triplew00t

Hard to say what I am looking for. Its just that all three possibilities for an afterlife, I hate. I do NOT want to live forever in another world. I do NOT want to come back to this world. And I do NOT want to cease to exist, atleast at nature's choice of time. Its trouble finding something that is an alternative to these 3. The closest I have come to is Nishijima style Zen without reincarnation, or philosophical Taoism. Both have a view of death that is definately not reincarnation, nor an afterlife in another world, but its not exactly ceasing to exist either. Maybe a primitive paganism based on pantheism (panentheism)? I'm not sure myself. I just wish I actually prefered one afterlife belief (or lack of). As it is, I select one (reincarnation, afterlife, no afterlife) and I am satisfied for a day, then want another version, get it, am satisfied for a day, then want yet another. I am SICK of this switching. It makes my whole life on shakey ground. I wish I could be satisfied with one view of what happens upon death. For some reason I cannot.

If I was to die by my own hand, at a predestined time, I would prefer no afterlife. If I was to die at random, and know that I am dying, I would like to have a chance to tie up loose ends, either in another life or another world. Curious to actually try and figure it all out. I greatly fear dying by natural causes (cancer, heart attack, pneumonia, etc.), but could really care less about accidents and suicide. As long as my death is sudden (so that I either dont know that I am dying) or by my hand (so I can be in control), I am fine with it, more or less. But a wasting death, one that I am not in control of, one that can take me when I least want it to. THAT I fear very much.

Maybe my problem is that I am trying to choose what I believe based on what I WANT to believe and not based on what appears to be true. If I was to choose based on what appears to be true, I would have to say there is no afterlife, despite what so many claim about contact with the dead. It is hard to do this though as my girlfriend as of now believes she has this ability. So either she is mistaken or I am wrong about death being the end of existance. This added emotional involvement makes it even harder to choose, as I dont want to think shes delusional.

A perplexed Nero

Calzaer

If you spent less time trying to decide what you WANT to believe, and more time actually living life, you might be happier.

emotional

So if you've found that, what's stopping you from staying there?



Paganism usually has an afterlife or reincarnation. And some pagans, such as Lucretius and Epicurus, believed in non-existence after death. So your choice isn't there.



I feel for you. There was a time when I just friggin' didn't know what to believe, and I felt so restless.



Oh, that's what I do too. In case of life after death, I think it's valid, because the subject is still up for grabs. The jury is still out about life after death.



Yes, that's what appears to be. But appearances can be illusory.



She practices mediumship? Mediumship can be tested. See if she can get you in touch with a dead relative. If she can, then it's real, and your choice is made.

emotional

Please don't. The man has a real problem. Platitudes are not what he needs right now.

Relative Newcomer

Not meaning to go new age on you guys, but I think this life is it - and it isn't. The only belief that I can weakly say that I have is in deja vu. I have them often, some being powerful enough that they are akin to bad drug trips (and I'm sober). There's nothing as frightening as remembering, during a bad deja vu, that I'm still doing the same thing, thinking the same thoughts, etc., just like always. It feels like utter nothingness and meaninglessness. Scares the crap out of me.
For me, anyway, this life is all there is; there is no afterlife just as there was no life before my birth (all things being relative), but this life is just always happening. No god, nothing supernatural about it, this just is - as always.

Calzaer

You're probably right... but I don't see his position as precarious as yours. You fear death, and thus need to believe in an afterlife. Since there's nothing you can do to prevent dying itself, that's a good way to go about it. But TW wants gods without an afterlife... why? I can't think of any unavoidable event that could only be comforting with the idea of gods, but WITHOUT the idea of an afterlife.

For someone seeking an afterlife, belief obviously plays a role in their day to day lives. For someone seeking a god without an afterlife, what effect can that god possibly have on day to day life if the person hasn't actually found the god yet? Will the god only start intervening and/or answering prayers once he decides to give it a name? Considering people who follow *every* god seem to get interventions/answered prayers (in their minds, anyway), it doesn't look like the fault lies in not finding the correct deity. So barring the idea that TW (and only TW) needs to know the exact codeword in order to get a prayer answered, the search for a god who hasn't intervened up to this point and is unlikely to intervene in the future looks to be an astonishing exercise in "how to waste time", especially coming from someone who believes his time is sorely limited.

SiliconWolf

I once had a spiffy idea for an "afterlife" that I got from hearing a speech by, of all people, a Catholic priest. I called it "singularity" although I think someone else also used that name, and I'm not sure it described the same thing. Anyway, I was thinking it would be cool if you could be everywhere and everywhen at once after you died, so you could see anything you wanted (but I have no idea how you would DO anything ). I eventually dismissed my idea as wishful thinking, but it was an interesting thought exercise.

Milton

Interesting. I have had similar thoughts about our existence, with the exception that God is the reason for all of it. I believe that, since we are thoughts (the creative thought) of God, and since God is eternal, then we are also eternally the same. I believe there is only one being in existence, and that is God. We are not separate from God.

Shadowy Man

You could have your brain frozen until such time as technology permits for your consciousness to be downloaded into a robot.

spacedOut

I believe this is a common occurence among most theists (Christians in particular). Most people tend to believe what they want to believe.

I have found some satisfaction in the reality that basically I know nothing. There might be an afterlife, but I think the probability is pretty low. I am also uncomfortable with the idea of a long drawn out physical death, but I guess I'm content to cross that bridge when I come to it. Whether or not I (e.g. my intellect) will continue to exist after this life is over is not overly important to me. I wonder if an afterlife does exist, will I be able to remember this life?

While I'm here, I tend to focus on experiencing life to the fullest and gaining as much knowledge as possible. If this is my only shot at "life", I want to make the best of it.

Good luck!