Do You Find Yourself Hoping That There Is Something After Death?

[Ro-bear]

I never find myself hoping for such a thing. It seems unnatural and weird.

 

You're unnatural and weird.

 

I don't have these thoughts much anymore, but they were pretty strong in me up until the last 5 or so years.

 

I used to think it would be nice to see loved ones again and catch up, trade experiences, etc. But none of it would matter anymore, so none of us would care anymore. Really, it would be terribly boring after a week or so.

 

I wouldn't want to live forever, but if I could get a few hundred extra years I'd live a few decades as a slut, a few more as a sailor going from port to port (perhaps also as a slut) a few as a scientist, and then a few more as a researcher following my whims. Basically, I think a Groundhog Day-type experience that allowed me to live and learn without consequence would be fantastic for a while.

 

 

Ah, but that is quite another thing than wishing for an afterlife in the generally understood sense. I'd love some extra time except for the watching one's children age and die part. In a way, I'd love to live lots of different lives. Perhaps that is why I love fiction so much. But it is this life I am attached to; when it's over, I suppose it's over, and that is O.K. with me.

[Franciscan Monkey]

I wish there were some sort of afterlife, as this life seems too short, but I do not hope for an afterlife as that would imply that I think it is possible for our consciousness to survive death. There is so much to learn in life, and I'd love to see how the future plays out, even if I viewed it from another plane of existence. For example, I'd love to see the day when religion finally dies off on our planet, but that will most likely be centuries from now. I'd also love to see contact with life forms from outside our solar system. Possible that could happen in my lifetime, but unlikely. I definitely do not want an afterlife as portrayed in the Bible, however, where the majority of humanity suffers for eternity, even if it meant that I could enjoy some sort of eternal bliss.

 

Respectfully,

Franciscan Monkey

[Tabula Rasa]

I hope that there is some sort of pleasant afterlife, but I've resigned myself to the fact that if death is the end, there's nothing I can do about it. The best thing to do, regardless of whether one believes in an afterlife or not, is to enjoy as much of this life as we can.

[ScifiChick]

I definitely do not want an afterlife as portrayed in the Bible, however, where the majority of humanity suffers for eternity, even if it meant that I could enjoy some sort of eternal bliss.

 

Respectfully,

Franciscan Monkey

 

 

That just gave me a flashback of when I was a Christian and worried about the fact that my dad was on his way to hell. I was desperate to find a loophole or something. I was told not to worry about it, because that's what is meant in the Bible when it says that God will wipe away every tear. That I would no longer care about any of the people in heaven, because I would have forgotten them. This was meant to comfort me, but it was downright chilling.

 

While we're on the subject, I'm pretty sure eternal bliss would turn into eternal torment, just from the sheer boredom.

 

 

[Deva]

I lean toward reincarnation. I just cannot imagine nothing at all. I always was, and always will be. Life and death are ripples on the waves of an infinite ocean.

[Franciscan Monkey]

I was told not to worry about it, because that's what is meant in the Bible when it says that God will wipe away every tear. That I would no longer care about any of the people in heaven, because I would have forgotten them. This was meant to comfort me, but it was downright chilling.

 

Yeah, I believed the same thing, and I didn't find it very comforting, either.

 

While we're on the subject, I'm pretty sure eternal bliss would turn into eternal torment, just from the sheer boredom.

 

Well, the Bible version of it didn't seem all that appealing, just singing praises to God all the time (what an ego!), but I rationalized it by saying that it must be the best thing ever, otherwise why would God have us do it for eternity? Of course, nothing in the Bible is all that logical, anyway.

 

Respectfully,

Franciscan Monkey

[dichotomy]

Even as a xian I wasn't all that hung up on the afterlife. The only time I ever recall really clinging to and longing for it was when my grandfather died and I was 11 then. I *needed* to believe that I'd see him again. As a result I think I associate the desperate need for life after death with the emotional longing of a child, not that of an adult. I kind of grew out of it over the years before I even lost my faith.

 

I have a sense of fear of death, but mainly due to the loss that I will feel when I lose my loved ones and because I struggle with the idea of the loss of myself and existing no more.... I am my only contact with existence, one I go I am gone.

[AlphaToOmega]

I think life should be called betweendeath and death to be the normal state.

 

Its interesting to see that its possible for Christians to fall into the trap of just waiting to go to heaven so miss out on life whereas all the atheists seem to be busy trying to get the most out of it.

[ScifiChick]

Even as a xian I wasn't all that hung up on the afterlife. The only time I ever recall really clinging to and longing for it was when my grandfather died and I was 11 then. I *needed* to believe that I'd see him again. As a result I think I associate the desperate need for life after death with the emotional longing of a child, not that of an adult. I kind of grew out of it over the years before I even lost my faith.

 

I have a sense of fear of death, but mainly due to the loss that I will feel when I lose my loved ones and because I struggle with the idea of the loss of myself and existing no more.... I am my only contact with existence, one I go I am gone.

 

 

It's funny you should say that. I took a Humanities class once, and one of the things we studied was the premise that becoming an adult is being able to recognize that you will die. Coming to terms with death. Since I have been unable to come to terms with it, I'm guessing I'll never fully grow up.

 

 

[R. S. Martin]

I had a fleeting thought the other day that touched on the possibility of some form of reincarnation. The thought was suppose that through some as yet not understood process, after we die the material that makes us who we are (all the atoms, particles, etc) are somehow recycled, perhaps through a totally natural process, and that once that is accomplished it is all put together to form another person. Except this other person is us, or at least made of the same stuff that is us. The only thing, though, is that in this thought of mine, when we are "reincarnated" we have absolutely no memory of our past life. Rather, for all intents and purposes we are a new, conscious person.

 

After considering this, I then thought about whether I would find that satisfying. On the one hand, it would be nice to some day after my death to become a living, conscious person again. But on the other hand, the person I am now will still be lost forever. I didn't find this thought on reincarnation very satisfying nor very convincing, either.

 

I think what made me think this way was thinking about stardust and, like Carl Sagan often said, we are all made from stardust. It's kind of like those stars that died billions of years ago and whose "dust" formed other stars, planets, and us do live again in a certain way.

 

Well, I kinda like your idea of some centuries or decades down the road coming back to life just to see how the world is getting along, how it has changed or stayed the same. But I'd want my full consciousness of the life already spent from the early 1960s till I die sometime in this century. And depending on what I found, I might want the option to hurry back to the oblivion of the Long Sleep. Or not. I just like to keep my options wide open.

 

I guess this is off-topic and sci-fi more than anything else. But it's the closest I can come to belief in life after death.

 

It can be a bit scary to think of the "light going out," so to speak. But I suppose it's like everything else in life that is difficult or unfamiliar. Natural processes take over and all I have to do is go along one step at a time and focus on living. Get end-of-life things in order for when the time comes so that things can take care of themselves, then focus on living and enjoying what life is left.

 

A major thing I noticed when I started associating with local atheists and agnostics was the zest for life demonstrated by the senior citizens in the group. All my life I'd associated with Christians who were "homesick for heaven" once they hit seventy or so. Now suddenly I was with eighty-year-olds who were making plans for next year, living for the future, planning as though this life were made for them, the goal of their existence. This was new for me, refreshing.

 

Then there is Christopher Hitchens, the atheist who is dying of cancer. But last I heard, which was some months ago, he was still going to debates. He was alive and his work had to go on. He knows that after he is dead, only his recorded and published works will live on.

 

Since I can't give any hope of a life after death, as requested by the OP, perhaps I should not have responded. The thing is, I felt a major liberation when released from the belief of a post-mortum judgment. It weighted down every conscious decision of life and when I was finally free of it there was no desire whatsoever to go back. Death is the end. Period.

 

For me, there is true freedom in that.

[dichotomy]

Even as a xian I wasn't all that hung up on the afterlife. The only time I ever recall really clinging to and longing for it was when my grandfather died and I was 11 then. I *needed* to believe that I'd see him again. As a result I think I associate the desperate need for life after death with the emotional longing of a child, not that of an adult. I kind of grew out of it over the years before I even lost my faith.

 

I have a sense of fear of death, but mainly due to the loss that I will feel when I lose my loved ones and because I struggle with the idea of the loss of myself and existing no more.... I am my only contact with existence, one I go I am gone.

 

 

It's funny you should say that. I took a Humanities class once, and one of the things we studied was the premise that becoming an adult is being able to recognize that you will die. Coming to terms with death. Since I have been unable to come to terms with it, I'm guessing I'll never fully grow up.

 

 

 

 

Ah well there you are then. Perhaps I have completed my journey into adulthood!

[shockwaves]

I had a fleeting thought the other day that touched on the possibility of some form of reincarnation. The thought was suppose that through some as yet not understood process, after we die the material that makes us who we are (all the atoms, particles, etc) are somehow recycled, perhaps through a totally natural process, and that once that is accomplished it is all put together to form another person. Except this other person is us, or at least made of the same stuff that is us. The only thing, though, is that in this thought of mine, when we are "reincarnated" we have absolutely no memory of our past life. Rather, for all intents and purposes we are a new, conscious person.

 

After considering this, I then thought about whether I would find that satisfying. On the one hand, it would be nice to some day after my death to become a living, conscious person again. But on the other hand, the person I am now will still be lost forever. I didn't find this thought on reincarnation very satisfying nor very convincing, either.

 

I think what made me think this way was thinking about stardust and, like Carl Sagan often said, we are all made from stardust. It's kind of like those stars that died billions of years ago and whose "dust" formed other stars, planets, and us do live again in a certain way.

 

Well, I kinda like your idea of some centuries or decades down the road coming back to life just to see how the world is getting along, how it has changed or stayed the same. But I'd want my full consciousness of the life already spent from the early 1960s till I die sometime in this century. And depending on what I found, I might want the option to hurry back to the oblivion of the Long Sleep. Or not. I just like to keep my options wide open.

 

I guess this is off-topic and sci-fi more than anything else. But it's the closest I can come to belief in life after death.

 

It can be a bit scary to think of the "light going out," so to speak. But I suppose it's like everything else in life that is difficult or unfamiliar. Natural processes take over and all I have to do is go along one step at a time and focus on living. Get end-of-life things in order for when the time comes so that things can take care of themselves, then focus on living and enjoying what life is left.

 

A major thing I noticed when I started associating with local atheists and agnostics was the zest for life demonstrated by the senior citizens in the group. All my life I'd associated with Christians who were "homesick for heaven" once they hit seventy or so. Now suddenly I was with eighty-year-olds who were making plans for next year, living for the future, planning as though this life were made for them, the goal of their existence. This was new for me, refreshing.

 

Then there is Christopher Hitchens, the atheist who is dying of cancer. But last I heard, which was some months ago, he was still going to debates. He was alive and his work had to go on. He knows that after he is dead, only his recorded and published works will live on.

 

Since I can't give any hope of a life after death, as requested by the OP, perhaps I should not have responded. The thing is, I felt a major liberation when released from the belief of a post-mortum judgment. It weighted down every conscious decision of life and when I was finally free of it there was no desire whatsoever to go back. Death is the end. Period.

 

For me, there is true freedom in that.

 

No, your answer was fantastic, it answered the OP perfectly. I was most interested in whether or not you felt the need to believe in something after death. I loved your comments about having a zest for life. That is the center of the issue, as far as I am concerned. It is the main "trade-off," so to speak. Either you live life with the attitude that you will get another one, and thus put up with more, allow yourself to be pigeon-holed, allow yourself to miss out on much of life, or you decide to forego the idea of eternal life, and instead spend your time making SURE that you say and do exactly what you want to in this lifetime.

 

I really respect Christopher Hitchens as well. He is one of my personal heroes. I hope to meet him before he dies. He is the one man who influenced me most during my deconversion. Sure, that's probably also the reason I have a "militaristic" or "evangelical atheist" streak in me, but so be it. I have been following his story lately, as far as his cancer goes, and I can say that he is more of an inspiration to me now than ever.