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 quite liked the idea in the film Coco how the spirits stay in the afterlife until the last person who remembers them has passed on themselves.

I don't know if that's based on a real cultural belief but it seemed quite nice. Eternal afterlife sounds awful. Reincarnation would be ok I suppose.

I'm looking forward to the afterlife. My idea of afterlife is different to yours. In my vision of afterlife, it is just like those vivid dreams that you can control. I will be able to tastes, in fact my sense of taste will be increased. I will turn off the boredom gene, because I can.

If I see people I don't want I would just step into an alternative universe and possibly not return until I want to. Anyway, I could speed up the conversation/ time from my perspective without doing anything to them. So I would be polite for maximum 1 second and then leave.

But with reincarnation you have to wonder how there are enough souls since the population has grown so much since the beginning of time.

I find it comforting to think that people who have died might be looking out for me and/or can keep up with the lives of people they love.

There’s a chapter in Julian barns’ ‘a history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters’ which deals with this notion. Paradise ends up being so deathly boring that the character asks to be moved on to the endless nothing.

[quote RevolvingPivot]@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. [/quote]
If it’s true, at least you’ll be none the wiser.
And if it isn’t, it’ll be a nice surprise. (Or maybe not, if you’re going to have to be sweet and kind to people you never liked for evermore.)

@RightYesButNo

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.

Yes, I can go along with that. I too worry about the logistics though.It's all very magical, isn't it. In this life we sometimes like people who don't like us, and vice versa. Their heaven could be our hell. I was at a religious school and i have a deep rooted fear of upsetting those in charge, so to speak. So I try to believe. My friend is a JW and their faith is a new era on this earth after amageddon. In which we are all young and carefree, I believe. They don't believe in hell though, it's either back here for all eternity in a wise and loving kingdom, or nothingness. Mainly I try to live a good life ( though frequently fail miserably) and hope for the best. Fascinating discussion. Thing is, there is a truth, one way or the other. We can argue and discuss all we like, but it's all just opinion. We can't believe our way into something that's not there, and we can't believe our way out of something that is. Nobody knows, and we won't know till we die. If there's an afterlife, i wonder if we'll remember this one? I just don't think anyone can state confidently what lies ahead. But there's a big bit of me that's content to just lie down and rest when this life is over.

@Bananarice

I'm looking forward to the afterlife. My idea of afterlife is different to yours. In my vision of afterlife, it is just like those vivid dreams that you can control. I will be able to tastes, in fact my sense of taste will be increased. I will turn off the boredom gene, because I can.

If I see people I don't want I would just step into an alternative universe and possibly not return until I want to. Anyway, I could speed up the conversation/ time from my perspective without doing anything to them. So I would be polite for maximum 1 second and then leave.

That does sound very cool!

I think this is the hellish bit with the suffering and the loss etc, with tiny glimpses of heaven thrown in. For example, high days and holidays, the very best bits of falling in love, snuggling your children etc.

I’m hoping when we die it is all the good bits. No one will feel jealous of husband number 2 because jealousy no longer exists. No one will get fed up of listening to great aunt Nelly because suddenly the woman will be riveting.

We will all be jolly, as high as kites and surrounded by loved ones (and those we suddenly also love but couldn’t have cared less about during life).

Disclaimer I’m determined to believe in heaven because I want to see my DD again. Thinking that I may not really would make this life hellish. Clinging on to hope is like my self protection to keep me going.

@cautiouscats

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

Do you mean like the matrix?

I agree with you. I enjoy my life because its not permanent and I need to make the most of it. I don't want to carry on forever.

@Galassia

No. In my afterlife I will be reunited with those that I love who have died including all my pets, my grandparents and one of my boyfriends who died at a young age.

There will also be free ice cream and cheese.

^ this I’d love to think I’d see my dad, grandparents, pets and anyone else who dies- plus those I’ll leave behind. Is there going to a hell for all the wrong uns? I’ll also take some freshly baked bread and wine.

@IHateCoronavirus

I think this is the hellish bit with the suffering and the loss etc, with tiny glimpses of heaven thrown in. For example, high days and holidays, the very best bits of falling in love, snuggling your children etc.

I’m hoping when we die it is all the good bits. No one will feel jealous of husband number 2 because jealousy no longer exists. No one will get fed up of listening to great aunt Nelly because suddenly the woman will be riveting.

We will all be jolly, as high as kites and surrounded by loved ones (and those we suddenly also love but couldn’t have cared less about during life).

Disclaimer I’m determined to believe in heaven because I want to see my DD again. Thinking that I may not really would make this life hellish. Clinging on to hope is like my self protection to keep me going.

I have 2 DD's waiting for me up there supposedly and sorry but even so, when I'm gone I want to be gone.

My DNan will go before me supposedly and I am terrified of her leaving me one day. But I still think rest is best

That's the whole point of being dead. You have no subconscious or ability to think. You are not a 'thing' anymore. You're gone like the weed I just killed.

Plus I have a few dark secrets that I don't want other people knowing God might make me spill the beans and announce nobody will care because everyone is understanding now and has heavenly forgiveness. I'll simply tell him, you haven't met my aunt Gladys!

Do you mean like the matrix?

Ish.

There are a lot of very well respected physicists researching the possibility that we are all living in a simulation. When you consider that VR is expected to be indistinguishable from real life in 20 years, I find this theory more plausible than religious ones. But then, how did the simulator creators come into existence?! It's a mind fuck however you look at it 😂

I definitely lean more towards rebirth than a heaven or hell. I quite like the idea of the soul being on a journey, possibly crossing paths with other souls over several life times.

@cautiouscats I love simulation theory. There was a Ted Talk by someone who I can’t remember the name of, but he was highly respected in his field (I want to say quantum mechanics or something along those lines - definitely something I have small hope of ever understanding!) who basically said when you run all the numbers that the probability we’re all in a simulation is incredibly high. He went on to give examples of how scientists and mathematicians have basically found the make up of existence can be translated into coding.

Triggered a bit of an existential crisis that one!

I agree. Im tired

@sleepyhead

The Good Place was a really interesting take on this.

Won't give any spoilers but it's worth a watch all the way to the end!

(Agree op, I get the appeal of seeing your loved ones again and staving off the human fear of oblivion, but when you think about the reality of eternal life you'd surely go mad!)

I was going to mention The Good Place too. For a comedy show it had some really interesting stuff about ethics and the existence of the afterlife.

I'm with you op.

How's the afterlife supposed to work anyway? Do you have to get a job in the afterlife? Or does the stuff you need just appear by magic? Can you go on holiday?

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

See, this just makes me feel stressed. Most people aren't remembered except by their nearest and dearest. Most of us spend our lives just trying to make enough to survive, or, if we are lucky, a bit of extra money for niceties. If we have kids these take up most of energy for a long time. That's just life. I don't want the pressure of feeling I wasted a life because I didn't end misogyny or find a cure for MS, or failed to be the first person to cross the Artic in flip flops. What's wrong with just having an ordinary life? Why do I need to be told I need to be fabulous and remembered? A small life is just fine by me and is what most of us have.

I also don't like Humanism because it centres humans. I just see us as one more animal species and think the world would be vastly improved if we all lived our lives really understanding this and thinking through what it means.

Yeah, I do. I have been plagued by mental health issues for most of my adult life. I genuinely hope that reincarnation is a thing because there is no way I want an eternity as me.

@TheFnozwhowasmirage

How does it work,in the afterlife in the case of someone who loved you,but you didn't want anything to do with them? Who gets the afterlife that they want?

My view is that if there is an 'afterlife' it won't be anything physical, rather your mind creating its own experience, thus everyone can experience what they want.

I don't really believe in one at all though.

Disclaimer I’m determined to believe in heaven because I want to see my DD again. Thinking that I may not really would make this life hellish. Clinging on to hope is like my self protection to keep me going

Then I hope that happens for you.

[quote Cornettoninja]@cautiouscats I love simulation theory. There was a Ted Talk by someone who I can’t remember the name of, but he was highly respected in his field (I want to say quantum mechanics or something along those lines - definitely something I have small hope of ever understanding!) who basically said when you run all the numbers that the probability we’re all in a simulation is incredibly high. He went on to give examples of how scientists and mathematicians have basically found the make up of existence can be translated into coding.

Triggered a bit of an existential crisis that one![/quote]
So God's not a DJ but a programmer..

Depends which version you have in mind, lots to choose from.