Are you confident you know what happens after you die? (Non-religious replies preferred.)

a reply to: Murgatroid

and this is a legit video!

a reply to: Murgatroid

Isn't that bias of confirmation ? You start with a belief and then you look at everything that can reinforces your belief, ignoring everything else.

The need to believe in an afterlife is VERY strong. We all want that, we all want to still exist even after our physical death. That's an evolutionary trait, our instinct of survival and all that. And for this reason alone, we need to be VERY suspicious about any claim that there is an afterlife.

originally posted by: gottaknow
I am content and confident in my understanding that nothing whatsoever will happen when I die.
I don't believe we have souls. There is no afterlife.

This is a sad perspective to me and I would argue that we don't HAVE souls...we ARE souls (with bodies). I have no doubt that there is life after physical death, however, I am not sure exactly what form that life takes...at least with any certainty.

I also believe in reincarnation as I am fortunate to have vivid recall of some of my past lives and my past relationships in those lives with people that I am with in this life. Some of these people I know I had positive experiences with and some were negative. Interestingly enough I can have immediate reactions to certain people like instantly familiarity and affinity and then some people I am instantly repulsed by because of our past.

Anyway, it is difficulty to share experiences with others. There are experiences from my life that have removed all doubt from my mind that there is more to this existence than the physical. I don't worry about any particular dogma because ultimately I will find that truth for myself.

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gottaknow
I am content and confident in my understanding that nothing whatsoever will happen when I die.
I don't believe we have souls. There is no afterlife.

...there is more to this existence than the physical.

Don't you think that we don't know enough about the physical to say that what you claim you have experienced is not just part of the physical ? I mean it's like saying that thunder is Zeus being angry.

a reply to: droid56

One o f the big questions of life, especially after you retire.

What I can say from experience of regressing people is that they all seem to have lived past lives.


But whether everyone reincarnates is an open question? My logic tells me its unlikely that there is a heaven floating around or a hell for that matter because the records needed to judge someone's life for all the people on this planet would take up the rest of the planets in the solar system for all who have lived and died and today's little 7.4 billion.

Suspect its a wait and see - or not as the case may be.

In my opinion we just die, i.e. expire like any other life form on this planet. There's no afterlife, or even a heaven or hell. This might sound depressing but to me it's reality of life.

originally posted by: gosseyn

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gottaknow
I am content and confident in my understanding that nothing whatsoever will happen when I die.
I don't believe we have souls. There is no afterlife.

...there is more to this existence than the physical.

Don't you think that we don't know enough about the physical to say that what you claim you have experienced is not just part of the physical ? I mean it's like saying that thunder is Zeus being angry.

No.

I can't prove my experiences to people so I don't bother trying anymore. Suffice it to say that I wish everyone could have had my experiences. The world would be a better place and everyone would have more clarity. Responses like yours are the reason I don't bother anymore. People just don't believe that someone else could have experienced something they haven't and have insight they don't.

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gosseyn

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gottaknow
I am content and confident in my understanding that nothing whatsoever will happen when I die.
I don't believe we have souls. There is no afterlife.

...there is more to this existence than the physical.

Don't you think that we don't know enough about the physical to say that what you claim you have experienced is not just part of the physical ? I mean it's like saying that thunder is Zeus being angry.

No.

I can't prove my experiences to people so I don't bother trying anymore. Suffice it to say that I wish everyone could have had my experiences. The world would be a better place and everyone would have more clarity. Responses like yours are the reason I don't bother anymore. People just don't believe that someone else could have experienced something they haven't and have insight they don't.

That's not what I said, I said : we don't know enough about the physical world to be able to distinguish what is physical and what is not. But feel free to feel offended.

I find even the religious can't give a confident answer as to what happens after death. Ask a Christian what heaven is like and they won't be able to give you an answer

originally posted by: gosseyn

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gosseyn

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gottaknow
I am content and confident in my understanding that nothing whatsoever will happen when I die.
I don't believe we have souls. There is no afterlife.

...there is more to this existence than the physical.

Don't you think that we don't know enough about the physical to say that what you claim you have experienced is not just part of the physical ? I mean it's like saying that thunder is Zeus being angry.

No.

I can't prove my experiences to people so I don't bother trying anymore. Suffice it to say that I wish everyone could have had my experiences. The world would be a better place and everyone would have more clarity. Responses like yours are the reason I don't bother anymore. People just don't believe that someone else could have experienced something they haven't and have insight they don't.

That's not what I said, I said : we don't know enough about the physical world to be able to distinguish what is physical and what is not. But feel free to feel offended.

I never said I was offended. I just don't agree with you.

originally posted by: Vector99
a reply to: Murgatroid

and this is a legit video!

I started busting out laughing at the end of his chi knock out video, to further prove his mystical powers he decided to stack his "knocked out" lackeys Abu Ghraib style, I'm a believer now!



@ the OP, I don't know if consciousness carries on, but I am content if it doesn't.

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gosseyn

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gosseyn

originally posted by: Metallicus

originally posted by: gottaknow
I am content and confident in my understanding that nothing whatsoever will happen when I die.
I don't believe we have souls. There is no afterlife.

...there is more to this existence than the physical.

Don't you think that we don't know enough about the physical to say that what you claim you have experienced is not just part of the physical ? I mean it's like saying that thunder is Zeus being angry.

No.

I can't prove my experiences to people so I don't bother trying anymore. Suffice it to say that I wish everyone could have had my experiences. The world would be a better place and everyone would have more clarity. Responses like yours are the reason I don't bother anymore. People just don't believe that someone else could have experienced something they haven't and have insight they don't.

That's not what I said, I said : we don't know enough about the physical world to be able to distinguish what is physical and what is not. But feel free to feel offended.

I never said I was offended. I just don't agree with you.

With what do you disagree exactly ? With the fact that we don't know everything about the physical world in general ? I gave the example of people of the past who thought that thunder was Zeus being angry. They didn't have the knowledge that we have and today we know that thunder is not Zeus being angry, but an electrical phenomenon. The same could be said about your experience : perhaps tomorrow someone is going to prove that what you experienced is part of the physical world, just like thunder.

Yes! Jack #! Finito!!
I have a father and 2 brothers who have passed and all greed that if any us went before the other that they would find a way to send a sign if there was anything else and guess what. Not sign , no nothing!!!

They died 2005, 2014, 2015!

This is absolute proof for me. Although I knew already that death was the absolute end!

a reply to: RP2SticksOfDynamite


I am sorry to hear about your losses, and close family being lost consecutively and in a short time is hard. Hope you are doing alright.

originally posted by: gosseyn
The need to believe in an afterlife is VERY strong. We all want that, we all want to still exist even after our physical death. That's an evolutionary trait, our instinct of survival and all that. And for this reason alone, we need to be VERY suspicious about any claim that there is an afterlife.

The only thing we need to be VERY suspicious of is what the "authorities" have been telling us...

Do you actually believe for a second that you are immune to confirmation bias?

Every post of yours I've ever read tells me that you have bought into the mainstream lies hook line and sinker.

And just for FYI sake, that post I made on page 1 had absolutely nothing to do with my "need to believe in an afterlife".

Contrary to popular belief, some of us believe things that are based on hard facts and personal experience.

Metallicus' posts for example...

If you want to go through life believing that everyone else has a "need to believe", knock yourself out.

I simply choose not to and find reality far more believable.

I would like to think that we go somewhere when we die but I just do not know. When we go to sleep we don't go anywhere unless we have a dream. But even in a dream our brain is still working.
What is our 'soul'? Is it just our working memory as some researchers have claimed where we make most of our decisions and thoughts? If so it would die when our brain dies and not live on. I believe that in the not too distant future our 'selves' along with our working and semantic memories will be able to be saved to a computer chip and we will live on after our bodies die. But would this simply be a copy of us or the real thing? Would there be robots running around who think they are us but are only copies.
The human brain is not quite the mystery that it once was but until the physical mysteries of space/time, parallel universes and so on are solved, I don't think we are going to know what happens after we die.

originally posted by: Murgatroid

originally posted by: gosseyn
The need to believe in an afterlife is VERY strong. We all want that, we all want to still exist even after our physical death. That's an evolutionary trait, our instinct of survival and all that. And for this reason alone, we need to be VERY suspicious about any claim that there is an afterlife.

Every post of yours I've ever read tells me that you have bought into the mainstream lies hook line and sinker.

Really ? Please enlighten me, what are those mainstream lies I have bought ? You can't just make a claim like that without supporting evidence.

Do you actually believe for a second that you are immune to confirmation bias?

I try not to be victim of that bias. But your 1st post is a great example of confirmation bias.

If you want to go through life believing that everyone else has a "need to believe", knock yourself out.

We are all human beings and as such we share a great deal of characteristics. Our brains are all built the same way and we all have the same ancestors. All that makes us behave the same way in a great number of contexts. Our survival instinct is so very strong that it pushes us to want and believe that our physical death - which we know is inevitable - is not the end of us.

Contrary to popular belief, some of us believe things that are based on hard facts and personal experience.

Please share those hard facts. Testimonies of people claiming they saw corpses raising from the dead does not constitute hard facts. Stories of Jesus even less.

Everyone is a victim of bias. Everyone. It's just a matter of degree imo. And then everyone becomes so invested in their particular version of whatever degree to which they're biased, they argue with one another and unconsciously try to protect themselves by controlling others' feelings and thoughts.

To that end I will make the following addendum to what I posted earlier.

Believe whatever you wish. I couldn't care less. We all believe something whether we admit it or not. Even if it's just "I have a reason to get up today." For which there's no proof either.

Peace.

a reply to: LesMisanthrope

True, but those rituals, traditions and ceremonies are there to comfort those still alive, our loved ones (and the ones who show up at our funeral just to make sure we're actually dead.)

They have nothing to do with the dead. The dead are gone, not sitting in the corner sipping a cocktail waiting for their robes and wings to be delivered.

a reply to: droid56
If I'm honest with myself, I have to admit I don't KNOW the answer. Things I have experienced in my life, tell me that what we call death is merely a transformation into a butterfly, so to speak. We go on after we leave this this body, BUT... I don't trust myself or my experiences, because I spent decades convinced I had the answers the world needed regarding life, death, and everything in between, only to find out it was all lies. I'd rather not make that mistake twice.

There is a preponderance of "evidence" for whatever we want to believe, but if you want proof, you'll have to die to find out.