Are you looking forward to death?

[ellenjanuary]

I don't believe in heaven and I don't believe in what others describe as god. I have existed in a more forms than I care to remember and so death no longer has a sting that it once did. I certainly do no look forward to the demise of this incarnation as it will always remain one of my favorites. The essence of what I am now will add richness to my larger identity and will colour it in ways that are difficult to describe. Though I live each day, as if it were my last, on this small water world, doing so helps to make every moment all the sweeter.

I don't expect you to understand an odd one like me, but one day you will recognize that you are a tiny bit more than you presently dare to let yourself believe. It's all good. There is no hurry. It's not like we are in a race.

This guy... Simplify Ymir? Distill 'im, put 'im in a bottle; snake-oil salesman of the century, me.

 

[Vendetta]

Nobody looks forward to death except fanatics and suicidal people. Me personally I am more curious to see what happens when my organs cease to function. I don't think nobody neither atheist or theist personally know what happens. Since no human being has come back from brain death nobody has any merit to say what happens on the other side.

 

[Frank Merton]

It's in our instincts to avoid death. If he was on a safari and a wild animal, like a lion or a tiger ran towards him, i'm sure he'd jump in his jeep lol . I'm sure pretty much everybody would do that, even if you were suicidal

We have a survival instinct; my rabbits' reaction when a cat comes by tells me this is wired into us (the rabbits had never seen a cat before, and my cat is so fat she would never be able to actually catch one).

I think however that human beings have more than just a survival instinct. We have an intellectual desire to stay alive in order to find out what is going to happen, what is going to be discovered, what new music is going to be written, and so on.

 

[ellenjanuary]

Nobody looks forward to death except fanatics and suicidal people. Me personally I am more curious to see what happens when my organs cease to function. I don't think nobody neither atheist or theist personally know what happens. Since no human being has come back from brain death nobody has any merit to say what happens on the other side.

Maybe... they just don't come back human... you have seen Resident Evil?

Sorry. Ain't no "other side." There is "this side;" you get that; then there ain't no sides.

 

[NoneReligious]

Since no human being has come back from brain death nobody has any merit to say what happens on the other side.

If anything at all

 

[ellenjanuary]

If anything at all

Is that a jibe? A slur? Were you just politically incorrect?
[youtube]eFOqt2sNyfs[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFOqt2sNyfs

 

[YmirGF]

Yeah I don't understand what you mean. Do you mean you've had previous lives and then have been reincarnated each time or? Could you simplify it so it's easier to understand?

I do not perceive reincarnation as being a chronological thing. In my warped view, all my existences exist simultaneously, each in their own unique present, within an even larger "spacious present". As one evolves, one becomes more aware of their alternate aspects, but more importantly, those aspects become aware of you. In your terms - I have existed in many different times, as it were, just as you, yourself, have. The vast majority of those lifetimes are that of relatively mundane figures who are simply coping with what they know as being physical reality.

That said, I do not follow a belief in karma or the accrual of good or bad deeds, as there is only experience, however one wishes to judge it. The individual is certainly not at the mercy of "past karma" for example and it is my belief that such thinking leaves the individual little further ahead than those who harbor the idea that we are tainted souls that need to be redeemed.

Hopefully that is a bit clearer than mud. :flirt:

This song sort of expresses how I feel.
[youtube]GupUBTNcezc[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GupUBTNcezc

 

[chinu]

My question is though. If you believe you'll be in heaven with god, do you actually look forward to the day you die? With those beliefs, death must be the most exciting part of your life right? or?

After having all sources of happiness on this earth, when this earth becomes "Hell" for someone, only then one can feel such exitments of "Heaven" truely.

_/\_
Chinu

 

[NoneReligious]

I do not perceive reincarnation as being a chronological thing. In my warped view, all my existences exist simultaneously, each in their own unique present, within an even larger "spacious present". As one evolves, one becomes more aware of their alternate aspects, but more importantly, those aspects become aware of you. In your terms - I have existed in many different times, as it were, just as you, yourself, have. The vast majority of those lifetimes are that of relatively mundane figures who are simply coping with what they know as being physical reality.

That said, I do not follow a belief in karma or the accrual of good or bad deeds, as there is only experience, however one wishes to judge it. The individual is certainly not at the mercy of "past karma" for example and it is my belief that such thinking leaves the individual little further ahead than those who harbor the idea that we are tainted souls that need to be redeemed.

Hopefully that is a bit clearer than mud. :flirt:

This song sort of expresses how I feel.
[youtube]GupUBTNcezc[/youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GupUBTNcezc

But if all your existences exist simultaneously, wouldn't that mean that they eventually all die out? Or what?

Also where do you get those beliefs from?

 

[faithofabraham]

The bible claims to know though. So you believe in the things that is written in the bible, but you acknowledge that it might not be true? or what?

to your original post first, i dont know of many forms of death that would be pleasant, so fear of death is very natural. I dont care who you are, at the time that death is knocking, your going to be scared.

I dont believe in going to heaven when i die, but i do believe in a resurrection one day on the return of jesus(if im found worthy :shout) and i count myself as a christian. so yes at the time of my death im sure ill be scared of some aspect of it, but prior to that time i look forward to the resurrection after my death.

FOA

 

[ellenjanuary]

to your original post first, i dont know of many forms of death that would be pleasant, so fear of death is very natural. I dont care who you are, at the time that death is knocking, your going to be scared.

The coward, taste of death; a thousand times. The valiant, but once...

 

[faithofabraham]

Nobody looks forward to death except fanatics and suicidal people. Me personally I am more curious to see what happens when my organs cease to function. I don't think nobody neither atheist or theist personally know what happens. Since no human being has come back from brain death nobody has any merit to say what happens on the other side.

curious if you could define what you mean by brain death, are you saying complete decay or just prolonged time without oxygen. brain death starts to occur after 10 min. without oxygen.

FOA

 

[Morpheus]

I most certainly am! Have a read of some near death experiences, then consider this:

"Know thou that every hearing ear, if kept pure and undefiled, must, at all times and from every direction, hearken to the voice that uttereth these holy words: "Verily, we are God's, and to Him shall we return." The mysteries of man's physical death and of his return have not been divulged, and still remain unread. By the righteousness of God! Were they to be revealed, they would evoke such fear and sorrow that some would perish, while others would be so filled with gladness as to wish for death, and beseech, with unceasing longing, the one true God - exaulted be His glory - to hasten their end".

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p.345)

 

[Frank Merton]

The coward, taste of death; a thousand times. The valiant, but once...

Yea, but what a mouthful that one taste must be.

 

[Frank Merton]

I do not perceive reincarnation as being a chronological thing. In my warped view, all my existences exist simultaneously, each in their own unique present, within an even larger "spacious present".

In other words, rebirth can happen anywhere, any time. For all we know all of sentient life is but one spirit, living its various existences and being reborn, both backward and forward in time. I've always kinda liked that speculation; it means that at some point in time I get to be Napoleon for real.

The vast majority of those lifetimes are that of relatively mundane figures who are simply coping with what they know as being physical reality.

That's the problem with karma; you can be real good and saintly and build up a lot of positive charge, and then be born a scoundrel and waste it all, and end up an ant.

 

[YmirGF]

But if all your existences exist simultaneously, wouldn't that mean that they eventually all die out? Or what?

As each aspect was sent into physical reality, so each return, rife with unique experiences that add immeasurably to the whole, giving it perspectives that are otherwise quite impossible for it to discern. The point of physical experience is to accrue experience and to understand how that experience is formed.

Also where do you get those beliefs from?

A lot of experience.

 

[YmirGF]

I most certainly am! Have a read of some near death experiences, then consider this:

"Know thou that every hearing ear, if kept pure and undefiled, must, at all times and from every direction, hearken to the voice that uttereth these holy words: "Verily, we are God's, and to Him shall we return." The mysteries of man's physical death and of his return have not been divulged, and still remain unread. By the righteousness of God! Were they to be revealed, they would evoke such fear and sorrow that some would perish, while others would be so filled with gladness as to wish for death, and beseech, with unceasing longing, the one true God - exaulted be His glory - to hasten their end".

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p.345)

Ah, the raving of the "god mad". It is interesting how Baha'u'llah gets some things sort of right and yet, in the next breath, blows it out of all proportion. A tragic case, really.

 

[YmirGF]

In other words, rebirth can happen anywhere, any time. For all we know all of sentient life is but one spirit, living its various existences and being reborn, both backward and forward in time. I've always kinda liked that speculation; it means that at some point in time I get to be Napoleon for real.

Actually I don't mean it in that sense. It is more a case of each person is an aspect to their own relative "civilization of the psyche". Due to our human perspective of the entity, people will often assume a homogeneous oneness that is not there, as the various accounts will sound so very similar.

That's the problem with karma; you can be real good and saintly and build up a lot of positive charge, and then be born a scoundrel and waste it all, and end up an ant.

Well, in theory, one could become an ant, but there is a progression that occurs. One one has been through the animal kingdom, it is not likely that one would want to go back an perceive reality through the eyes of an ant. Your experience already exceeds the ants limited sphere of activity and would not satiate ones interest enough to warrant the endeavor.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm looking forward to a nice, long rest.

 

[ellenjanuary]

Yea, but what a mouthful that one taste must be.

Beyond the threshold of eternity is beauty for all.

That wasn't a mouthful.

Just when people go on about, "nobody knows, so I know I am right!" Irks my craw.