What awaits us after death???

Originally posted by sykickvision
If you set a computer before me and declare it has some sort of problem, I can define that problem within minutes and most usually repair the issue so quickly that it's been said I seem to have supernatural powers. Super-Geek. What a title. It pays well though.
Now, what I do not have any experience at all in, is dying. I've NEVER done it before, I wouldn't know WHAT to expect. I know some pretty solid methods of getting the process started, such as stepping out into oncoming traffic, or making TWO comments to my mother-in-law in one sentence regarding her talkative nature and bulging waistline.
Just what IS this whole death business? From what I observe, it's when the organism stops functioning as a whole. No heartbeat, no brain activity, no conscious moving about, no blood flow. If left to it's own devices, over the period of a few short months, this dead body will have been a catalyst for MILLIONS of life forms using is as food and shelter. Then of course as nature has her way, they will inevitably excrete what is left over into the environment...and well, you know the rest.
"Death" as we are discussing it is death of the organism, not mere cellular death, as this happens all the time and we are hardly even aware of it. Now I've heard that our bodily cells are replaced entirely every seven years, but I really do not believe it is that frequent, nor is it that complete. In a nutshell though, I do believe that the vast majority of our cells have been replaced over the years, some more often than others - maybe even some not at all such as the ones in our neural cortex. Once again, "computer guy" here - I AM most likely WRONG.
I've often heard as well that there is no difference at the atomic level between living tissue and say...a rock. I can believe that - carbon is always carbon, copper is always copper, hydrogen is always hydrogen UNLESS some extreme forces come into play and change it to something else.
I have often tried to imagine not existing. The easiest way for me to do so is to try to think about all the time that passed before I was born. Now THAT 4.X billion years really FLEW by before that fateful night in 1970.

If you had asked me 30 years ago, this same question, I would answer "You either go to heaven, or hell"
The same question 20 years ago, I would answer "The dead are in the grave, unconscious, and will be resurrected to eternal life or won't be resurrected at all"
10 years ago..."I'm not so sure now....maybe you stick around, or go to a place of your own making"
And now....well, the only thing that I'm certain of now is that I know absolutely nothing about it at all. I would like to believe that I will have an existence later on at some point, being alive does have it's perks.
I recant my earlier statement, I DO know a few things, or I THINK I know them anyway. Here goes:

The universe will expand forever, or either it won't. It may contract once again and we'll have a big bang all over again.
I know that I can exist. I've already done it at least once. I AM a possibility in this cosmos. This is all I know, for a fact.

I used to subscribe to the reincarnation theory, where we are in a learning phase. If this is true, we need to pay more attention in class because nothing we are learning is having any bearing at all on us in our next lives. It seems that the only things we are learning is greed and destruction.

As I said before, I most likely am grossly mistaken. We could die, and wake up to find ourselves actually 20ft tall alien species of insectoid-reptile living on an industrial planet in which we are all workers for the hive, and this whole life experience was nothing more than a simulation we partook of during our lunch break.

What an insightful viewpoint, I really have never viewed things from that angle.

Im going to have to think about this for a few hours, and then come back and try to better understand your ideas, and hopefully better relate mine to yours.

Brilliant dude

What happens after you die?

Nothing, you just cease to exist

Originally posted by MareBellator
What happens after you die?

Nothing, you just cease to exist

That's only if you believe that we are simple "meat machines" running their programs and that there is no point to life.

There is much evidence that we are much more than that.

reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits


So many people have come forward who have evidence of reincarnation. People who weren't even alive or in the same country as they described events that happened.

A child in the USA in the late 50's or early 60's described how she was shot and buried in a mass grave by the Nazis in Poland in 1943, right down to what she was wearing and the Saint Christopher medal around her neck. Researchers verified the location she gave.

We go on. We return time and time again. Different bodies, even different sexes, but we return.

reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits
theUNKNOWNawaits,

When you die you will awaken again and it will be like when you go to sleep and awake the next morning, even though you been dead many, many years. You will take part in the first or second resurrection. The first is the resurrection of the redeemed and a thousand yrs. later will be the resurrection of those who damned themselves. The difference between the saved and the lost is the saved are forgiven. They've taken the proffered remedy offered.

That is the Christians answer to the question. Death is a real enemy to the ones of the second resurrection. Some believe eternal hell fire but that cannot be true as both death and hell are cast into the lake of fire and God is a consuming fire and that is the finish.

Glad to see you and others wrestling with this, keep it up. The known awaits!

Truthiron.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


Wasn't there some villager that had the exact same DNA as somebody of great significance awhile back?

I'm sorry it's vague but i can't find anything on it now, but i remember hearing it back then and thinking how crazy that was..

reply to post by sykickvision


]reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits


I was merely speaking on what we know is provable. There are as many theories on after-death experiences as there are on what's REALLY on the menu at the local chinese restaurant. Personally, I find faith and reassurance in that which I know to be true, and not what I feel should be true. Feelings and emotions are terrible guides at times leading us down paths we know we shouldn't follow, but nearly impossible for us to resist.
I don't put a lot of stock into NDE's or such, as I'm never really sure I can trust the source. Allow me for a moment, to draw somewhat of a parallel explanation. In my teens, I began to believe in God and the bible wholeheartedly. I believed there was a terrible hell that millions of people were headed straight for - and they didn't seem to know or care. I couldn't believe that they wouldn't care that they were going to burn for eternity, and even more incredulous for me to believe was that the members of the church weren't too fond of doing anything about it either. I felt that it should be shouted from the rooftops, and heralded in the newspapers, echoed on television sets all across the world. Nearly all of the other church members agreed with me, yet absolutely NONE of them would do anything to get the message out. I felt the church must be defective. Then I discovered the Pentecostal faith. This was almost unbelievable. God would reach down and touch these people, electrifying their bodies with a mystical power causing them to speak in tongues, tremble, shout....I felt that HAD to be the ultimate experience. THAT is what I wanted, because THAT HAD to be real. I was prayed over. I prayed. Time passed and went on and on and on, and guess what. It NEVER happened. I was recounted many stories by others of the magical power of the holy spirit and the healings and lives changed - yet here I was, in my youth, earnestly seeking for meaning - seeking God, right in the midst of what I believed to be God's people with his alleged work right in my face and he SHUNNED me? I began to think that perhaps I was either demon-possessed and beyond salvation - or that something else was going on here. It wasn't very long after that, that my intellect kicked in and I saw the whole charade for exactly what it was. Nothing more than a dog & pony show thrown together in a backwoods church by even more backwoods hicks in an effort to add a little more meaning to their meager lives. The whole "church" events had become nothing more than social events for the regulars, and maybe a little guilt-cleansing for the not-so-regulars. The point of my senseless babble here is that what they TOLD me is what they wanted me to believe. Their fits of "anointing" of the holy spirit were nothing more than them doing it to themselves and giving god the credit. They claimed to experience something from a celestial origin, when they were really the ones in control.
Now, I'm not saying that all NDE's are made up, or embellished upon lavishly - it's just that I am not certain of exactly what runs through someones mind when they tell me something that would be beyond the norm. I'll stop the prattle now, and entertain with some of my favorite theories.

#1. Our consciousness is actually made up of tiny energy particles that was created in the big bang. Our entire reality actually IS consciousness - who's form is energy, in the form of matter. It's entire purpose is the evolution of mind in matter - to enrich it's own knowledge of itself. It has guided evolution over the years, finding out what worked...gave up on the dinosaurs when it finally invented flight, and it's crown glory has been the creation of mammals. Every event in history is transcribed in light, most of all of which is reflected back into the cosmos. Upon our physical death, these energy particles pass on our experiences into the cosmos and they in turn enter into other newborn beings taking our consciousness, but not our memories, with them. I can elaborate more on this theory if you would like, it's quite in depth.

#2. A thought I had during a mind bending/expanding experience with psychoactive substances. This happened years before the Matrix movie was ever made, but on this one-time-trip, I was shown a vast array of hard drives, and was told that every person in existence was actually a program running on a computer. The cosmos was the main software running, and every single thing in it that was happening was nothing more than self-sustaining code, that had the ability to learn, and also the ability to adapt. Death didn't exist, because neither did life. It was all an illusion.

#3. I sometimes get the feeling, and I have on several occasions when someone I knew had died that was of questionable moral character. I had a brother in law that died in a coc aine induced car wreck. He was a hopeless drug addict, and dealer, with a vicious temper and personality to match. We had several skirmishes, one of which nearly resulted in him placing a 9mm slug between my eyes while he shouted accusations of some bizzare nature. Very little love was lost when he died, at 24, yet in the following days I got the creeping suspicion that he was still around. I knew he was dead. I saw him in the casket. I got the feeling that he was slowly regaining some sense of consciousness and had nothing but pure evil on his mind - yet that he was veiled just enough from this world to where it was too "foggy" for him to function.

I had grandparents, one of which had Alzheimer, and my grandmother (gm) cared for my grandfather(gf). For years my gm nursed my gf. One day, my gm wasn't answering her phone, my cousin investigated and found that our gm had died during the night in her sleep. My gf was in the last stages of his disease, he knew nothing, could say nothing, recognized no one. He WAS rather active before my gm passed, as she would have to run after him and herd him back into his recliner where he was more manageable. AFTER she passed, my gf changed drastically. He did nothing but sleep. After a week of sleeping 18 hour days, he began waving periodically - into thin air. He would even smile. At this time, we noticed that the clock on the mantle above the fireplace had stopped on what the coroner said would have been my gm's approximate time of death. Within a week, my gf had died. A few days later, as their home was being sorted out, it was noticed that my gf's watch had stopped at the same time he had died. My mother has sworn that she has seen their ghosts at her house, and everytime she has, they were always holding hands....and always smiling.

#4. We are caught in a loop. We have existed many times before, and will exist many times again in the future. What makes us "us" is the particular combination of DNA that formed us. This universe has existed many times before, in many different forms, and in an infinite loop - some of those times are bound to be identical, or close. When we die, we are immediately unconscious, and the world proceeds around us on an on, through millions of years until the inevitable big crunch, where everything is restored to a pre-big-bang state of being. When it explodes again, everything may take a different path, the laws of physics may be slightly different to make it more favorable for life to be silicon based, instead of carbon. As far as we are concerned, we die and that's the end of it. The next thing we know, trillions of years later, an identical universe is created to the one that we were born in, and which we are born into again...living our lives and wondering if there really is life after death.

That's enough of this charade for now, I must go investigate a mysterious monster that has infiltrated the air duct above my 5 year olds bed. I'm bringing my flashlight.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


Thats just it, we aren't simple creatures, and you can thank evolution for that. Your lucky enough as it is having been born a human and not one of many other animals that don't enjoy the intelligence and consciousness we have. Stop saying there's no point to life just because we cease to exist after we die which I accepted over the "life after death" base-less theory. You'll still live your life wether you believe or don't believe in some invisible bearded man in the sky who apparently doesn't give a shoit about humans, it doesn't change the fact that you'll die some day so you may as well live it, if you want to.

reply to post by sykickvision


I honestly thought I had finished.

Humor me once more and allow me to paint you another picture. Imagine, if you will, a child. Now this child wants nothing more than a bike, with bells...and streamers, and spoke clappers - a horn, even a flag. One morning, this child finds before him exactly what he had wished for. He is ecstatic. Now...instead of jumping on the bike and enjoying it for what it is - instead he sets upon researching the bike. He finds out what metals and plastics is is made from. He finds out that this sort of material is commonplace among items found throughout his home and neighborhood. He studies the physics of the bike, how it is driven by a system of pulleys, and how friction against the earth propels it along. He studies various hobbies among bike riders, and of activities involving bike riding. He's learned how to properly care for a bike, how to secure it, what safety precautions should be made when riding a bike.

By concentrating too much energy on exactly what his bike WAS, this child has missed the whole point entirely.

The bike, of course represents your life. Dude...get on it and ride.

reply to post by brindle


I agree with this totally. We all have that idle time after death from this life and the peace and happiness that we experience at this time is incredible. Also, we choose the lives we want next for the experiences we want next. There is indeed great beauty in this in that we are able to choose anything we want for our next lives. Imagine that.

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


I am glad that you agree with me. I am also think there is nothing wrong in believing this, even if indeed there is nothing after this life. It makes the time here seem more important and a lot more enjoyable. Without this belief I do not know if I could go on living this life.

I love the story of the case that you mentioned. Do you happen to have a link to it, so I can read it. I would love to if you can. Thanks in advance!

reply to post by MareBellator


If there is nothing after and we just simply cease to exist, how do you go on then with your life. This makes it to me simply pointless. I would like to hear your thoughts on that.

I believe that our bodies cease to exist, but our souls that is a different story to me.

reply to post by truthiron


So I am assuming that you are a Christian, in that you are stating Christian beliefs. Correct me if I am wrong though. So if you are Christian, then is it God who determines who are the saved and damned. If that is true though then why do you think God allows people to be bad and commits such acts of evil. Is it just the free will that is given to us? Also, is not God in the Christian faith supposed to be all-forgiving, therefore how could people be set to be damned for eternity after life??

It is a difficult question to easily grab a answer and say this is it. Also, it is our fate. These things make this question to me extremely interesting.

Haha, yes both the unknown and known awaits.

delete double reply

delete triple reply

My apologies on the triple post there.

My internet connection has been messing with me lately and caused this.

reply to post by squirelnutz


If you can find anything on that case you were talking about, I would love to read it. Thanks in advance!

reply to post by MareBellator


Yes, no matter what you still live your life. However, for what purpose do you live it when believing there is nothing after this life???

reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits


Its not pointless. Enjoy the fact you were born a human and not something else, enjoy the fact you were born at all, or not depending on how good or bad your life is.
Believe whatever you want to believe, i'm not going to change your mind. I on the other hand refuse to go with the flow and believe in the false promise of an afterlife.

reply to post by sykickvision


I definitely know where you are coming from, when you are talking about your history. I was similar when I was younger and could not believe that it was happening. It is hard to overcome beliefs that are installed in you, especially from those who seem to know so much.

I loved #1 and would definitely like for you to elaborate more on this, if you can find the time, as I understand how deep it can go.

For #2, I had a similar experience on a substance 2 years ago. However I seem to think this one is less likely, even though it is very interesting to think and talk about.

For #3, to a point it is possible as these souls to me after they die are waiting until they are ready to reincarnate again. So therefore they could possibly visit us, as people have said they have seen ghosts of those they have loved. Perhaps they are their for a reminder, to push us, or for some reason we do not know.

For #4, I love the loop idea. Especially since I believe in reincarnation, I believe that everything happens in cycles. It is easily seen in our world that everything goes in cycles. So if that is true then time and everything would be in a loop/cycle.

LOVE the bike reference. In the end no matter what one believes you got to live life to the fullest. So get on the bike and pedal, pedal, pedal, until you no longer can!

Originally posted by MareBellator
reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits

 

Its not pointless. Enjoy the fact you were born a human and not something else, enjoy the fact you were born at all, or not depending on how good or bad your life is.
Believe whatever you want to believe, i'm not going to change your mind. I on the other hand refuse to go with the flow and believe in the false promise of an afterlife.

Everyone should definitely enjoy life, no matter what they believe, because life is definitely a beautiful, wonderful, and mysterious thing.

Though why should I enjoy the fact I was not born something else. If I were born perhaps a dog, maybe life would be easier, simpler, and even more beautiful. I would not have thoughts of what would happen after this life or would I? And if I did not have thoughts of what is after death, then I would be living life more to the fullest and more happier or not??

No, no one is going to change my mind or yours, unless someone comes out with incredible proof one day. And it shouldn't, to each his own. That is one of the beauties on this world, that we all have our own beliefs and thoughts, and rights to these.

Originally posted by squirelnutz
reply to post by mydarkpassenger

 

Wasn't there some villager that had the exact same DNA as somebody of great significance awhile back?

I'm sorry it's vague but i can't find anything on it now, but i remember hearing it back then and thinking how crazy that was..

I F*CKING HATE DISINFO IT HAS CAUSED ME SO MUCH PAIN!!!! MOTHER F*CKERS!!!!!!!

Originally posted by theUNKNOWNawaits

Originally posted by MareBellator
reply to post by theUNKNOWNawaits

 

Its not pointless. Enjoy the fact you were born a human and not something else, enjoy the fact you were born at all, or not depending on how good or bad your life is.
Believe whatever you want to believe, i'm not going to change your mind. I on the other hand refuse to go with the flow and believe in the false promise of an afterlife.

Everyone should definitely enjoy life, no matter what they believe, because life is definitely a beautiful, wonderful, and mysterious thing.

Though why should I enjoy the fact I was not born something else. If I were born perhaps a dog, maybe life would be easier, simpler, and even more beautiful. I would not have thoughts of what would happen after this life or would I? And if I did not have thoughts of what is after death, then I would be living life more to the fullest and more happier or not??

No, no one is going to change my mind or yours, unless someone comes out with incredible proof one day. And it shouldn't, to each his own. That is one of the beauties on this world, that we all have our own beliefs and thoughts, and rights to these.

I would inject language limits us from truly understanding what most consider 'lesser' beings.