Afterlife

So I suppose this question is mostly for religious folks, though the agnostics/atheists life myself could consider the alternative.

If you found out tomorrow (I dunno, say they attached a camera to a dudes soul) conclusively that there was no afterlife.

A: Would life be pointless?

and

B: Would it change anything for you?

 

A. Not at all. i've been creating my own meaning/point to life as i go for a long time now . . .


B. If there were incontrovertible, scientific proof, it would lessen any remaining fear of death and lingering grief i might harbor . . .in particular for those i love . . . and those whom i have loved and lost in the past. . . .

 

A first of all no one knows the real meaning of " life " and the people who tried to explain it sound stupid ( at least to me )

B no it would not change a thing

 

Wouldn't change anything for me. I know she loves me all I gotta do is worry about standing up.

 

i'd probably say... what the fuck am i doing here then? and go ahead and dip out...

 

Your fear of death would lessen and you would grieve less if you knew that when you die you die?

I suppose I can see it, but would you elaborate?

 

dip out? kill yourself? why?

A. no

B. i dunno. i don't really think there is an afterlife...but i HOPE there is some type of one. so i guess i would lose hope?

 

Life is pointless if it ends then?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJkWS4t4l0k&feature=channel"]YouTube- Scientists Successfully Teach Gorilla It Will Die Someday

 

That's the easiest question anyone has ever asked. The answer, however, is overly difficult.

Ask us something easier.

 

pretty funny. and sad if it was true

 

it wouldn´t change anything in the present..

but I would be much less freaked out when im on my deathbed in 50 years relizing if theres a hell, I´m going there.

 

life is important for its own sake

enjoy it while you can

help those around you enjoy it too [if possible]

 

Life is pointless. It has no inherited meaning.

Life by man's definition is much too narrow to speculate the lack thereof, it wouldn't change a thing.

The certain prospect of death could introduce into every life a precious, sweet-smelling drop of levity- and yet you marvellous apothecary souls have made of it an ill-tasting drop of poison through which all life is made repulsive.

 

i don't feel the you need any sort of external meaning for life to not be pointless.

 

Life would only be pointless if that would somehow mean that there's no free will. Life would be pointless too, I suppose, if the will of God determined the course of all our actions.

I think it would have a tendency to make me more on edge. I'd want to get as much out of life as possible. It might have the potential to strengthen my appreciation for human relationships since I'd never see my family and friends again, or I would possibly become a rampant consumerist in an attempt to attain happiness through accumulation of stuff. Then again, this consumerism could easily be the case for Christians, who also believe in a kind of eternal death. Only in this version they haven't dissipated into nothingness. They're a Eunuch in heaven serving as god's obedient play thing for the rest of eternity. They do believe they'll see their families.

I think atheist materialism is very similar to the ego God of the Bible. Both views are overly reductionist. One sees mind as having precedence over matter. This precedence is completely monopolized by Yahweh and no one else though. The other sees matter as having precedence over mind. The course of mind is determined solely by the course of matter and the laws of nature. They're about the same in this respect.

I think there's a duality between mind and matter but don't believe in a god exactly. I will say I believe there's many many shells and layers of consciousness, and that something might be conscious in some way in the grand scheme. I think worshiping it is pointless though, because were ultimately just manifestations of it. I think all behavior in the universe, including inanimate matter and energy, is also determined by some conscious habit. I don't really believe that death is permanent, just transitional, that this is a cosmic journey that has lasted for all eternity, and that were one consciousness folded in on itself. In other words, I think were already in an afterlife. Were just one manifestation and entanglement of a single consciousness of many possibilities. I think the tendency to believe in an eternal death is an ego defense mechanism. This is true for views on the afterlife that entail some fantasy of everlasting life that preserves ones ego and identity too though. There's two modes of thinking. Either it lasts forever or you completely cease to be. I think this is too over-simplified.

On another note, I really don't believe I'll see my family again when I die. There's probably an infinite number of ways the universe can re-manifest itself throughout eternity, so I doubt I'll ever exist in this exact form ever again. In that case, my appreciation for my family would be about the same as if I didn't believe in an afterlife at all. I think there'd be more of a desperation if I knew there was no afterlife though.

All the human atrocities, like the holocaust, would also seem to make life more pointless if there was no afterlife. Then again, it kind of does it on its own, makes life seem less meaningful, whether there is an afterlife or not. I believe that the shedding of ego will be a horrible experience for all those who commit genocide, because they're all very ego-centric.

 

No life after death? We would all be zombies, whatever happened to the souls and a life appropriate for souls, lots of egoism, violence...
I would be some kind of dumb, egoist monster zombie appearence like a cancer devoring my environment without a mind

 

a) yes it would seem to be pretty pointless I'd think.

b) it would probably affect me in some way, but I can't know how until it happens.

 

A: Would life be pointless?

Progression might be pointless. It all comes down to how visceral an experience you are having. Progression is towards making everyone comfortable... But if all that matters is intensity of experience, then what's the point? Living in caves would be more interesting than living in clouds.

B: Would it change anything for you?

As either way is an assumption, death v. life, and I make the assumption that I will live eternally, since few people do this, it would definitely change things for me. I wouldn't have the same sense of looking out for others' well being. But there's kind of a rift there, because it isn't really progression if it leads to boredom. You have to balance out the two. Maybe this balance will just occur naturally, which one would hope, as no one seems to really consider this question. Maybe the fact that it is ambiguous keeps it balanced. On the other hand, if we knew an afterlife existed, I think it would balance just as well. If we knew only death existed, though, then I think there would be a lot of people wondering why they should bother trying to make others comfortable.

 

I think I'd live my life the same.