Sudden enlightenment and realisation of death...
- Thread starter Kristoph
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Quite frankly I'm scared ****less of death. I believe in what I can see, and when I see death all I can see is a lack of life. There isn't a single person on the planet who could predict what happens after death, be it a heaven, reincarnation or just plain nothingness. And so I'm most inclined to assume what happens is the nothingness, as that is all we see. I mean we have a consciousness, what happens to it when we die? Does it just disappear, never to be heard from again?
What scares me most about death is how easily it can come though. One psycho with a gun and it's all over. One car coming around a corner too fast and it's all over. Where we go from there nobody knows and nobody will know (at least in our lifetime) what will happen.
I would love to have faith, some hope for the future after I die, after all I'm rather a fan of living and 80 or so years to make the most of it doesn't seem so great. But there is absolutely no proof one way or the other. Nothing tangible or reproducible that I or anybody else can see. And I'm most certainly not just going to pick up some random faith and hope to god(s) that they're the right one with no evidence whichever way I choose. So I've taken the seemingly obvious (at least to me) choice of Agnostic Atheism. I believe there is no God but if somebody gives me some form of indisputable proof, I'm more than willing, glad even, to change my stance.
So I'm just going to make the most of this life and enjoy it. And hope the psycho with the axe doesn't come round any time soon.
What scares me most about death is how easily it can come though. One psycho with a gun and it's all over. One car coming around a corner too fast and it's all over. Where we go from there nobody knows and nobody will know (at least in our lifetime) what will happen.
I would love to have faith, some hope for the future after I die, after all I'm rather a fan of living and 80 or so years to make the most of it doesn't seem so great. But there is absolutely no proof one way or the other. Nothing tangible or reproducible that I or anybody else can see. And I'm most certainly not just going to pick up some random faith and hope to god(s) that they're the right one with no evidence whichever way I choose. So I've taken the seemingly obvious (at least to me) choice of Agnostic Atheism. I believe there is no God but if somebody gives me some form of indisputable proof, I'm more than willing, glad even, to change my stance.
So I'm just going to make the most of this life and enjoy it. And hope the psycho with the axe doesn't come round any time soon.
Do you consider your "consciousness" to be some seperate entity as yet undiscovered ie a soul etc, or do you think your mind and thoughts are just the result of the chemical reactions and structure of your brain?
I don't know. Obviously there is some part of it (maybe even all of it) that is nothing more than chemical reactions in the brain, but for all we know there could be some portion of it that's metaphysical, a soul or something like that. Not knowing is really the only logical option to take. Again, I'd love for there to be a soul as it would mean hope for the future after death. But I'm not one for blind faith. Prove it and I'll believe. Disprove it and I won't. Do neither and I'll go stand on the fence.
Man of Honour
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Of course it does, your bowels relax.
I can't say the thought of death bothers me much, hopefully I won't even realise that I'm about to die or suffer in the process but if I do then there isn't too much I can do about that so there is no point worrying about it. I'll defer to Isaac Asminov as what I think is the best way to look at it - "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome".
looking forward to it... will be a very exciting adventure. Cant get any more "unknown" than death ehh 
personally i go along the lines of "we are god" - technically all of us are One. We dont realize it because we are our own "individual" shards of consciousness.
I also get the feeling that there are some doors that we never see and only appear when we want to -leave- "the room". (Which is curious in itself.)
Lets just say when you have a realization... its then you notice things that for some bizarre reason you didnt notice before....even though it was THERE. (kindoff )
personally i go along the lines of "we are god" - technically all of us are One. We dont realize it because we are our own "individual" shards of consciousness.
I also get the feeling that there are some doors that we never see and only appear when we want to -leave- "the room". (Which is curious in itself.)
Lets just say when you have a realization... its then you notice things that for some bizarre reason you didnt notice before....even though it was THERE. (kindoff
)
Aren't you curious?
Apologies for having just skim-read this. I probably missed some interesting posts.
I believe in resurrection and I've started to take it pretty seriously. Basically - I've tipped over the edge from being a Christian entirely based on a faith based position to one who thinks the historical evidence suggests that Jesus genuinely rose from the dead. I don't just believe it - I think that it can be demonstrated that it's a reasonable position.
Anyway - worm of cans... That's the deductive part of the reasoning - the bit I could probably defend in a debate. The rest is inductive having deduced (and sometimes assumed) that that the Bible is reliable.
Forget this 'Heaven' malarkey. I'm more interested in the New Earth and resurrection bodies. Imagine extreme sports if you couldn't die or if you had eternity to practice getting good at something
.
Anyway my position's changed a bit from the old 'turn or burn' stuff. I tend to start feeling sorry that some of the wonderful talented people around won't have an eternity to keep at it. I also sometimes wonder if I'll remember them...
That's the one thing that really bothers me about the whole concept - the people that don't make it. I don't buy into the eternal torment thing really. More destroyed in an eternal fire. (Edit: and now I've got that Bangles song in my head. It's really quite sinister...)
To get a little nerdy about it I guess the whole forgiveness thing is about becoming compatible with God so you can be 'saved' on God's hardware when your own wears out. You then wait until your new equipment is ready to go. If you're not compatible with God (because of unforgiven sin) you can't be 'saved'. (Edit: IIRC I may have borrowed that from the Bishop of Durham, who borrowed it from some other fellow)
Actually - in a way - I think the same fate awaits everyone. They all have an encounter with God. If they're 'compatible' with him, eternal life awaits. If not it may be that his very presence will destroy them. Sin cannot coexist with him.
Further Edit: The above 'saving' analogy has interesting implications for Calvinism (if anyone's familiar with that particular branch of theology). Calvinists think that you can't lose your salvation. Just quick-save now guys and it may all be fine...
I believe in resurrection and I've started to take it pretty seriously. Basically - I've tipped over the edge from being a Christian entirely based on a faith based position to one who thinks the historical evidence suggests that Jesus genuinely rose from the dead. I don't just believe it - I think that it can be demonstrated that it's a reasonable position.
Anyway - worm of cans... That's the deductive part of the reasoning - the bit I could probably defend in a debate. The rest is inductive having deduced (and sometimes assumed) that that the Bible is reliable.
Forget this 'Heaven' malarkey. I'm more interested in the New Earth and resurrection bodies. Imagine extreme sports if you couldn't die or if you had eternity to practice getting good at something
.Anyway my position's changed a bit from the old 'turn or burn' stuff. I tend to start feeling sorry that some of the wonderful talented people around won't have an eternity to keep at it. I also sometimes wonder if I'll remember them...
That's the one thing that really bothers me about the whole concept - the people that don't make it. I don't buy into the eternal torment thing really. More destroyed in an eternal fire. (Edit: and now I've got that Bangles song in my head. It's really quite sinister...)
To get a little nerdy about it I guess the whole forgiveness thing is about becoming compatible with God so you can be 'saved' on God's hardware when your own wears out. You then wait until your new equipment is ready to go. If you're not compatible with God (because of unforgiven sin) you can't be 'saved'. (Edit: IIRC I may have borrowed that from the Bishop of Durham, who borrowed it from some other fellow)
Actually - in a way - I think the same fate awaits everyone. They all have an encounter with God. If they're 'compatible' with him, eternal life awaits. If not it may be that his very presence will destroy them. Sin cannot coexist with him.
Further Edit: The above 'saving' analogy has interesting implications for Calvinism (if anyone's familiar with that particular branch of theology). Calvinists think that you can't lose your salvation. Just quick-save now guys and it may all be fine...
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Soldato
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Personally I don't believe in religion of any sort and haven't really given much thought to what happens after death because, frankly, I won't care (probably a result of being dead and all).
Bit daft but I like to think of the lines from Gladiator, "What we do in life echoes through eternity". I plan on making my mark on this world so that others will remember me after my death. Of course that's a lofty ambition but no sense in setting the bar too low now is there
.
Bit daft but I like to think of the lines from Gladiator, "What we do in life echoes through eternity". I plan on making my mark on this world so that others will remember me after my death. Of course that's a lofty ambition but no sense in setting the bar too low now is there
.I don't think a fear of death is particularly rational - once you're actually dead, you won't be aware that you are dead. It won't be a release, it won't be an escape, all it will be is a total lack of awareness to anything. I think a big problem with us as a people is that we generally refuse to accept the concept that we may not exist in any way. I think that's perhaps one reason people choose to believe in an afterlife - to them it seems more realistic than the concept of simply not existing.
Dunno - it would be a shame to miss out on stuff. I feel a sense of loss when a younger person dies, even if I didn't know them. It's about what they can bring to others too. If a child dies I feel for their parents. If a father dies I feel for their children etc.
It's not quite the same as if someone I know had died but I seem to be noticing it more recently. Perhaps it's because I've been a dad for the last few months?
It's not quite the same as if someone I know had died but I seem to be noticing it more recently. Perhaps it's because I've been a dad for the last few months?
Forget this 'Heaven' malarkey. I'm more interested in the New Earth and resurrection bodies. Imagine extreme sports if you couldn't die or if you had eternity to practice getting good at something
.
A paradise with infinitely increasing population and no way to leave would soon turn into a hell.
And the other option is even worse, image a world where you could spend centuries with a partner and never experience the joy of having children with them.
I expect that would be crushing for many people.
Personally I look forward to blissful nothingness.
Although you've got to admit the futility of judging someone on an infinitesimally small amount of time.
Any lessons learnt will soon be forgotten in the millions of years after, (what will you even do, to be nerdy it would become like the Q in star trek, no one has spoken for 30, 000 years because there was nothing left to say.) and people will soon become spoiled and selfish and sin again and then would they need to be judged again or would the be prevented from sinning?.
But meh the whole thing just panders to those afraid to die, "oh look actually when you die you will come back as an immortal"...
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Soldato
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