Your personal views on the Afterlife

[Darwinian]

If you believe that the brain actually creates consciousness and memory then being dead is no different from a dreamless sleep. i.e. a lack of awareness.

The only difference is that with a functioning brain you tend to wake up again in the morning and regain your consciousness.

Now, you have to ask yourself what the chances are of regaining awareness after your brain has stopped functioning for good as it is your brain that has brought into play the exact conditions for you to exist.

Unless the chances are ∞ to 1 against then at some point in the future those conditions must exist again. It may take 10^GoogalPlex years but for you it would be the next thing you experience.

[matthill1981]

Without reading the remainder of this thread

my view on death and what happens post death bearing in mind the law of conservation of energy.

We die, the chemical energy that makes up our conscious mind begins to convert to heat energy as it is dissapates from the body into the surrounding environment. Our entire body begins to decay once again giving way to conversion of chemical energy in our cells to heat energy until there is nothing left.

Oblivion is our final resting place.

as it has been said before by Mark Twain ""I was dead for millions of years before I was born and it never inconvenienced me a bit"

[Giff]

I don´t have a belief in any spiritual or anyhting like that at all. I see everything in a very scientific and logic way. I do for a example dont belive in a life after death just beacuse what should the point be? I mean for a spicies what should the point be to keep living when its dead and how should that be possible? Nothing can live without a brain, heart and all that. You cant beacome a invisible dust cloud and you aren´t going to another bright place or something like that. When a person dies he just stop existing, he will not experince anything at all after that.

The belief in a life after that is just a way for man to try to understand the very hard question why a person dies or what happens afterwards. It´s also a way to stop worrying about death. People wants to live forever in any way that´s possible. So the thought of becoming a ghost or some spiritual being living in a bright world full of clouds or something sounds much better then that you just stop working.

In a way man is just a robot. You can ask your self what happen to a computer when it´s not turned on?

[lukec]

Agreed, a lot of people are very scared of death, and having death not really existing (as you just basically go to a different place) is a convenient way to assuage some of those fears. Personally, I think it'll be a lot like going to sleep- I won't notice it. Unless I get tortured to death, that probably would be a bit different, so I'll try not to make any enemies. In that way, I don't think I'm scared of death- more of the pain and suffering that could possibly precede it. Which could be a point for euthanasia- I'd hate to live in chronic pain, and I'd be totally fine with going out quietly to escape that. But as for after- it is definitely a lot to think about. For me, it's impossible to imagine not being aware. It is mind blowing. It is also an excellent motivator for people to live their lives to the fullest, every day.

For that reason, I actually feel quite sorry for religious people who spend a lot of their time wasted. It's funny, but when I debate with people who spend a lot of time in church, etc, I'm almost trying to "save" them. Irony for ya.

[Edwardo Piet]

I am a monist not a dualist so I believe only in waves and matter (physical energy). There is evidence for matter (including waves) and no evidence that I know of for the (or a) spirit, or for the (or a) soul.

And I have come to believe (because of evidence so it's not faith)that anything with no evidence at all is just as improbable as anything supernatural, God or otherwise, Including Russel's teapot of course

As far as we know consciousness is within the human brain because there's no evidence of a duality of physical and spiritual only a monity(sp?) of the physical. So far due to evidence we can safely assume there's no soul or spirit. So we can live this life to the fullest!

[LondonLoves]

I used to live with a Surgeon and his comment "the electrical impulses in your brain just stop. That's it" is probably the most succinct explanation i've heard; it's like your 'on' switch being turned to 'off'.

I once had a thought as to what my idea of what death would be, and that's watching your life in real time from a 3rd person perspective (like a film) over and over again for eternity. If you've been a good person you'll cherish the ability to 'relive' the moments that have made you happy. If you've been bad you'll lament and regret what an ass you've been.

Obviously, this is bunkum, but I feel it goes right to the heart of human nature. Everyone has felt unbridled joy holding the one they love, or seeing someone's smile on their birthday. Everyone has felt regret for a time they've done wrong.

[starbucks]

I don't see death as a long, deep sleep because there is brain activity when we are asleep. When we die there is no brain activity nor any working bodily organs. Thus, the flesh begins to decompose. Anyways, since the passing of my mother it has become clear to me that the spirit is separate from the flesh. The flesh physically dies but not the spirit. The spirit isn't anything tangible nor bound to time - meaning it has no expiration date thus it probably doesn't even have a beginning. But being restricted in our bodies, it's hard for us to grasp that because we are set to a "linear" timeline.

But to answer the question of where the spirit goes after the body physically dies, only the deceased knows.

[Ace Otana]

When you die...your dead.

No spirits, No more conciousness just complete non-existance.
It would be like you were never alive in the first place.

To give you an idea what death is, Try remembering yourself before you were born....Can't can you! This is exactly what being dead is like.

We can only exist for just a little while, but then we must return to non-existance and remain that way for all eternity.

I'm not bothered by that.

[bozo]

When I die, I believe that is it..end of. Like a light going out leaving total darkness. No memory, no hope for the future, no pain, no joy, no regrets, no dreams, no wishes. Nothing.
This vision of death I find appealing. Like others I am not too keen on a long-suffering death, something quick will do fine.
The real sufferers of one's own demise are the loved ones, but after the period of grieving is over, time takes over and the hurt goes.
Living forever in " heaven " ( or " hell " for that matter ) would be an appalling fate... I mean, think of the company you would keep in either place?!!
And what if you don't want to live forever and ever and yet that fate awaits you? Don't bear thinking about.
I feel a sort of pity for the God Squad, hung up on the idea of an afterlife and spending their mortal lives under threat of living according to their particular dictats OR ELSE!
I lie, no I don't...serves 'em bloody well right for being totally irrational!

[josef rosenkranz]

I really don't understand any of you guys.
You take the whole thing of afterlife so lighthearted, so superficial and don't thing that you sure as death will be called to the hihghest Judge and after a short debate will be parachuted wihout any purgatory straight in Hell .
I for myself have allready ordered a suficient quantity of tar (not China made) and feathers so I could spend the next 100000000 years in a pleasent fire in Hell.
If one of you is interested I shall send him a technical specification of the tar.