Afterlife not guaranteed

I have an idea - what if the afterlife is some kind of collective mind. Like a dream world. And in order to be immortal, you mind has to be perpetually existant - like a mini-universe in your own consciousness. I like to think that I am a composite of millions of individuals that are contained within my DNA, and I am a unique expression of all of them. Over time, some individuals that represent many many beings eventually gain the ability to "swallow thier own tail" so to speak, and can thus totally exist inside thier own consciousness. And then, any person or loved one that they remember can be "brought up" from the collective memory and turned into a being that can enjoy an "Afterlife". I would imagine that all the Gods have this ability, thus, when you have allegiance to particular Gods, your consciousness will be absorbed into thier mind. Furthermore, I think that without these Gods, the collective mind of all beings is basically a chaotic realm, made of most of all the animal consciousness, and people who have no "God" eventually fall into this chaotic world and eventually dissolve.

When it comes to higher realms, I would imagine that the ability to use our existing DNA to create a higher-dimensional self that exists beyond 3D death would be the answer to continue life into the higher physical realities, and I think that the so-called "negative" beings are those that can maintain themselves in this higher world, but are ultimatley afraid of their real deaths, where they have to confront thier place in the collective consciousness.

In a sense, to be immortal, paradoxically, you have to accept the prospect of never existing consciously at all, that is total nothingness. And with this total absense of fear, you will be able to exist within the abyss, or void.

reply to post by SystemResistor


Somehow this does not feel comforting at all...

sorry

Well I do believe that nothing ends especially in Outer Space. Space is endless. There is always something beyond the furthermost point. The same with small particles. There is always something smaller. Am I on the right path for your theory?

Afterlife not Guaranteed? Oh no.

Your idea intrigues me OP, but wouldn't your DNA cease to "be with" you once you die? I mean, you are assuming that the body is just a vessel, right?

reply to post by SystemResistor


So you are saying that when we die we are assimilated? Like the Borg.

No thank you.

reply to post by Somehumanbeing


In a way yes, however, it is the collective consciousness that eventually gives rise to form, and thus DNA is what creates our personality, our DNA represents all our ancestors, and thus the collective consciousness that was responsible for our unique existence.

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


It might not be comforting, but it can explain many things. The normal model is incarnation and reincarnation and an afterlife. The question is, where do "fresh" or "new" people come from. How do we even gain our own personality, if we are a combination of our mothers and our fathers, and their mothers and their fathers. When it comes to "karma" it would mean that, our "judgement" is within each and every person that we have ever had contact with, as they represent our connection to the collective mind. I mean, if we were all immortal and were guaranteed an afterlife then we could all basically do a bunch of evil things without concern, however, with the threat of the "second death" it puts a new perspective on the commonly held ideas of selfless service, compassion etc. That is, in order to maintain your awareness, you have to be of a benefit to the whole.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


There are theories that even if a particle of our being survives, then if by chance it is breathed-in by someone, and then they have children, we will be a part of the child being born, along with many other individuals that went into its birth. If the individual connects to thier mind, they will discover all kinds of memories and experiences, of all the individuals that went into thier existence. In that way, no one really "dies" and at the same time, there are always new and unique individuals being born. I think it solves the problem of traditional incarnation/reincarnation - it is not a linear thing, rather, we are all intermeshed and interchangeable.

OP:

Furthermore, I think that without these Gods, the collective mind of all beings is basically a chaotic realm, made of most of all the animal consciousness, and people who have no "God" eventually fall into this chaotic world and eventually dissolve.

What if it is exactly opposite? Perhaps those who claim particular gods are absorbed by that particular entities energies, in a sense -- eaten? Maybe the faithful are food for vampire-death gods?

Perhaps the only spirits free among the dead are those who remain independent somehow, who don't become to attached to any preconceived notion or expectation of their own experience of the godhead?

The trick of course, is remembering that you are independent, as most of the newly arrived dead are so finely tuned in to the myriad nstimuli as to be overwhelmed by the projected afterlife-matrix. They tend to glom on to the first do-right deity they encounter in their land of the dead. This might be the ultimate trap, as they essentially dissolve themselves in their chosen god-force without negotiating a reasonable return on their investment.

Personally, I keep a memory warehouse which contains a pattern that I can visualize and move through mnemonically to remind myself that I am dealing with a host of false projections and leper messiahs. The Egyptians postulated that one needed a guide of some sort to navigate this treacherous soul-scape. I have internalized my Ka and forged it into a which can help navigate the outer layers of "the afterworld" without losing myself in its honeyed morass.

Originally posted by SystemResistor
reply to post by Sinter Klaas

 

The question is, where do "fresh" or "new" people come from.

Why can't it be similar to physical reproduction? Assuming a soul is something like a computer or machine that creates this personality (you, the avatar of your soul, the persona) to interact with itself and others, this soul has a lot of information that the personality gathers which at some point is enough to allow the personality at that time (when the soul has reached a certain level of maturity) to become more or less permanent, or it has recognized it's soul and itself and that thought perpetuates it's existence. The soul contains everything in existence from when it was formed but because of that it needs a persona to only experience one aspect of that whole at a time. Even though it is infinte once it exists, it has a beginning, just an everlasting open end.

We don't need to know a lot about our bodies to procreate, it's all very basic, neither does the soul. We only need a few years of having the feeling we move our own bodies, while if I had to program a robot to do something I don't even think about anymore (like scratching my butt) I'd have to spend a lot of time, more than when I would learn the same motion as a baby. It's all complicated when you think about it step by step, which muscles to move in what order, distances, force of pressure of my nail scratching my butt, I can only conclude we are made to be innocent creatures that expect to be as we are now when we die, which is great but really odd too when you think about it. We do extremely complicated things just like that, because we never realised how difficult it really is and if we would view it that way we would actually make it difficult just because that is our power, something becomes what we expect or make of it.

So basically I can imagine at some point 2 manifestations get frisky, do some kind of merging thing and create a new soul and seperating afterwards. That new fresh and blank soul manifests a persona which gets scouped up by this wave which is part of this universe and such a persona becomes (or becomes tied to) matter, or incarnated. It doesn't have to be this planet by the way, could be anywhere.

How do we even gain our own personality, if we are a combination of our mothers and our fathers, and their mothers and their fathers.

Personality traits or characteristics make up a personality or character but they are just parts that make up the whole (you) and they can be changed. Everyone picks them up in life, it's all about impressions. You're a piece of stuff that is like a mold, you meet people and they want to impress something of their own onto you. We do that all the time when we communicate, making sure the other understands what we're trying to communicate. But not all impressions are lasting, some are consciously swept off, some are accepted and part of the mold starts to mimic such accepted impressions. In other words, when someone has copied some personality trait or some truth from another it is made into one's own, those are the impressions that are lasting.

When it comes to "karma" it would mean that, our "judgement" is within each and every person that we have ever had contact with, as they represent our connection to the collective mind. I mean, if we were all immortal and were guaranteed an afterlife then we could all basically do a bunch of evil things without concern, however, with the threat of the "second death" it puts a new perspective on the commonly held ideas of selfless service, compassion etc. That is, in order to maintain your awareness, you have to be of a benefit to the whole.

When the personality that was brought fourth by it's soul returns to the soul and doesn't understand it all or has turned out to be so different than the soul it might be rejected and archived (or deactivated, turned inanimate, as if the spark the soul put there gets transferred) then the soul starts anew until it likes it's personality, how it's become. So humans get reborn and reborn until humanity has reached a collective level of perfection that it is unlikely a soul would reject the personality it send to become created, sort of like becoming human in utopia and growing up with people who already have good ideals and a lot of wisdom.

Originally posted by Dragonfly79
When the personality that was brought fourth by it's soul returns to the soul and doesn't understand it all or has turned out to be so different than the soul it might be rejected and archived (or deactivated, turned inanimate, as if the spark the soul put there gets transferred) then the soul starts anew until it likes it's personality, how it's become. So humans get reborn and reborn until humanity has reached a collective level of perfection that it is unlikely a soul would reject the personality it send to become created, sort of like becoming human in utopia and growing up with people who already have good ideals and a lot of wisdom.

edit on 16/2/2011 by Dragonfly79 because: (no reason given)

I believe that could be the answer, there could even be oversouls that carry the lesser souls, and if, say, they move to a fledgeling planet, they might impregnate it with new souls/personalities, carrying the memories of the old ones that it had taken with it. Basically, all going back to the fundamental process of birth and rebirth. I would imagine that this occurs on new planets in a higher density (as they call it), possibly within newly forming galaxies. Perhaps, after a planet ages, it starts to become "dense" as the cycles of time layer over each other, reducing the degree of "randomness" thus creating a reality that is relativley static. After time, I would imagine, entire galaxies would collapse and become absorbed into each other, and at the same time being created, like a kind of re-generating vortex, or "fractal" perhaps.

reply to post by SystemResistor


...or maybe we return to the "main soul", which is like a well of spiritual energy, of which we're only a drop of. Or, reincarnate to "higher" or "lower" forms of life, depending on what we learned in this lifetime (which is a blink of an eye). It's an old idea: what you do here effects your possibilites on the next plane. Your decisions, compassion, bad things you did.. it's actually very Christian thought if you think of it.

Here's another thought: if everything is planned ahead, there isn't any free will, right? I tend to think that everything happens for a reason.

reply to post by Tryptych


Free will might only exist when our actions do not have any effects upon the actions of others.