If it was proven that there is no afterlife

[magicalkitty]

No heaven, no reincarnation, no seeing our loved ones again...
Would it make you live life or see things any differently?

I think a lot of everyday life things may suddenly seem very meaningless. A lot of us like to believe there is something else to come, even if not religious.

There is no afterlife. If that fact will significantly change how you live your life, then best get cracking.

This makes me feel quite aimless and apathetic, because most achievements seem pointless.

I do think I was happier and more productive when I believed that life had purpose, and that my consciousness would continue after death. However, a small, instinctive part of me does still believe in God and the afterlife.

Nope.

I'm Jewish. Judaism doesn't really have much to say about any afterlife. It's what you do in this life that matters, so make the best of it. Make the best of this world, as it's the only one you've got. And that includes looking after your world, not just yourself.

So I'm not bothered about any afterlife.

It's comforting to know that no-one is going to judge me or punish me when it's too late for me to repair any mistakes I have made.

The fundamental concept of Hindu reincarnation, when you strip out all the Greek mythology bullshit that was brought in with Persian and Turkish invasions IS related to scientific fact. In this universe matter never dies, it simply transforms. Our bodies disintegrate to their atoms, turn into dust, carbon, and turn into stars and moons and planets and more life. Our thoughts as electrical pulses might eternally in the universe - just oscillating around and interacting with things in ways we don’t even know yet. There is NOTHING more eternal than that.

In the past the afterlife was a panacea for all of life's ills. Don't worry that you're dirt poor and have to work from dawn 'til dusk because your reward will be in heaven. Horseshit.

“… Work and pray (work and pray)
Live on hay (live on hay)
You'll get pie in the sky when you die
(That's a lie)…”

To be honest having been brought up in a church going household, as soon as I realised it was a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I always from a young child was terrified of a never ending afterlife, suits me perfectly to die and that be the end.

Yeah. I tend to agree with Dylan Moran's joke that religion is 'a formalised panic about death'. I'm not religious and I couldn't describe what I believe the afterlife to be, even - I just need to feel there is something. It helps me cope with loss and low moods and the mundanity of life, and that's enough for me. And I think the more people 'accumulate' losses and negative experiences over time, the more you seek something to hold on to. It probably is just wish fulfilment but I have no problem with that - if there's nothing then I won't know, I'll be dead anyway, and my wishful thinking will have helped me when it mattered.

I already believe that to be the case and would argue that belief that this one life is all we get actually makes it far more meaningful and important than considering it as just a lead up to something "better"...

This is already my belief.

Dealing with this and finding a way of creating meaning in your life, despite its ultimate meaninglessness, is the work of a lifetime. To know it’s all meaningless and to try to live morally and to love others- anyway, in spite of it all- to me seems the only thing to aim for.

Would recommend Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus.

Very morbid and sad thought. I would hate it if I knew for certain there was nothing else after this existence.
If a close loved one of mine died I would want to believe I would see them again or the grief would be unimaginable.
I’m not sure how if I would live my life differently though.

I already believe this. And I don’t act in anyway because I think it might bring me some reward in an afterlife. I act in what I hope is the right way because it’s right. Not because o hope to be rewarded for it.

I had an out of body experience as a kid. I knew for certain my soul was separate to my body and that this life is just like a dream. I don’t have anything else to go on so I’ll take it

I don't think there's any sort of afterlife and it doesn't bother me at all. Maybe it only bothers people who have been brought up to believe in all that malarkey.

Energy doesn’t end but my analogy is that life is like Christmas lights. Literally the most beautiful, inspiring, heart warming things ever twinkling in the winter dark. But after Christmas off they go to the attic just tangled wire.
I think the life in us is much more than the sum of our parts. Whether you’re round the back if the tree or the star of the tree bouncing of a shiny bauble we’re all in it for that one period. And then it’s just a dark, dead tree and messy wire.

I don’t follow a prescribed religion, but I do believe in an afterlife of sorts. We know that energy doesn’t just disappear, it transfers. When you die, your body returns to the earth but the energy, your “soul”, where does that go? I believe it goes to new life.
This is partly comforting to me and partly frightening because in reality, most humans on Earth suffer and are worse off than my current life. It also makes me feel more responsibility for caring the the environment and my fellow human beings.

@Leafytrees my mum had a serious operation years ago where she almost died and she told me the same thing, she said she understood she was being given a choice on whether to go on or come back, she chose to come back obviously, you're the first person I've ever heard saying that apart from her..

I say things like "they're together again" or "she's watching over you, and so proud"

I'm 99.9% sold on the fact that is bollocks though. It's a comforting thought but I really don't believe there is anything. I wouldn't mind being proven wrong when the time comes of course!

I hope and pray every day and night since 9th June @6:45pm when my 42 year old darling husband passed away in my arms, that there has to be something after, I don't know what but I know we will meet again.

We had 28 wonderful years together and this September is our 25th wedding anniversary! We were teenage sweethearts and met at 15. It's the only thing getting me through this weird time of grief.

No heaven, no reincarnation, no seeing our loved ones again...
Would it make you live life or see things any differently?

No. I'm an atheist, so it would make no difference whatsoever.

Do not believe in god or afterlife/heaven. People want to believe it because it almost gives you a purpose

No. I'm fully agnostic, I have no idea what "this" is, people will say, we snuff out after death, but until they can fully explain why matter becomes conscious I'm going to say chinny reckon. I think materialists just fail to see the utter absurdity of living on a spinning rock hurtling through an unknowable universe whilst sitting on a sofa watching a podcast haha, possibly petting a completely different species who have decided that we are alright really.

I tend to not think about death/the afterlife but if I do I just assume there’s nothing and make the most of life low and those I love and if there does turn out to be something after this life then it will be a bonus

*now

The idea of an Afterlife has always bemused me…..

Do people age in the Afterlife?

If we die when we are aged 85 for example, do we then stay 85 years old forever in the Afterlife?

Imagine a baby dying….so they then stay a baby forever in the Afterlife, who is looking after it? We all know that parenting infants can be absolutely draining, so imagine the person caring for them being absolutely emotionally drained and knowing that things will never get better as the infant won’t get older.

And a lot of people talk about parents being reunited….but what if one parent died aged 30 and the other parent lived until 100, surely they won’t “reunite” in a meaningful way with a 70 year age gap?

And do people die in the Afterlife and then move on to Afterlife Volume 2? Or once we have died and gone into the Afterlife are we just there forever and ever?

It makes me think of the film “Death becomes her” when the two female characters realise they are going to be around FOREVER……and how little they actually want that?

The Afterlife must be very crowded if it’s full of everyone who has ever died and the population count will just keep growing and growing….

Is the Afterlife completely perfect? Or are there bad people there in the same way there are bad people in this life?

Do animals come into our Afterlife or is it just meant for humans?

Is there a separate Afterlife for the animal kingdom? And if not, how come they completely vanish after death but humans don’t?

There are so many questions without any logical answers and so it does make me think that the Afterlife can’t be real.

I came to this conclusion a few years back, something happened and I went from being a believer to a complete non believer.

I mostly live my life the same but it feels sh1t knowing it's all so final and any losses since have torn me apart.