Your personal views on the Afterlife

[Mystic Monkey]

to me religion seems to be spending all your life sucking up to a god so you can get into the VIP lounge, then the god's fate makes you choke on a pretzel.

Anyway I just be myself than worry about afterlife, however purely atheist I do have my own theory on the afterlife.

I believe that death is a lot like sleep, our bodies are immobile and paralysed as the bodies tempo (Heart, lung, brain) lowers than just relaxing and during sleep we dream, we have nice dreams about our day, or perhaps our concience is botherd about something, perhaps a nightmare.

Eitherway I believe the Afterlife is a very long dream, It makes a little sense since dreams are effected by our experiances awake and dreams decipher it in it's own way. those who claim to see the gates of Heaven, the doors of Valhallah or whatever could be because that is their own version of the afterlife which is what theire dreams become.

So I believe the afterlife could be a long nice dream, thats my atheic theory on the afterlife. Non-aethist believe that Aethist think nothing happens during death, Theirs no real Aethism community where I live so I haven't asked, but you all must have some personal oppinion on what could happen after you kick the bucket.

I also believe Ghosts are dead people who are not dreaming.

[Brick-top]

I don't believe in an afterlife. I admit I don't know what happens when we die.

[Eilonnwy]

If you ask me I'd say I don't believe in it. Although afterlife is something I'm very agnostic about. I watch and enjoy Ghost Hunters which is entertaining as well as intriguing at times. I don't believe in ghosts, but that show makes me wonder.

[solidsquid]

Dreaming would require brain function though. Death is the irreversible cessation of all brain function. No brain function, no dreaming. Any "dream like" subjective state would be experienced in the few minutes to seconds before death. Some posit that the "tunnel of light" is a result of hypoxia on the brain - visions of a dying brain. They are a common report in NDEs. Also OBEs (out of body experiences) are often reported. This is found as a consequence of the breakdown of the parietal spatial filter and has been replicated in the laboratory.

[Brick-top]

If you ask me I'd say I don't believe in it. Although afterlife is something I'm very agnostic about. I watch and enjoy Ghost Hunters which is entertaining as well as intriguing at times. I don't believe in ghosts, but that show makes me wonder.

That show is bollocks.

"OMG I SAW AN ORB! IT MIGHT'VE BEEN DUST BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER! I SAW A DOOR MOVE! IT MIGHT'VE BEEN THE WIND BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER!"

There's another show called Most Haunted and they've now got a skeptic to analize the video's and go to the scenes that are supposed to have paranormal activity. Before they had him they found a huge amount of stuff that 'could've' been ghosts. But now 80% of the stuff can be explained away logically.

[Darwinian]

I often get the impression that atheists don't want there to be an afterlife as much as theists do. Also I dislike the term 'After Life' as if somehow it's a bonus or an added extra. If such a phenomenon is true then it is more accurate to say that life simply continues.

We are also hung up on the premise that the brain creates consciousness when in my view it is equally likely that it hosts and controls it. It is also possible that we never actually loose consciousness and this is itself an illusion simply created by gaps in our memory.

It could well be that when we are 'unconscious' it is simply that the brain is not creating any memories, how could we tell the difference?

How about the notion that we 'die' every time we go to sleep and we simply can't remember it when we wake up in the morning?

[Ace Otana]

I don't believe in anykind of afterlife. All your brain functions will cease and of which will disable any possibility of dreaming.

Also ghosts? BullS**t!

Ok this program about ghosts is crap. They always go into buildings that are old and wooden. Now old wood at night will make noises, buildings move you know! The wood makes noises due to temperature changes outside which affect the woods structure which in turn causes it to produce noise. That's why you hear noises and now I will explain the floating orbs. Dust will build up, Especially in old wooden places, And at night these dust particles will begin to float due to temperature changes at night. It's affected by temperature just like wood. These particles will collect and float and when you point a flash light at it, It will glow.

Simple logical, rational conclusion.
Next!

(Also when your dead, You vanish into non-existence. The body will remain but the mind will not. It would be like you never had a life in the first place. It'll be like you were never alive and have no memory at all.
You would have no consciousness, no thought, no dream. Nothing.

[Lucifer Morningstar]

I often get the impression that atheists don't want there to be an afterlife as much as theists do.

Personally it is not a matter of 'don't want'. I just think the whole concept originated as an ancient marketing ploy / scare tactic which is still effective after thousands of years - do as <insert ridiculous belief system here> tells you in this life and everything will be OK after you die.

How is this different from modern advertising - choose <insert ridiculous product here> and your penis/breasts/muscles/bank balance/social standing/number of friends,etc will increase in size.

Also I dislike the term 'After Life' as if somehow it's a bonus or an added extra. If such a phenomenon is true then it is more accurate to say that life simply continues.

From a theist's point of view 'After Life' is a very 'sexy' and hard hitting punch line for their particular belief's 'marketing campaign'.

We are also hung up on the premise that the brain creates consciousness when in my view it is equally likely that it hosts and controls it.

This sounds rather like a computer cpu(brain) and operating system (consciousness).

It is also possible that we never actually loose consciousness and this is itself an illusion simply created by gaps in our memory.

It could well be that when we are 'unconscious' it is simply that the brain is not creating any memories, how could we tell the difference?

How about the notion that we 'die' every time we go to sleep and we simply can't remember it when we wake up in the morning?

Again there are similarities between a computer and its operating system. If the brain (computer cpu) was in 'sleep' mode the consciousness (operating system) would still be present but not active.

What happens to the consciousness (operating system) when the brain (computer cpu) dies / is destroyed? In both cases the existence of a consciousness / operating system is dependent on a brain / computer cpu being there for it to 'run'.

[Mystic Monkey]

Eitherway my question was ones personal view of afterlife afterdeath. If you ask a Christian they will talk about Heaven being set in a cloudy sky, pearly gates, gods throne, You know, "Captain Stormfield", point is if an Atheist does not believe in the usual concept of what happens after death, then do they "think" will happen? Isn't that fasinating on ones own pure oppinion thats not polluted by other written concepts? whether you try to relise it with reason or notm it's mostly a matter of ones own oppinion.

The reason why I theorised what i believe what happens after isn't a reason why I should live like most religions, but a reason why people who had near death experiance, found out it was crap and gave up religion, their has been recorded cases of people who were temporarily dead and wake up with own oppinions on afterdeath, whether it's unique or religious, it all varies but mostly religious. My guest the only closest thing that can confirm everyones experiance is a dream like state.

for example:

Dreaming would require brain function though. Death is the irreversible cessation of all brain function. No brain function, no dreaming. Any "dream like" subjective state would be experienced in the few minutes to seconds before death. Some posit that the "tunnel of light" is a result of hypoxia on the brain - visions of a dying brain. They are a common report in NDEs. Also OBEs (out of body experiences) are often reported. This is found as a consequence of the breakdown of the parietal spatial filter and has been replicated in the laboratory.

How can their be "visions" of a dying brain if it's really a matter of hypoxia? That be like our eyes going inside our head to see hows our brains doing. Sure without brain function their will be no actual dreams but also remember that time spent dreaming varies compared to our actual timing, Im just seeing it on a bigger yet still logical sense.

And yes, I may not believe in all Religion and achieve the truth through logic but I do believe in certain mythology, magic and um... "Phantology". But purely in a reasonable sense, like why it was their to begin with, what caused it and so on. It helps a lot when planning my computer games.

I keep an open mind. XDDDDD

[Tiberius]

I think the biggest argument against an afterlife is the fact that there have been many people pronounced medically dead who have been revived afterwards. They didn't experience heaven, they didn't experience anything.