its a good question, I guess it depends on if we retain memory of this life after we die.
I do believe we live after this life and I do believe we retain memory of this life wherever we go after this life.
but that is just my belief, I cant prove it.
I used to believe that too, phantom. Now I don’t really know, but I’m inclined to think that if we keep existing somehow, we turn into pure energy. No consciousness or memory at all.
I’ve thought about this question many times. And I am pretty confident of my answer. I truly believe that once we are dead, everything with you is dead. Nothing that was apart of you remains alive. You are just turned into nothing. It’s the most logical and reasonable thing too happen, and I believe people believe of something happening after death are mostly due to the fact of them wanting faith, hope and meaning.
gwerg nailed it, and that’s the only thing I’m looking forward to, my memories dissipating. Life is just a really long and realistic dream. There’s no perceivable start to a dream, and while you’re dreaming you do and see the wackiest things that seem perfectly normal until you wake up and really think about it (flying, talking animals, dead relatives etc). We’re born at a random point in time, do a bunch of random shit that seems perfectly logical (human sacrifice, slavery, genocide, war, rat race etc), and then die, just like a dream.
Some people are lucky enough to have lucid dreams, wherein they realize that they’re dreaming and are actually asleep in bed. They realize how crazy the dream is and they they’ll wake up eventually. This is a problem that many realists share; we’re awake while being awake. We see how wacky life is, and the pointlessness of it all since we all wake up to death at some point when our lives, like a dream, and forget any of this life ever happened.
It can be a problematic viewpoint, but also very empowering if you think about it. I’ve had lucid dreams before, and every time I realized I was asleep, it freed me to be myself and do anything I want. A dream is erased from our minds when we wake, and our minds are erased from reality when we die. We are all truly alone, but it’s not so bad. Whenever I get really down, I remind myself that no matter how much I screw up, it all goes away in the end.
In a nutshell, life can be like a day at an amusement park, or a day running errands; it’s really up to a combination of your circumstances and your actions. You can run around and try every ride and eat a bunch of cotton candy before it’s time to go home (die), or spend your time taking life way too seriously.
Hi Tristeza! I remember you from long ago, one of my favorite people on SP, but you deleted all your old posts. Usually that’s a very bad sign. I’m so happy to see you’re still here… today at least.
Where do we go when we die? The million dollar question. I mostly agree with gwerg: “once we are dead, everything with you is dead.” But still, this strange thing called “consciousness” baffles me. It’s not part of our physical bodies. It’s not even in our brains. Our brains are just intricate computers with millions of switches we call nerves. But what makes us conscious while computers, equally intricate, are just lifeless machines?
Bear with me for a moment as we wander into fantasy lala land… is it possible that consciousness is an “infestation” that uses our brains as a temporary home? It’s not unheard of. A virus can survive for centuries by hopping from one organic lifeform to another, and yet no virus can thrive outside a body.
If we stick with that analogy, what happens to a virus once its host body dies? I believe it goes dormant, it doesn’t necessarily die. And it might just pass into another living thing. I know this all sounds pretty crazy, but you have to admit it IS possible?
“I only want to know whether I can know I am gone.”
To check this, ask yourself “Were you aware of your arrival?” Did you know you were coming TO a body? Did you prepare and jump into the life form forming inside a woman’s womb?
I suspect the answers are “no” but I suspect that it MAY be possible to know as your brain dies that one of our last cognitive thoughts may be “Fatal System Error: Unrecoverable” Thus being assured with almost 99.99% accuracy that you, in fact WILL be “gone”. But once you are gone, I think, like before we were born, we will have no cognitive ability to reflect on and appreciate our coming/going.
The evidence leads to a fair degree of certainty that our minds, which are a construct of our organic brains, dies with our body. Just as it doesn’t come into being until it is formed in the womb.
I really like that answer. I often think of a light bulb when the idea of a soul is brought up. The light produced is a by-product of the synchronicity between the bulb, wires, and electricity. The light only exists while the components are functioning. I think that the “soul” (aware of being aware) is the by-product of the synchronicity between all of our body bits. Not all of us are equally conscious though. The mentally deficient, though widely known to be happier than the average person, are not aware of their consciousness like most humans. This awareness of being conscious is what separates us from plants, animals, computers and any other living organism.
Thanks, your analogy is also a good one 🙂 although I disagree with your statement that animals aren’t consciously aware of their existence. But I agree we humans have a far superior grasp of the concept – but I think dogs etc. have a cognitive perception of their existence.
@Salt, @tphg, @gwerg, @Dawg — thank you guys for sharing your interpretations and ideas. I’m glad that my post seemed to give you some food for thought. “How will I know” came from a book written by one of my friends, someone that I really miss, and after rereading his writings last week, I kept thinking about it.
I remember you too, Salt (and you too, Dawg). One of the kindest people on SP! Idk if I’m back for good, but I miss this place so I’ll probably post and comment more regularly from now on. I’m looking forward to hearing from you guys again.
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13 comments
its a good question, I guess it depends on if we retain memory of this life after we die.
I do believe we live after this life and I do believe we retain memory of this life wherever we go after this life.
but that is just my belief, I cant prove it.
I used to believe that too, phantom. Now I don’t really know, but I’m inclined to think that if we keep existing somehow, we turn into pure energy. No consciousness or memory at all.
I’ve thought about this question many times. And I am pretty confident of my answer. I truly believe that once we are dead, everything with you is dead. Nothing that was apart of you remains alive. You are just turned into nothing. It’s the most logical and reasonable thing too happen, and I believe people believe of something happening after death are mostly due to the fact of them wanting faith, hope and meaning.
gwerg nailed it, and that’s the only thing I’m looking forward to, my memories dissipating. Life is just a really long and realistic dream. There’s no perceivable start to a dream, and while you’re dreaming you do and see the wackiest things that seem perfectly normal until you wake up and really think about it (flying, talking animals, dead relatives etc). We’re born at a random point in time, do a bunch of random shit that seems perfectly logical (human sacrifice, slavery, genocide, war, rat race etc), and then die, just like a dream.
Some people are lucky enough to have lucid dreams, wherein they realize that they’re dreaming and are actually asleep in bed. They realize how crazy the dream is and they they’ll wake up eventually. This is a problem that many realists share; we’re awake while being awake. We see how wacky life is, and the pointlessness of it all since we all wake up to death at some point when our lives, like a dream, and forget any of this life ever happened.
It can be a problematic viewpoint, but also very empowering if you think about it. I’ve had lucid dreams before, and every time I realized I was asleep, it freed me to be myself and do anything I want. A dream is erased from our minds when we wake, and our minds are erased from reality when we die. We are all truly alone, but it’s not so bad. Whenever I get really down, I remind myself that no matter how much I screw up, it all goes away in the end.
In a nutshell, life can be like a day at an amusement park, or a day running errands; it’s really up to a combination of your circumstances and your actions. You can run around and try every ride and eat a bunch of cotton candy before it’s time to go home (die), or spend your time taking life way too seriously.
Hi Tristeza! I remember you from long ago, one of my favorite people on SP, but you deleted all your old posts. Usually that’s a very bad sign. I’m so happy to see you’re still here… today at least.
Where do we go when we die? The million dollar question. I mostly agree with gwerg: “once we are dead, everything with you is dead.” But still, this strange thing called “consciousness” baffles me. It’s not part of our physical bodies. It’s not even in our brains. Our brains are just intricate computers with millions of switches we call nerves. But what makes us conscious while computers, equally intricate, are just lifeless machines?
Bear with me for a moment as we wander into fantasy lala land… is it possible that consciousness is an “infestation” that uses our brains as a temporary home? It’s not unheard of. A virus can survive for centuries by hopping from one organic lifeform to another, and yet no virus can thrive outside a body.
If we stick with that analogy, what happens to a virus once its host body dies? I believe it goes dormant, it doesn’t necessarily die. And it might just pass into another living thing. I know this all sounds pretty crazy, but you have to admit it IS possible?
“I only want to know whether I can know I am gone.”
To check this, ask yourself “Were you aware of your arrival?” Did you know you were coming TO a body? Did you prepare and jump into the life form forming inside a woman’s womb?
I suspect the answers are “no” but I suspect that it MAY be possible to know as your brain dies that one of our last cognitive thoughts may be “Fatal System Error: Unrecoverable” Thus being assured with almost 99.99% accuracy that you, in fact WILL be “gone”. But once you are gone, I think, like before we were born, we will have no cognitive ability to reflect on and appreciate our coming/going.
The evidence leads to a fair degree of certainty that our minds, which are a construct of our organic brains, dies with our body. Just as it doesn’t come into being until it is formed in the womb.
sleuth dawg
I really like that answer. I often think of a light bulb when the idea of a soul is brought up. The light produced is a by-product of the synchronicity between the bulb, wires, and electricity. The light only exists while the components are functioning. I think that the “soul” (aware of being aware) is the by-product of the synchronicity between all of our body bits. Not all of us are equally conscious though. The mentally deficient, though widely known to be happier than the average person, are not aware of their consciousness like most humans. This awareness of being conscious is what separates us from plants, animals, computers and any other living organism.
Thanks, your analogy is also a good one 🙂 although I disagree with your statement that animals aren’t consciously aware of their existence. But I agree we humans have a far superior grasp of the concept – but I think dogs etc. have a cognitive perception of their existence.
Long time no see – “welcome” back?
veteran dawg
@Salt, @tphg, @gwerg, @Dawg — thank you guys for sharing your interpretations and ideas. I’m glad that my post seemed to give you some food for thought. “How will I know” came from a book written by one of my friends, someone that I really miss, and after rereading his writings last week, I kept thinking about it.
I remember you too, Salt (and you too, Dawg). One of the kindest people on SP! Idk if I’m back for good, but I miss this place so I’ll probably post and comment more regularly from now on. I’m looking forward to hearing from you guys again.
I thought J was who I was thinking of… I was right
@kills Yes, you were. I’ll probably post some of his writings from now on and maybe share the link to his book.
what a wise man