Serious questions about the afterlife

[oldskool]

Hey there. If you are an atheist I ask that you please respect out differences, and not post a response. I'm looking for answers from others of religious faith. As the fall has rolled in I have found myself in a bit of a depressive slump. I find myself wondering about the afterlife, and after reading about it feel.... Well more depressed.

I have watched many videos on youtube from people who have had near death experiences. For the most part they all have the same response. It was bliss, and they didn't want to come back. Don't get me wrong, that part sounds great. My problem is that I feel like parts of me won't exist anymore. The part that is very sensual. The part that loves tickling. The part that loves sports. Will I still have that special connection with my family? Those kinds of things.

I don't even know why I'm posting this. I guess because I like talking to people, and love community. Maybe I'm hoping someone will post a response that makes me feel better, I don't know.

Do you personally think we will be able to explore our tickling on the other side? Will we still be able to enjoy sex? What are your thoughts?

 

[meteor]

Very interesting thoughts, lots of us get into this frame of mind during the fall.

I passed out and came round slowly and a large group of people were all standing on a cloud, very bright and cool, even the pets,old friends, no living folk, quite a good feeling.
I was in a semi coma type state.

It was like a fast backward rewind, sort of like camera unloading rapidly, i guess the brain may be like that in a way.

Can't answer your questions, some religions say we come back again, but may not be in the same form.

I look at the state of the world and my faith vanishes, but if something bad happens i do pray,other than that i only go to church on weddings, funerals, and the like.

So make the most of what you have while you can, before old age sets in, and get tickling quickly.

 

[Archetype1]

My thoughts on the afterlife? Well, I believe that once I'm dead, all the crackling electrics within my brain will cease, and everything they instantiated in my mind about my self, what i enjoy, and who i perceive i am, will go with them. I'll make way for future individuals to take my place and will only exists in the memories of those who knew me until their days are over also.

Then again, what's so scary about not existing anymore at some point? I won't be around to miss myself.

 

[Lee47]

Sy, I apologize for breaking your rule, but even though I'm an atheist theology is still fascinating to me. But I'm an agnostic atheist- I leave open the possibility that there is a god somewhere in the Universe; I simply have not seen evidence for his/her/it's existence. End disclaimer 🙂.

I'm replying not to argue with you, just to say that I basically have no idea. The near death accounts I am aware of seem like the effects of oxygen deprivation, ie. euphoria + hallucinations. Combine this with the fact that most of us, me included, are raised with exposure to some religion or another, hence, whether we chose it or not, we have some preconception of an afterlife, and you have the makings of a "heaven" experience. Since I lack empirical evidence of any sort, I reserve judgement.

I will say that I hoped at one time (I guess I still do) that there was a heaven of some sort where we would get to experience all the missed opportunities that we didn't get to in this life- that is, to freely love all the people we loved in life, but couldn't, because we were restricted by society or by bad timing or just bad luck. I guess I'm talking about a sort of 'quantum afterlife' in which all possibilities could be experienced simultaneously. But hoping for it is not the same as believing that I will go there after my death. Perhaps that is the reality we inhabit in our best dreams. I know I certainly have experienced dreams in which I've been with my lost loves, and woke up feeling somehow that I had touched (or had been touched by) a different reality. Quantum theory tells us that everything that can happen, does happen in some quantum eigenstate; maybe the dreaming mind can perceive these other states somehow. Or maybe mind=perception, and our perception doesn't die with our bodies, but just moves on to a different eigenstate that we can't perceive with our instruments. Maybe one day we will figure out how to perceive or even move between the levels, and wouldn't that be thrilling?

 

[tklmaestro]

If you ever wondered what the afterlife is, and you need questions answered to make you feel better; you can get this from NASA physicist Tom Campbell on Youtube. Among his many videos, he does one directly pertaining to the Afterlife.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

I'm not an atheist at all, I just have my own particular beliefs about the ultimate (aka the entity which created existence) as well as existence beyond death and those beliefs don't happen to be similar to any organized religion on our planet. If your interested though, I will say that I do believe in souls but I happen to believe that a soul is pretty much a near-infinite series of electrical signals running through our bodies (aka our life force). When we die, that life force (aka the true us) either ascends to a higher plane of existence (to join with all their loved ones and family who ascended before them) or descends to a lower plane of existence for an amount of time directly related to how much pain and suffering they caused other people.

I don't believe this lower plane of existence (call it purgatory or hell or whatever you want) is permanent and it only serves to teach "empathy" and "compassion" to souls of people who have caused lots of pain to other people (granted some souls [aka Hilter, Stalin, etc etc] will undoubtedly be there for some time (perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands of years) but eventually they'll learn the magnitude of their errors and will want to earn forgiveness (and perhaps there's multiple levels of "lower planes of existence" that perform different functions [aka one for teaching people the magnitude of their life's mistakes and one for reforming them once they realize how badly they screwed up]).

To me there is no point of dogma (like specific dietary habits and discrimination against gay/lesbian/trans) and religious rituals etched out in religions over one or two thousands years ago. We know so little about our own universe as it is and for people to claim they know what the ultimate is thinking and that "you should do what we say or else you'll be damned" is just plain bullshit to me. To me, I just believe people shouldn't cause alot of pain and suffering to people who don't deserve it and should try to be a nice and understanding to other people throughout their whole lives.

However, to answer your question about whether or not we can experience physical pleasure in existence beyond death, um, I don't really know (as I've never ascended to a higher or lower plane much less experienced death). Perhaps the best thing to do hun is to not let that worry rule your life. There's an old saying, "there is a time and place for everything under heaven". Just focus on your life right now, enjoy being alive, and be good (as a famous extraterrestrial once said). That's just what I think though. ^_~

 

[MrTicklefeet1]

Carl Jung in his semi autobiography "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" had a chapter devoted to a heart attack he had when he was younger, and his descriptions of what he experienced during his near death experience. He described his emotional attachments to everything he had here in this life where ripped away from him. In one-second he was mad about it, but the next moment it didn't matter anymore. Losing those earth bound connections makes sense, those are connected with the body to help perform in the play of life while we're down here, but that primary energy we return to when it's all over, we'll only know for sure once we get there.

Enjoy the stay while we're here, it shouldn't be much longer. The Dali Lama said he remembers parts of previous lives, but also points out information from those lives aren't relevant to the life we're living now. So tickle and be tickled while you'r here.

 

[oldskool]

Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[dm1990]

Well, if consciousness continues to exist after death, then I guess our affection for tickling will stay with us. After all, the reality exist in our consciousness. Unfortunately, science lacks any empirical evidence, but you never know what can be discovered tomorrow...

 

[Rainbow Star]

I believe in God, not Religion. But going by the book of Revelations, His Chosen will be placed onto another world, made primarily of gold and silver. There is no more plague, famine, hate, racism, or anything negative about the previous world and/or in the lives of it's inhabitants. But tickling is still a pleasurable experience and, I highly doubt that tickling will be banished from the new existence....but then again, there's no sex so tickling will only be non-arousing...

 

[Regal]

Sounds like a very dull place.

 

[Slaver123]

I don't believe this lower plane of existence (call it purgatory or hell or whatever you want) is permanent and it only serves to teach "empathy" and "compassion" to souls of people who have caused lots of pain to other people (granted some souls [aka Hilter, Stalin, etc etc] will undoubtedly be there for some time (perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands of years) but eventually they'll learn the magnitude of their errors and will want to earn forgiveness (and perhaps there's multiple levels of "lower planes of existence" that perform different functions [aka one for teaching people the magnitude of their life's mistakes and one for reforming them once they realize how badly they screwed up]).
. ^_~

Read some great books about Sociopathy recently. Imagine if people like Hitler, Hussein, Stalin, all the dictators, rapists, pimps, secret police commandants, and all the other sick thugs of this world were resurrected with fully-functioning Amygdalas- ie imagine if each one of these terrible creatures suddenly had a fully developed conscience and normal empathy, with the knowledge of what they'd done and the unimaginable endless pain they caused to so many others- when the Bible says it will be "more tolerable" for the people of Sodom in the day of judgement, could this be what it means?

Sociopaths aren't like the rest of us, they aren't "complete" people- there are huge parts missing from them, namely a conscience and the ability to feel empathy. Try imagining living your own life without concern for others, without a sense of right or wrong and you'll see how these things shape us at every turn.

Another way to look at it- think how terrible you behave in a videogame like GTA. You can kill, maim, torture people, probably rape in some versions (I know you can bang hookers) and laugh at their misery to your hearts content cause they aren't real, they're just pieces in a game. That's how a full-blown sociopath sees the real world and he behaves accordingly.

Now suppose you found out all the people you slaughtered in GTA were real with mothers and kids who mourned for them? Suppose you found out the guy you car-jacked in the game was a real person who suffers from chronic pain from the injury you caused? Imagine the crushing weight that would fall on your soul-what would you ever do to atone?

I really hope that's what Judgement is like for sociopaths.

 

[Rox_My_Sox1]

I really hope that's what Judgement is like for sociopaths.

At the very least, I believe the worst of the worst are in for tens of thousands (if not more) of Earth year's worth of being taught the magnitude of their errors and having the sins that so thoroughly stained their souls removed through harsh punishment and hard work to absolve it. Ever see the movie "Flat Liners"? I pretty much think it's like that only the more terrible the suffering you caused the longer you get it hammered into your soul skull that you were an colossal idiot for doing such terrible things and your gonna work hard and do hard time for quite awhile before you get to ascend to a higher plane of existence. Just what I believe. I fully admit that I could be wrong. I hope I'm not but that possibility always exists.

 

[the_jimmy_james]

I really hope that's what Judgement is like for sociopaths.

I think it would be badass if that's what rehabilitation was like for sociopaths.

"Here, bro feel bad about what you did."