What comes after death?

[profilewithoutaname]

I've got a bit of a problem with this.

My 1st problem:
I was raised a Catholic. But now I'm not sure anymore what I'm.

My 2nd problem:

• if there's more between heaven and earth and we go to a better place when we die.

Why do we cry and feel sad when someone dies? Or when we get to hear we aren't going to be on earth for much longer?
Then why bother with getting better. We all got to die at some point and then go to a better place. So why wait?
Why use medication and other stuff to make us live longer? Let's go to heaven have a good time there and meet up with people we used to know.

• If there's nothing between heaven and earth. Basically the same thing. Why feel bad when we have to go? If there's nothing then there's no pain there's simply nothing.

But another problem what I've with this is:
Why do we live?
It's pretty much pointless if there's nothing after life. Then life is a very very cruel joke.
We come into this world. There are happy days, not so happy days. But why? Why learn, why go to work, why have children? If at the end of the ride 'nothing' is waiting for us. We just stop exciting. Both physical and spiritual.


Or are we coming back to earth?
Maybe this is the best option.
Then it'll have some reason why we are alive. Simply to learn. Then you die and come back to learn some more stuff and again and again.
But why? Don't know.
And where are all the spirits coming from? I mean with that, there are more people on this planet now then before. Where do they come from? Shouldn't then always be about the same amount of people on the planet? Or the same amount of living beings on this planet?

Is this circle continuing until a huge asteroid hits the earth and goodbye all living and spiritual beings?
What happened then with the souls of Dinosaurs?


Are we alive for a reason and is there more after death?
Or instead of being lucky to be alive are we simply a bunch or molecules and genetic information? And that's it.

[BackOnlyBriefly]

Well, the available evidence suggests we are a bunch or molecules and genetic information, but I wouldn't say 'simply' because it's pretty amazing.

Why we bother in that case depends on the person, but there are pleasures in life. So we work to ensure we have as many more of those as possible and then we work to ensure our children can have similar experiences and opportunities.

It may not sound much when put like that, but it's all believers have really. Even if there were an afterlife you wouldn't know for sure so you'd still have what you have now. Friends, Family and the day to day pleasure of being alive.

[BillyBanter]

Do you think there is 'reason' behind the earliest simplest life forms? Why did they live? What about more recent life but still fairly simple life forms? What about slugs and dogs and trout?

If your answer is that they are simply a bunch of molecules and genetic information, that there is no heaven for them, no afterlife, no purpose beyond surviving as best they can, then why do humans need to be alive for a 'reason'? Why not evolution happened and this is where we are?

[DioneTheDiabolist]

Why do anything?

[profilewithoutaname]

@DioneTheDiabolist

I like that question. Why do anything?
Because 'now' is such a small time. For example:

One second has passed and the next comes. That one second has gone and will never come back.
This morning I woke up and before I know it it was evening again. I go back to bed ready for another day.

And I'll do the same tomorrow and again and again until there's no more tomorrows left for me.

We do things to enjoy ourselves. Or as the above have said. It's apparently all about enjoying yourself.
But you do something and before you know it it's again in the past. All you have are memories about the nice things that you've done.

What's the point in that if you at some point will simply stop to exist?

Why are we then so careful with euthanasia?
If someone doesn't want to live anymore. Why not let them go? We all got to go at some point.

Why try to beat a horrible disease like cancer? Why go threw that pain? Why even try? You can beat it. Live a couple more years and then stop to exist. The same thing you would have done if you didn't even tried to beat cancer.
And as you stop to exist or go to heaven. In either way you won't miss those extra days or years you might have had if you had tried to beat that illness.

And another point now I think about it.
Nothing doesn't exist either.

Anywhere we look in science 'nothing' doesn't exist. There's always something.
So why then should death means we stop to exist that there will be nothing for us after death?

But if there is a heaven then why do we try to live longer? Why cry for those who has gone before us?
Instead of living, why not skip to the end and go to heaven?

Suicide is something believers don't do, because the bible says you won't go to heaven if you do that. But it doesn't say that you're not allowed to stop your medication and just accept your coming ending.


I give these things a lot of thought lately. Not that I'm depressed or ill or something like that. 2013 was a rough year for me. I lost some people that were close to me.
I miss them and I just wonder what happened to them. Where they are now. I started to question all religions.

I hope that I don't come across as a pain in the you know what where. With all my thoughts and questions that I have at the moment.

It's nice to share them with you and lovely to hear what your thoughts are about death, dying etc.

[BackOnlyBriefly]

Actually I'm in favor of euthanasia being a personal choice for that reason. A last resort since even if you are dying there might be a cure tomorrow, but hanging on in pain is not always a sensible choice.

I think as you say the objections to that are religious and are about what you might get later. They only make sense if there is a later.

Also when I said "enjoy" above that doesn't have to mean trivial pleasures (though it can) but someone might 'enjoy' finding a cure for cancer.

[MostlyLovingLurchers]

There are an awful lot of questions in there! I'll try a few.

I think we (by which i mean sentient creatures) are how the universe seeks to understand and experience itself. I believe we are all part of that single consciousness. I think we are all connected to that consciousness while alive and so when we die we are already there, just ceasing to exist in a physical reality. I am open to the idea of reincarnation.

I had a complete existential crisis about life and death after my ds was born, especially about whether we retain any individual identity after death. I think we do, but if i'm wrong i can live with that (metaphorically of course since i'll be dead!).

No-one knows the truth about death. There is no verifiable evidence for us being anything but physical entities, and of course the experiences that have in part lead me to my beliefs are at odds with the experiences of others - at least some of us are going to be wrong. I believe that you can connect with that great consciousness through meditation, but others will think that i'm deluding myself, or others will call that same experience communion with god. I'm ok with that because I am happy for it to be a philosophical question on which i have an opinion, but my entire world view does not depend on it.

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

Why do we cry when people die?

Ok. So a few billion years ago, some chemicals happened to become arranged in such a way that they could replicate themselves. This is what we call life. Each time a replication occurred there was a subtle anomaly in the copy. Sometimes these anomalies were more advantageous for the living molecules to last longer. These advantageous traits were passed to the next generation of replications on a statistically higher basis than those traits which were not advantageous. This process continued over billions and billions of generations until we arrive here and now with the wealth of diverse life on the planet.

There is no 'purpose' to any of this. It's just what happened. So why do we cry when people die? Well, one of the major advantages that humans, great apes and other higher mammals have is the significant development of the brain. It became advantageous to us to form emotional bonds with other people because it meant that we help to keep each other safe within our 'tribes'. Why should we care about staying alive? Because a byproduct of evolution is a desire to replicate one's genes. Otherwise the species would die out. Again, no purpose, it's just how it panned out.

So the consequence of forming these beneficial bonds is that we care for other people (this expands beyond tribes in the modern day) and thus when those people die, it is upsetting and we cry.

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

Why do we pursue

[PedroYoniLikesCrisps]

Why do we pursue medicine to keep ourselves alive longer?

Well, you have to remember that the world we live in today is a complex development of a simpler time. Because of the emotional bonding we formed, we wanted to stop our kin from dying, so when they got ill we would attempt to rub leaves on them or feed them berries. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn't. Much like genetics these methods evolved. If they worked, we did them again, if they didn't, we stopped. (Incidentally, this is also how religion started - if you prayed for someone to get better and they happened to, how would that feel to a primitive mind?).

This medicine evolved over time until we got so good at it that we could manufacture our own medicines on a global scale. Not only that but we could identify specific illnesses and create specific methods to combat them. It is just evolution in a different form (a meme if you will).

It becomes a pursuit of human nature to understand the world we live in in order to better survive it. So what we have now are scientists who meticulously study the big questions and the tiny questions. And we get greedy, we want to nail down everything. Why? Because what if we stopped? What if all scientific progress came to halt and we all said 'we don't want to know any more'? Can you imagine that world?

[IndigoBarbie]

profile, forgive me but it sounds to me like you are existing, and not living. I only say this from your comments regarding time. The every day you will get up and do the same thing over and over etc.

The last time I observed this in someone, was when they had just lost their husband after cancer, and there is just no reasoning with the world in that space. It all seems like a lost cause. No answers, and nothing to allow for any kind of peace of mind.

But, it does not mean that the person's husband didn't enjoy life. It does not mean there was no point.

Each of us interacts and touches other peoples lives in so many ways that we wouldn't even be aware of half of them.

You mention heaven and your thoughts and questions, but I do believe heaven is another energetic plane, very close to this one - but perceivable in some circumstances. I've had life after death proven to me on many occasion, and in this I have no doubt - but - you can't do things in heaven that you would have done on earth with your physical body, and this is where I believe that we each have to make the best of it while we can. Whatever that means to each of us.

What can you do for yourself now, that you have been unable to think about doing before? Trip around the world? Learning something new? Something to get in touch with a worthwhile subject that you wish to pursue, because you want to?

With Love xxx IB

[hennalyn]

I think this topic about life after death will never end until there are reliable proofs and evidences about heaven, hell and sort of things. Anyway, in my opinion, we should learn how to enjoy our lives and value the people that we love whether life after death exists or not.

[TheZeeTeam]

All I know is, if you think about it too much, you'd never waste a single second on MN again!!

[Oblomov]

Like indigo says, OP seems to be questioning the monotony of life .
Each second, each day, what's the point?
No one really knows what the point is, do they?
But what we do know is that we are here, now, so best make the most of it.

[atthestrokeoftwelve]

There is no point- we just are.

I don't need a higher explanation.

Yes life and the Universe is full of awe and wonder- but for me there is no geezer behind the curtain pulling the strings.
In fact that would cheapen the majesty and beauty of it all.