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WHAT evidence? Lack of evidence either way means NOTHING .. Kinda like Bigfoot or Extraterrestrials.
From what we know.
Did I really have to post that?
Do you actually know someone who died and came back? Please, do tell.
If you or anyone else says there is an afterlife it's on you and others to prove it.
I think its possible for whatever mechanisms that cause out of body experiences to happen to cause our experience of existence to last past death, but only for a few fleeting moments.
Is there any reason to think that? Or do you just like the idea of it? I certainly have seen nothing.... not just a little.... but nothing to suggest the above is at all likely to be true.
The idea of dying sucks, which is why everyone who is psychologically healthy avoids it as much as possible, whether religious or not.
It has been said that the only birthright we humans have in common is death. And that living sucks as much as dying. And that because we are cursed with an overabundance of consciousness, making us TOO aware, much of our lives are consumed in limiting our consciousness, tamping it down, hoodwinking ourselves into saying "life is okay" and keeping death in a separate compartment.
In my experience however it is not actually that bad in reality to fully face the fact of your own mortality and your frequent lack of meaningful self-determination. They are just information. Our real problem is our attachments to our desired story arc and our attachment to permanence that isn't ours to cling to and our attachment to various faux significances that we have invented for ourselves.
It is not pretty when you actually look at it, but I am not convinced it's a sucking horror, either. Our problem is that we don't stay within our proper scope that is defined by our nature and identity. We are mortal beings being swept along in a stream of events that is mostly larger than us. Our existence is brief and of no significance because nothing has any inherent significance in any "greater scheme" of things. Once you get that through your head you are in a position to embrace and enjoy what you can rather than bemoaning what you can't. Striving to be more than we are robs of the pleasures life DOES afford us.
Striving to be more than we are robs of the pleasures life DOES afford us.
Might we gather that you do not agree with Robert Browning when he wrote "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?â€
I do not embrace either approach as an absolute, rather I would say that path should be congruent with personality. Alpha types are unlikely to be content with leaving things as they are, beta types will seldom muster enthusiasm for change which comes at the price of conflict. Those who fall between the extremes will want a mix of progress and stability.
Is there credible evidence that consciousness survives death? Yes.
Is there credible evidence that atheists go to eternal fiery torment? No.
Is there credible evidence that even atheists are saved? Yes.
On the last two points hardcore atheists who have had near-death experiences have come back and told of a beautiful world they experienced. They then renounce, not necessarily their atheism, but certainly their belief that there is only nothingness after death. You can read and watch thousands of accounts of atheists' testimonies on NDE websites and YouTube videos.
Upon death the consciousness must exist in different format/plain/dimension . Proof? Logical deductions only. Material proof might not even be applicable? Again just a thought like anything else
I haven't been exposed to many atheists or agnostics in my lifetime so unfortunately, I've heard primarily fundamentalist Christian viewpoints. Is the most widely accepted view among the non-religious that after death is the same as before birth--nothingness? Is it possible that one could live as another form of life after their life has passed, but simply with no memory of another life because of a brand new consciousness? In essence is it just a cycle of energy like the water cycle?
My hope is that the power of the good that I do in life lives on in the efforts of future generations, spiraling into an uncontrollable avalanche of love.
Other than that. Yah, nothing for me but the peace of unconsciousness.
Upon death the consciousness must exist in different format/plain/dimension . Proof? Logical deductions only.
I disagree. There is more than ample circumstantial, even scientific-approved evidence that consciousness survives death, Read noted cardiologist Dr. Pim van Lommel, Dr. Sam Parnia, Dr. Peter Fenwick, cardiologist Dr. Michael Sabom, Dr. Penny Sartori...I could go on and on--who have conducted noted studies published in JAMA and other reputable scientific and medical journals attesting to the efficacy of NDE's.
I haven't been exposed to many atheists or agnostics in my lifetime so unfortunately, I've heard primarily fundamentalist Christian viewpoints. Is the most widely accepted view among the non-religious that after death is the same as before birth--nothingness? Is it possible that one could live as another form of life after their life has passed, but simply with no memory of another life because of a brand new consciousness? In essence is it just a cycle of energy like the water cycle?
I scanned the thread. As I suspected, yours is the $64,000,000,000,000,000 question. Simply put, nobody knows because those who already made the trip can't or won't tell us. But that doesn't stop many of us from making up our own answer and insisting that its the only true/correct one.
What happens after death? My personal answer is the same as the one I give to the perennial question, "What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhinoceros?"
The obvious answer is 'elephino' (say it aloud).
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