Personally I don't believe in an "after life". I think its just something humans made up to "comfort" themselves about the fact that they're gonna die. It's also used in religions as a...sort of threat to "do good things" and "be pure" (if you go by the book you get to heaven and if not you ROT IN HELL!!!! AND SUFFER AN ETERNITY OF PAIN!!!!). I don't really believe in souls or rebirth...My "theory" is that you just feel...like before you were born before you were born you didn't feel anything...you just didn't exist...same with death. What do you guys think?
As the great Einstein said in the letters that were uncovered last year, 'belief in an afterlife is childish'.
Couldn't have put it better myself I didn't know they uncovered some super secret letters last year Anything about how to turn lead into gold?
I'd like to believe in an afterlife. I don't necessarily think it's one portrayed by religions such as Christianity, and I really don't like the pressure of going to a place of eternal suffering if you don't conform to their ways. There is a possibility that there is an afterlife, but it's just as difficult to say whether it exists or not as proving there's a God. But gee, it sure would suck if an after life didn't exist. And it would definitely change the way a lot of people act if they knew it. I'd imagine the whole world would be in anarchy if there was some confirmation that it didn't exist.
I actually think it would suck WAY MORE if the after life DID exist. That basically means that You and I are eternal, and will exist FOREVER. If an after life exists you will NEVER know peace...EVER. I find that 10x times more scary than death. If I had to choose between Immortality and Death...I'd choose death without a second thought. Think about it for a moment
About having an afterlife, how would you know that you would not know peace? By that statement you are claiming that you know what you would experience in an afterlife. For all we know, an afterlife could be a place of tranquility, where you experience bliss. But if an afterlife does not exist, I definitely know that you won't know peace. Because you won't be able to experience anything as a dead person. If an after life does not exist, then us as humans will have wasted a lot of time in the way we live our life. It would change the way we think and practise religion. Because an underlying factor in most if not all religions is an afterlife. If there is no afterlife, then there won't be any punishment nor rewards for the things we do. There will be no set of rules to live our lives, and that may result in anarchy. With the knowledge of whether or not an afterlife exists, such things as the 30 year war, and the Holy Crusades may not have happened. If all that blood was shed over something that doesn't exist I think that would be rather cruel. The existence of an afterlife is a comforting idea because you will be able to meet all the people you love that have passed away. If a young girl asks her father if her mother has gone to heaven, don't you think it would be rather cruel if he said "No. She hasn't. She's dead. Gone forever. You won't see her again." In times of grief that is something to hold onto. That one day you will see them again. And we all know that not everybody gets their comeuppance during life. Not all people who lead good lives get good fortune, and not all bad people suffer. So the idea of an afterlife, where you will get what you deserve is something that is also comforting, because the world would suck a lot more if it didn't exist. And let's say you were sent to a hell. Where we don't know what degree of torment you would suffer. Would you still rather experience it compared to nothing? Would you want to retain your own consciousness, or fall into oblivion? Where the thoughts you are thinking as you read this won't exist? I guess you don't think that having it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all then.
I'm going to agree with Ofek about the existence thing...since I was in 2nd grade I've been terrified of the thought of, as a sentient being, being essentially trapped in existence for all of eternity. However, lately I've been starting to think the Afterlife doesn't exist...as I see it now, dying will be more like a matter of going to sleep and then never waking up...and I'm not sure which I fear more. All self-aware beings of course fear nonexistence, but existing for all of eternity...of course, supposedly the dimension of time will no longer apply at that point, but regardless... Oh, and Ofek - "I didn't know they uncovered some super secret letters last year Anything about how to turn lead into gold?" Actually, that was Newton's field. =P
That I agree completely with. It's a scary thought that death could just be falling asleep and never waking up. That being said, it wouldn't be particularly nice to wind up in 'hell' - even though it probably doesn't exist - as a contrast to just falling asleep for eternity. I wonder what it would feel like to be shot in the head: a millimillisecond of pain and then blackness? Or a slow-mo pause in time?
I completely agree with how awful that sounds, and it's no doubt one of the major flaws in the idea of an afterlife. Even a total paradise, the kind heaven is supposed to be, would feel like a prison after being there for too long. And imagine being there and knowing you'll be there untill the end of time? I don't think there's an afterlife because any sane and reasonable human being wouldn't want one.
I'm completely sane and reasonable, and personally I'd prefer an afterlife to just being buried in the ground and that being that. However, I'd much prefer immortality. The thought of life discontinuing and losing all of what I've spent my life learning is truly scary to me.
I guess there's just a difference of opinion here, then. As I stated, any kind of immortality or afterlife is going to get boring, drive you insane, feel like a prison. Maybe not for hundreds or even thousands of years, but I expect it would settle into anyone after a long time and, coupled with the knowledge that you're going to be there untill time stops, I think it'd be a truly dreadful experience.
Dreadful experience, maybe. But when compared to eternal sleep? On another note: why do you think people maintain this belief in an afterlife? Insecurity?
Well, I understand why the idea of "eternal sleep" could be frightening to someone, but when it all comes down to it, "eternal sleep" as in, a permenant loss of sentience and consciousness, is hardly a terrifying idea. Afterall, when you go to sleep you're not aware of anything, you just close you eyes and the next thing you know is you're opening them with no sense of elapsed time. Supposing death without an afterlife is the same way (while obviously lacking the opening your eyes part) then there's really nothing to be afraid of because, well, once you're dead you be able to be afraid, you won't be able to be aware of anything. You'll be dead. I imagine people maintain the idea of afterlife probably probably for the same two purpouses it was originally created (and albeit not maliciously or knowingly 'invented'). The first, to deter people from committing crimes; in ancient times, unless someone was stupid enough to stick his own personally engraved dagger in someone's back and leave it at the scene, you had no chance at all of figuring out who did it. So what better way to convince people to not do this, and to abide by the law, than by convincing them that if they're good they go to an eternal paradise with all the food/love/dead relatives/dead pets/virgins/gods (delete as is appropriate for your religion) that they could want, and if they don't they'll go to hell and be sodomized with pitchforks for all eternatity. While that isn't much of a problem these days, the churches still use the threat of eternal damnation to deter people from social "crimes" and lifestyles they find offensive; gambling, homosexuality, etc. As for the second reason, to give people hope and to encourage them to lead good lives. Many people do find the idea of this life that we have right now being all there is quite terrifying and it's somewhat understandable. We live for such a short time, after all. What incentive is there to do things right, to be kind and good, if all that happens after we pop our clogs is we take a big nap in the dirt? Belief in the after life is good for some people, it gives them hope and comfort, and inspires them to be better people. But it's not for me. Not that I'm not a nice person or anything, I just don't need the promise of 72 maiden virgins to persuade me to say "good morning" to my neighbours. Although if someone wants to go ahead and give me 72 female virgins anyway that'd be pretty sweet.
So according to you, religion is just a tool to trick people into doing good things, right? What I'd like to know is where anyone got the idea to do good things. Did people 4000 years ago trick themselves into witnessing a supernatural entity? idk. maybe. but if there is absolutely nothing but us, where did we come across the idea of morality?
What I'd like to know is why proponents of religion appear to be convinced that morality came as a result of religion, and not the other way around.
did i say morality is a result of religion? I am wondering why -- if there is no greater entity -- do we humans have a sense of morality.
but what is morality...isn't it just something that society dictates? I don't see morality as something that's inbred, but rather a learned inhibition. Then let me pose a question. Why do you love life? Is it because you feel that you should enjoy it since it is such a short thing that's so easily ended? But then if you were immortal, what would be the point of life? Wouldn't it simply be existence without meaning? Have you not noticed that for the most part our everyday lives are rather mundane? Probably. Most people are scared to no longer exist in some form or another.
Did I say you did? Affection is a natural development in just about all moderately intelligent species and affection is the precursor to the most basic forms morality. Mothers are emotionally attached to their children and vice versa. A far more reasonably conclusion than "Because the magic giant in the sky said so" is "people came to the conclusion that, among the reasons that it is wrong to take a life is, for example, because that person has a mother, a family". There are people all over the world, in third world nations perhaps, that have no concept of a God or higher being. And yet they most certainly do have their own concepts of morals. I, personally, am rather agnostic, and yet I am most certainly not killing people and eating them. Religion did not create or dictate our morals. People created religion (and more specifically, the afterlife) as a measure to enforce our morals.
I am trying to steer clear of religion right now. The question I am trying to pose is this: How is it we have morals? If morality is something society dictates, then where did society get that idea? Idk... for me it takes more faith to believe that all of these things happened by chance then believe that there is some sort of supernatural being that started it all. both options sound a bit fantastic. but that is just me.
I already explained this, and precisely this, in the post directly above yours. You should read it. As unlikely as it seems, it's entirely possible you might learn something.