mind. Therefore, once I moved on to the fact that there is no afterlife (at least nothing we can prove, and we sure can't prove it's better than this life), it didn't really bother me at all. I was already more worried about living in the moment and enjoying my life here and now since that may be all I had. Death is sure to come "no one gets out alive" and as long as I'm enjoying my life, I really have no desire to worry about what comes after...and I've also found most of my misery in this life is when I have allowed other people to have way too much influence over me. Getting over that made a much bigger (and positive) impact in my life than heaven ever could. Without heaven, I was able to learn to stand up to people (even those closest to me) and realize that I don't need to allow them to make my life miserable. Made it much easier to move on and enjoy the life I have.

 

As the centurions put it, it's not the things you did in life that you regret, it's the things you didn't do....and I doubt heaven is much of a consolation, unless you're using it to bury your true feelings of regret.

[Max]

Personally, I'm OK with the concept of there not being an afterlife. It's a relief, actually. Obviously, people like the idea of an afterlife because it lets them feel that their departed loved ones aren't gone forever. I think the persistence of the lore has more to do with than than with actual fear of death.

 

What's hard for me to grasp, however, is the fleeting nature of life. At 53, I feel like I just got here, and the fact that I'm likely more that half-way through is unsettling.

[PaulQ]

For me, it was separating my fear of death from my fear of a non-existent consciousness. Fear of death is a good thing, it helps to keep me alive. Fear of my non-existent consciousness after death is ridiculous, because fear is an element of consciousness; if my consciousness ceases to exist, so will my fear.

[Margee]

Its a good question but as someone once said something like "I didn't exist for 4.5 billion years and I was fine with it why should I exist after I die". this is the way its always been for all life. heaven is a recently made up thing. the best thing about shedding this myth is you realize you better not waste your life away suffering or working all the time. spend it helping people, exploring, take as much time off as you can get away with. i really think people doubt heaven more than they think - why do we get so upset when people under say age 50 die - cause they missed out on life - the best and only game we have. heaven is just a placebo for the masses, a carrot on a stick. hell is the whip. this is how they controlled us for the last 2000 years but the time of reason is nigh.

 

Thank you so much for this. Sincerely, Margee

[Margee]

On 12/12/2010 at 5:46 PM, JadedAtheist said:

I don't want to die. I am still dealing with that. I wish I could say that it doesn't me all that much but it does. It bothered me a whole lot before I converted and it bothers me a whole lot now. I don't think I'll ever get over it, I just have to put up with it.

 

This is exactely how I feel right now - Maybe we can figure how to 'solve' this dilemma! Sincerely, Margee

[Vomit Comet]

Obviously, people like the idea of an afterlife because it lets them feel that their departed loved ones aren't gone forever.

 

That's not why. For me, at least.

 

I just don't want to stop having a conscious existence. I want "me" to continue on, I want to continue to have experiences, providing the afterlife isn't the torture of hell, or isn't lame.

 

Shit, even 500 more years would be nice.

I'd swallow an entire 55 gallon drum of rhinoceras diarrhea if it meant my lifespan were extended even by just 100 years.

It makes me wish vampires were real and that I had a realistic shot at becoming one.

[TheUnknown]

It also worries me, only I seem to have the opposite problem that many others on here have.

 

If I'm entirely honest with myself, I'd rather just cease to exist altogether when I die. I'm more worried about an afterlife being true than not, especially the fundamentalist Christian/Islamic version thereof, where a few people are awarded bliss at the expense of the vast majority of humanity being kept alive in a state of torment. To me eternal torture is not justice and definitely not good news

 

If there is an afterlife, I only hope it's better than the life we have on earth right now

[Vomit Comet]

If there is an afterlife, I only hope it's better than the life we have on earth right now

 

Well yeah, that would be the idea.

 

I want there to be an afterlife, and I want it to be customizable. Here's what mine would look like:

 

I live in Las Vegas, so that wouldn't change. Except that I would be a multi-billionaire. You can fill in the rest with your imagination. When that gets old I'd hop in my private jet and go somewhere else. And when that gets old I'd hop in my starship and go discover an earthlike planet; I'd bring along a few hundred "wives" so that I could "populate" it, Mormon style. When that gets old I'd find another planet and do it all over again. When that gets old I'd either travel to a new galaxy or I'd cross into an alternate dimension. That should be enough to keep me busy for the next several hundred million years or so. Basically, I would be an oversexed god who can go anywhere in the multiverse.

 

Any questions?

[andyjj]

In the immortal words of Freddy Mercury

 

 

There's no chance for us

Its all decided for us

This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us

 

Who wants to live forever

Who wants to live forever?

 

 

 

(I don't)

 

 

[StriveForTolerance]

I loved the idea of an afterlife when I was xtian... then I deconverted, and really thought hard about "forever". Forever is a really, really, long time.

 

And with Xtianity, you get two choices for your "forever". You either get your free will taken away, and live your entire eternity worshipping a malevolent god (I've come to the conclusion that if the Xtian god exists he is indeed malevolent), or spend eternity being tortured because you fucked up a marriage or swore.

 

This may be the most messed-up system ever dreamed up, and I live in the US - there are some pretty messed-up systems here.

 

Once I deconverted, after a couple almost-panic-attacks about going to hell, I finally realized that I don't believe there is a soul and we don't go anywhere after we die. We just cease to be. And compared to eternal torture, that sounds pretty good.

 

So I guess it depends on how you look at it. If you compare it to eternal bliss, nonexistence is a cheat. But compared to hell, it's quite a relief.

 

I still don't want to die, because I don't KNOW what'll happen, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with the idea the more I learn about the origins of xtianity and how it's all pretty much bullshit.

[stryper]

Since you asked..

 

I personally believe, we go to an afterlife of our choosing and begin a time of life review and rest. Agreements are made between souls and eventually a new body is choosen and the process starts again. Eventaully you learn enough and move on to a differnt level of exsistance.

 

I have no evidence for this. Well at least none that would be accepted in this forum.

 

The philosphy I subscribe to just seems to "fit the best".

 

 

With all respect, if you have no evidence, can you elaborate on where this idea came to you from? Is it along the same lines as other proponents of past lives who have strange feelings or reactions to things, or is it something stronger than that?

 

I'm genuinely curious.

 

Miggy,

 

 

In my search for something after leaving christianity, I went through several things and none seemed entirely correct. When I came upon this, it just seemed most correct.

 

I am not trying to convert people or anything. You asked the question I answered with my personal opinion that seems correct to me.

 

The biggest thing that I got out of it has been the realization that my life has unfolded the way it has do to my choice not some grand design of an all powerful creator. That there is more beyond this physical reality and that we are all learning.

 

Thus, the reason why you see in many of my posts are comments about choice.

 

If you would like to know, then I will share experiences, but I think a sepreate thread would be better for that.

 

stryper

[Vigile]

If there is an afterlife, I only hope it's better than the life we have on earth right now

 

Well yeah, that would be the idea.

 

I want there to be an afterlife, and I want it to be customizable. Here's what mine would look like:

 

I live in Las Vegas, so that wouldn't change. Except that I would be a multi-billionaire. You can fill in the rest with your imagination. When that gets old I'd hop in my private jet and go somewhere else. And when that gets old I'd hop in my starship and go discover an earthlike planet; I'd bring along a few hundred "wives" so that I could "populate" it, Mormon style. When that gets old I'd find another planet and do it all over again. When that gets old I'd either travel to a new galaxy or I'd cross into an alternate dimension. That should be enough to keep me busy for the next several hundred million years or so. Basically, I would be an oversexed god who can go anywhere in the multiverse.

 

Any questions?

 

I suspect all that would get old a lot quicker than you could imagine right now. I'm also guessing, you'd probably find more joy, ultimately, in intellectual pursuits. Just my observations from life in general and you specifically.

[dB-Paradox]

I loved the idea of an afterlife when I was xtian... then I deconverted, and really thought hard about "forever". Forever is a really, really, long time.

As a young boy growing up (8 or 9 years old) I was terrified of the afterlife, even having been taught I'd go to heaven. I'd try to wrap my head around eternity, and it was just a bizarre and frightening concept (still is actually, if you try and think about it). Plus the idea of Judgment Day really freaked me out! I've ALWAYS hated formalities, and as a young child, I used to fear that I might screw up on Judgment Day...yeah, seriously fucked I know!

 

I still don't want to die, because I don't KNOW what'll happen, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with the idea the more I learn about the origins of xtianity and how it's all pretty much bullshit.

I feel kind of the same. No one knows what's going to happen after we draw our last breath, although all evidence points to...NOTHING! I take comfort in seeing a corpse peacefully rest in its coffin mostly because now I know that one day that will be me...peacefully resting! T-T-T-That's all folks!

[Deva]

I don't think I ever fully bought into the idea of heaven when I was a Christian. I accepted it to an extent. I thought of it in vague terms- like a bright light that was beautiful and the presence of God was supposed to be so wonderful, etc... but then again in parts of the Bible, such as in Revelation where its described there are beasts with a lot of eyes and strange stuff made me wonder if it was such a great place.

 

I thought it was a possibility heaven existed, but that no one really knows - death was a great adventure. What I never doubted was life after death.

 

This may sound simplistic but I now look at it this way. From my experience, the world suddenly appeared one day. I don't recall having any say in the matter. Things just appeared. I don't see any reason at all to suppose consciousness wouldn't go away and then reappear again, just in a different time, a different place. It happened once, it can happen again.

 

Reincarnation seems sensible to me.

 

I do not see how having a personal god or not has a bearing on the nature of whatever "death" is.

[Larry Spencer]

I was surprised how easy it was to give up the hope of heaven. Maybe it all seemed so far away and so abstract that I hadn't gotten too attached to it. Plus, I'm not sure what's so great about living forever. That's a long time. ANYTHING would get boring after a while.

 

Some people have said that it's the prospect of death that gives our lives purpose. I think that's true; a time limit can be a real motivator.

 

I'm sorry the change has not been so easy for you. I do think that you will come to the point where you view life here on earth as such a privilege that you will not crave the added privilege of heaven.

 

Check this out: Calvin and Hobbes, August 28, 1995.