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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if you believe in the afterlife?

232 replies

recklessruby · 14/09/2018 13:08

My dm and I believe when you pass there is another better place you go to. Df disagrees and says when you are gone that's it.
I nearly died giving birth to ds (complications and pre eclampsia) and I know I was drifting somewhere lovely but was told I was too young and it was not my time and turned back. I awoke to chaos and pain and was very disappointed.
Some people will say it's the drugs you get in labour but I have had a few woo encounters over the years when I have been in a clear mind.
So what do you believe? Aibu there is something more after we die?
And that dearly loved pets will be there.
(Maybe not heaven but something).
Sorry this is long and weird.

OP posts:
Sparklesocks · 14/09/2018 17:12

Octavella I'm not saying it has to be the exact scenario as the show or even mimic a 'perfect scenario', but if you could somehow extend your consciousness into a virtual reality you wouldn't have to die, and could be with your loved ones. It's an idea that has been explored in a lot of science fiction. I think it's really interesting.

SilverySurfer · 14/09/2018 17:40

No. Nor do I believe in god(s), fairies, leprechauns, father christmas, the easter bunny or the tooth fairy.

yesornoworld · 14/09/2018 17:45

This life is temporary. We all know that. The only one thing that is guaranteed to us from the day we are born, is death. Yet we tend to live life as if we will carry on forever. The subject is seen as sinister by some and uncomfortable by others. Yet it is the only one thing that every single human born will experience. As the saying goes. "Every soul shall taste death".
Once you get past the heebie jeebies of The topic. It is a fact in my world that the soul lives on. It will be a place that will be based on karma of how you lived your life on Earth. Almost every soul will enter the afterlife. There are some souls who are caught up in the world 'in-between'. These are the lost souls, or the ones who are unable to move on. He ones we know as ghosts. There is also other worlds that live parallel to the world we know as humans. You have to really experience this first hand or have some kind of soul awakening to be aware of that which is inconceivable by logical rational skeptism.

Gottagetmoving · 14/09/2018 17:52

Isn't being scared of not seeing your loved ones here any more when you die because your mind thinks you will miss them, when in reality you won't exist to miss anything?
Not being able to conceive of no longer existing is an ego thing?
In the scale of the universe we are almost insignificant, in our world we think we are very important.

HermaphroditePug · 14/09/2018 17:55

No. And I think people who do are a bit stupid.

Spiderdemon · 14/09/2018 18:10

We have been made with a desire for eternity- what a beautiful phrase, as is so much of the bible.

God didn't make it though. It is our desire for eternity that has had us make God.

ImogenTubbs · 14/09/2018 18:14

I'm an open-minded atheist. I don't believe in any kind of religious concept of god and I don't really think that there's an afterlife where our conscious souls continue to exist.

That said, I do think there is a lot we don't know about how the world works yet. We only perceive it through our five main senses and science has uncovered many other things that we can't easily perceive (radio waves, electricity, infrasound, etc) but which do have an effect on us. Who's to say what else may be left to discover?

I seriously doubt that heaven and hell or an afterlife will be among those discoveries, however. That to me seems like a fairy story.

Omgineedanamechange · 14/09/2018 18:16

My son from a very young age would always tell me he "chose" me.

If choosing is a thing why the hell would anyone choose abusive parents, or desperately poor i.e. literally starving to death ones?

keyboardkate · 14/09/2018 18:18

I think the afterlife is based on some people's religious beliefs. That's fine.

I myself think of the origin of the species.

We do not expect animals to have an afterlife, yet we are descended from some of them. I do not get that disparity.

Anyway, a life well lived is a good life, and TBH the day my loved ones come back to me and comfort me and tell me how wonderful it is in the afterlife is the day I will believe it.

Hasn't happened. When you are gone you are gone. But have lived and that is good. Where were you before you were born? Nowhere. What gave you life? The fusion of an egg and sperm. Same applies to all creatures great and small.

Live a decent life (there will be blips along the way) give good example, do not hurt or kill anyone and you will die happy.

God is cruel to kill lots of people in floods, earthquakes, terrorism, plane crashes, and so on. What a lovely god.

fieryginger · 14/09/2018 18:27

I'm agnostic too. I don't believe in God in the traditional sense, I think there may be a spiritual aspect to life, I'm not 100% on this though.

My mom had an NDE in the 50's giving birth, she told me about it in the 70's - way before I knew what they were.

Honestly, I think that's it when we die, that we have this one life and need to live it well, because it's the only one we've got.

Vitalogy · 14/09/2018 18:43

If choosing is a thing why the hell would anyone choose abusive parents, or desperately poor i.e. literally starving to death ones? If you had a infinite number of lives, would you always choose a comfortable life or would you mix it up a bit?

PoxAlert · 14/09/2018 18:48

It comforts me to think there is something. I like to think of my grandparents taking care of my old cats.

But in reality I think it just all stops.

Like the thousands and millions of years before we were born. The world existed and we didn't and that was fine.

It'll be the same after. Except hopefully we've left behind something good to be remembered by and our time on Earth made a positive difference to someone.

Warpdrive · 14/09/2018 18:49

I’m a Christian and I have witnessed the miraculous. I’m convinced that we will go on and it is comforting.
I like to watch videos of people recounting near death experiences and death experiences. Lots of similarities in their stories, lots to look forward to. Although it’s worth noting there are several hell stories as well as heaven ones.

CarlGrimesMissingEye · 14/09/2018 18:57

No I don't. I think when we die that's it. "Our bodies become the grass" to quote the Lion King. Whatever makes us human stops.

My personal belief is that ghosts, near death experiences, and other such phenomena are just the human mind's way of dealing with moments of extreme tension, stress, and upset.

So when I feel like my dad is watching over me I also know that as far as I am concerned that's just my brain acknowledging a familiar situation or needing comfort.

Saying that, I would never presume to know what other people have experienced. I have just never seen anything that would lead me to believe otherwise.

Gottagetmoving · 14/09/2018 19:01

If choosing is a thing why the hell would anyone choose abusive parents, or desperately poor i.e. literally starving to death ones?

I've read about this. Apparently, the soul chooses which parents will produce the child it will inhabit during its next life.
This is because the soul is on a journey and has life lessons to learn and overcome to become 'whole'
The soul doesn't fear poverty or suffering if it is involved in the life that has to be experienced for it to achieve the next step of its journey. The personality is the vehicle the soul needs to live on earth.
Anyway,...I think it's something along those lines. I read it ages ago so may not have got that spot on.... I can't say I believe it but then again, I don't know....like everyone else. No one knows.

keyboardkate · 14/09/2018 19:02

I would dearly love to think there is something after death. Maybe I will see my younger sister and my Dad. That would be so comforting.

But it is not going to happen. For you were dust and unto dust you shall return.

When you lose a pet do you think they will have an afterlife? We are descended from many of them.

Riddle me that!

73kittycat73 · 14/09/2018 19:02

I have a question for those that say, 'We didn’t exist before we were born.' When do you think 'we' (Our soul/personality/character.) becomes human? At what point do we become conscious? At conception, birth, somewhere in between? What is it that animates us, gives us personality, thoughts, feelings? How do we become to exist? (After all, we know how we cease to exist.)
I hope that doesn't sound arsey as it's not intended too. I'm just really curious and would like to hear others opinions on the topic.

Gottagetmoving · 14/09/2018 19:04

At what point do we become conscious? At conception, birth, somewhere in between?

Google it. Grin

73kittycat73 · 14/09/2018 19:10

*Padparadscha No I don’t. I’ve given my personal logic before but no harm doing so again!

I believe the human mind is like a computer. It stores information, it goes into rest mode, it eventually slows down and doesn’t work so well. Once a computer is destroyed, there’s no getting it back - everything it was, the uniqueness of that information is gone. Yes bits of it carry on elsewhere, but eventually all marks of that information will be gone. We are merely carbon computers that will eventually shutdown for the last time.

That may feel a bit ‘cold’ as an explanation, however I much prefer that to the idea of ‘existing forever’ in some sanitised version of ‘living’ for eternity.*

Ah, but Padparadscha, what about the internet? If the computer is hooked up, the internet can be the soul?

keyboardkate · 14/09/2018 19:10

This will end up in an existential debate. Fine.

There is nothing that will convince those who do NOT believe in an afterlife to change their views.

Nor will there be anything out there to change the views of those who DO believe in an afterlife.

Looking at the billions of years of history that has gone before us, no one has any answers. So it boils down to Faith in a religion really.

Padparadscha · 14/09/2018 19:30

If the computer is hooked up, the internet can be the soul?

Nope. Could go into a whole other metaphor, but quite frankly since there’s no such things as ‘souls’, I’d rather not waste the energy.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 14/09/2018 21:53

Beautifully put, Gottagetmoving Smile

Thisisit777 · 14/09/2018 22:01

I believe that I’ll go to be with my maker.

Storm4star · 14/09/2018 22:07

Well this is the thing. My son said he chose me “against” the wishes of “them” whoever they are! That was his point. He was meant to go to someone else and chose me instead. I can’t tell you what means because I don’t know. I really wish I did!

Gottagetmoving · 14/09/2018 22:11

Read 'The Seat of the Soul' by Gary Zukav or one of his subsequent books if you are interested in the soul or life before/after birth.
I read them almost 20 years ago. They are interesting but obviously, theories....not facts.

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