• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Life After Death?

Do you believe in life after death?

  • Yes, and I believe in God

    Votes: 10 27.8%
  • Yes, but I am an atheist

    Votes: 3 8.3%
  • No

    Votes: 8 22.2%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 15 41.7%

  • Total voters
    36

SearchingforPeace

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 9, 2015
Messages
5,711
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Ran into some interesting stuff on Near Death Experiences and Out of Body experiences recently. Not normally something I pay attention to, but I found it interesting.

Anyway, research has shown that they happen around the world and even to people who have zero brain activity. Atheists have had what is the typical NDE with bright light and seeing relatives. Greek philosophers first talked about the idea.

It has been 40 years since researchers have seriously looked at phenomenon. They found these experiences in every culture and ethnicity and religion.

So, the question for everyone is: Do you believe you will exist in some fashion after you die?
 

Polaris

AKA Nunki
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
2,529
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
451
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I believe everyone is right from the beginning already dead.
 

Kanra Jest

Av'ent'Gar'de ~
Joined
Jun 30, 2015
Messages
2,388
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I have researched OBE's and Near Death Experiences as well... such things are dismissed without being looked into deeply enough.

To happen after brain activity has stopped is clearly strange.

Can't say either way. I would sooner think we just become a ghost stuck on earth forever, than go to another realm entirely with many others chilling there. Which would also suggest a god, and bring up more questions.

Is everyone just losing their mind? That suggests a lot.

The answer comes down to straight Yes or No.

But you know. Maybe it's a bit more complicated than that
 

Lord Lavender

Bluered Trickster
Joined
Oct 21, 2016
Messages
5,851
MBTI Type
EVLF
Enneagram
739
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
You do come back alive but in a different way. The carbon you was made up for instance will join the carbon cycle and then become part of a plant or anything that consumes the carbon. So that is basically a random version of the Hindu reincarnation. You could be a cow, a house plant,a mushroom or even a humble small bacterium in the next life as the carbon in you goes to them and so on. So basically we were all dinosaurs and mammoths in our past lives. Another theory that i have thought of is that you live on through as a "imprint" on the universal timeline. This may explain ghosts.
 

SearchingforPeace

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 9, 2015
Messages
5,711
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Enneagram
9w8
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I have researched OBE's and Near Death Experiences as well... such things are dismissed without being looked into deeply enough.

To happen after brain activity has stopped is clearly strange.

Can't say either way. I would sooner think we just become a ghost stuck on earth forever, than go to another realm entirely with many others chilling there. Which would also suggest a god, and bring up more questions.

Is everyone just losing their mind? That suggests a lot.

The answer comes down to straight Yes or No.

But you know. Maybe it's a bit more complicated than that

My grandmother was in a severe car accident when she was about 60. Her husband had died 20 years earlier (his own deceased father appeared to him in a dream, telling him he would within a year and to get his affairs in order).

She later said that her husband appeared to her and she saw the typical lights of NDE. He told her it was time to let go.

My ISTJ grandmother said she told him, "I am not leaving yet! I am not going to die now!" She woke up from her coma and lived another 20 years.

She definitely was a very down to earth grounded person, not given to flights of fancy. I have zero reason to doubt her experience.

One thing I read said that when the early scientific studies were conducted, it was actually religious leaders who objected to their validity, besides atheists. They didn't like the "everyone gets a nice experience" thing. It seemed to them spiritual without religion.

Anyway, no matter what it is, once someone accepts there is any existence after death, then it puts life here on earth in a whole new perspective.......
 

Joyful Expressions

New member
Joined
Oct 2, 2011
Messages
22
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
9w8
Yes I believe in life after death however I have a neutral stance on God, neither believing fully or disbelieving fully
 

Obfuscate

Permabanned
Joined
Aug 20, 2016
Messages
1,907
MBTI Type
iNtP
Enneagram
954
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
i believe in life after death, but not that it is immediate... i think we have a bit of a wait for it... i do believe in God...
 

Yuurei

Noncompliant
Joined
Sep 29, 2016
Messages
4,509
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
8w7
....in a fashion.

I don't believe in reincarnation per-se but we do know that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So when we die whatever energy has gone into creating/maintaing " us" will disperse and move to create something else.
 

Polaris

AKA Nunki
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
2,529
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
451
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Yuu said:
So when we die whatever energy has gone into creating/maintaing " us" will disperse and move to create something else.
Which isn't close to being a form of life after death, because we aren't the energy that animates us. If we were, then we would not be the same person we were a decade ago when we had a completely different supply of energy. There's a continuity that is sustained by something else or by nothing.

To the topic, I believe that there might be a God (in spite of God being impossible), and that if there is, he's probably me. But that, meaning belief in God, has about as much to do with life after death as belief in advanced aliens, which could equally well bring someone back to life.

My view on life after death is that we can't meaningfully talk about it, because genuine death is not something that we can conceive of. When we talk about death, we mean blackness, a void, numbness, quiescence, etc. but all of those are things. Death is supposed to be absolute nothing without existence as a context. No one can experience that except in an incomplete form.

What do I think happens to someone who goes to the grave? I don't know, because it has never happened to me (as far as I know) and there isn't any convincing testimony about what it's like. I do think that consciousness will persist after "death," simply because personal death is, as I said, a meaningless term--we can't think about it, talk about it, or really mean it. Beyond that, I can only engage in wild speculation.
 

Yuurei

Noncompliant
Joined
Sep 29, 2016
Messages
4,509
MBTI Type
ENTJ
Enneagram
8w7
Which isn't close to being a form of life after death, because we aren't the energy that animates us. If we were, then we would not be the same person we were a decade ago when we had a completely different supply of energy. There's a continuity that is sustained by something else or by nothing.

To the topic, I believe that there might be a God (in spite of God being impossible), and that if there is, he's probably me. But that, meaning belief in God, has about as much to do with life after death as belief in advanced aliens, which could equally well bring someone back to life.

My view on life after death is that we can't meaningfully talk about it, because genuine death is not something that we can conceive of. When we talk about death, we mean blackness, a void, numbness, quiescence, etc. but all of those are things. Death is supposed to be absolute nothing without existence as a context. No one can experience that except in an incomplete form.

What do I think happens to someone who goes to the grave? I don't know, because it has never happened to me (as far as I know) and there isn't any convincing testimony about what it's like. I do think that consciousness will persist after "death," simply because personal death is, as I said, a meaningless term--we can't think about it, talk about it, or really mean it. Beyond that, I can only engage in wild speculation.

I don't know what you're trying to argue about. It is what is.
 

meechy

New member
Joined
Dec 13, 2016
Messages
1
I believe in life after death. I believe each life you live is the next step in elevating your consciousness. energy cannot be destroyed. I believe our soul will live on after death, even though we will be leaving our physical bodies behind. I 100% believe that my last past life was in the 60s-70s. people think in crazy when I tell them this with confidence lol.
 

Galaxy Gazer

New member
Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
941
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I think there is something after death. I'm not sure what. The concept of an afterlife is too widespread and universal to be dismissed as nonsense.
 

Jonny

null
Joined
Sep 8, 2009
Messages
3,134
MBTI Type
FREE
There is ample evidence that who "we" are, in terms of specific thoughts, interests, memories, emotions, etc., is directly attributable to our physical brain & body.

We see some of this first-hand. For those of us who live deep into old age, many will experience changes to our physical bodies that fundamentally alter who we are. Some unlucky few will experience it earlier: traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's, Lewy Body Dementia, to name a few.

Other aspects of it are apparent through the study of our brains. Researchers have observed, for instance, that "decisions" are made prior to conscious awareness.

So, to your question: Do you believe you will exist in some fashion after you die?

I think the answer is plainly no. If by "you" you're referring to person-hood as described above, then it seems clear that as the body decays, any possibility of preservation of that identity is lost. When this body dies, so will its hopes and dreams. If I exist in any capacity after physical death, that being will not remember my life or love my family.

I suspect this same phenomenon occurs almost constantly at a much more gradual pace. I often think about how, as each day passes, a part of me, the version who was alive that day, ceases to exist. I have the perception of continuity because I have memories, and my behavior remains relatively constant by the day, but we actually can never be sure that we actually existed prior to the present moment.

That said, I have yet to hear any scientific or other reasoned explanation for consciousness (i.e. the phenomenon whereby we passively "bear witness" to the physical workings of our brain/body)

Some have speculated that it is an emergent property of our biology, directly related to memory. But the verdict is still out. In this regard, I have no definitive opinion on what happens to our consciousness in the infinite number of years that will transpire after we are dead. What I do know is that there are things that exist in the universe about which we are entirely unaware. Our ability to perceive the world was once limited to our biological senses, and has steadily grown through technology. We can now perceive a broader range of the color spectrum. We can capture and translate waves into information. I don't see why there couldn't be something else, that is directly related to our consciousness, that we have not yet been able to perceive other than through our own personal experience of it manifest in that consciousness.

Part of what governs my ethical philosophy is the possibility that our consciousness might occupy different physical bodies at different times. What I mean is, this physical body will retain all of its personality, memories, etc., but the extracorporeal "consciousness" that is perceiving that body's experience might shift from one to another. Or, it might be reborn into a new body at some point. Given that possibility, it seems quite reasonable to strive for a world that minimizing suffering and maximizes the number of living beings that are free to live happy, healthy lives.

Here's an interesting video from a 97-year-old philosopher who talks about what it's like to be old and face death.

 

Polaris

AKA Nunki
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
2,529
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
451
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
What we know is that when similar bodies undergo similar alterations, they frequently--but not always--exhibit similar behaviors. People who sustain injuries to the brain, for example, are likely to score more poorly on a cognitive assessment, should they take one, than would someone with a normal brain. To the extent that we are identical to other people, we can expect ourselves to exhibit behaviors that are identical to theirs. But we are not identical to other people; in fact, we are at our core radically different from other people. Other people are what they appear to be, wheraes I am at heart hidden. What is more, behavior, and in general, outward appearance, is plainly not a reliable indicator of my conscious state. If a particular individual dies, I may feel happy, sad, or indifferent, and yet exhibit the same demeanor, whatever the state of my consciousness. The same goes for other people; I can interpret a person's smile as ironic or happy or wry. In short, the physical is not identical to consciousness. The physical doesn't even necessarily act as an indicator of the consciousness. Consider someone telling a lie, for example; in this case, physical form is directly at odds with the underlying consciousness. So I must beg to differ with those who would claim that consciousness must end once and for all when the body undergoes destruction.
 

Tomb1

Active member
Joined
Jun 15, 2011
Messages
994
What we know is that when similar bodies undergo similar alterations, they frequently--but not always--exhibit similar behaviors. People who sustain injuries to the brain, for example, are likely to score more poorly on a cognitive assessment, should they take one, than would someone with a normal brain...

Actually, the main performance validity tests (i.e. Green's Memory Word Test, Rey's Complex Figure Test, Reliable Digit Span, Test of Memory Malingering) are mainly intended to control for malingering/deception, so these assessments are designed such that a person with a normal brain who is exaggerating/feigning symptoms for goal-oriented reasons will score not just poorly but lower than those with genuine TBI (traumatic brain injury)...neuropsychs mainly use cognitive assessments to weed out the reals from the phonies (incredibly rare for people with no cognitive impairment to end up having PVTs administered on them by a neuropsychologist unless they are feigning cognitive impairment.)
 

Maou

Mythos
Joined
Jun 20, 2018
Messages
6,117
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Can't really know, but I feel there is a reason life itself exists despite there being literally no real purpose but to die. Since everything seemingly exists in a cycle, by any stretch of the imagination, so do we and life. What if dimensions exist to make sure we consciously live out our most successful lives, while all other possibilities are dead ends? We only know we ourselves are "conscious", but not anyone else. We know there is something instinctively out there. What if life is the illusion, and the entire experience is a hallucination, or a advanced alien chemical reaction? I want to believe its more.
 

Peter Deadpan

phallus impudicus
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
8,883
I don't believe in a god, but I do believe that higher energetic powers are at play. I believe in patterns that repeat that are shaped by invisible yet measurable energetic forces... I just don't think that we are quite advanced enough to identify or measure them completely. I believe we've already picked up on some of the patterns, but that we have yet to even imagine the depth and breadth of these metaphysical algorithms. I believe that these patterns are enduring somehow and not completely constricted by time and/or space, but that perhaps at times it's a bit like Plinko and depends on where and when the chips are dropped, in relation to the grander pattern or timeline of things.

No, I'm not high. No, I can't explain it better.
 
Top