What is the afterlife like?

Nurses Spirituality

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I have very good reasons to believe the mind continues after the body dies. Perhaps we'll get into that, if you're interested, in this string, but I'm more interested in speculating about what the afterlife would have to be like, if there is such a thing.

Is it like a dream?

Is it simply non-existence--no mind, no realization of any sort?

Is it a world, a universe of its own?

What does Morpheus say to Neo in The Matrix? "Have you ever had a dream that seemed so real? What if you never woke up? How would you know it was a dream?" ...or something to that effect.

Now, I am going to bed. I will dream. I dream every night, all night. Why should I think it will be any different when I die?

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Why should I think it will be any different when I die?

Because dreaming is something you do when you are alive.

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Now, I am going to bed. I will dream. I dream every night, all night. Why should I think it will be any different when I die?

Why do you believe that when you are no longer alive you will continue to dream as you do now, or that you will be in a dream state?

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That's legitimate. That's a legitimate way of dealing with life and what comes after it. I can't fault anyone who says they simply want eternal rest.

I don't know if I do or not. More and more, these days, I want God's will. And I don't mean that from any classic religious point of view, I simply mean that I am a creation God made, and I am alright with whatever he wants of my existence. If it is to rest eternally, then alright. If it is to experience things eternally, then fine. I am in the end his, not mine. That sounds sentimental, I know, but it's more of a learned resignation I think.

There is nothing wrong with the way you feel. I am only rational to certain extent. Otherwise, I would be an atheist. I do believe that there is an afterlife.

What exactly is that afterlife? I don't know. Afterlife is another life or a state of non existence. I have no idea.

I believe in destiny. I was born on this earth to fulfill some mission. Then I will come back to wherever I came from. I suppose you can say this is God's will. If that really is, my heart would stop beating when my time comes.

I think as long as I live a life filled with love, health, and a sense of fulfillment, I content being non existent. If there is a supreme being that I can call God, I think that is what he wants, too.

No, I agree. If nothingness is what comes, there's no pain in that. There's no loss at all. It's just over forever. And there's nothing to fear or worry about. Nothing will happen, but nothing will matter, and nothing will be perceived.

I couldn't agree with you more. Humans are unique among animals because we are so aware of our existence. If every person on this planet lives a fulfilled life, perhaps we will not even have this discussion about afterlife.

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Specializes in Emergency Department.
Yes, like death bring absolutely nothing. A mind just blinks out like a light when the switch is turned off. We are born for no reason. We live for no reason. We die and that is the end of us--as if we had never been in the first place. The mind is worthless, or at best an illusion. It is nothing more than a brain state.

So, why value life? Why not go to Vegas and shoot a crowd of people?

Now that is nihilism!

nihilism

ˈnoun

the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless.

synonyms: negativity, cynicism, pessimism.

PHILOSOPHY

the belief that nothing in the world has a real existence.

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I don't think everyone does. Personally, I think some people exist after they die in a kind of ongoing dream state, but others simply don't. Every conscious mind is part of the larger Consciousness (with a capital C), and some people are used to continue feeding experience to Consciousness, and others never develop into that sort of mind, so they just stop when they die. I suppose God or Consciousness remembers them, but that they continue on experiencing things, no, I don't think they do.

Will I live on or cease to exist? I don't know. My dreams suggest to me that I will, but I don't know that for a fact. I don't think someone like you, SIP, would. You have no interest in it, and I think if you were the type to continue on, you would not be an atheist. You will probably have eternal rest. And that may be the best thing in the end. I am not sure, myself, if I would prefer eternal rest or continued experience. I'm not sure which is better.

What Poop (with a capital P).

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Because dreaming is something you do when you are alive.

Jackets are worn by people when they go outside. So, I can't be wearing my hoodie now, because I'm not outside.

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Why do you believe that when you are no longer alive you will continue to dream as you do now, or that you will be in a dream state?

Well, of course, I don't know that I will, but it seems logical that it would be like a dream state. A mind, no longer connected to the physical world by way of a body, it would seem, would begin to imagine its environment--like we do in dreams. It seems to me also that every time people go to sleep, they dream. Sleep is not dead, but it's the closest we get to it while we are living--it seems.

Of course, 20% of people who are recovered from cardiac arrest report near death experiences, and these experiences seem to have a dream-like quality to them. So, that's another reason why I assume it.

And then there is the Kantian perspective. Immanuel Kant suggested we never have seen, and cannot know what the material world is like. We only know the images we create of it in our minds. So, that being true, again, I am led to believe the dream-state or the imagined reality is far more common and natural to minds than the consciousness we experience while being bombarded with input from the physical senses.

And as I have suggested with the paramecium studies, I have no reason to believe the brain generates the mind. So, I see no reason my mind will cease once my brain dies.

That's my thinking on it, anyway. conf40.gif

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Jackets are worn by people when they go outside. So, I can't be wearing my hoodie now, because I'm not outside.

I was not using inductive reasoning to come to my conclusion. It's a fact that if you connect a sleeping person to an EEG you can see delta (dream) waves. It is also a fact that a deceased person produces no delta waves on an EEG, therefore the deceased do not dream.

Deductive reasoning.

In all due respect, if you are using faith as your logic behind an existing dream state beyond life, and that is your belief, I'm afraid I won't be able to continue the discussion on that basis only.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Well, of course, I don't know that I will, but it seems logical that it would be like a dream state. A mind, no longer connected to the physical world by way of a body, it would seem, would begin to imagine its environment--like we do in dreams. It seems to me also that every time people go to sleep, they dream. Sleep is not dead, but it's the closest we get to it while we are living--it seems.

Of course, 20% of people who are recovered from cardiac arrest report near death experiences, and these experiences seem to have a dream-like quality to them. So, that's another reason why I assume it.

And then there is the Kantian perspective. Immanuel Kant suggested we never have seen, and cannot know what the material world is like. We only know the images we create of it in our minds. So, that being true, again, I am led to believe the dream-state or the imagined reality is far more common and natural to minds than the consciousness we experience while being bombarded with input from the physical senses.

And as I have suggested with the paramecium studies, I have no reason to believe the brain generates the mind. So, I see no reason my mind will cease once my brain dies.

That's my thinking on it, anyway. conf40.gif

When a person dies they are dead and not capable of dreaming or any other activity that a living person experiences. While I would like to believe that there is something beyond waiting for me. I'm not sure what it is. Buffy the vampire slayer season six episode 3 is as good an answer as any. She went to a state of "Perfect Peace" and she was "Happy" knowing "My work was done."

Hppy

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Well, of course, I don't know that I will, but it seems logical that it would be like a dream state. A mind, no longer connected to the physical world by way of a body, it would seem, would begin to imagine its environment--like we do in dreams. It seems to me also that every time people go to sleep, they dream. Sleep is not dead, but it's the closest we get to it while we are living--it seems.

I think that if, when we die, our deeper self goes on subject to the Karma (assuming Karma exists) we created for ourselves through our thoughts and actions when we were alive, different conditions will apply.

My understanding is that our dreams derive from our unconscious mind while we are alive.

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How do you know? How do you know consciousness is a product of physiology? It's a simple question: How do you know that?

No offense, but frankly you sound ignorant. You don't know, but you believe what you're supposed to believe according to what other people you believe know more about it than you do. You won't look in to it, but that doesn't stop your opinion. You want to sound educated so you go with the popular atheistic notions--which don't really hold any water, but you don't know that because you haven't looked into it, lest you learn something you don't want to know.

That's why I say you sound ignorant.

I sound ignorant? You completely ignored my scientifically-based reasonings for consciousness (that there are different levels of consciousness within the animal kingdom, that people lose consciousness while alive, and that some people are born without it) but I'm ignorant for looking at evidence to come to my conclusion, versus you and your wishful thinking, pulling any idea out that floats through your head?

I'm ignorant, even though I never accused anyone of anyone for having a wrong opinion, and for simply stating mine?

I'm ignorant, but you're not, even though you told SpankedInPittsburgh that you didn't think he was the type of person who would have an afterlife, but you are because your dreams tell you you are? As if you have the authority to state who is going to have an afterlife and who's not?

I'm absolutely astounded by the stupidity of your comments.

And just FYI, the reason I don't look into it is because it would support my opinion, which is what I would end up being disappointed into it. Some how you didn't get that? I also never said that I would never, look into it but I'm only 21 and don't really want to worry about death and my eternal fate at, the moment. I've looked into the afterlife and I keep an open mind, but I don't understand why you think me not believing in an afterlife would be ignorant, and not you, who goes around thinking that you some how know who is going to have an afterlife and who won't.

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