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Death: What's the problem?

Timeless

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Oay serious question, what's the whole problem with death?

I keep seeing people claiming that a person cannot understand what happens at death and there's an intrinsic need for an afterlife for people's psychological wellbeing.. why?

I've always thought the same thing, when you're dead you're dead. It stops. Nothing happens. A total absence of you. You're not there, you're dead.

What's the problem with that?

That's the way I see it too.

Once you're dead, you're dead. It's not like when you're dead you'll say "Oh shit, I'm dead! What do I do?"

:)
 

alcea rosea

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Does oneself survive death?
How much more wrong it is possible to put a question?

Does oneself survive life? That is the question.
Apparently not.

Maybe we both live and die when this life ends. Maybe there is 2 sides of us, the ying-and the yang. The body and the other thing, which can be referred as soul or mind or ego or something. Referring to NDE (near death) or OBE experiences reported world wide and not just now but a long before these days. It's as possible as anything althought not "proven" or widely known fact.
 

Timeless

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Don't you find the prospect of that unsettling/frightening?

I use to feel that way when I realized I wasn't living my life the way I wanted to.

That went slowly as I started to live from my "purpose" so to speak. It's a long story, but I'll tell you this:

On top of my mirror, I have this written:

"If there was no tomorrow, what would you do today?"

It keeps me in check.

:)
 

wildcat

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Maybe we both live and die when this life ends. Maybe there is 2 sides of us, the ying-and the yang. The body and the other thing, which can be referred as soul or mind or ego or something. Referring to NDE (near death) or OBE experiences reported world wide and not just now but a long before these days. It's as possible as anything althought not "proven" or widely known fact.
Quite right.
What is the dividing line between time and space?
The arrest.

Whose arrest?
Involvement does not attest to the object.

Quality is in the head of the assessor.
And quantity is not?
 

Xander

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Does oneself survive death?
How much more wrong it is possible to put a question?

Does oneself survive life? That is the question.
Apparently not.
:hug: You are indeed the quintessential individual my friend. I am sorry that things are not more accepting but I doubt you would be as wise without the thorns you navigate.

And if any individuality is to survive annihilation then it will be yours.
Maybe because people are interested about the unknown?
Maybe because they want some certainity that what happens when dying?
Maybe because it's very difficult to accept that it is possible that this life is all we have and after it's gone there is no me anymore. I disappear?
Maybe not knowing is the hardest part, whatever happens after, but still not knowing what that is if it's anything?
I see it as a control issue, based on your insights. It's not "what happens next" that's the problem, it's the "I will create certainties to enable me to be more comfortable with what happens to me" that's wrong. Such false facts when supporting a weakness are defended with unreasonable force and become crutches for unhealthy habits.

It is true that thinking about what happens next is normal but it's still unhealthy to dwell too long on the subject. There is no proof, there is little clue, science says your dead and that's that, religion paints another picture. I would think it wise to conclude that perhaps there's something else but don't bet on it.
That's the way I see it too.

Once you're dead, you're dead. It's not like when you're dead you'll say "Oh shit, I'm dead! What do I do?"

:)
:rofl1:

I'm betting your one liners either get applause or a kicking :smile:
 

Xander

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On top of my mirror, I have this written:

"If there was no tomorrow, what would you do today?"

It keeps me in check.

Nooooo!!!

That'd really make me go back to bed. One day? ONE DAY?

Oh dear, that'd bring on the "what do you feel like doing?" to which the only true answer is to shrug...
 

luminous beam

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for some reason i think it's easier for me to accept my own death, the fact that i will die someday,whether sooner than later, and that there may be nothingness after. but it is harder to accept someone close to me dying when i have so many fond memories of them. when you love someone, it's very hard to accept that they're gone forever. i think this is why for me, personally, thinking about the possibility of there being an afterlife and "heaven", i guess you could say, is very reassuring. it keeps the deceased's memory alive and makes me happy to think they're happy elsewhere. what about you guys?
 

lowtech redneck

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Sorry I have to take the agnostic point of view here. If you require someone to threaten you with pain and torment to be nice then are you not just playing?

To be fair, that playing leads to habituation through repetition and cognitive dissonance, thereby becoming more genuine as time goes on. This is especially true if such habituation begins from early childhood.
 

onemoretime

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Don't you find the prospect of that unsettling/frightening?

Why? I was not alive once before; as far as I can tell, it wasn't unpleasant as I currently understand it from a human perspective.
 

Liminality

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I think it's the idea that there's no coming bacck, no second chances, it's final, and unavoidable. You're gonna inescapably miss that last brownie.

The sense that a person's done everything they desire in life, and have no regrets that ought to be made better is hard one to achieve. There's no coming back to tell your kids how much you love them, or to cure world hunger.

I find deadlines for collegework scary enough.

That's one factor in procrastination, in my eyes, it's never going to be good enough, so why bother starting? There's no big sense of completeness if you know the end is coming, and if you don't, you're not even gonna have a chance to fulfill your life.
 

ayoitsStepho

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May I ask a question?
If we're here to live life, yada yada and then just die-no after life...then what is our purpose to even living?
We all know everything has a purpose. And everything on Earth seems to have no problem doing what they were made to do...but its the humans who were given a mind to think and speak. So i just have a hard time thinking that I'm human and i just live however I want, die and bang. thats it. end. What was the purpose?? It just seems a waste to me.
 

Katsuni

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May I ask a question?
If we're here to live life, yada yada and then just die-no after life...then what is our purpose to even living?
We all know everything has a purpose. And everything on Earth seems to have no problem doing what they were made to do...but its the humans who were given a mind to think and speak. So i just have a hard time thinking that I'm human and i just live however I want, die and bang. thats it. end. What was the purpose?? It just seems a waste to me.

Whot was yeur purpose if yeu do live on afterwards? Does having an afterlife actually make yeur life mean more than without? Just because YEU PERSONALLY live longer, does it mean that it intrinsically makes yeur life more valuable, especially since virtually every religion's definition of an afterlife states yeu won't remember yeur life?

If anything, the afterlife has absolutely zero effect on the purpose of life at all, it doesn't affect anything in any way shape or form. The existance of 'god' or whotever may very well affect it, but the lack of an afterlife literally does nothing to change the purpose of yeur life.

Unless yeu seriously believe that the only reason for life is to be a slave.

Because that's all 'endless worship of god without any reward for doing so' would literally be. All work, no pay? That is slavery.

In that case, the concept of an afterlife as a reward can be used to make sense, I suppose. It requires the use of a pretty vengeful and egotistical god for it to be valid, but that is pretty much how most descriptions seem to be.

Many people, however, believe that if they helped one person, if they made someone's life better, changed something in the world for the better, they served a useful purpose.

And some just feel as long as their family line continues, then all is well.

Personally, I figure that we're all doomed to die anyway, someday the human species will be extinct, the sun will die out, everything I've EVER accomplished ever will be meaningless, anyone who knew me will be dead, anything I touched will be gone, anything I affected will be lost to time. In this case, the meaning of life is self enjoyment.

I don't need to carry on my family line, they're all going to die off eventually anyway. I don't need a monument in my name, it'll crumble someday. I don't need history books written about me, they'll be changed and lost eventually when someone decides to remove me from history because I'm inconvenient, or warp things so much there's no truth left. I don't need to improve the lives of other people who will be dead as well.

I need to improve my life, and enjoy it, and take care of the people I love.

Beyond that, religion is only useful if yeu accept god as being an egotistical ass. If yeu think he's a nice guy, then the afterlife doesn't affect yeur life's meaning.
 

Xander

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May I ask a question?
If we're here to live life, yada yada and then just die-no after life...then what is our purpose to even living?
We all know everything has a purpose. And everything on Earth seems to have no problem doing what they were made to do...but its the humans who were given a mind to think and speak. So i just have a hard time thinking that I'm human and i just live however I want, die and bang. thats it. end. What was the purpose?? It just seems a waste to me.
There is no purpose beyond what you define for yourself. What other purpose is there? Sure if I were religious then I'd accept that perhaps some divine entity has some purpose for me but from my current agnostic perspective I'm not aware of what that is (one could argue against religion based upon that but that's not what we're on about here). As such my only recourse to add purpose to things is self defined (something used as "proof" of self awareness I believe). So if when I die I am no longer then my purpose is also no longer.

You could argue that the purpose continues as long as your ideals are passed down, your philosophy. That your lasting mark made upon other's, your legacy, is your purpose after death but that's the continuing effects of your purpose not the purpose itself. A stone does not continue to hit the water but it's ripples remain. Cause leads to effect not vice versa.
 

Xander

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Insanity controls sight.
Sanity controls insight.
That is signature worthy my friend!

To see sanity you must first recognise the insanity in what you experience.

Very cool.
 

INTJMom

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...
Because that's all 'endless worship of god without any reward for doing so' would literally be. All work, no pay? That is slavery....
Have you ever been really excited and happy?
So happy that you laughed and clapped your hands,
and maybe even jumped up and down or did a little dance?

Praise and worship of God in heaven will not be a slavish chore;
it will be the natural response of delighted and joyful souls, full of love.
 

Xander

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Have you ever been really excited and happy?
So happy that you laughed and clapped your hands,
and maybe even jumped up and down or did a little dance?
OH! That's where I go wrong...

No. Never. Not once.
 

Katsuni

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Have you ever been really excited and happy?
So happy that you laughed and clapped your hands,
and maybe even jumped up and down or did a little dance?

Praise and worship of God in heaven will not be a slavish chore;
it will be the natural response of delighted and joyful souls, full of love.

Figured I'd stress the qualifying statement within that quote.

"in heaven".

Not 'here on earth but in heaven'.

I was specifically stating *IF THERE WAS NO HEAVEN AT ALL* then worshipping god on earth would be a pointless chore, with no reward because there'd be no heaven, or afterlife in general.

If someone gives yeu an endless supply of menial tasks to do, and gets angry at yeu if yeu don't perform them with all yeur heart, despite that they are not paying yeu back in any manner of speaking at all, not with money, not with goods, not with services, and not with heaven, then this would be slavery.

That being said, the christian bible's definition of 'heaven' is actually about the same idea as my concept of a hell for the mind and soul, while the 'real hell' would be a hell for the body. Neither's all that attractive of a choice. This has no relevance upon whot I was stating in my post that was quoted though, just a statement in response to yeur own =3
 

ayoitsStepho

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There is no purpose beyond what you define for yourself. What other purpose is there? Sure if I were religious then I'd accept that perhaps some divine entity has some purpose for me but from my current agnostic perspective I'm not aware of what that is (one could argue against religion based upon that but that's not what we're on about here). As such my only recourse to add purpose to things is self defined (something used as "proof" of self awareness I believe). So if when I die I am no longer then my purpose is also no longer.

You could argue that the purpose continues as long as your ideals are passed down, your philosophy. That your lasting mark made upon other's, your legacy, is your purpose after death but that's the continuing effects of your purpose not the purpose itself. A stone does not continue to hit the water but it's ripples remain. Cause leads to effect not vice versa.

But the animals and other things on this Earth dont decide their purpose, so why do we? Simply because we can speak and think for ourselves? I'm saying [even though this may stray off the topic a bit] that i believe in something bigger than us, than who we are. I believe it is God. I have a sence of peace and calmness knowing that God is leading me to where I need to be. He know's my purpose, i cannot create my own. People as a whole are emotional and unable to make choices to actually choose their purpose in my mind. You'd have to be able to see the WHOLE picture of what happened, what is, and what's to come. We simply cant do that. No matter how smart or wise we think we are, we'll screw our 'purpose' up if we make it up, or heck, we'll even change our mind multiple times. Thats not a purpose. We're human, we're not perfect. We dont have the ablility to be perfect, no matter how hard we try. So why should we be in charge of our own purpose?
 
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