Is there an afterlife?

[joea]

I suspect a new observer pops up with every thought that emerges. The next time an observer seems to be present, it is not the same one, but a newly reconstructed perception. Each new self is never quite the same as the last, and it isn't continuous. This is why long periods of time can pass in which one seems to have not been conscious. For instance, I may notice a bell ringing only after the third ring, yet somehow the sound seems to have been going on for three rings, even without my awareness.

A new self is constructed with each new perception, and that newly constructed self seems to "remember" something we know we didn't hear. Bodies often go on functioning without being conscious of sights and sounds and often even our own actions, like lying down an object without being aware of it or swerving to avoid hitting a tree before actually seeing the tree. Change blindness proves that we don't have a full perception of the world. Thus, consciousness is not continuous, nor is self, though it may seem to be because of the seeming continuity of the organism and its history.

Perception and memory are more like narratives, not mirrors of events progressing in a linear way from past to present and into the future.

Who or what is this observer you are talking about?. Mind dies, the body dies but the "witness"(Sakshi) remains.

 

[Faithfreedom]

I was raised Catholic. You know, with Heaven (a vast sky with lots of clouds and a dude on a throne with a beard) and Hell (a fiery inferno; home to a pitch-fork bearing, red-clad devil). But now I'm a non-believer. I don't know what there is in the afterlife, if there even is one. I don't think that there will be either of those two places. I hope there will be peace in death. I don't buy into reincarnation either. But that is because I don't remember another life. And reincarnation would only be worth it if you could remember.

SO. What do you think is after death? Life? An eternal paradise? What?

Look for patterns.
The baby in the womb; When it 'dies' to that life in the womb-world, its born into this world - a much bigger and better world (tho' many may disagree).
And when we pass from this world, we will be born into another better world.
Have faith. Do good. Love everyone. Live a good life here.

Cheers

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

I could also look at it from this perspective. The dinosaurs are dead and I am alive and I just happen to be a life that is living after their life, at least I felt I was alive the last time I pinched myself, so in some respects I am the dinosaur's "afterlife".

 

[james2ko]

Where did the Bible come from. Remember, it is a means, not an end. I would suggest that GOD is the source of life's most fundamental questions, NOT the Bible. The Bible does include valuable words of God though.

This would be a true statement depending on which "god" it is of which you speak. To a true Christian, the Bible is the mind and word of the One True God. It is God's instruction manual for mankind. We have attempted to maintain our minds and bodies without these instructions for the last 6,000 years and you see where it has lead. It was figuratively written by Him, with the Holy Spirit as His writing instrument and men as His ink (2 Pet 1:21). 2 Tim 3:16 claims, "All scripture [not just a few valuable words] is given by inspiration of God....."Therefore, to a true Christian, God and His Word are inseparable.

 

[Breathe]

I believe that there is an afterlife. I believe in reincarnation, but I also believe in moksha (escaping from the cycle of birth and rebirth). I'm striving not to come back again, personally.

If I found out there was no afterlife, then doesn't matter, I'd carry on as I am. I just think there is one.

 

[james2ko]

If I found out there was no afterlife, then doesn't matter, I'd carry on as I am. I just think there is one.

I totally agree with this statement, Odion. Some have asked me, what if Christianity and the resurrection wind up being a huge lie? I reply, "I was miserable without it now my life is as happy and joyous as it's ever been. So would I want to spend my only existence miserable or happy?"

 

[Noaidi]

To me, an afterlife is purely physical, not spiritual. We die and our molecules are recycled through other life-forms, just as we are a collection of atoms from pre-existing life. I see no need to assume 'I' will continue after I die.

"If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture - that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves"
Edward Abbey

Also, if there was an afterlife and 'I' was part of it, what form would I take? What would I experience, given my brain had decomposed, taking away my memories, personality and so on?

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

I believe that there is an afterlife. I believe in reincarnation, but I also believe in moksha (escaping from the cycle of birth and rebirth). I'm striving not to come back again, personally.

If I found out there was no afterlife, then doesn't matter, I'd carry on as I am. I just think there is one.

Do you believe it is possible to remember past lives? because I find it impossible to believe that.

 

[Midnight Pete]

I believe in an afterlife, though I have no more information than anyone else.

 

[Breathe]

Do you believe it is possible to remember past lives?

I cannot claim I believe or disbelieve, I like to remain open-minded about things. It may or may not be possible, but I lean more towards it not being possible, but I am open to having my mind changed, although I know many "past life regressions" and such as things dreamed up in the mind.

Not remembering something doesn't necessarily mean it didn't happen though, to play devil's advocate. After all, I don't have much memory of things before I was 12, and remember no events from before I was 8 or 10 or so, right?

My oldest (four years old) has, ever since she could converse full sentences, spoken about when she used to be a grandma and the moments up to her death in quite an adult and matter-of-fact way. Whether she is recalling a past life or just making something up as children I do not know--but she had better become a writer since it's pretty awesome.

because I find it impossible to believe that.

Well, don't believe it, then. Don't take this personally (this is not my intention) but I honestly could not care any less than I do now if you believe or do not believe that one may or may not remember past lives.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

If your memories of this life are extinguished, which I am personally sure they would be, and you go on to exist in a reincarnated sense then you would be just as much in the dark about questions of the afterlife. In fact if you totally oblivious that you have lived a previous or parallel life you could well be hell-bent on debunking any form of afterlife as a load of rubbish, a load of religious gobbledygook, and being reincarnated without memory of this life did not help you in the slightest. So an afterlife without any memory of this life would be absolutely useless to you.

 

[Breathe]

 

[fantome profane]

To me, an afterlife is purely physical, not spiritual. We die and our molecules are recycled through other life-forms, just as we are a collection of atoms from pre-existing life. I see no need to assume 'I' will continue after I die.

"If my decomposing carcass helps nourish the roots of a juniper tree or the wings of a vulture - that is immortality enough for me. And as much as anyone deserves"
Edward Abbey

Also, if there was an afterlife and 'I' was part of it, what form would I take? What would I experience, given my brain had decomposed, taking away my memories, personality and so on?

I agree with this, and I would say that in addition to this our ideas do live on after us, or at least they have the potential to live on. The may live on in the minds of those who knew us personally or in the minds of anyone we have made an impression on. The ideas of Plato, Confucius, Einstein, Lennon all live on after their deaths.

Just as your molecules may live again in the bodies of others, so might your ideas live again in the minds of others.

 

[BruceDLimber]

>Is there an afterlife?

Most assuredly!


Bruce

 

[arun]

I was raised Catholic. You know, with Heaven (a vast sky with lots of clouds and a dude on a throne with a beard) and Hell (a fiery inferno; home to a pitch-fork bearing, red-clad devil). But now I'm a non-believer. I don't know what there is in the afterlife, if there even is one. I don't think that there will be either of those two places. I hope there will be peace in death. I don't buy into reincarnation either. But that is because I don't remember another life. And reincarnation would only be worth it if you could remember.

SO. What do you think is after death? Life? An eternal paradise? What?

Afterlife is real.From reading channeled messages what i understood is that when we die , the soul with the astral body reaches the afterlife plane.Our memories are retained and we can see our loved ones.In the afterlife planes (there are different planes according to the spiritual progress we have achieved.) we will have no doubt about the existence of God.And He is universal.Not bound to any religion.All the religions preach that same God .There is a judgement of our earth life and we prepare for next reincarnation for attaining more spiritual progress.It's said that there is a plan for next reincarnation and we see it before we reincarnate like a movie.May be that's what is responsible for Deja-Vu.

Google 'channeled messages' and you will see them discussing a common theme of 2012 ascension which says of the transformation of our earth into a heaven-like planet by 2012.Not about apocalypse or doomsday.
more on ascension in this site : sbeckow.wordpress.com

scientific evidence for afterlife can be found here: victorzammit.com

By practicing Raja-Yoga (a branch of Yoga dealing with mind.Hatha-Yoga deals with body and physical exercises) we can enter the depths of our mind and remember past lives.It's final goal is to attain Samadhi/Super-consciousness and in that state we can perceive God who is beyond our senses and the normal mind.

Swami Vivekananda on Reincarnation:

"Are not all the tendencies of the mind and the body accounted for by inherited aptitude? Here are two parallel lines of existence - one of the mind, the other of matter. If matter and its transformations answer for all that we have, there is no necessity for supposing the existence of a soul. But it cannot be proved that thought has been evolved out of matter; and if a philosophical monism is inevitable, spiritual monism is certainly logical and no less desirable than a materialistic monism; but neither of these is necessary here.

We cannot deny that bodies acquire certain tendencies from heredity, but those tendencies only mean the physical configuration through which a peculiar mind alone can act in a peculiar way. There are other tendencies peculiar to a soul caused by his past actions. And a soul with a certain tendency would, by the laws of affinity, take birth in a body which is the fittest instrument for the display of that tendency. This is in accord with science, for science wants to explain everything by habit, and habit is got through repetitions. So repetitions are necessary to explain the natural habits of a new born soul. And since they were not obtained in this present life, they must have come down from past lives.

There is another suggestion. Taking all these for granted, how is it that I do not remember anything of my past life? This can be easily explained. I am now speaking English. It is not my mother tongue; in fact, no words of my mother tongue are now present in my consciousness; but let me try to bring them up, and they rush in. That shows that consciousness is only the surface of mental ocean, and within its depths are stored up all our experiences. Try and struggle, they would come up. and you would be conscious even of your past life.

This is direct and demonstrative evidence. Verification is the perfect proof of a theory, and here is the challenge thrown to the world by the Rishis. We have discovered the secret by which the very depths of the ocean of memory can be stirred up - try it and you would get a complete reminiscence of your past life.

So then the Hindu believes that he is a spirit. Him the sword cannot pierce - him the fire cannot burn - him the water cannot melt - him the air cannot dry. The Hindu believes that every soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere but whose center is located in the body, and that death means the change of the center from holy to body. Nor is the soul bound by the conditions of matter.

In its very essence, it is free, unbounded, holy, pure, and perfect. But somehow or other it finds itself tied down to matter and thinks of itself as matter."

 

[Penumbra]

If the brain is the foundation of consciousness as you say, then can you tell me "who" is witnessing this consciousness if I am not the mind, the body and the soul?

The "who" is the construct created by the physical brain. If certain areas of the brain are damaged, the "who" ceases to exist.

For instance, a person who experiences a major stroke that deprives part of the brain with oxygen can sometimes end up having a very different personality because other parts of the brain take over. Or for instance a person can experience a head injury that results in them being in a permanent coma even though the body remains alive. Or, certain parts of the brain can be removed to reduce or eliminate aggression.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

The "who" is the construct created by the physical brain. If certain areas of the brain are damaged, the "who" ceases to exist.

For instance, a person who experiences a major stroke that deprives part of the brain with oxygen can sometimes end up having a very different personality because other parts of the brain take over. Or for instance a person can experience a head injury that results in them being in a permanent coma even though the body remains alive. Or, certain parts of the brain can be removed to reduce or eliminate aggression.

Personally I don't think the self is so much the material of the brain but what the brain does, and what the brain does is what your computer does which is "information processing" So I find it is quite plausible that the information processing the booted your sense of self into existence in the first place would be emulated by another brain, even if history is played out slightly differently. Like for instance if your mother had married gotten into bed with a different man, I don't believe it would not have thwarted in what you may think is your impossibly slim chance of existence in the first place, but instead you "necessarily" exist as a completely different person. As the information process that booted your sense of self is randomly emulated by another brain. This is why my philosophy neatly explains why you are here, just by virtue of the fact you "must" rather than just "may" exist. I think that are there are in fact “squillions” other possible avenues of not existing (such as the atoms that your current body made of being locked up on some cold dark moon like Saturn’s Titan) than existing, but any expression of you not existing is subjectively ignored.

 

[joea]

The "who" is the construct created by the physical brain. If certain areas of the brain are damaged, the "who" ceases to exist.

For instance, a person who experiences a major stroke that deprives part of the brain with oxygen can sometimes end up having a very different personality because other parts of the brain take over. Or for instance a person can experience a head injury that results in them being in a permanent coma even though the body remains alive. Or, certain parts of the brain can be removed to reduce or eliminate aggression.

Then going by your scenario, the "who" will not exist once the body is dead....the "who" I'm talking about after death is the "witness or Sakshi"

 

[Twilight Hue]

If your memories of this life are extinguished, which I am personally sure they would be, and you go on to exist in a reincarnated sense then you would be just as much in the dark about questions of the afterlife. In fact if you totally oblivious that you have lived a previous or parallel life you could well be hell-bent on debunking any form of afterlife as a load of rubbish, a load of religious gobbledygook, and being reincarnated without memory of this life did not help you in the slightest. So an afterlife without any memory of this life would be absolutely useless to you.

That's how I see it with some limited exceptions.

The memories and recollections generated in this life only pertain to this life as it plays out. Its for all practical purposes and intent been a complete wipe as far as I can tell as towards having any recollections pertaining to any past lives, so this particular question will essentially forever remain a mystery as that of having experienced any type of former self.

I figure with a good degree of certainty that when I die, all the life time knowledge, experiences, and all accumulated memories will then become utterly moot. Lights go out again and then back into how it was before my conception and birth as a human being. My guess is that the whole process starts up again. Question for me is what form?

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

That's how I see it with some limited exceptions.

The memories and recollections generated in this life only pertain to this life as it plays out. Its for all practical purposes and intent been a complete wipe as far as I can tell as towards having any recollections pertaining to any past lives, so this particular question will essentially forever remain a mystery as that of having experienced any type of former self.

I figure with a good degree of certainty that when I die, all the life time knowledge, experiences, and all accumulated memories will then become utterly moot. Lights go out again and then back into how it was before my conception and birth as a human being. My guess is that the whole process starts up again. Question for me is what form?

I just think we exist out of anthropic necessity, for instance it is not possible for us to be aware of any of our potential nonexistent states like for instance some quirky cosmic accident caused all the atoms that make up your body to be locked up on the surface of some other dead planet. But I suspect those particular atoms are not all that imperative for your sense of self and existence, because other atoms could have just as easily emulated the same processes. Because I believe there is a lot more than just one possible way to us to exist.

Even if there happens to be a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion ways of not existing up against just a few billion ways of existing, it will still only be the ways of existing that will come to our conscious attention, so the self automatically only samples out conditions favourable for our existence, because it is subjectively impossible to be aware of the alternatives.