desire for afterlife

[AFTT47]

I wish there was one and am sad that there probably isn't. I'm not very good at self-deception though so I'm not going to start believing in one. My desire has no bearing on the way the universe is.

[chimp3]

Just wondering, do Atheists like the idea of the afterlife? Do they wish that there was one? Or would they rather have eternal oblivion after death? This is not a troll question.

Why would it matter whether  I liked it or not? 

(Autocorrect tried 3 times to change "like" to "lick". Just saying!)

[possibletarian]

Just wondering, do Atheists like the idea of the afterlife? Do they wish that there was one? Or would they rather have eternal oblivion after death? This is not a troll question.

It won't bother me, i will be completely unaware I'm not alive.

[Macoleco]

What I wish is to have been born in a period in which you can indefinitely extend your life by having an android body and transmitting your consciousness to a computer.

Maybe by living 500 years one can overcome the fear of death, if you fear it in the first place I guess.

[Belacqua]

Just wondering, do Atheists like the idea of the afterlife? Do they wish that there was one? Or would they rather have eternal oblivion after death? This is not a troll question.

By far the best description of European concepts of heaven is in The Great Chain of Being, by A.O. Lovejoy. 

Available here: http://library1.org/_ads/8048ECA10BDB2B1...BE5FFC02B6

This book is safe for atheist consumption, since it is a history of ideas, and doesn't try to persuade us of anything.

The author points out that there are two general pictures of heaven (or other ideal afterlife situations): 

The first is that the ideal afterlife is pretty much a continuation of the present life, only better.

The other is that heaven would be fundamentally, ontologically different -- perhaps to the point of being indescribable. Everybody here knows, probably, that this is the version described by Dante and all the main theologians. So the idea of being bored in this kind of heaven is inconceivable.

[The Grand Nudger]

To a finite mind like our own, maybe so...but we wouldn't possess such a mind for long in this infinite place. As one of my favorite greek myths tells it..we wouldn't possess a mind at all for very long.  Stark raving mad, shriveled up into a locust. OTOH, if the fairyworld is like this world, we'll forget things there too. Forgetting is a feature of human being, not a bug. There's more than a little bit of myopia in considering afterlives as though the entire subject were a discussion about a funpark.

[vulcanlogician]

Just wondering, do Atheists like the idea of the afterlife? Do they wish that there was one? Or would they rather have eternal oblivion after death? This is not a troll question.

IDK. This one life that I'm sure I have can be pretty disappointing sometimes. Therefore, something like another try (reincarnation) or a deserved punishment/reward based upon my deeds seems pretty appealing. So does winning the lottery. And we all know the chances of that.

[robvalue]

I just realised that there’s usually the implicit assumption that an afterlife would be eternal. Since it’s all entirely hypothetical anyway, there’s no reason it has to be that way. It could be any finite length of time, followed by another finite length of time in another life, followed by permanent death, or whatever.

The only afterlife I’d be interested in is one I had total control over, or one I could end whenever I want. Enforced permanent existence is a horrifying thought to me. Knowing I’ll eventually be gone is the only thing that keeps me sane.

[Belacqua]

I just realised that there’s usually the implicit assumption that an afterlife would be eternal. Since it’s all entirely hypothetical anyway, there’s no reason it has to be that way. It could be any finite length of time, followed by another finite length of time in another life, followed by permanent death, or whatever.

The only afterlife I’d be interested in is one I had total control over, or one I could end whenever I want. Enforced permanent existence is a horrifying thought to me. Knowing I’ll eventually be gone is the only thing that keeps me sane.

I think that in Buddhism and in some strains of Judaism afterlives are time-limited. 

If you're reborn into a Buddhist hell, or as a Hungry Ghost, that doesn't last forever. And Jewish Sheol is sometimes said to be a period of purification before rejoining God.

In both those cases, though, the final state is a complete loss of the individual person and a rejoining with the universe -- either as Nirvana or as a re-absorption into God. 

Also good to remember that for theologians, "eternal" doesn't mean "lasts forever." Eternity is outside of time -- there is no passing of time in heaven. You can't get bored.

[ohreally]

Just wondering, do Atheists like the idea of the afterlife? Do they wish that there was one? Or would they rather have eternal oblivion after death? This is not a troll question.

If I can just wish for whatever I want, then maybe that would be a way to live and I could change it up later.  In the case that I get wishes granted though, I would just wish to live in different places on this earth that I didn't get to experience.  Maybe not forever but an extended amount of time.