Why do humans believe in an afterlife?

After a near death experience, I no longer believe - I know.

This experience you call life is just a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.

When you die its like logging out. You regain all the memory and wisdom of your past lives. But then you will most likely want to play the game again. Our higher selves are addicted to this game ;p

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


An afterlife of some shape or form is intuitive. The fact that "you are" is indicative of an original "I AM". I don't buy for a second the idea that "I" am a production of flesh and bone, this is merely "the shallow end of the pool" in my opinion.

Now, do some people hold on to silly ideas of golden roads and jamming out christian rock with the saints in the clouds for eternity? Sure, but that is far from spiritual reality.

Originally posted by cushycrux
After a near death experience, I no longer believe - I know.

Kinda puts life into perspective doesn't it?

I had one of those too. It was kinda scary. Thrilling, exciting. I felt like there were all these people waiting for me to be born into a new realm of existence, but it wasn't my time yet.

Originally posted by avatar01
This experience we call life is just a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game.

When you die its like logging out. You regain all the memory and wisdom of your past lives. But then you will most likely want to play the game again. Our higher selves are addicted to this game ;p

That's a good metaphor. Our higher-selves always attempting quests with certain mission parameters to abide by before the next quest.

[edit on 12/3/10 by ghostsoldier]

Originally posted by avatar01

Originally posted by cushycrux
After a near death experience, I no longer believe - I know.

Kinda puts life into perspective doesn't it?

I had one of those too. It was kinda scary. Thrilling, exciting. I felt like there were all these people waiting for me to be born into a new realm of existence, but it wasn't my time yet.

Yes, the whole feeling of reality became a far better for me. I changed massively. More respect for live, more sensitive feelings, more love for all people and the environment. No more greed and hate, but more tolerance and I am a kind of "easy" - trust in "everything will be alright". I am grateful that this happened to me. I was 4 minutes death (been drowned), water was near the freezing point, so I had 26° body temperature.

I also had a near "time stop" before I began to to inhale the water. It was astrange warm feeling. The secound breath didn't pain me. I was full of peace in the middle of this panic moment (river rafting).

It' made me a kind of 100 times wiser then I was before.

reply to post by cushycrux


You know when you die your Pineal gland secretes all of its '___'. And scientists believe '___' secretion causes our dreams. Maybe it happens when you die as a way of preparing your brain for what awaits. It definitely widens your perception...

reply to post by cushycrux


Dead is dead.
Not really sure if Near death rates as actual death.
Actual Death being irreversible.
Not trivializing your experience; anything to identify with that stuff is surely traumatic!
Suggesting that your experience caused you to face an Epiphany???!!Hence heightened intuition, knowledge, form of enlightenment.
Just Askin'???

reply to post by Signals


I don't believe in an afterlife...

There are quite a few people that don't!

reply to post by ghostsoldier


"scientists" should not talk about soul and spirit as long they have no idea of the "sub-interdimensional-quantum-physics" that connects "ME" with my brain. No Way we are here, the body is just a kind of "remote controlled robot" by me - from there anything unclear now?

[edit on 12-3-2010 by cushycrux]

reply to post by cushycrux


Have to agree.
Science doesn't recognize anything that cannot be quantified, the paranormal, or the the soul fort that matter, cannot be experimented upon within a controlled setting to produce a forseen outcome.
Therefore (as mainstream science says), it must not exist!
I do not agree with this notion.
There was a time when electricity was not measurable also.

Mr. Roberts
If for no other reason. I have to say, because it's better than believing in
nothing. I see anyone who challenges a belief that in noway makes any
sense, if it were just dreamed up by men. Men who just evolved by some sort astronomical oddity
of random chance happening that goes against every example of randomness simply because of the succession needed just for life to begin. Anywhere.
I could really elaborate on this.
I just think everyone should take my word for it. It's stupid not to.
Nothing makes sense without it.
Any way you Pop the Pistachio.

Simple logic dictates.

This notion the academic world seems to have, that if it can't be swirled in a flask, then it dosn't exist is just absurd. MUO.

Do you Mr. Roberts believe you have a soul?

Jus wondering.

[edit on 12-3-2010 by randyvs]

Why do humans believe in an afterlife?

As long as your question means why do people believe in the possibility of an afterlife, then I really don't see how they couldn't believe it at least to be possible.

I think the root reason is pretty much surface, not "deep" in the psyche. We cannot conceive of what it would be like not to exist, for the excellent reason that it wouldn't be like anything.

The closest you can really come is to recall that you didn't exist before you were born. Which is a good start, I think, but not fully convincing... now that you have existed, what would it be like to revert to the earlier state? That really isn't the same as never having been in existence.

Plus, of course, you really can't be sure that it would be the same "the second time around," anyway.

Sleep, regularly scheduled unconsciousness, is practice, but then there are dreams. Are there dreams after you're dead? Hamlet's question... nobody actually knows the answer.

And when living people dream of dying? Often enough, they wake up. But if their dream continues, then they continue, in some inevitable sense, since you must be in order to experience. That may not be an "afterlife" in any religious sense, but it is isn't extinguishment, either.

So, it's not just NDE survivors who have had personal experience of something interpreted as persistence of consciousness after death.

Beyond that, "humans," as a species, don't believe in an afterlife. Some humans do believe, others don't. Once the possibility is in play, that some would believe seems inevitable.

For those people who do, there are probably many, many reasons that persuade them, and usually also persuade them that the afterlife will be a particular way (or maybe one of a small number of specific alternative ways).

But me, I haven't gotten that far. I'm still with Hamlet.

To die, to sleep—
To sleep—perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub!
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause—there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.

Oh... and if the Tibetan Buddhists turn out to be right, then I'm stepping into the clear white light. No questions asked.

Beyond that, my plans are flexible. Probably, I'll need asbestos underwear. Meh.

Originally posted by KRISKALI777
reply to post by cushycrux

 

Dead is dead.
Not really sure if Near death rates as actual death.
Actual Death being irreversible.
Not trivializing your experience; anything to identify with that stuff is surely traumatic!
Suggesting that your experience caused you to face an Epiphany???!!Hence heightened intuition, knowledge, form of enlightenment.
Just Askin'???

I don't know what other people mean with NDE, but for me you can only have this vision by loosing the "body connection". Look, i was death - 4 minutes, but I still existed in a way. Sure my brain was okey, because of the water temperature. But when I think about what happened, the only bad thing was to come back. I had about 10 circulatory collapses on that day, after beeing "back in life". That was really hard pain...

[edit on 12-3-2010 by cushycrux]

the belief in an afterlife or (eternal) soul is founded on wishful thinking and a misconception of nature by our early humans.

men seen that traits could be passed on, but not understanding DNA they were led to believe in the magical & mystical realms by the story-teller priests... the embellished stories seemed credible to many & religion with souls/reincarnation/life after death was embraced by the majority in each clan, group, tribe, etc.


there is a kernal of truth in reincarnation/continued existence...
but it's not as modern religions portray.

how about because there is one ?

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


maybe because everything we can observe in the universe is following cycles

so why not time&life ?

reply to post by St Udio



I dunno..
there are some past life regression mp3 out there.. perhaps it would be more accurate to give it a try and then come to a conclusion..

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


Your are a citizen of Infinity.

This reallity is an illusion, it is in no way fake I shall give an example.

Think of a paper mache mask with it's paper and glue, painted and all. This mask is just paper and glue and only covers what is truely behind it, thus being an illusion.

You are an actor on a stage, a student in a classroom, you chose to be here.

Namastè.

Most of my life i was a nihilist, and was quite comfortable with the idea of nothing after death, so i find these types of broad sweeping generalizations difficult to take seriously.