Afterlife Is Bad Either Way?

think about it, theres 3 options:-

1) reincarnation - your born again in another life, therefore we won't see our loved ones ever again in heaven (parents/wife/children) they are just gone

2) heaven - what happens if you don't like being 'you', your stuck being 'you' EVEN WHEN YOU DIE

3) nothing - when we die we die 'nothing awaits us'.

either way, its poo...your views?

[edit on 16-12-2006 by Sepiroth]

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[edit on 17/12/2006 by Mirthful Me]

Wow, you sure do have a positive outlook..

Firstly, what makes you so sure that our emotions, which is what you are arguing from, even exists in the sense that they do while we are in the spirit? I suggest you check this thread out...

Soul Vs. Spirit

You think they are the same? Think again. My only response to your third option is... So? If there is no awareness after death, so what? You will not know that you don't exist because you will not know that you ever did. Although, I personally think that there is an afterlife, so, it's sort of a moot point for me. I am not to concerned about the "nothing" scenario that so many seem to stress over.

Very interesting. We all find out some time don't we? And the Soul Vs. Spirit link opened my mind up a lil more. I don't believe in hell or heaven or any of that other nonsense, but I do believe the spirit lives on. But if the third option were true, would the imagination being as powerful as it is make something up for the nothingness? Like that Robin Williams movie "What Dreams May Come"

Originally posted by AMANNAMEDQUEST
But if the third option were true, would the imagination being as powerful as it is make something up for the nothingness? Like that Robin Williams movie "What Dreams May Come"

If the third option were to be true, I doubt that the imagination would operate. Considering that if the third option were true then everything would just be a result of chemicals flowing in the brain and all thought processes would stop at death.

On the Spirit Vs. Soul, the hindus believ we carry over our habits, Would this be the spirit or soul? The soul dies with the body but it is the emotions and material wants and such, but the spirit is enternal. Or do we just simply pick up habits?

Originally posted by AMANNAMEDQUEST
On the Spirit Vs. Soul, the hindus believ we carry over our habits, Would this be the spirit or soul? The soul dies with the body but it is the emotions and material wants and such, but the spirit is enternal. Or do we just simply pick up habits?

Well, the soul is essentially the emotional body,more or less. Habits, at least it would seem, makes up a part of who we are. So, it may not be entirely false in assuming that we carry over our habits.

well, many thinkers have brought up the perpeptual bliss problem with heaven

what if you get bored of heaven, what then?

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
well, many thinkers have brought up the perpeptual bliss problem with heaven

what if you get bored of heaven, what then?

I agree with this. Perfection is boring. Life is worth living because there's challenges, and we make mistakes, and bad things happen and we thus enjoy the good things even more. Hell is probably a better option for me, "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, the sinners are much more fun." (Billy Joel, "Only the Good Die Young")

As for reincarnation and losing your loved ones: You'll have new loved ones! You'll have more family, more friends...doesn't seem like a bad idea to me. I mean, I'm sure I would miss my loved ones, except I doubt you'll remember them, so it won't really matter.

I'm not convinced of any afterlife yet, though.

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
well, many thinkers have brought up the perpeptual bliss problem with heaven

what if you get bored of heaven, what then?

Again,I am not certain that we react to things the same way in the spirit as we do on the physical plane. I am not so sure that such emotions as boredom, anger,sadness, et cetera, exists in the spiritual realm. I lean toward the answer being no,as far as emotions are concerned.

[edit on 18-12-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

[edit on 18-12-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
well, many thinkers have brought up the perpeptual bliss problem with heaven

what if you get bored of heaven, what then?

Again,I am not certain that we react to things the same way in the spirit as we do on the physical plane. I am not so sure that such emotions as boredom, anger,sadness, et cetera, exists in the spiritual realm. I lean toward the answer being no,as far as emotions are concerned.

The how do you explain paranormal activity in which "ghosts" seem to be fixed on a certain emotional/stressfull moment in their past life?

Im not saying all "ghosts" seem to be reacting to emotions. But It would seem to me that most ghost stories are based on said ghost having a incident in their past life that was particularly emtional and overwhelming enough to cause a "problem" when passing away.

As I re-read this, I think Ive answered myself. As in, if we assume spirits have no emotions for the sake of this conversation or they let go of them when the body dies. Maybe Ghosts are just spirits who have yet to let go of their "emotions".

Originally posted by Sepiroth
2) heaven - what happens if you don't like being 'you', your stuck being 'you' EVEN WHEN YOU DIE

There is a Heaven and there is no such thing as not liking yourself there. All that junk is left at the door and is dissolved in the light from God...literally dissolved away in the light.

We all have our beliefs and hopes about what comes next. KingLizard has a better idea than most, since he's been there. (Check out his siggy, fascinating read) and still I have idea's and beliefs that might contradict everyone else.

On one hand I hope there is no life after death. I hope we embrace the immortal sleep of eternity and never have to worry about anything again.

I don't believe that will happen though.

I believe that just as you have free will now, you will have it when you pass on. Free will was not a gift to the mud and blood you call this body, it was a gift to you. (The giver of the gift is a differant debate) Its not a question of what will happen when you die, it's a question of what do you want to do when you reach the other side. You can wait for friends and reletives tojoin you if you like, or you can head off into another adventure.

It would be easier to stop the sun from shining or the season from changing than to stop the growth of the eternal soul.

wupy

mrwupy, i agree with you
an eternal rest is not as bad as people would make it out to be

sure, i may cease to exist, but i hope to live on in even the smallest things i contribute to humanity

I imagine that if all of Histories greatest thinkers, inventors, scientists, entepreneurs and so on are all in Heaven, then surely they will want to DO something. Research the heavenly Laws of Physics.... even Heaven must have logic to it's function. Perhaps attempting to develop means of contacting the living.

If I die and go to Heaven, I'd certainly want to Do Something.
No matter how nice a guy God is, both He and I would eventually get bored of "Unending Hymns of Praise". Maybe we could play a game of tennis or something.

Originally posted by Sepiroth
think about it, theres 3 options:-

1) reincarnation - your born again in another life, therefore we won't see our loved ones ever again in heaven (parents/wife/children) they are just gone

2) heaven - what happens if you don't like being 'you', your stuck being 'you' EVEN WHEN YOU DIE

3) nothing - when we die we die 'nothing awaits us'.

either way, its poo...your views?

There way way WAY more theories about the afterlife than those 3 options.

What about a scenario where when one dies the soul is returned to a sort of collective consciousness, kind of like a drop of water returning to an ocean.

Or that such binary judgements as good and bad, Heaven and Hell are creations of mankind that are used as mass psycho-social tools of control.

Or that the ego, your personality on Earth, is merely one aspect of your spiritual self, or a tool of the spiritual self which facilitates it's existence in, or experience of, the physical world.

What about the holographic universe theory where there is no physical world, it's merely a projection of light.

There are many many more ideas about life outside of this life, not just the usual either/or of religion or atheism.

If there is an option ike Mr. Wumpy said.......I'm gonna take a break and hang out of a while

There is much more to the universe than anyone human on Earth knows. I believe there is more; akin to the next stage of evolution.

Originally posted by JbT
As I re-read this, I think Ive answered myself. As in, if we assume spirits have no emotions for the sake of this conversation or they let go of them when the body dies. Maybe Ghosts are just spirits who have yet to let go of their "emotions".

That is certainly a posibility. However, I think that many, probably not al, but many "ghost sightings" are probably just residual sightings of emotional events that have hapened in the physical world,and probably have no relation to the spiritual.

Originally posted by VelvetSplash

There way way WAY more theories about the afterlife than those 3 options.

What about a scenario where when one dies the soul is returned to a sort of collective consciousness, kind of like a drop of water returning to an ocean.

Or that such binary judgements as good and bad, Heaven and Hell are creations of mankind that are used as mass psycho-social tools of control.

That sort of fits my view. However, reincarnation also plays a role in that as well.

I also agree that there are more than three ideas of what the afterlife could be about. I am convinced that there is an afterlife, but I don't know what it will be.

I know that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, they can only change forms. We know what happens to the matter part of us - ashes to ashes and dust to dust and all that - but what about the energy part? Since I want to believe in an afterlife, I like to think that our energy goes somewhere or does something.

Where ever my energy was before I was conceived, that may be where it returns when I die. I don't have any horrible memories from before birth, so why would I expect to have a horrible experience after death? Just my 2 cents worth.

wwn

4th option possibly, maybe even a fifth

Assuming you're referring to the christian heaven, the only thing you're concerned with is praising God,.... forever, ( in eternal bliss, so you won't care about yourself)

In reincarnation, you remember not much of anyhting, and you find new loved ones.

In death itself, well, that teaches you to appreciate life .


Ever consider becoming a ghosts?

Heck, some people maybe don't even know their heart has stopped beating.