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Is there "life" after death?


Guest c4evap
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Y'know, it's odd, after other thread discussions, the % of people that say they believe in heaven and hell...

 

There's one to win, and one to shun, you can figure out the rest.

 

And actually, so far, I'm immortal... HAHAHAHA!

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I have no idea what, if anything, follows this life. But for all practical purposes, this life will be over. Donesville. Finis.

 

Kabir says this: Plunge into experience while you are alive, do you think ghosts will break your chains after?

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I have no idea what, if anything, follows this life. But for all practical purposes, this life will be over. Donesville. Finis.

 

Kabir says this: Plunge into experience while you are alive, do you think ghosts will break your chains after?

 

Great reply, dude and hey! - glad to hear from you again!! Was a long time, John!

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"Afterlife" is simply a thing invented by the creators of various religious mythologies to assuage the fears of death in the sheeple they wished to follow them. "Believe in my delusions and you'll live forever!!"

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  • 1 month later...

I believe in reincarnation for several reasons:

 

1. I want to believe in life after death

 

2. psuedo-science. Everything is made up of 2 things: matter and energy. Matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed. Therefore (and here is where you make the leap) when you die your matter and energy rejoins the earth and is re formed and used as something else - may be a rock, a fish, a tree or if we are really lucky another human being.

 

3. Religion. Every major religion sinc ethe celts has 2 themes for life after death - joining with a particular deity and rebirth and renewal. Now working on the basis that all legends have a grain of truth, this common link suggests reincarnation.

 

4. Mordern concepts of heaven and hell are fairly modern in themselves, being only around 500 -600 years old, and rely on loose interpretation of (alledged) words of Jesus.

 

 

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Virtually everyone that thinks hates the idea that that thinking will stop forever one day... and so an afterlife where thinking continues even when the body dies is invented to stave off those thoughts.

 

Well that's a big part of it isn't it. But there again, If God(dess)/creator doesn't exist where did the idea of a deity come from?

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Actually, it's pretty simple... First, there is the uncertainty about how anything works, way back before the scientific method was even a glimmer. People need explanations for things, so they start saying that spirits are driving all the natural things that happen... including the universe. These spirits could be simply natural forces, or they could be mapped into the forms of things familliar to the people, like animals.

 

Of these believers, there were two groups: one that thought the universe was always here and thus uncreated, and the other thought that the universe was made by something. That second group, believing that spirits were driving everything, decided that since everything is spirit-driven, therefore the universe must have been made by either 1) a bunch of spirits, or 2) one big spirit.

 

... it isn't much more of a step to say that the spirits are human-like with human features (anthromorphic), and thus the concept of Gods and Goddesses are born. Also, given that things can easily be lumped into dualities, most commonly Good and Evil, it thus leads to the conclusion that there is a Creator entity, associated with good, and a Destroyer entity, associated with evil... or a single entity responsible for both. Monotheism is born!

 

... voila! Gods evolve from animistic and anthromorphic spirit worship, and there isn't a human society out there that doesn't have a religion at some state of the above. The big question is... why did ancient peoples always seem to make up spirits to explain how the universe works?

 

*sigh* Something that could fill a book condensed into one post ;p

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Actually, it's pretty simple... First, there is the uncertainty about how anything works, way back before the scientific method was even a glimmer. People need explanations for things, so they start saying that spirits are driving all the natural things that happen... including the universe. These spirits could be simply natural forces, or they could be mapped into the forms of things familliar to the people, like animals.

 

Of these believers, there were two groups: one that thought the universe was always here and thus uncreated, and the other thought that the universe was made by something. That second group, believing that spirits were driving everything, decided that since everything is spirit-driven, therefore the universe must have been made by either 1) a bunch of spirits, or 2) one big spirit.

 

... it isn't much more of a step to say that the spirits are human-like with human features (anthromorphic), and thus the concept of Gods and Goddesses are born. Also, given that things can easily be lumped into dualities, most commonly Good and Evil, it thus leads to the conclusion that there is a Creator entity, associated with good, and a Destroyer entity, associated with evil... or a single entity responsible for both. Monotheism is born!

 

... voila! Gods evolve from animistic and anthromorphic spirit worship, and there isn't a human society out there that doesn't have a religion at some state of the above. The big question is... why did ancient peoples always seem to make up spirits to explain how the universe works?

 

*sigh* Something that could fill a book condensed into one post ;p

 

You know I have an IQ of 129 and you guys here make me feel thick!!!! But in a good way. I love to read other peoples ideas and philosophies. It always opens up a new world of possiblities.

 

Mind you, I thought you might have subscribed to the the theory that Deities were parental figures that replace our own parents Because Gods are immortal and parents never are.

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Hey, you're not wrong... Immortal protective beings DO make good surrogate parents. It's probably one of the big reasons religion just keeps going and going. ^_^

 

Edit: ... on a side note, it's interesting how few religions have a male as a creator figure, given the traditional Mother role... frankly, I figure most paternal religions are tools for male-dominated societies to opress women, and I don't think Judeo-Christianity and Islam are exceptions, given what is written in their holy books...

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Hey, you're not wrong... Immortal protective beings DO make good surrogate parents. It's probably one of the big reasons religion just keeps going and going. ^_^

 

Edit: ... on a side note, it's interesting how few religions have a male as a creator figure, given the traditional Mother role... frankly, I figure most paternal religions are tools for male-dominated societies to opress women, and I don't think Judeo-Christianity and Islam are exceptions, given what is written in their holy books...

 

I always wondered about that. In a metaphorical sense the creation of the universe would be a birth, surely something more in a woman's territory.

 

But like you say religion is all about control and civilisations throughout history have tried to keep women in their place.

 

Isn't it strange that a so called primitive and barbaric culture like the Celts that had an Erth Mother as their central Goddess also had equal rights between men and women? A coincidence - I don't think so!

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Though I'm a Christian, I decline to vote in this one, because I am cautious about getting hijacked by someone else's views about heaven and hell.

 

I prefer the term eternity, and I am partial to the terms "death and resurrection."

 

I believe that death is real, but I also believe in a Life that is greater than death.

 

It's also interesting to see the different tone in this board from the "religion" board. In my particular brand of faith, talk about the resurrection and eternal life are important, but we don't obsess on it. If a religion isn't about this world, then it's not good for much.

 

I also think that "heaven" and "hell", while unknowable, have embassies in this life. After Auschwitz, we don't need to be creative to imagine hell. In fact, our imaginations seem sort of silly in comparison. Equally, there are truly saintly people in this world who seem like a breath from some other place.

 

-freyacat

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Though I voted for death being an absolute end, I dont completely agree with this statement either, but its the closest to what I think. I dont like word "absolute", it doesnt allow anything else. I belive that after we or any other animal (yes, I think we are animals) or plant dies, it doesnt go to afterlife or become part of a greater force, but it isnt the absolute end either. Our components, what we are made of, are used for life to continue. From my not-used-anymore-when-Im-dead carbon, water and other materials new life will grow, some bacteria, plants and similar and they will provide more sophisticated life forms with food and so on and on ... basicly the cycle of life, no gods, no heaven or hell, no Good and Evil, no religion, no belive-this-or-we-will-kill-you, and even I dont belive there is something after death Im not scared of dying, I just hope I will die peacefully.

 

Live long and prosper, but today is a good day to die as any. :)

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Though I voted for death being an absolute end, I dont completely agree with this statement either, but its the closest to what I think. I dont like word "absolute", it doesnt allow anything else. I belive that after we or any other animal (yes, I think we are animals) or plant dies, it doesnt go to afterlife or become part of a greater force, but it isnt the absolute end either. Our components, what we are made of, are used for life to continue. From my not-used-anymore-when-Im-dead carbon, water and other materials new life will grow, some bacteria, plants and similar and they will provide more sophisticated life forms with food and so on and on ... basicly the cycle of life, no gods, no heaven or hell, no Good and Evil, no religion, no belive-this-or-we-will-kill-you, and even I dont belive there is something after death Im not scared of dying, I just hope I will die peacefully.

 

Live long and prosper, but today is a good day to die as any. :)

 

Very similiar to what I believe in - a reincarnation of sorts.

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