Does anyone else think an afterlife sounds awful?

[wednesdayweather]

I do. If after I die I find a wake up to an afterlife, I will be seriously pissed. I went to an evangelical church for a little bit many years ago, and knew it was not for me when the preacher said, ' why are you worried about what is going on?! (in the news) when we have ETERNITY!' And I thought, ' that sounds AWFUL. So I decided christanity wasn't for me as I just don't want their big payoff. It doesn't matter what the afterlife is like, I just don't want it.

I actively like the idea of life being time limited. You are here and then you aren't, and that suits me.

Anyone else think the same?

I agree -- having been raised in an evangelical environment, the idea of spending eternity with all of them was never appealing .

I think the movie Coco actually showed the issues pretty well, even with it being not eternity but as long as people remember you - like yeah, that one family was all happy in the end, after years of misery, fighting, and the powerful within the community continuing to be powerful even though they were assholes... as much as I get the comfort of seeing people again, the negatives of an individualistic afterlife sounds awful to me. Even the seeing people again - like, there are questions I stopped myself asking my grandparents to keep the peace but I don't think I could stop myself for all eternity. It's not like could change that so it would be pointless, but I've so many relatives I don't think I could stop myself asking 'what the fuck were you thinking, I was a kid...' questions.

The kind of collective energy afterlife, no will or self - just being part of the energy of the universe is about as far as I can get in the concept of an afterlife and even then I'm not sure. I tell my loved ones that, with things as they are right now, I want to be buried under a tree and then I'll be used by and become the tree and that's fine with me (unless recompose/human composting comes to the UK, then doing that and then using it for trees is my plan - in anyway, what's left of me will be leafy...).

I think the movie Coco actually showed the issues pretty well, even with it being not eternity but as long as people remember you - like yeah, that one family was all happy in the end, after years of misery, fighting, and the powerful within the community continuing to be powerful even though they were assholes...

That's why the Catholic Church invented purgatory. It was to solve the problem of how can Heaven be perfect when people die still being quite arseholey. Hence purgatory where you can work all of your arseholiness out and get ready for Heaven.

The idea of being surrounded by very good, worthy people is very off-putting. I’d prefer to be with the equivalent of the ones having a fag just outside the pub.

There ought to be a halfway house - I will put in a request.

By the way, if anyone has a free half hour, I really enjoyed Bridget Christie's show on the afterlife. (swear I never started the thread just to link to this! It only just occurred to me!)

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000vp48

The Bible is actually a little vague (so it seems to me) about what the afterlife is actually like. As far as I believe, it's more like being close to God forever with all the joy and peace that will bring. It will be outside time and physical space so it won't seem like 'forever' as such.

The Bible focusses much more on making God's Kingdom here on Earth rather than 'buying' your way into Heaven after death, which seems to me like a much more productive thing to focus on. I think there's a lot of misunderstanding out there about the concept of Heaven.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

The idea of being surrounded by very good, worthy people is very off-putting. I’d prefer to be with the equivalent of the ones having a fag just outside the pub. There ought to be a halfway house - I will put in a request.

Too right, I can't even cope with virtue signallers on FB. They put me in a very bad mood 😂

I actively like the idea of life being time limited. You are here and then you aren't, and that suits me.

Anyone else think the same?

Yes. I'm not even 50 and I'm exhausted, I don't want to have to do it all again in some other life.
Reincarnation? Maybe but only if I can come back as a well looked after cat with human servants and sleep in bed all day like mine does.

Yeah it sounds awful. I like having something to aim for. I think the same about if I have all the money in the word, how dull would it be to have just have everything so easy.

Has anyone seen the Good place? Where every one gets what they want and then it just gets dull everything you need.

@salooone I’m definitely doming back as a much loved family dog.

I think if you think of the afterlife being in terms of human form and the physical yes that would not be fun but I think if such an afterlife does exist it is more a state of consciousness and unconditional love and who knows maybe we get re-incarnated back here.

I don't think about it much tbh. There are people that I want to see again but just practically I don't see how it would work. And also...I don't want to see my MIL again in 40 years time, I want her here now to enjoy her grandchild and be part of our lives. No afterlife can compensate for that.

Unless it's a never ending MDMA or LSD trip. That could be ok 😂

If you read Take A Break aFate and Fortune ( guilty pleasure) the next life is very much like this one.. and sounds boring as Hell! So maybe it is Hell!

I'd like to see Dad and GP again.

I can’t pretend to know for certain, OP, though I’m Christian. But I don’t believe that you live a good life (and by that I just mean the best you could when you were able), and then you have an afterlife that’s in any way difficult or stressful. I’m kind of laughing at all these people talking about running into ex-boyfriends or people you don’t like. If you believe in God or some Supreme Power, why would they put you in an after life like that?! Sounds bizarre. I mean, to me, you say your life went to shit a few years ago. So I would think that your afterlife would be rest, a complete and total lack of stress or pain. Was there ever somewhere you imagined being (when it went to shit)? A cottage in the countryside with a dog and a good man (or woman), or a 5-star resort in the Canaries. Maybe even an MDMA trip, ha. Why can’t your afterlife “be” any of those things, for as long as you want them, free of any stress or worry or anger or sadness, and then be something else if you grow tired or bored. Maybe for some people, it’s endless fags outside the pub… if a Supreme Power truly gives you rest, then the best rest, it seems to me, would be whatever you thought of as the perfect rest, and the perfect people to do it with, in life. And if all you want is absolutely nothing, if you feel tired and broken and have no dreams of absolutely anything, then your rest can just be… nothing, if that’s what you want. Or you can have nothing until you heal enough to dream again. Seems right to me.

Caveat: I say this as someone with life-limiting health conditions at a fairly young age so I have some skin in the game, as it were.

but I think if such an afterlife does exist it is more a state of consciousness and unconditional love

You see sometimes I have thought that, maybe you revert to being part of some universal god-head and are absorbed into a state of constant love and contentness, like that feeling you get when you are lying next to someone you really love. But then I think, what is the point of that, really?

I'm hoping I just come back again and again and learn lessons I can fix etc etc and on and on. I hope I get to be a well looked after whippet at least once so I can run super fast and sleep all day with my legs in the air.

OP I went to an evening class at an evangelical church and one night they started outlining their ideas.. it sounded awful I'm with you OP, I believe in chilling out!

There is no hell in the Bible. It was made up by preachers as (a bit more) coercion.

Obviously the Bible is also made up but at least hell isnt in it.

Atheist and fair-weather humanist here. The Humanist philosophy is that you have one life and once you die, that's your lot. So make the most of your life. Do good without God. Be fabulous! Be remembered.

I also don't like the bartering system in Christianity. Heaven, hell, good folks get a good afterlife, bad dudes suffer. F*ck that.

There is no after life so it doesn't matter.

At the risk of sounding bonkers, I find the simulation hypothesis very interesting.

No, afterlife sounds awful as an idea and makes zero sense. When I'm feeling depressed I imagine a long queue of animals all asking why I ate them. Then I imagine seeing my grandparents, my dad, my husband... all of whom were suffering in various ways. Obviously in theory they wouldn't be. But who would they be without the negative and positive aspects of their personalities? I couldn't stand my dad for long but his girlfriend loved his arrogance confidence. Which of us will see the bit of dad that we liked? Or will everyone be a completely bland personality? And what is a human without physical being or appetites?

It's all so stupid.

@StarryStarrySocks

I'd rather just be dust.

I know this is just your opinion but it's just made me think. Oh god what if this is true? I've always hoped I'd be reunited with all my family.

Yep. Afterlife would piss me right off too - life is long enough as it is

@JorisBonson

Highly recommended The Good Place off the back of this thread!

Yes absolutely, I love the ending of that series.

I like the idea of reincarnation but I think that mostly I believe our energy (as in actual electrical generated activity like synapses in the brain/nervous system) and physical atoms are absorbed back into the wider world and universe so we do move to a different, and likely unaware, state.

Andy Weir’s The Egg is good too (attached - you’d probably have to save and enlarge to read).