Would you step in to the light?

Originally posted by meathed
reply to post by larrydavid

 

I have done it before and until i learn all of lives lessons, i will have to do it again.
We all have to.
Thats called life.

No it's not. That's called re-incarnation.

If I am immortal, then, I need not step into the light. I shall wait and see what happens, even if I fade into nothingness, it will once and for all prove whether or not I am permanant in my existence.

reply to post by JR MacBeth


sorry, I somehow missed your reply to me.

I agree that it's our free will that allows us the choice between light and dark. I made a different thread the other day asking if good and evil exists if you leave out all kinds of religion. And most people concluded that it didn't in that context but merely are the results of our moral values, iow: right and wrong.

I'm not a religious person and my take on this subject is that there is no duality beyond this life or in this life. There is only the concept of duality, which is very much needed because, without more then one you can never know it's oposite. Aply that on the concepts of light and dark and it will give you many valuable lessons. Well, it did for me anyway. I don't believe in karma, or heaven or hell. I do believe there is more beyond this life but I probably don't have an advanced enough brain to even grasp the 'true nature' of it. I think no one can at this point.

But the bottom line still is that no one knows for sure what happens after physical death. All we have are personal perspectives of peoples experiences. Personally I would be very surprised to see a light after I died, my personal expectations are far beyond that.

yes, if the option wasn't ment to be given it wouldn't so therefore you should 100% without hesitation

Some very interesting answers here thanks.

Not stepping in to the light does'nt neccisarily mean you will be left in darkness. I personaly see it as not going on to the next plane or not going to heaven. So not stepping in to the light for me would just mean remaining on this plane. Still able to see the world as it is and people like a standard ghost if you like. I would travel the world and fully explore all that ive always wanted to see. I would hopefully get to see how things pan out for the world. That is along as i dont get caught in a time warp where i can only see things as they were when i died.

the choice is dependent on personal options; because if there are no options then there is no choice.if i choose to go "into the light" but my ability to choose to is limited to that being the only option; i wouldnt.

Originally posted by JR MacBeth
reply to post by GypsK

 

Really, you'd be surprised just how many people would choose darkness over the light without a second thought.

I'm not saying they are right, just saying that some will make another choice then you and I would make.

Thanks GypsK.

I think you're right that many people romanticize the "dark-side", or perhaps further enjoy dark pursuits in life, etc.

I suppose if there is something like "free will", people who prefer such things should be at least allowed their choice.

But from a philosophical view, I think a case can be made for examining such choices, in "light" of the fact that they would not only be objectively "wrong" choices, but ones made with insufficient information.

Probably our Western "religious" baggage predisposes us to accepting this "cosmic choice" paradigm, and certainly, the idea of free will seems to suggest that such choices are in order. But what kind of "choice" is it really?

If someone asked you to "decide" about this "eternity", or that, regardless of which, there is one sticky problem. Finite people really have no concept of what "eternity" could possibly mean. It's not exactly like asking our dog to choose between a juicy steak, and a rotten apple, such a "choice" wouldn't be a choice anyway, in any real sense. But if there was such a thing as a conscious existence that never ends, we wouldn't be the ones to ask anything about it, IMO. It wouldn't exactly be a "fair" question, and obviously, if your "eternal" destiny somehow hinged on such a decision, any just "god" sitting in "judgement" couldn't exactly get away with holding you to your "decision", such as it was.

Oh, perhaps there are other "creatures" we could imagine, possibly "angels", maybe they would have some inkling of what such a thing could mean, but certainly not people.

Of course, this is all hypothetical, no one knows what happens after death, in spite of plenty of popular NDE stories about this "light".

Logically, I tend to think that "eternity" shouldn't be anything creatures with only finite experience should have to worry about, although, many people do in fact worry about it.

While I personally wouldn't worry about "eternity", I suppose it wouldn't be entirely irrational to worry about possible "justice" beyond the grave. Somehow, if history is any indication, people have this common "need" to believe that justice is somehow done "somewhere". Clearly, it isn't done in "this" life, so that would bring us to the next.

What "should" happen to finite creatures who have misbehaved, been selfish, made bad choices, caused the suffering of others? "Hell" perhaps? Well, not if it's "eternal", even if it was Hitler we were talking about, since that would be overkill. But probably a "purgatorial" idea could make sense, as long as there is some remedial value to it.

JR

what about if this reality is both heaven and hells of our creation. surely even the most outwardly happy and delirious people are hiding dark secrets and unhappiness. i mean take celebrities for example. they live the so called life have money fame and all the attention their ego's desire but they are still unhappy. always on some path of self loathing and self destruction. same goes for the multi billionaire CEO who's kids are now coke fiends wives are having affairs and they live a sad and shallow life with nothing to keep them happy but cold hard cash. things are never what they seem.

reply to post by GypsK

But the bottom line still is that no one knows for sure what happens after physical death. All we have are personal perspectives of peoples experiences. Personally I would be very surprised to see a light after I died, my personal expectations are far beyond that.

An excellent and thoughtful reply, one that suggests years beyond such a youthful avatar!

Your last line is one that resonates with me, in spite of my rationalist tendencies. I'm not a religionist either, and yet, I do continue to "feel" that there must be something beyond the grave, and whatever it is, it "should" make our present notions about what the afterlife could be like, look silly.

Obviously, it's not entirely rational to have such an "expectation", as you put it, and yet, if I was to be as honest with myself as you have been, that's exactly what it is. Why is this?

Here's an issue we simply can't "know" about it the usual sense, and yet all of history seems to shout that humanity does indeed have such expectations, yearnings for something better, perhaps some intuition, born of the various frail "loves" we have enjoyed in life, that we will see them again, somehow, in spite of the apparent finality of Death. And the loves we have not yet enjoyed, that in this life we never could, that somehow still seem "necessary" to our existence...

Too easy to ramble on this topic! Thanks again for sharing your insights.

JR

reply to post by KrypticCriminal


If you are a bad person, you should jump into the light.

If you are a good person, the question is, Are you willing to serve,
and be an Angel, perhaps an Arch-Angel.

People who are religious often want to die and go to a better place.
Can you willingly stay, to make a difference... suffer again to help maybe one person?