face it. your gonna die. then what?

[dirty1thong1puller1am1i]

In this thread i hope to start a discussion on death and religion and hear all of your theories on what happens when something dies. i have been pondering this issue for some time now and would like to share what i believe with you all and hear what you think about it.

I have a hard time believing any religion i have heard of. i like to look at the issue from a more strait-up kind of way. What makes a person, and what gives them life? well it is only chemicals and electrical impulses in the brain. We are made up of the same atoms as everything else and the thing that makes each individual different is the connections and networks in the brain. When one dies the brain shuts down and that is it. All we are is electrical impulses and such that comes from that one organ, the brain. it is everything that gives us life, and perception of reality and makes us function as human beings. All other bodily organs serve to keep the brain functioning and us alive. People think that there is an after life and people have spirits and souls that move on, but the spirit and soul is nothing more than the neurons working in the brain. Once the brain is off, how can there be anything more? I really wish that i didn't think this way but for right now it is the only logical reasoning that i can think of.

When i hear people talk about religion and such things, i cannot help but to feel that religion is just a bunch of made up fairy tales that people use to escape the fact that one day they will cease to exist and there atoms will pass on back into nature where they first came from. Religion is what people use to answer questions they have, but do not have the answers to. It is guesses and things they wish were true because they can't accept the end. I just can't see things differently right now and i myself have to admit that my religious/scientific views are always changing. I do believe in jesus 100%, but i don't see what that really has to do with dying. I would love to believe that there is something after death and wish with all my heart that there actually is, but right now i am definitely doubting it.

I think that being dead is just like being in the time before you were born. You have NO idea whatsoever, the only people it affects are those around you.

Just a few points to think about and discuss.

1) If god made everything, than who made god?

2) All things will eventually come to an end so how do you expect even in the after life to "BE" for all of eternity for ever and ever.

3) If you believe in after life for humans, what about other living things... from cats and dogs to bacteria?

Well those are just a few thoughts that i had and thought i would share.

[The_Big_Beef]

quote:Originally posted by dirty1thong1puller1am1i:

In this thread i hope to start a discussion on death and religion and hear all of your theories on what happens when something dies. i have been pondering this issue for some time now and would like to share what i believe with you all and hear what you think about it.

I have a hard time believing any religion i have heard of. i like to look at the issue from a more strait-up kind of way. What makes a person, and what gives them life? well it is only chemicals and electrical impulses in the brain. We are made up of the same atoms as everything else and the thing that makes each individual different is the connections and networks in the brain. When one dies the brain shuts down and that is it. All we are is electrical impulses and such that comes from that one organ, the brain. it is everything that gives us life, and perception of reality and makes us function as human beings. All other bodily organs serve to keep the brain functioning and us alive. People think that there is an after life and people have spirits and souls that move on, but the spirit and soul is nothing more than the neurons working in the brain. Once the brain is off, how can there be anything more? I really wish that i didn't think this way but for right now it is the only logical reasoning that i can think of.

When i hear people talk about religion and such things, i cannot help but to feel that religion is just a bunch of made up fairy tales that people use to escape the fact that one day they will cease to exist and there atoms will pass on back into nature where they first came from. Religion is what people use to answer questions they have, but do not have the answers to. It is guesses and things they wish were true because they can't accept the end. I just can't see things differently right now and i myself have to admit that my religious/scientific views are always changing. I would love to believe that there is something after death and wish with all my heart that there actually is, but right now i am definitely doubting it.

I think that being dead is just like being in the time before you were born. You have NO idea whatsoever, the only people it affects are those around you.

Just a few points to think about and discuss.

1) If god made everything, than who made god?

2) All things will eventually come to an end so how do you expect even in the after life to "BE" for all of eternity for ever and ever.

3) If you believe in after life for humans, what about other living things... from cats and dogs to bacteria?

Well those are just a few thoughts that i had and thought i would share.

QFT

Wouldnt it be nice to imagine that when you die you will suddenly end up in a place that is absolutely perfect, something that not even dreams could conjure up rather than visualizing your corpse devoid of life rotting in the ground. indeed it would. but thats where, logic comes in. in my personal opinion heaven is a place made up in the imaginations of people who are unwilling to accept death as the end of their time. they want to believe that their life was all for something, some master plan for an afterlife of eternal happiness. i dont believe this way at all. you die and all your flesh, fat, and muscle get recycled back into nature just like it was intended. the end.

[Aft3r ImaGe]

Face it, theres no way to know without experiancing death first hand.

I do however have an interesting experiance to share, in a dream I was struck by lightning and died, after dieing I experianced a white singularity. It behaved like rotating ball-lightning and was constantly moving chaotically with peices flying in and out.

What it means is up to you. Although curius as to what it means, I doubt anyone's interpretations will be independant of their own religous beliefs, and will therefor be fundamentally flawed.

As for what truely happens after death, simply put: Nobody knows.

Many people have speculated on the subject though and I encourage anyone interested to look into various great thinker's veiws of what happens after death.

It would be nice to know what happens, but we won't know till we die. I enjoy life and plan on living it to it's fullest, no matter what happens after someone dies.

"I'm the one who's gonna die when it's time for me to die,

so let me live my life the way I want." -- Jimi Hendrix

[insanitarium]

I think there has to be something after death, be it an afterlife or reincarnation. Why? If I am thinking now, then I must be thinking forever. If there really was a void my thoughts would stop with everyone elses and noone would be self aware.

[Twiggy]

You die, you rot, end.

You'll get dug back up at some point by someone though so its not all bad!

[LostCause]

My personal belief on what will happen to me when I die based on previous NDE's: I imagine that, at first, I will be very confused and wonder why it's so difficult to navigate and perhaps wonder where I am. Then when I realize that I don't have a body anymore, I'll realize I'm dead and then I will begin to look for a light. From all my experiences (not that it's been all too extensive, but...) there was no particular light. I looked for one and there was the sun in the middle of the night, though it wasn't a "light". It looked more like a painting. So... I imagine there will be no light and that I will suddenly remember that I am a spirit that transcends time. I will remember that I have been around for billions of years and will be so for billions more and then the life I left will seem so insignificant that I'll be happy to return to the whole and to return to being of all things and time at once and that I will be very happy to think of meeting any of my kindred spirits in the future. After which I imagine I'll just continue to be Zen until something else comes along.

And to address your questions:

1. You're assuming I believe that god made everything. But, okay, let's assume that god did make everything. Who made god? Himself. Does that not work for your logical scientific mind? Doesn't matter. If you're thinking in those terms god created science and he created the laws of nature, he doesn't live by them. He didn't have to be created.

2. All things in the tangible world of the 4th dimension come to an end of what they are. But, nothing ever comes to an end. No matter is ever lost, it only changes. Certainly a spirit (assuming there is spirit) that isn't subject to the confines of this dimension and to time and physicalities could be for any ammount of "time". Especially considering that sort of thing would have no bearing on it.

3. I believe in Romeo and Juliette. Perhaps they existed, perhaps they didn't. But, enough people have heard they're story and believe in them that it makes them true. I believe in the power of the mind and that we are capable of actually making things true, that we are capable of making the negative positive. I believe in true alchemy. And I believe that the spirit is subject to just this sort of thing. If you have a dog that you love very much and that you truly believe has a spirit that will live on, it will. Of course, not all dogs are lucky enough to have that let alone bacteria. Not even a lot of people are lucky enough to have that.

Cheers,

Lost

[Raw_Power]

Those near death experiences are just hallucinations caused by the high release of this psychedelic chemical in your brain.

When you die there is nothing.

[LostCause]

quote:Originally posted by Raw_Power:

Those near death experiences are just hallucinations caused by the high release of this psychedelic chemical in your brain.

When you die there is nothing.

It can't be proven that they're hallucinations and anyways the question wasn't "What happens when you die?" the question was "What do you think happens when you die?". So I believe I answered it correctly. Certainly I wasn't speaking for you - I was only speaking for me. I couldn't imagine what will happen to you. I can barely imagine what might happen to me.

Cheers,

Lost

[Abrahim]

quote:Originally posted by dirty1thong1puller1am1i:

I think that being dead is just like being in the time before you were born. You have NO idea whatsoever, the only people it affects are those around you.

Just a few points to think about and discuss.

1) If god made everything, than who made god?

2) All things will eventually come to an end so how do you expect even in the after life to "BE" for all of eternity for ever and ever.

3) If you believe in after life for humans, what about other living things... from cats and dogs to bacteria?

Well those are just a few thoughts that i had and thought i would share.

Christianity (sects and variants): When you die you go to heaven if you believed in Jesus as your lord and savior who died for your sins or you go to hell which is being apart from God. Some Christians tend to remove Judgement day from mention but that is often part of the process which decides who goes where, also hell has been mentioned as being apart from God by many modern Christians but used to be a fiery pit of torture and torment for sinners and those who denied the sacrifice of Jesus.

Judaism: Originally had a ressurection and Judgement day which was later removed and many came to believe in an underworld in which the spirit goes to, this was based on the Greek idea of Hades and was picked up during a time in which Judaism intermingled with Hellenistic thought as prior to this Jews did not believe in a spirit form really but that death was like sleep. Other ideas including that of a heaven type place for the good have also occured in Judaism and are sometimes accepted but a fiery pit is not mentioned, death being the ultimate consequence for the sinner.

Islam: Death is like sleep, you are ressurected on Judgement day and shown everything to which you testify. There is Paradise for those who did good, there is literal hell for those who did bad, a place of extremes including fire where ones skin is burnt off repeatedly and replaced with new skin, it is also a metaphor as to reflect how bad deeds are like a person burning themselves constantly.

Buddhism: There is reincarnation but some sects of Buddhism include hells in which an evil doer is punished and tormented. Nirvana is the ultimate achievement for a Buddhist, this is transcending everything interpreted by some as ceasing to be. Some believe people can return from Nirvana but I don't really believe that.

Hinduism: There is Reincarnation but also heaven type places and hell type places a person can go to for punishment. This also occurs in Chinese thought.

I agree that being dead is like being in the time before you were born but that for the dead person it feels only like dreamless sleep. I do believe a person does wake up though.

1. God isn't some being or thing or creature that is made, but rather God is all that exists, ever existed, and will ever exist, there is nothing but God, within God is everything, there was no beginning and there will be no end, with God came absolutely everything including this Reality and Universe which has been expanding and collapsing over and over since forever, there was no ultimate starting point, time is a concept within this reality and this universe and this Earth. God was not created because God is not a being within Reality, but Reality is made of God, existing within God, just a part of God as are things we don't know such as other realities possibilities and universes. There is nothing outside of God, God is all there is infinite and all encompassing, there is just God essentially, all is one, we're just parts within the whole.

2. All things will end as they have always ended, and all things will begin as they always have begun. But Truly God never begins and never ends.

3. I think that animals have it too and that we are just another kind of animal, though perhaps the least humble.

[Graemy]

Well, i have thought about this too. I thought about the possibility that when i die there will be nothing. like sitting in a dark room, with no sound, and no feeling. i wouldn't mind that for an eternity, you could say it is an afterlife. that truely doesn't make sense to me though. what does make sense to me is a transfer of conciousness(reincarnation). For some reason closing my eyes here and then opening them somewhere else makes sense to me.