[Dre_o]

Before I start, I'm posting this here in hopes of avoiding the usual onslaught of stupid morons. Please post considerately. Not to mention this is probably a rant.

Well today in school I got to thinking: "Hmm...how would I like to be burried?" Which of course my initial reaction is: "Well I'd want to go in a pair of blue jeans and a T-Shirt with a copy of Rainbow 6: 3 in one hand and Pokemon Pearl in the other."

From there it just started getting worse. I began to wonder, hmm....would I even want to go to heaven?...Just think about it. Stuck, for the rest of eternity in a nice and happy place where there are no human problems, no suffering, no day is different from the next, no arguements that eventually lead to stronger bonds. Nothing but happyness and glee.

But then to the contrary, would I like to spend my eternity in Hell?....Hell no! (XD) Eternal pain and suffering? Damned to the end of time? Nah, even that would eventually get boring and meaningless eventually.

So then I began to think. I'd probably rather live life over again. Like start life off from about age 5 and live life again. Of course, one would probably change stuff up, like location we lived in and the likes. I just think I'd rather live life, good bad and neutral all in one package. Unfortuanetly, one would begin to lose the value of life at that point, especially if we knew that this was another life and nothing but another was waiting for us down the road....so would our memory have to be wiped clean? But if it was, what would be the point? Just living life again? Existing the exact same way we had in the past?

No. We'd have to change it up. We would be able to mentally know about this "next life" but we wouldn't be able to consciously alter our decisions or lives about it. We would also perfer to change things up every once in a while. Perhaps add a little girl into the family for a lifetime or something (I've got 2 brothers )

Ugh....I don't know....my hands are beginning to become a little tired saying that I typed this at almost full speed. Not to mention this whole talking about death is getting a little depressing....

Well then, now that I've wasted enough of your time (yes, even those of you who just skimmed it), tell me what you think about a subject like this. No, this doesn't have to become religously correct (for I don't fully belive in God), lets just keep the flaming of people's Jesus/Abraham/Allah/Zeus to a non existant level ok?

I predict this post gets 10 replies [img]http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Out_Kast]

What's odd is that I also think about this around... once every 3 or so weeks. Just the thought of eternal life gives me the creeps.
And what do you even do in heaven? Is it like life, but in death? Or does your consience just sit there over your grave and watch as everyone comes round.
Also, wouldn't you get bored?
...
The answer is yes
But it'd be pretty awesome if you suddenly got granted the power to do anything you wanted, whenever you wanted (i.e. build yourself a mansion out of cloud and live in it in pure luxury [but forever!?]).
Weird thoughts.
And I think about that other life aswell. I always assume I'll come back to life again, but for all I know, I could have been through 1495 previous lives, and not know a thing about any of them.
Another thing I often wonder about is childhood. Why is it that no-one can remember anything from birth until they were around 5 or 6?
Odd.
Not something I like thinking about, in any case

[DikkyRay]

You arent alone, i myself wonder what will happen to me when i die.
Luckily i believe in God so that comfoorts me.(100 bucks i get flames for that XD)
But eh, i posted already, dont plan to ever look in this thread again lol

[Scejntjynahl]

I become worm food. My energies will disperse into entropy and my consciousness wil be lost to me for all time.

[EphekZ]

On 2007-02-12 14:31, Scejntjynahl wrote:
I become worm food. My energies will disperse into entropy and my consciousness wil be lost to me for all time.

and that's the blatant truth. kinda sucks, but whatever. i'd really like to see what happens when you die. it'd be kind of cool to die for an hour or two, see what happens and then come back you know? hell, if something does happen after you die and you come back, something like that would ultimatly change your life. knowing that and what not. Thing is I kinda fear death, not so much at the first part, but just thinking what happens to your mind and such, it is rather depressing to just be gone. it would probably help if I was religious, believing, or rather being able to believe and having that faith, seems nice.

edit: is it possible for a skeptic to be religious? perhaps that's why I don't have faith. seems contradictory; skeptic, but having faith in something that has no form or anything, that just lives in ones mind.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EphekZ on 2007-02-12 15:09 ]</font>

[Sinue_v2]

I've been thinking about this for awhile as well - mainly because I'm half-way through reading Dante's "Divine Comedy". I have to say though that Hell (or at least some parts of it) and purgetory by his account wouldn't be so bad... the upper layer of hell at least, because of all the increadilbly intelligent and impressive people there. People who's only sin was dying without having faith in Christ. (I haven't really reached the parts on Purgetory yet, but from the synopsis it seems that Purgetory is reserved for those who lived sinful lives and then repented at the last moment).

Personally, I was raised Roman Catholic - and I still hold to many of their beliefs and tennants... however I can't just blindly accept their explanation for everything. I know there is a life after this one. I know Jesus Christ is (at least my own) savior and gateway to this afterlife. Much beyond that I can't say. If god is as omnipotent and omnipresent as they say - then there's no possible way we can concievably have the slightest idea about who he truely is and what his plans for us are. We know about as much about god as a goldfish in a tank knows about us.

[Almalexia]

The movie Bicentinnial man taught me that eternal life comes with a huge sacrifice and certainly huge enough for me to never want to live forever.

You can't die with your lover; IMO the best way to go in this world aside from sleeping.

Eternal life is actually an Eternal prison. You are fated to repeat the same things over and over and over again. You will meet great people and they pass on while you remain. It will get depressing. And Depression is far worse than death - dealing with that for an eternity would be. . . .well suicide attempts would be everyday but to no avail.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Almalexia on 2007-02-12 15:54 ]</font>

[Garroway]

An interesting topic that I find myself thinking about a great deal actualy (I'm not getting any younger after all). The only real truth about the entire concept is that nobody knows for sure what happens to our concious when we die. I've read many books on various religions and they all seem to come back to faith without proof. The most difficult concept for me is in the christian religions in where there is a concept of the devil, whom we should beware of. The devil will tell us lies. The foundation of the religion is blind faith in something that cannot be proven, even considering it blasphemy to doubt. The entire concept seems counterintuitive to me. On the scientific side of things we really have even less to go on. It seems every decade we're changing the rules about what we used to believe as indisputable fact. At the subatomic level the very laws of the Universe change and we start quantifying in probability rather than an absolute value. In the grand scheme humans know next to nothing about the space we inhabit. So pondering death naturaly leads me to ponder my very existance. Perhaps as a flawed being, my perception of reality is also flawed. Perhaps everything that I see and hear and feel is only a small part of something greater and more complex than what I am able to sense with my imperfect body. Even the concept of time seems like a clumsy device used by humans to break apart reality into a more percievable concept. Something our pitiful minds can make sense of. You wonder what happens when you die. I'm not sure I even know what life is. My birth into this body and this world might have been my start point, but I don't know if it was the start of a new chapter of existance or if it was the start of my existance.

To understand death one must understand life. I don't believe that humans are capable of understanding life. We may find that when our bodies die, reality is actualy different than we were able to percieve. Perhaps it's end of your conciousness, and this was all some cruel joke afterall. Perhaps some day we'll know.

I like to think that we'll continue on in some form, learning as we go.

[Daikarin]

We don't even know exactly what heaven or hell is, no use thinking about those two meanings especially if we don't know what they are. Don't go by what preachers say or by what you read in books.

If you're curious about death, research it thoroughly until you can create a body of knowledge from it. You're right, though. Studying death is depressing. Personally I prefer to simply let it come to me.

[WrathOfMegid]

Ya know, Dre_o, I almost envy people who believe mankind's suffering is a positive experience. Me, I find it wholly unnecessary. People think, "Eternal life sucks, man. Everyone around you dies, you get bored, blah blah blah, whine whine whine, piss piss piss, moan moan moan." Can't it be different? Why can't everyone have eternal life? Why does everyone assume that eternal life is only reserved for a chosen few, and the world continues as it was around them? Are we not human? Can we not learn? Imagine:

Unlimited time to do everything. No setbacks. Everyone you know and love is there supporting you, encouraging you. No pain to destroy you, no hurt to ruin a perfectly good relationship. I admit, good can be derived from hardship, but hardship is not necessary to derive good.

For instance: I am alive, and I am glad. I've never had any near death experiences, and I had no existence before life by which to compare my current state. I am happy to have life, but I have never had to lose it. So joy can be found despite a lack of hardship.
So I say: Hope for eternity, look for a belief that would seem too good to be true, because what else is worth believing? If perfect happiness can be had, why must we limit its scope? If you think your current version of eternal life lacks some element, upgrade it! Just because everyone around you says, "Hey, Bob, jumpin' off this cliff is funnnnnn...." doesn't make it true. Seek truth as for hid treasure. And don't settle for half-assed, cynical perceptions.