To feel terrified by the idea of time going on forever

@Thefirstdance Loved your post. Those are the kinds of thoughts I find comforting.

I've recommended this book several times on this board, but I'll mention it again now: for anyone open to it, try reading Journey of Souls by Michael Newton. It delves deeply into the subject of "life between lives" -- essentially here on earth we are part soul, part ego (personality). It's the personality that drives us, how we relate to others, how we behave, why we do what we do. In the spirit world we are purely soul, which is quite different, and contains just a small element of the ego. We plan our lives before we're born, as a learning process. It's all very fascinating. There are many books on this subject, but Newton's delves deeper than most, and can open the reader up to a new way of thinking about death and beyond.

The latest understanding of time is it's a "thing" in the same way as matter is a thing. So it's possible for things to exist without time.

Our current understanding of the universe is that the universe - and everything in it, including time - stops at some point. So time doesn't just go on endlessly

Oh I love this. I would agree with this.. our human experience is just part of whatever it is we experience and we pass onto the next thing, whatever that might be.

I don’t believe in heaven personally. What gives me comfort is the miracle that we are even here in the first place, and able to experience all the joy, beauty and pain of life. The chances of each of us being conceived are so tiny, compared to all the millions of other sperm that could have made it to each egg. Life is a mind blowing game of chance.
Even before you get to the miracle of each of our conceptions there is the vastness of the universe to consider. As Carl Sagan noted, our planet is but a TINY Pale Blue Dot within this vastness. Humanity occupies such a minuscule part of the universe. The way we interpret time is relative to our situation. Who knows if any of it is truly real from a different universal perspective?
I am grateful for my luck in being here, conscious and able to experience our tiny part of this miraculous universe.

I like the idea of life going on forever. At some point some of my clothes may come back into fashion.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6DIC0eCGTh/?igsh=dGlrdjBucXB3d3Fx

this is a nice take on things.

Something else that I believe strongly is that love is not just an emotion but something real within us (is it the hormone oxytocin that we release when with a loved one?) anyway I feel that somehow forms a connection (don’t ask me how I don’t know!) that remains after the death of a loved one and transcends space and time as we know it and I really believe that every time you think of the loved one you have lost that grief is the remnant of love somehow connects with them and in their new form they know or feel that. I’ve always believed that and felt so comforted by it.

I remember my parents being very matter of fact that their science based theories were so correct and that it was certain other worlds existed that could support life - I said ‘but we haven’t found one yet and we haven’t found aliens?’ They told me it was science that it was correct . So I said ‘you deny there could be an afterlife for humans? When half of that already exists - we exist- we just don’t know if heaven does . You have no proof of aliens or a place they could possibly live so out of the 2 scenarios it’s more likely there is something after death?’ I was 12 and opinionated and I got sent to my room for that !

I think the very concept of meeting up with loved ones is problematic. What if you love more than one partner in your life? What if you have a relative you love but find very hard work! What if someone sees you as their "loved one" but you don't feel the same?

I don't believe in heaven so it's not something I'm too concerned about! I just don't see how it would work.

I think we just cease to exist and I'm ok with that. It means nothing really matters. Some people see that as a negative but I see it as a positive.

I think humans generally aren't meant to comprehend the concept of infinity. I take comfort in the idea that it will all make sense when it's supposed to. Time is a strange thing, anyway, the way it stretches out forever sometimes, then flies past when I'm doing something I love.

When something like this bothers me, I usually just try to stop thinking about it (and find something to do/listen to/watch to take my mind off it). If it persists, I tell myself it'll be okay. It's in God's hands. There's so much I don't understand in the world; this is just one more thing that's currently beyond my ability to understand, but I believe it will all be okay in the end.

Just to exist as a physical being in a physical world. I think a lot of people want there to be a greater meaning to life, for it to be something profound when actually for a lot of us it will be quite mundane. Good things a bonus, sad or awful things an experience that we just have to navigate.

@MagentaRocks, if it helps at all, I used to worry a lot about how bad it would be to lose my parents. As a teenager, I used to become quite preoccupied with worrying about it.

I lost them too early, in my mid 30s, and only 2 months apart. It was awful, obviously, and it changed me. But…I survived it and in some ways the anxiety over it when I was younger was more terrifying than actually just living the grief.

I totally relate. I have thoughts like those and just squash them and distract myself!

When I worked as a teaching assistant, I spent a lot of my working day with one particular lad who was autistic and very matter-of-fact. One day I was trying to coax him to engage with his GCSE revision and he just let out this massive sigh and said: ‘I just don’t really see the point. I’ll sit the exams. I’ll either pass them or not. And then I’ll have to get a job and then I’ll just do that for years and years and then I’ll die’ I couldn’t argue with him on that really 😂

My parents were very scientifically minded and not religious at all. Regularly we had intense conversations over mealtimes about religion v science. I remember them being shocked when I said that I thought religion and science were the same thing that religion was just a very early way to explain scientific happenings that weren’t understood.

Exactly. What's the actual point of existence.

I don’t believe in God, heaven or the afterlife. I think it is just something people use for comfort, and if it helps to think there is then there is nothing wrong with that.

I really struggle with the concept of death and losing my parents. I have of course lost grandparents, cousins, friends but when I think about my parents not being here I really struggle with the thought of it, which I guess is normal. I think as I get older and I know that time is getting nearer it is something that plays on my mind a lot.

This is the sort of thing that kept me up at night as a young child in a Christian school who bought into the ideology and couldn't comprehend the infinity of it all. (I was also kept awake by the thought of me going to heaven and my parents not, but that's not relevant here.)

I'm not religious at all now, so don't believe in heaven, but as a former professional scientist recognise that time as a concept is infinite - so it's understandable to be overwhelmed at the concept of time being infinite in death.

If you're up for a lighthearted comedy series with a strong grounding in moral philosophy, I highly recommend watching The Good Place. Their take on the afterlife was comforting to me, particularly around the infinite nature of "the Good Place"

Well a very hard scientific chap (Doctor) says that we are made of molecules that are millennia old.

The Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Sulphur &c cannot be destroyed, only recycled.

We are made of ancient atoms.

When we die physically we recycle.

But look at wonderful art and architecture and music created by past people- Their art shines on 💖

IMO the logical assumption is that it’s the exact same situation as pre our existence. When we were born in to the world we became conscious beings. Our consciousness didn’t exist before we were born. Our consciousness is our brain. It’s what makes us unique. When we die, our brain also dies, so does our consciousness.

The is nothing to be frightened of
as we won’t know about it. Exactly in the same way as before we were born. We don’t exist.

We get one life, the hear and now so live it the best way.

I feel sad it’s all so final and that we don’t all meet up in heaven and get to meet our loved ones but sadly I think that’s the reality

I think this too, in quite a matter of fact way, because it is true.
There is absolutely no point in doing anything. In 100 years, you, me and every other person on this planet will be dead, so nothing that we do really matters. It's all just a way of killing time.

Yes. I remember this very thought made me start crying in church when I was very young. The idea of everything going on for eternity was overwhelming to me. Everyone was asking why I was crying and I couldn’t explain it. I think I’m more comfortable with the idea now than there being nothing.