The truth is that we don't know what happens when we die. People who HAVE died have reported seeing lights, having visions, feeling peace, feeling terror, whatever. But because they were able to be resuscitated, they all had a functional brain.

As for suicide-- what's the point? This represents the end of all hope, all possibility. Miracles are always possible; you could wake up one day and discover that your curse has transformed you into a great and important person. If you look at the greats in history, many of them had problems with their thinking, including OCD.

It's funny this thread came up today because a few hours ago I had similar thoughts, of course, not founded in anything but imagination, but still equally disturbing. I thought what if there was a way that personal identity and consciousness were separable from matter, and you woke up after death in an empty space with nothing but fleeting images of your memories, but worst of all, utterly alone... in darkness... forever. What could you do? Nothing but wonder why, and go probably insane.

Could you do anything about it, either way?   
-probably no use in worrying then.

(April 3, 2015 at 7:20 pm)bennyboy Wrote:

Quote:The truth is that we don't know what happens when we die.

Very good (so far)

Quote:People who HAVE died have reported seeing lights, having visions, feeling peace, feeling terror, whatever.

 

Just whatever.

Quote:But because they were able to be resuscitated, they all had a functional brain.

Your guess.
Just your guess.

Quote:As for suicide-- what's the point? 

 

Exactly.
What's the point.
Could well be that the one (hypothetical God) who gave you the life may not like that you refuse his gift.

Quote:This represents the end of all hope, all possibility.

How would you know for sure?
Where is the evidence?

Quote:Miracles are always possible; you could wake up one day and discover that your curse has transformed you into a great and important person.  If you look at the greats in history, many of them had problems with their thinking, including OCD.

This is a good advise. 

Occasionally I wonder what will happen when I die (but not what happens after that). I have no problem with the notion, as some religionists like to put it, that I am "simply a collection of atoms". The reason being, because I am just a collection of atoms. People worry about death but they never ponder about what happened before they were born.

Death is described in detail in the religious texts because it is suppose to give a reason for people to live. Heaven is the 'carrot and stick' religionists use because they love this world, not matter how much they claim otherwise. They want to be listened to, they want to have fame and, most of all, they want money. Religionists want their chosen religion to expand because they want wealth. People pay to see them, they buy their books and they buy the proselytizing materials.

All around us we read stories of deities that do not value human life. If you do end up in hellfire know this: Lots of amazing people will be there. Think about that for a moment. Stephen Hawking, Brian Cox and many other awesome people will be there. Hellfire is not just. I don't want to be in heaven if the likes of Osma Bin-Laden (if Muhammad was right) or Hitler (because Hitler was a Catholic) will be there.

Stop worrying.

It's amazing how much trouble our inability to imagine nothingness has gotten us into over the centuries isn't it? That indescribable, existential dread of the abyss, the refusal to accept that once we are dead, there is no comforting embrace, no warm reunion with those we have lost.
Is it a particularly pleasant idea? I would say it's neutral at best or worst. After we die, it will be the same as before we were born. Non-existence.
How many of you can remember the world before you were conceived?

(April 5, 2015 at 9:01 pm)Iroscato Wrote: How many of you can remember the world before you were conceived?

But I have tasted life and I like it so I don't want to be forced into going back to that state forever.

(April 5, 2015 at 9:04 pm)Nestor Wrote:

(April 5, 2015 at 9:01 pm)Iroscato Wrote: How many of you can remember the world before you were conceived?

But I have tasted life and I like it so I don't want to be forced into going back to that state forever.

As have I, but fear of a real concept does not make it any less real. The only advice I can give you worth a damn is this; make your life count. Doesn't have to be something huge, you don't have to lead The Resistance against the machine army (that's my turf bitch, back off) but enjoy it to the fullest extent. Make friends, love your family, make a family, make a couple enemies, explore this vast and strange world of ours a bit, and pass peacefully off into the night having some sense of fulfilment. Once it's over, you will be none the wiser, and once the dreaded process of dying is over you will no longer be capable of awareness in any capacity.
Besides, who the hell would want to live forever in an afterlife? Not for a century, not a million years, but eternity? Fuck that, give me my fill of a good life and let me sleep forever after.
TL;DR - This is the only life you get. You better make it count.

So many guessing.
A mountain of guessing with no evidence of whatsoever.
How would you know that life end up with the physical death?