The Afterlife

[Lingang]

Yes, I believe there will be an afterlife.

[Qeno]

I've been wanting to bring up this topic for a while now, so, here goes. Please bare with me.

Of all the conundrums, trials and tribulations that humanity has ever faced, I think that there is one ultimate question which has haunted us since the dawn of time. Is there an afterlife? When our physical body fails us and dies, does a part of us live on, or is it simply lights out?

Most religions share at least one thing in common: the belief that, once we die, we do go somewhere. Although they may not agree on what the afterlife is, they do agree that there is, at the very least, something. Even many irreligious people believe that there is some form of life after death. For the purposes of this topic, I do not ask what the afterlife may hold, whether it is good or bad, or even who is or is not permitted to exist there. I simply ask whether or not it exists.

There are two thoughts on this matter. The first is that, as most religions hold as their core belief, a part of an individual is eternal, and goes on to the afterlife. The latter is that of personal oblivion: the individual has no soul, and we are but a conglomeration of cells and matter that inevitably dies, permanently.

So, what are your opinions NSG? Do you think that, once we die, there is an afterlife to look forward to? Or, rather, do you think that it is but a vain hope shared by most humans for fear of oblivion?

My opinion is that there is an afterlife. I don't know what it is or whether it's good or bad, but I think there's enough evidence to conclude that it exists. Some of the facts are a bit far-fetched, while others are more realistic. Basically, most evidence for an afterlife lies in NDEs (Near-Death Experiences), which, since they involve as their source of information a person whose body is slowly failing them, tend to be discredited as the hallucinations of dying people. So, needless to say, it's a field of science that doesn't get much academic attention. That said, I think it's an important one which is all too often overlooked.

People who experience NDEs are, as the name implies, experiencing a near death situation. The circumstances vary, but the general scenario is that they're nearly brain-dead and are about to die. So, basically, it's a person who almost dies, experiences something surreal while they're essentially brain dead, and comes back to life (usually after doctors have saved them). These people usually claim they experienced the afterlife, and tend to go through the rest of their lives with a new sense of happiness. What's intriguing about NDEs is not so much what people say, but how universally similar it is to the stories of other people who experience NDEs. There's always a white light and an "outer-body" feeling which most people describe as the soul temporarily leaving the body. Yes, this could be discredited as a final bought of dopamine-induced semi-consciousness as the many chemicals comprising the brain begin to coagulate, but I think it's something more. You could ask a Canadian and an Indian about the NDE they experienced, and both would mention the white light and outer-body experience. What's even more intriguing is that in some cases, people describe watching their own surgery take place, but from a bird's-eye view. After their operations, some have even described the entire layout of the operation room, right down to the medical equipment that was used, things they could not possibly have known during their comatose state. Things they could not possibly have known, unless, of course, they had a soul, and the afterlife truly does exist.

I could add more evidence aside from NDEs to explain why I believe in an afterlife, but I'm curious about your opinions. So, what do you think?

I want to believe in an Afterlife but there are other concepts that would otherwise be rendered false if I did believe in an afterlife. That I would need to see for my own eyes if there is an afterlife.

[Levis Avara]

I believe theres a afterlife I mean we literally exist has beings how can we just disappear from existence how can you experience nothingness?

[EvilDarkMagicians]

If you lived a life of helping people and being selfless then you will be allowed another life where people are selfless towards you. I don't belive in a god or a spirit I just belive that at some point if you have tried throughout your life to care for other people then it has to be recognised by something. Those who acted in ways that deep down they knew were wrong will never get another life. They instead will die feeling the discomfort of ever lie they told, every person the stepped on and every single immoral act they did. Their final thoughts will be of regret and sorrow.

What's your reasoning behind this?

[EvilDarkMagicians]

I believe theres a afterlife I mean we literally exist has beings how can we just disappear from existence how can you experience nothingness?

By not being able to experience anything at all? Total loss of consciousness.

[The United Territories of Providence]

The phrase itself is an oxymoron. To believe that we can somehow escape death and live eternally in some other plain of existence....that's very extravagant. But unlikely. If I did not exist before I was born because I was not alive, surely I will not exist after I die because I am not alive. My energy maybe, my conscious no. I don't know if there's a soul, but I do know the brain is responsible for human consciousness. No Brain/No Life.

[Esternial]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

[Ostroeuropa]

I dunno dude. Theres some fucked up stuff in Equestria.

Who or what is Equestria if I may ask?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/N ... hipIsMagic

But even with all that stuff.
I'd still wanna go there when I die. Would be pretty sweet.
Failing that, some kind of giant party, or just another society with matter generation.

I doubt it exists though. ;(

[Pensalum]

I agree, though I think he has a very pleasant name.

Heh, sort of, yes.

Now, he thought our brains fed information to a non-corporeal form of ourselves? Like backups of information we save into the hard drive of a computer?

Yeah.

Inputs are passed on by the sensory organs to the epiphysis in the brain and from there to the immaterial spirit.

I think that's a very interesting idea, however it's little more than speculation.

[Russels Orbiting Teapot]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

That seems like a construction of pure wishful thinking.

And that's not how the theory of relativity works.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Heh, sort of, yes.

Now, he thought our brains fed information to a non-corporeal form of ourselves? Like backups of information we save into the hard drive of a computer?

Yeah.

Inputs are passed on by the sensory organs to the epiphysis in the brain and from there to the immaterial spirit.

I think that's a very interesting idea, however it's little more than speculation.

It is interesting, but spooky.

[Esternial]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

That seems like a construction of pure wishful thinking.

And that's not how the theory of relativity works.

Theoretical physics isn't my principal field of interest, so I'd appreciate it if you'd enlighten me.

Simply put, I see death as a curve approaching zero rather than one that abruptly plummets towards it - at least from the perspective of the person dying.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

Even eternal happiness would get rather dull.

[Romalae]

Do you believe in an afterlife?
No.

Is there an afterlife?
I'm not sure.

[Esternial]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

Even eternal happiness would get rather dull.

Maybe. I don't know. My concept is admittedly a tad abstract. I like to think about it and let my thoughts roam, but it's certainly not an idea you shouldn't be skeptical about.

[Russels Orbiting Teapot]

Theoretical physics isn't my principal field of interest, so I'd appreciate it if you'd enlighten me.

Simply put, I see death as a curve approaching zero rather than one that abruptly plummets towards it - at least from the perspective of the person dying.

In extreme layman's terms, what you're talking about is the effect in Relativity where the more space you experience, the less time you experience. As your speed comes closer and closer to the speed of light, you experience less and less time. If you were moving at the speed of light, theoretically, you would not experience time at all, and would effectively be in complete stasis until you slowed down.

Unless the means of your death is that you are falling into a black hole, this really wouldn't apply.

[Pensalum]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

That's very pleasant.

I tend to think about how physicists are starting to explore the possibility of time being an illusion. That every second, every nanosecond, every configuration of atoms that has ever existed and ever will exist, occurs simultaneously. If that's true, it would mean that we are dead right now, are alive right now, and haven't been born yet, right now. So, in a way, we are eternal, right? I'm not sure if I'm scientifically literate enough to comprehend this, but it would be comforting to know that when you're dead, you're alive at the same time.

Even if that's not the case, when you die, at least you know you were alive at some point. You are a part of universal history, no matter how small. We did exist, and our choices could have affected things down the line. Right?

[Farnhamia]

That's basically what Dualism is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism_(philosophy_of_mind)

It's a way of explaining 'souls' pseudo-scientifically. Rene Descartes believed there was a part of the brain which transmitted sensory information into a non-corporeal form.

I will admit that when I took philosophy at uni and we covered Descartes, I was ready to defenestrate my professor. I found Descartes hard to understand.

Sounds like you were insufficiently wined, Nanatsu. Mon cher ami Rene, he could be somewhat ... difficult, it's true, but with half a bottle of burgundy in you, it all started to make sense. Until the morning, anyway. I'll never forgive myself for letting him go to Sweden to teach that little bitch Christina.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I will admit that when I took philosophy at uni and we covered Descartes, I was ready to defenestrate my professor. I found Descartes hard to understand.

Sounds like you were insufficiently wined, Nanatsu. Mon cher ami Rene, he could be somewhat ... difficult, it's true, but with half a bottle of burgundy in you, it all started to make sense. Until the morning, anyway. I'll never forgive myself for letting him go to Sweden to teach that little bitch Christina.

Or the wrong teacher. I'll provide the wine and the tapas, you provide the teaching.

[Benuty]

I'd prefer the feasting table of Moses to be honest.

[Benuty]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

Even eternal happiness would get rather dull.

Depends on what you are doing to be honest.

[Mavorpen]

I wonder if I'll ever get a response to my post.

[Esternial]

Theoretical physics isn't my principal field of interest, so I'd appreciate it if you'd enlighten me.

Simply put, I see death as a curve approaching zero rather than one that abruptly plummets towards it - at least from the perspective of the person dying.

In extreme layman's terms, what you're talking about is the effect in Relativity where the more space you experience, the less time you experience. As your speed comes closer and closer to the speed of light, you experience less and less time. If you were moving at the speed of light, theoretically, you would not experience time at all, and would effectively be in complete stasis until you slowed down.

Unless the means of your death is that you are falling into a black hole, this really wouldn't apply.

Ah, I see. Much appreciated.

I suppose death, especially the thoughts about the experience itself, will always be a little abstract.

[Esternial]

Returning back to the topic at hand:

My own view on the afterlife has its foundation in relatively. If we accept that time is relative to the observer, a person being at the end of their personal timeline might experience what are merely seconds to one person as something completely different.

Those final moments may be stretched out into infinity for whomever's experiencing them. Imagine, being stuck in just a few second for eternity.

It's somewhat grim, yes, but the dreamer inside me likes to think that your mind just stops at that one point in life during which you were happiest. Permanently experiencing your happiest moment in life for eternity during what seems like seconds to others.

That's very pleasant.

I tend to think about how physicists are starting to explore the possibility of time being an illusion. That every second, every nanosecond, every configuration of atoms that has ever existed and ever will exist, occurs simultaneously. If that's true, it would mean that we are dead right now, are alive right now, and haven't been born yet, right now. So, in a way, we are eternal, right? I'm not sure if I'm scientifically literate enough to comprehend this, but it would be comforting to know that when you're dead, you're alive at the same time.

Even if that's not the case, when you die, at least you know you were alive at some point. You are a part of universal history, no matter how small. We did exist, and our choices could have affected things down the line. Right?

Well, that's quite the mindfuck.

It depends on what scale you're using. Earth is incredibly old and we're just a small speck of its timeline. We're all very insignificant. It's up to you to make your experience, your own life, significant. Being a part of universal history when you're not around anymore isn't really that big of a deal, is it?

Though mankind does have the tendency to imagine themselves more significant than they truly are. It's frightening, I suppose, to realize we're not that big of a deal, especially in a society that promotes individuality.

[Arcturus Novus]

There probably is an afterlife, though it'd take most a long while to get there.