If you become nothing, does that make you sad?

Why would it matter when you are dead? If you lived the life you wanted to live be happy. If you tried you did your best, be satisfied. Your immortality is only in history books. That is why some people do the things they do.

From one perspective it is definitely sad if nothing awaits us after this life has ended. For the amount of effort you put in, challenges you deal with and relationships you form with others to ultimately amount to nothing is an upsetting thought.

On the other hand however, it matters little if nothing awaits us after this existence because your ability to comprehend non-existence would not be an issue once you pass away. Death would be FINAL - everything you previously thought of and felt would turn to dust.

originally posted by: roth1
Why would it matter when you are dead? If you lived the life you wanted to live be happy. If you tried you did your best, be satisfied. Your immortality is only in history books. That is why some people do the things they do.

The thousands of Near Death Experiences now say otherwise. In Eben Alexander's Great Book, "Proof of Heaven", he discusses the consciousness he experienced while his higher brain functions were completely shut down.

You cannot die, your physical body can though.

Yeah i dream when not awake but i don't call it real.a reply to: PlanetXisHERE

Being nothing doesn't bother me in the least. I am quite done with humans in general, sick of the wars, tired of the games.
I have often told my husband that when I die I would be more than happy to wind up in a complete dark void, just floating around all alone in deep space for a few hundred thousand years. No people, no souls, no light, no sound, nothing.
Then maybe after a few hundred thousand years suffer a reincarnation back to Earth and have some sanity built up from not having to tolerate people for so long.

If there is nothing after death, so be it.

Non-existence is much less scary than existence if you think about it. It's a peaceful thought to know that there is nothing beyond this life.
It certainly didn't matter before you came about and had all these thoughts and ideas and wants, right? Why would it matter after you let it all go?

What's more sad to me is, all the people that live their lives for some non-existent afterlife. Spending every day on this planet with expectations of some heavenly future that will never be. And the time they use to devote to that instead of really living it up here, or even worse by treating others badly because they don't share the same belief system makes me very sad indeed.

a reply to: gottaknow

Couldn't have said it better myself.

That is exactly how I see it too.

Makes you wonder if they would try harder to do good now while they have a chance since it's they only chance they'll have. Maybe if they realized that this is all we get they would try harder to make it a nice place for everyone rather than spending all their time fighting about where they think they'll be going when they die.

a reply to: mOjOm

You can thank organized religion for that. You cannot have a discussion about Crimes Against Humanity without discussing that.

Right now though, I'm the most important person in my daughters eyes. And she's 14. That's something. If I die today or live to be 100, and I'm still the most important person to her, then the dance has been worth it. What comes after I die is secondary.

originally posted by: Metallicus
It would make this life pointless. If all of our experiences, joys and relationships all are lost to 'nothing' then the whole dance was meaningless. Why not just put a bullet in your head and cease to be?

Personally, I firmly believe in God, Karma and Reincarnation.

You believe in karma? Lets test that.

Do you believe that everyone gets what they deserve? Do you think children deserve to get cancer or traumatic burns? Or rape? Like its all part of gods plan?

The idea of karma is the back bone of caste systems. It is what keeps people from seeking justice for those who are victimized. Karma is the idea that some higher power is taking score and keeping the field level. Where nobody gets anything they don't deserve. The only people ive ever seen support such an idea are those who have had a reasonably pleasant life.

Just think about it, if karma is real and devine justice is true, then the world is exactly the way your god wants it to be. And you are cool with it. Your ok with beheadings and torture because, wait for it......karma will get them in the end. Right?

I don't know what happens when we die, but i am convinced that it won't be anything like what you would expect from any religious teachings. I live my life like their is nothing after this. That way, i have no regrets.

a reply to: mOjOm

Believing in reincarnation, karma and God gives life context and continuity. It means we have the opportunity to better ourselves over time. It allows for different levels of consciousness, planes of existence, levels of vibration and the love and acceptance of a God and spiritual hierarchy.

I would not be willing to give up all of that to be nothing. What would be the point of being 'better'. Why not just live life for all its hedonistic pleasures and burn out fast? After all, none of this would matter.

I am blessed to believe in something greater than myself.

I would be bummed out if I died and that was it, well, actually I wouldn't because I would be gone forever so it wouldn't matter...lol

Lucky for me that I have had enough experiences to tell me that there is a lot more after we die,
so I am not worried about it.

Nope. It's from nothing that we have everything, and even with everything you still have nothing. I came with nothing and going back to nothing suites me fine.

I'm sure you become nothing after you die, however it doesn't really bother me at all.

No matter how you choose to live your life, you've been a part of humanity. You're contributing to the sum total of humans as a species, and life as a phenomenon on Earth, just as everything around you has contributed to you. Even if you don't become famous, or write a novel, or have a constant named after you, you've been a part of a vast wave of humanity that will continue into the future even after you're gone. That's as good as life after death, in my book.

originally posted by: Metallicus
It would make this life pointless. If all of our experiences, joys and relationships all are lost to 'nothing' then the whole dance was meaningless. Why not just put a bullet in your head and cease to be?

Personally, I firmly believe in God, Karma and Reincarnation.

i tend to think that if we ascribe our own meaning to what could be interpreted as an elaborate exercise in futility, it would be more rewarding than allowing others to tell us that their brand of futility is more exceptional than our own.

futile it may be. so why not enjoy the ride, since you have nowhere else to be.

originally posted by: droid56
If it turns out we no longer exist in any way after we die, does this idea make you feel sad?

When I consider this idea, I feel a total acceptance. I won't be there to mourn. I won't have to endure eternity.

I don't understand what the big picture is when it comes to human existence. I think we go on after we die. I might be wrong.

Maybe when I get there, it will all make sense. Even eternity.

But I have no problem with the idea that I might become nothing after I die.

Have you ever endured something that seemed unpleasant at the time but when it was over, it wasn't a big deal? That's the way I think of the afterlife. I think it will all make sense.

The thing is, you can't just become "nothing". You will be transformed into other things. At the physical level, your molecules will dis-associate and then re-integrate into other things. I think the same is true at the metaphysical level.

Best of luck in your search....

a reply to: droid56

But I have no problem with the idea that I might become nothing after I die.

You had no problem with being nothing before you were born so logically you should have no problem with being nothing when you die.

a reply to: droid56

i feel more sad if after years of work and conservative money management that some people won't be able to retire at a reasonable age.

anyone who has been through a divorce knows the feeling,

Maybe we will continue to exist in some form after we die. I hope we do, but my gut feeling now is its not likely.

It does make me sad thinking about not seeing my family , wife and daughter again . That's the hardest part of all

We become "nothing" every night when we go to sleep.
I don't see having a good nap for eternity as anything to fret over.

a reply to: droid56

"If you become nothing, does that make you sad?"

If I become nothing, who is there to feel sadness?

If I had to choose between this limited, wretched, imprisoned, miserable Terran existence (even the richest man here is miserable compared to what I know true humans' actual life must be like), and 'nothing', I would choose 'nothing' without hesitation. Why would there be sadness?

Wouldn't it be egotistical and self-praising to feel sadness about your existence?

Like when a child cries about how its parents will then be sad when the child dies - the child gets some kind of egotistical pleasure from this odd thought. But an adult realizes what a foolish and egotistical thought that is, and abandons such childish ways.

I don't equate death with sadness, I certainly have no reason to equate 'nothing' with sadness. Pain I equate with sadness, but with 'nothing', there isn't any pain.