Is there an afterlife? / The ultimate goal for man

[outhouse]

I personally believe there is and that this life has a point and isn't just about growing and growing and growing only one day to be toppled into non existence.

In my studies I have learned that Hindus believe that the ultimate goal for man to achieve is to break the cycle of reincarnation and cease to exist, while for a great many others it is the ultimate goal to live forever. What do you think the ultimate goal is for man?

The point is to live your life to the best of your ability and be a good person while doing so.

All theism teaches this.


You dont worry about a afterlife because THAT IS NOT LIFE. doing the best while your here is key.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

The ultimate goal is to demystify the wonders of the universe to the best of our abilities and not some improbable reward after we die.

 

[Sunstone]

Even if there was an afterlife, why should it be your goal?

 

[YmirGF]

Even if there was an afterlife, why should it be your goal?

Exactly, it's not like you are not going to get there, sooner than most would like. The goal of life should be improving the quality of life, for yourself and everyone else.

 

[IsmailaGodHasHeard]

I believe that there is a Heaven and a Hell.

 

[Tellurian]

so if there is no afterlife? what is the point of this life? If there is no point, everyone should just go commit suicide because we are all doomed to a state of non existence anyway and it will make no difference. However, if we suddenly do that and afterwords find out that there was a big point to life that we just missed, I suppose it would be a really big oops moment wouldn't it.

This is the one and ONLY life you will ever have, so you might as well enjoy it for the short amount of time you are experiencing your life. It is ridiculous to commit suicide cutting your life short because there is nothing after you die. It seems that those who believe in an afterlife would be more likely to want to commit suicide so they can supposedly go on to a "better" afterlife existence. Isn't that what the deluded early Christian martyrs were expecting to do when they were eagerly looking forward to death so they could be like their mythical Christ? Isn't that what modern suicide bombers are doing so they can supposedly receive rewards in "Paradise"?

Of course, you will no longer exist after you die, so you will never learn that you were wrong in believing in the existence of an afterlife, and wasting your life by looking forward to a nonexistent "better" life after death.

 

[Flat Earth Kyle]

This is the one and ONLY life you will ever have, so you might as well enjoy it for the short amount of time you are experiencing your life. It is ridiculous to commit suicide cutting your life short because there is nothing after you die. It seems that those who believe in an afterlife would be more likely to want to commit suicide so they can supposedly go on to a "better" afterlife existence. Isn't that what the deluded early Christian martyrs were expecting to do when they were eagerly looking forward to death so they could be like their mythical Christ? Isn't that what modern suicide bombers are doing so they can supposedly receive rewards in "Paradise"?

Of course, you will no longer exist after you die, so you will never learn that you were wrong in believing in the existence of an afterlife, and wasting your life by looking forward to a nonexistent "better" life after death.

What difference would it make in the end between cutting my life short or living a long and hopefully happy life? If there is no afterlife, there is no difference. You might say in my life I can make my neighbors life happier, but if he is just going to disappear to there is no difference.

If we did not exist before we were born and we will not exist after we die then we are all tiny specs of nothingness in the vast expance of eternity. I believe that we are more than that. That life is more than that.

 

[Alex_G]

I personally believe there is and that this life has a point and isn't just about growing and growing and growing only one day to be toppled into non existence.

In my studies I have learned that Hindus believe that the ultimate goal for man to achieve is to break the cycle of reincarnation and cease to exist, while for a great many others it is the ultimate goal to live forever. What do you think the ultimate goal is for man?

My immediate question to you would be, how would an afterlife affect the goals of this life? Why would it make more sense for someone to justify and understand their life as it is now through the existence of an afterlife any more than someone could do just through focusing on this life alone?

Furthermore, is it not significantly less reliable to define all your meaning and goals on a lifetime that may not even exist after this one? That would suggest to me that it would be more sensible to concentrate on this life we do indeed have for sure in a quest for meaning.

I think the question of 'what is the goal of life' is a difficult one, and in short must be answered by each individual for him or herself.
For me its to be the best that i can be, be true to myself, honouring my individuality and being the authentic artist in my life, a person of integrity.
To be good, kind and creative, and happy and fulfilled. And I’m sure its no far cry from what many others might say really.

 

[krsnaraja]

I personally believe there is and that this life has a point and isn't just about growing and growing and growing only one day to be toppled into non existence.

In my studies I have learned that Hindus believe that the ultimate goal for man to achieve is to break the cycle of reincarnation and cease to exist, while for a great many others it is the ultimate goal to live forever. What do you think the ultimate goal is for man?

Of course, there`s an after line. I`m reincarnation of Krishna.

 

[Flat Earth Kyle]

My immediate question to you would be, how would an afterlife affect the goals of this life? Why would it make more sense for someone to justify and understand their life as it is now through the existence of an afterlife any more than someone could do just through focusing on this life alone?

Furthermore, is it not significantly less reliable to define all your meaning and goals on a lifetime that may not even exist after this one? That would suggest to me that it would be more sensible to concentrate on this life we do indeed have for sure in a quest for meaning.

I think the question of 'what is the goal of life' is a difficult one, and in short must be answered by each individual for him or herself.
For me its to be the best that i can be, be true to myself, honouring my individuality and being the authentic artist in my life, a person of integrity.
To be good, kind and creative, and happy and fulfilled. And I’m sure its no far cry from what many others might say really.

I feel that man has a need to create something lasting. What could be greater than to spend your life building something that can last you not only in this life, but also in the next? Building or creating something that won't crack, rust, or corrode away.

I think it makes perfect since to concentrate all meaning and goals on a life that may not even exist after this life. If it does exist then its either fantastic or Oops... if it doesn't exist, well then I guess you wouldn't really be around to really have any regrets now would you?

So I see one path of "there being a life after this life" and some possible regrets that lay ahead if I don't live my life well.

The other path has no regrets no matter what. Life would be utterly meaningless both for me and for those around me. There would be no point for life continuing to exist and no point in life suddenly being destroyed. this would be a life of chaos, in the big picture of time and all eternity there would be no such thing as good and evil.

 

[Alex_G]

I feel that man has a need to create something lasting. What could be greater than to spend your life building something that can last you not only in this life, but also in the next? Building or creating something that won't crack, rust, or corrode away.

I think it makes perfect since to concentrate all meaning and goals on a life that may not even exist after this life. If it does exist then its either fantastic or Oops... if it doesn't exist, well then I guess you wouldn't really be around to really have any regrets now would you?

So I see one path of "there being a life after this life" and some possible regrets that lay ahead if I don't live my life well.

The other path has no regrets no matter what. Life would be utterly meaningless both for me and for those around me. There would be no point for life continuing to exist and no point in life suddenly being destroyed. this would be a life of chaos, in the big picture of time and all eternity there would be no such thing as good and evil.

I see your point, but i would still think that a life lived focused on meaning something in the afterlife is pretty tragic if its infact misguided, even if the person is not around to see it.

With any concept of an afterlife, one will have to ask themselves, what exactly is it? and how exactly will actions in this life affect that life, if at all?
And for me, i wouldn’t trust any authority on the afterlife to tell me what things are virtuous and what things are not in this life, especially when there is no proof of an afterlife at all. To not be able to be proven wrong is worrisome to me, especially if it is regarding something as important as the meaning of my life.

Furthermore i would advocate that the very basis of meaning and values in a life are often contingent on it being finite and having an end. Precious things don’t last forever. And i would question how i would function in an eternity, how i could value something forever, in the same way i do on this Earth. Would i still even be me? A mortal with finite concepts struggling in an infinite reality? I sure wonder what would be left of everything that makes me me, and especially confused by how any such reality could add to or define the meaning of my life i lived on Earth.

That’s why i much prefer to understand my life, its meanings and values in its own language, that is of this world.

Alex

 

[Tellurian]

yaddoe

If we did not exist before we were born and we will not exist after we die then we are all tiny specs of nothingness in the vast expance of eternity. I believe that we are more than that. That life is more than that.

Life existed for 4 billion years on this planet before humans came along. What was the meaning of all those previous lives? Why should the meaning of human lives be any different? You are born. You try to make the best of your life while you live. When you die you may or may not have left something behind by which you will be remembered. You will be "immortal" only as long as others remember you, because immortality only exists in memories.

 

[Me Myself]

I don´t believe in "after"-life, I believe in Life.

I lived before I was incarnated in this body and I will keep on living after I leave it.

I was studying the Egyptian Book of the Dead the other day and found it interesting how they believed when a man died the God Anubis would weigh their heart and judge them, if they lived a good life they would be taken to the God Osiris and granted eternal life, while if they didn't live a good life, their souls would be eaten by the great destroyer Anak (the monster who was part lion, hippo, and crocodile) and they would cease to exist.

I think there are many similarities between the Egyptian religion and that of Christianity.

Ceasing to exist is eternally better than to be eternaly tortured , so Egiptian religion sounds a heckuvalot more compassionate than mainstream Christianity if you ask me.

 

[Flat Earth Kyle]

I see your point, but i would still think that a life lived focused on meaning something in the afterlife is pretty tragic if its infact misguided, even if the person is not around to see it.

With any concept of an afterlife, one will have to ask themselves, what exactly is it? and how exactly will actions in this life affect that life, if at all?
And for me, i wouldn’t trust any authority on the afterlife to tell me what things are virtuous and what things are not in this life, especially when there is no proof of an afterlife at all. To not be able to be proven wrong is worrisome to me, especially if it is regarding something as important as the meaning of my life.

Furthermore i would advocate that the very basis of meaning and values in a life are often contingent on it being finite and having an end. Precious things don’t last forever. And i would question how i would function in an eternity, how i could value something forever, in the same way i do on this Earth. Would i still even be me? A mortal with finite concepts struggling in an infinite reality? I sure wonder what would be left of everything that makes me me, and especially confused by how any such reality could add to or define the meaning of my life i lived on Earth.

That’s why i much prefer to understand my life, its meanings and values in its own language, that is of this world.

Alex

life it self would be tragic if there were no afterlife whether you lived a good life or not. Its like writing an amazing report, but then suddenly your computer crashes before you could save it and it. Utterly tragic
Maybe we should all live rotten lives so it is no big deal if nothing gets saved.

So if you live your life as truly happy as possible in this life do you think you will continue to be happy in the next life? I think so.

I believe that when I die I will be the exact same person as I was in this life, the only difference will be that I will no longer have a body. My spirit will separate and I will be able to roam the earth as I please kind of like on the movie Ghost.

What is your question about functioning in eternity?
I think it would be very much like how things are in this life, do you value something as a 2 year old the same way you would value something as a 50 year old? People change, not always instantly, but in time people change.

No one said the world of the spirits was not of this world, I think it is like the life of an undiscovered animal. Its there, it happens, but most of us just are not aware that it is there.

 

[Flat Earth Kyle]

I don´t believe in "after"-life, I believe in Life.

I lived before I was incarnated in this body and I will keep on living after I leave it.

Ceasing to exist is eternally better than to be eternaly tortured , so Egiptian religion sounds a heckuvalot more compassionate than mainstream Christianity if you ask me.

Thinking about it... I agree, If I were to be eternally tortured I would say it would of been better if I had never been born.

I believe Hell has an end and that there is a happily ever after available to all.

 

[gnostic]

I think there are many similarities between the Egyptian religion and that of Christianity.

There are similarities between the two, because it is obvious that Christianity borrowed and modified foreign pagan religious beliefs which started with Jewish Exile at Babylon down to the Hellenistic period before Jesus' time. The Israelites during all those periods, encountered Egyptian, Persian/Zoroastrian and Greek religions.

Resurrection was already enshrine in Egyptian religion, centuries before the Book of the Dead with the Pyramid Texts of the 5th-6th dynasties (late Old Kingdom, c. 23th century BCE) and the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom. There were a number of Book of the Dead, from the New Kingdom period down to the Late Period, but only few of them survived. The best surviving Books of the Dead are the Papyrus of Ani (New Kingdom) and the Greenfield Papyrus (I think it was written in the Saite Dynasty).

The resurrection and afterlife weren't the only thing that the Christians had adapted from the Egyptian. In the NT, the Christian had inherited the Egyptian family of deities, the triad of Osiris, Isis and Horus, into the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit in the gospels, which later became the Trinity doctrine.

And the mystery cult of Isis had gain prominence outside of Egypt, spreading east and west, during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. By the 1st century CE, Isis have gained popularity in Rome itself. So the Osirian resurrection myth could also have reached Judaea and Galilee during that time.

The Hellenistic Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, were involved in the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into the Greek bible or the Septuagint Bible, which began in the 3rd century BCE. It is here, where they were influenced by teachings of Greek and Egypt cults, and were likely involved involved in the non-canonical writings, like the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, especially the books of Enoch.

The books of Enoch was very influential writings, and parallels can be seen in the gospels and particularly in Revelation and the Epistle of Jude. Book of Enoch can also be found in some fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, written in Hebrew.

The Greeks had their own versions of dualism, afterlife/resurrection myths, and the one that seemed closer to Christianity is that of the Orphic mystery cult.

I don't know much about Zoroastrianism, but it is clear that the Hellenistic Jews (and therefore the Christians later) had adopted similar of dualism of good vs evil, and the hierarchies of angels and demons (clearly had influenced the Enochian literature).

 

[uttam]

i sometime think man is mortal is not the correct answer for why we should die. rather it is escape. how strange ! man animal trees born grow become old then finish. you can explain how they born but i ask why should they die ?

 

[Falvlun]

life it self would be tragic if there were no afterlife whether you lived a good life or not. Its like writing an amazing report, but then suddenly your computer crashes before you could save it and it. Utterly tragic
Maybe we should all live rotten lives so it is no big deal if nothing gets saved.

So, say you only have one meal left to eat. Should you pick out a dinner that you love, or ask for the limabean sandwich?

According to your position, since we get no more meals after that, we might as well just eat the limabean sandwich. :areyoucra

If you only have one life to live, wouldn't it make sense to make it as good a one as possible?

So if you live your life as truly happy as possible in this life do you think you will continue to be happy in the next life? I think so.

And if you don't, so what? You still got one life that you tried to make as happy as possible, and if you ceased to exist, it's not like you'd be around to mourn that you didn't get another one.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

There is no afterlife, thus no ultimate goal for man, unless one chooses to create one which is fine. I do not mind existential goals.

 

[Flat Earth Kyle]

I believe there is a life after death awaiting every living creature.
When I die and find out for certain I have an immortal spirit I will ethir look back on my life with regret, or feel confident about my life insomuch that I will be able to look forward with confidence.
I find it facinating just how concerned people can be concerning what happens when you die.
I know that it concerned Emperor Qin the first emperor of China enough to build the 8000 life sized individual Terracotta Warriors. If all these strong and powerful leaders who had everything throughout history have been so concerned, should we not be also?