I believe nothing happens. You’re simply dead. Spirituality is for the living. It was created by people for people to make you act a certain way in order to achieve life after death. It’s a bunch of bullshit.
The version I was taught growing up with “born again christian” parents:
On judgment day, all humans stand before god. One by one, each moment of each life is reviewed, in full view of everyone present. All the times you picked your nose, farted, lusted, every act of your life, reviewed by the Almighty. Then, the Almighty asks some mighty angel “Does this person’s name appear in “The Book of Life?” A yes gets you a proclamation of “Well done, thou good and faithful servant – enter into the kingdom of Heaven and enjoy your eternal reward!”, while a no answer gets you a proclamation of “Depart from me, ye wicked servant, and burn in the Lake of Flames with the devil and his minions for all eternity!” NEXT!!
It never really “kept me in line.” The guilt, however, was tremendous for a lot of years. What is religion if not an excellent source of guilt? It certainly provides no logical answers to anything, only fairy tale stories of wondrous joys and fiery punishments if The Rules aren’t followed.
Yes once you’re dead you’re dead. There is no such thing as an afterlife. This was one of the dumbest ideas primitive humans invented, that humans can exist without bodies. Another foolish idea was the notion of invisible animals, creatures or gods that exist in some higher magical plain, all of it is bullshit.
We know now there is only matter and energy in the universe and no higher dimensions than the 4 that we’re familiar with including time. Everything else was just a figment of our imagination. If other creatures existed, we’d have found them by now.
It’s good to see that millions of people in the West are leaving the scam of religion in droves. However we face a huge problem with foreign religions that are stuck in the Dark Ages and have barbaric beliefs which don’t belong in the West, so that is something that must be opposed.
There’s a crazy view we have that non-western creeds/ideologies all have Liberalism as their core and they absolutely don’t. We need to treat them as they are. Also we should stop bringing in more people with these views as the West is becoming more secular.
We don’t want to turn our nations into backward, barbaric hellholes like the ones these people come from. They will undo centuries of hard-won gains for women and gay rights and equality. They’ll also try to destroy the science, democracy and philosophy that allowed western nations to modernize. If they want to live under a different legal system they can go back.
I know for people who used to be strong believers but have started doubting their religion have a hard time trying to get away from that belief system, but if that desire to leave is there, they will definitely succeed.
I remember when I was a Christian and started getting angry about the lies I was told in church, even though I knew I rejected the ideology, I still had the same ‘morals’ and silly ideas that were ingrained into me at an early age.
It’s only when I discovered Atheist writers/scientists and read their books/saw many YT videos that I was able to fully de-brainwash myself and get away from this cult once and for all. I truly hope other Theists who are also thinking about “switching sides” have a similar experience.
It’s a great feeling to leave a cult but then one still has to contend with other life problems but at least you don’t have the extra baggage of religion weighing down on you.
There’s a moment when one considers life, as it is occurring around them, and attempts to reconcile it against the explanations of religion and it just . . . doesn’t make sense. Suddenly, you realize it’s all just nonsense.
Getting to that point, however, is the challenge. But anyways.
Sorry, ravingbean, for digressing into religion when you’re discussing after death.
I hope for nothing. Absolute nothing. For ever. Just some flipping quiet.
Well put, I too want that ‘quietness’ but there are still some things I love about life (like women) so that keeps me going. But there is a lot of bs I have to deal with and some days it just doesn’t feel like it’s worth it.
However, I know that one day, all of us will be released from this ‘mortal coil.’ Till then I plan to make the most of life while I can.
Oh and religion is relevant to the discussion of the afterlife, so you’re on topic.
I’ve always struggled to understand how our conscious experience is supposed to become disconnected from the dying brain. Without the body and the brain generating constant wants and needs and perceptions, what does consciousness even consist of? Then, once you’ve got this disconnected consciousness after death, how does it get to the afterlife? Is the afterlife a place? Is it somewhere? How would your disconnected consciousness get there? How does it travel, from one place to the other, with no physical presence? Do we get new physical bodies, and if so how does our consciousness connect to them?
And once you get ‘there’, what does it consist of? If we don’t get new bodies but remain ‘pure spirit’, can we still talk to each other? How do we do that without mouths and ears, and brains to generate thought? Does it look like anything, and if so what do we see with? If we’re condemned to burn in a lake of fire, is it actual physical fire? Can we feel the burning, even with no flesh to burn?
So many things I don’t understand. And I don’t think anyone else does, either. But we are told to accept, and believe, because scripture.
I fear life after death. I fear the judgement that Once so eloquently described above. But I don’t understand it, and so I can’t believe in it. I don’t see the evidence for it, bronze age scripture notwithstanding. There seems to me as much evidence for Valhalla as for heaven, and one seems the mirror opposite of the other. So I see no rational reason to believe in either.
It seems entirely possible that there are other realms of existence, inaccessible to us. That this world could be a creation within a deeper level of reality (a computer simulation, for example.) It seems possible that someone could recreate my body and mind after death, and subject it to endless delights or tortures. But would that be ‘me’? ‘My’ consciousness? I’m not sure. I think it more likely that the self is a construct, and that it ends with the brain that generates it.
Well said Husk, your points might be a little difficult to grasp by those who are accustomed to lazy thinking and accepting baseless unscientific claims as truth or fact. Hopefully, it’ll make some of them think and re-evaluate their position.
I wish I had a fraction of a clue as to all of it. I’m learning to just accept what is and operate within the constraints of the visible and tangible, and it’s removed a lot of pressure from me personally. Life is all around us, it’s visible how it works, and that’s just about it. It’s working for me, in a way.
It’s interesting how we have imposed our human characteristics upon the legend of our creator/god. We fear making him angry and facing his wrath. As though if he existed, he would have nothing better to do than punish us, after we die.
We learn, from birth to grave, it’s one of the constants. I wonder why sometimes. Perhaps when death separates the consciousness from the physical, the “educated” consciousness moves on to. . . what? And why?
Transcending the fear of an angry god is like waking up from a nightmare. It’s comforting to look back and say “Wow – what was I thinking?” As Soda has said, science is a useful tool in overcoming the crap religion teaches. I’m certainly no scholar, but the more I’ve learned about the size, scope and scale of our universe, the less significant the human race becomes, when you consider the big picture. We’re just not that relevant, yet we’ve somehow attempted to define “god” as being this and that, complete with all of his rules.
How inexplicably arrogant of us. But that’s how we are.
I guess maybe we have a lot of underlying guilt & shame (some more than others), and we project that onto the universe. We know that we’re flawed, that we’ve failed to live up to the ideals of our society. Perhaps a part of us wants to be punished, to enforce those ideals. And of course we want those who’ve wronged us to be severely punished – for justice to somehow prevail on a universal level.
Thanks Once and agreed. I get the sense that you used to firmly believe in God but have now realized it was just a man-made idea all along, which is good to see.
Absolutely, looking into the dark, vast, empty though starkly beautiful universe also made me realize more firmly that religion is hopelessly outdated and misguided. There are no gods out there watching over us.
That’s not to say we know where our universe came from, that remains to be a legitimate question. But these infantile theories conjured up by primitive sheep-herders from 2,000 yrs ago need to be laid to rest.
The only way we’ll find out the truth is through scientific inquiry and not by some shaman murmuring to himself while clutching his healing crystals.
Sometimes I think there may be another dimension on earth that us humans can’t see (kind of like where the concept of ghosts come from) I mean eyes are only meant to function one way, doesn’t mean what we see is all there is because maybe we just can’t see those things with our the sense we were given, our eyes…!!
I also thought maybe when you die your spirit (or soul) turn into kind of like a comet shooting through the sky. The soul is said to weigh 8 grams because when people died scientists measured that they lost 8 grams. So you just buzzy around as a soul, flying and burning with no body to hold you any longer. But that is the concept of souls which is a different study or belief that I haven’t looked into that much..
16 comments
I also believe Nothing happens! It will be like when before you were born, a nothingness that stretches on for eternity.
I agree
Wish I knew. Noone does.
The version I was taught growing up with “born again christian” parents:
On judgment day, all humans stand before god. One by one, each moment of each life is reviewed, in full view of everyone present. All the times you picked your nose, farted, lusted, every act of your life, reviewed by the Almighty. Then, the Almighty asks some mighty angel “Does this person’s name appear in “The Book of Life?” A yes gets you a proclamation of “Well done, thou good and faithful servant – enter into the kingdom of Heaven and enjoy your eternal reward!”, while a no answer gets you a proclamation of “Depart from me, ye wicked servant, and burn in the Lake of Flames with the devil and his minions for all eternity!” NEXT!!
Chuckle. Yeah. Religion is great stuff.
Great stuff indeed! Has your upbringing kept you in line? Do you carry guilt because of it?
It never really “kept me in line.” The guilt, however, was tremendous for a lot of years. What is religion if not an excellent source of guilt? It certainly provides no logical answers to anything, only fairy tale stories of wondrous joys and fiery punishments if The Rules aren’t followed.
Yes once you’re dead you’re dead. There is no such thing as an afterlife. This was one of the dumbest ideas primitive humans invented, that humans can exist without bodies. Another foolish idea was the notion of invisible animals, creatures or gods that exist in some higher magical plain, all of it is bullshit.
We know now there is only matter and energy in the universe and no higher dimensions than the 4 that we’re familiar with including time. Everything else was just a figment of our imagination. If other creatures existed, we’d have found them by now.
It’s good to see that millions of people in the West are leaving the scam of religion in droves. However we face a huge problem with foreign religions that are stuck in the Dark Ages and have barbaric beliefs which don’t belong in the West, so that is something that must be opposed.
There’s a crazy view we have that non-western creeds/ideologies all have Liberalism as their core and they absolutely don’t. We need to treat them as they are. Also we should stop bringing in more people with these views as the West is becoming more secular.
We don’t want to turn our nations into backward, barbaric hellholes like the ones these people come from. They will undo centuries of hard-won gains for women and gay rights and equality. They’ll also try to destroy the science, democracy and philosophy that allowed western nations to modernize. If they want to live under a different legal system they can go back.
Soda, you said something in another comment along the lines of “Religion flies planes into buildings, science flies people to the moon.”
Right on. Good stuff!
Thanks, glad you liked it. 🙂
I know for people who used to be strong believers but have started doubting their religion have a hard time trying to get away from that belief system, but if that desire to leave is there, they will definitely succeed.
I remember when I was a Christian and started getting angry about the lies I was told in church, even though I knew I rejected the ideology, I still had the same ‘morals’ and silly ideas that were ingrained into me at an early age.
It’s only when I discovered Atheist writers/scientists and read their books/saw many YT videos that I was able to fully de-brainwash myself and get away from this cult once and for all. I truly hope other Theists who are also thinking about “switching sides” have a similar experience.
It’s a great feeling to leave a cult but then one still has to contend with other life problems but at least you don’t have the extra baggage of religion weighing down on you.
There’s a moment when one considers life, as it is occurring around them, and attempts to reconcile it against the explanations of religion and it just . . . doesn’t make sense. Suddenly, you realize it’s all just nonsense.
Getting to that point, however, is the challenge. But anyways.
Sorry, ravingbean, for digressing into religion when you’re discussing after death.
I hope for nothing. Absolute nothing. For ever. Just some flipping quiet.
Well put, I too want that ‘quietness’ but there are still some things I love about life (like women) so that keeps me going. But there is a lot of bs I have to deal with and some days it just doesn’t feel like it’s worth it.
However, I know that one day, all of us will be released from this ‘mortal coil.’ Till then I plan to make the most of life while I can.
Oh and religion is relevant to the discussion of the afterlife, so you’re on topic.
I’ve always struggled to understand how our conscious experience is supposed to become disconnected from the dying brain. Without the body and the brain generating constant wants and needs and perceptions, what does consciousness even consist of? Then, once you’ve got this disconnected consciousness after death, how does it get to the afterlife? Is the afterlife a place? Is it somewhere? How would your disconnected consciousness get there? How does it travel, from one place to the other, with no physical presence? Do we get new physical bodies, and if so how does our consciousness connect to them?
And once you get ‘there’, what does it consist of? If we don’t get new bodies but remain ‘pure spirit’, can we still talk to each other? How do we do that without mouths and ears, and brains to generate thought? Does it look like anything, and if so what do we see with? If we’re condemned to burn in a lake of fire, is it actual physical fire? Can we feel the burning, even with no flesh to burn?
So many things I don’t understand. And I don’t think anyone else does, either. But we are told to accept, and believe, because scripture.
I fear life after death. I fear the judgement that Once so eloquently described above. But I don’t understand it, and so I can’t believe in it. I don’t see the evidence for it, bronze age scripture notwithstanding. There seems to me as much evidence for Valhalla as for heaven, and one seems the mirror opposite of the other. So I see no rational reason to believe in either.
It seems entirely possible that there are other realms of existence, inaccessible to us. That this world could be a creation within a deeper level of reality (a computer simulation, for example.) It seems possible that someone could recreate my body and mind after death, and subject it to endless delights or tortures. But would that be ‘me’? ‘My’ consciousness? I’m not sure. I think it more likely that the self is a construct, and that it ends with the brain that generates it.
Well said Husk, your points might be a little difficult to grasp by those who are accustomed to lazy thinking and accepting baseless unscientific claims as truth or fact. Hopefully, it’ll make some of them think and re-evaluate their position.
Wow. Those are many points to ponder.
I wish I had a fraction of a clue as to all of it. I’m learning to just accept what is and operate within the constraints of the visible and tangible, and it’s removed a lot of pressure from me personally. Life is all around us, it’s visible how it works, and that’s just about it. It’s working for me, in a way.
It’s interesting how we have imposed our human characteristics upon the legend of our creator/god. We fear making him angry and facing his wrath. As though if he existed, he would have nothing better to do than punish us, after we die.
We learn, from birth to grave, it’s one of the constants. I wonder why sometimes. Perhaps when death separates the consciousness from the physical, the “educated” consciousness moves on to. . . what? And why?
Transcending the fear of an angry god is like waking up from a nightmare. It’s comforting to look back and say “Wow – what was I thinking?” As Soda has said, science is a useful tool in overcoming the crap religion teaches. I’m certainly no scholar, but the more I’ve learned about the size, scope and scale of our universe, the less significant the human race becomes, when you consider the big picture. We’re just not that relevant, yet we’ve somehow attempted to define “god” as being this and that, complete with all of his rules.
How inexplicably arrogant of us. But that’s how we are.
I guess maybe we have a lot of underlying guilt & shame (some more than others), and we project that onto the universe. We know that we’re flawed, that we’ve failed to live up to the ideals of our society. Perhaps a part of us wants to be punished, to enforce those ideals. And of course we want those who’ve wronged us to be severely punished – for justice to somehow prevail on a universal level.
Thanks Once and agreed. I get the sense that you used to firmly believe in God but have now realized it was just a man-made idea all along, which is good to see.
Absolutely, looking into the dark, vast, empty though starkly beautiful universe also made me realize more firmly that religion is hopelessly outdated and misguided. There are no gods out there watching over us.
That’s not to say we know where our universe came from, that remains to be a legitimate question. But these infantile theories conjured up by primitive sheep-herders from 2,000 yrs ago need to be laid to rest.
The only way we’ll find out the truth is through scientific inquiry and not by some shaman murmuring to himself while clutching his healing crystals.
Sometimes I think there may be another dimension on earth that us humans can’t see (kind of like where the concept of ghosts come from) I mean eyes are only meant to function one way, doesn’t mean what we see is all there is because maybe we just can’t see those things with our the sense we were given, our eyes…!!
I also thought maybe when you die your spirit (or soul) turn into kind of like a comet shooting through the sky. The soul is said to weigh 8 grams because when people died scientists measured that they lost 8 grams. So you just buzzy around as a soul, flying and burning with no body to hold you any longer. But that is the concept of souls which is a different study or belief that I haven’t looked into that much..