Technology1 min ago
When you sit away from the computer, with the t.v and radio off in a quiet and serene place, what exactly do you really truly believe happens when you die?
41 Answers
Do you think that like sleep you just slip into a peaceful darkness?
Do you believe that somehow and somewhere we are resurrected in a new shape and form?
Do you believe that as the books have said we are sent to hell or await judgement from god in our graves?
Do you believe that we're incarnated back here?
Something else?
Were you brought up to believe one thing and then changed the way you thought? Was there any reason for this change of mind?
Serious answers only as i genuinely would like to know what different slices of society really think of this question on a serious level.
Do you believe that somehow and somewhere we are resurrected in a new shape and form?
Do you believe that as the books have said we are sent to hell or await judgement from god in our graves?
Do you believe that we're incarnated back here?
Something else?
Were you brought up to believe one thing and then changed the way you thought? Was there any reason for this change of mind?
Serious answers only as i genuinely would like to know what different slices of society really think of this question on a serious level.
Answers
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I believe I may find out one day. In the meanwhile I have held a changing set of beliefs over time. Presently, based on past life experiences, I suspect survival of bodily death is likely, and so it follows that my awareness would find itself in some other place. Possibly in some other form. I can speculate but so can you too.
I do not believe in the fire & brimstone flavour of heaven & hell. It makes no sense except as a means to frightened the living into being "good".
Why did I change my mind over the years ? Firstly because those who taught me one thing could not explain it so I rejected it. Then I realised that didn't mean they were necessarily wrong, so I became more open minded, and then beyond that I've been to seances and had experiences with mediums and so feel the likelihood is as I now believe.
I do not believe in the fire & brimstone flavour of heaven & hell. It makes no sense except as a means to frightened the living into being "good".
Why did I change my mind over the years ? Firstly because those who taught me one thing could not explain it so I rejected it. Then I realised that didn't mean they were necessarily wrong, so I became more open minded, and then beyond that I've been to seances and had experiences with mediums and so feel the likelihood is as I now believe.
Grasping reality has always been difficult enough for me without contemplating having to do the same without so much as a semi-functioning brain to do it with.
If however to some extent it's possible that some fragment of my conscious processes can be relegated to the minds of maggots chowin' down on my brain, more power to them . . . after I'm dead, of course.
If however to some extent it's possible that some fragment of my conscious processes can be relegated to the minds of maggots chowin' down on my brain, more power to them . . . after I'm dead, of course.
There are hundreds of first hand accounts of people who have died and been pronounced dead for several minutes or even hours who have been brought back to life and almost all of them speak vividly of having experienced the most wonderful feeling of happiness and being met by beloved family and friends. They are also reluctant to have to return to their earthly mortal existence. A few people have been revived having experienced what can only be assumed is the opposite of this blissful place which may be what is known as Hell. I personally know someone who is still alive who had the former experience following a fatal car accident whereby he died and went to this wonderful joyous place and was eventually revived and came back with this amazing account. But he did actually die in the medical sense and it was not a dream or hallucination. The experience is as vivid today, decades later, as it was at the time.
Stargazer -
Unfortunately anecdotal evidence from people who have had major trauma doesn't constitute any kind of evidence. In fact, the human body is quite adept at releasing a veritable smorgasbord of chemicals during trauma that have been proven to produce trance-like states and even hallucinatory effects.
This question has come up many times before and since it is late and I am tired I shall simply copy and paste an answer of mine from 21st October 2011...
“
Near death experiences [NDE] and out of body experiences [OBE] are common. Some people believe that they see a 'tunnel' and they interpret that tunnel as a form of transition from the physical world into the world of the afterlife. Some people think that they are consciously removed from their physical form and float above their own bodies.
...
A far more likely explanation is that the experience of travelling down a tunnel is attributable to biochemical and neurophysiological causes.
It is well documented that the hallucination of flying is triggered by atropine and other belladonna alkaloids. OBEs are easily induced by dissociative aesthetics such as ketamines. Others are:
Dimethyltryptamine [DMT] – Causes the perception that the world is growing or shrinking;
Methylenedioxyamphetamine [MDA] – Stimulates the feeling of age regression so that things we have long forgotten are brought back to memory;
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide [LSD] – triggers visual and auditory hallucinations and creates a feeling of 'oneness' with the cosmos.
The very fact that there are receptors in the brain for such artificially produced chemicals demonstrates that the brain, under certain circumstances (such as the stress of an accident or a trauma), can also produce startlingly similar chemicals which also produce any or all of the above experiences typically associated with an NDE.
As to why people experience the 'tunnel' - that's due to the visual cortex where the information from the retina is processed. Hallucinogenic drugs and a lack of oxygen to the brain (as often happens near death) can interfere with the normal rate of firing by nerve cells in this area. When this happens, “stripes” of neuronal activity move across the visual cortex which is interpreted by the bran as concentric rings or spirals. These are more often than not, perceived as a tunnel.
“
It is also worth noting that people who claim to have experienced an NDE almost always confirm that their 'experience' conforms to the teachings of their particular beliefs. So NDE christians often claim to have seen or spoken to jesus and NDE muslims have seen or spoken to mohammed and so on and so forth.
Unfortunately anecdotal evidence from people who have had major trauma doesn't constitute any kind of evidence. In fact, the human body is quite adept at releasing a veritable smorgasbord of chemicals during trauma that have been proven to produce trance-like states and even hallucinatory effects.
This question has come up many times before and since it is late and I am tired I shall simply copy and paste an answer of mine from 21st October 2011...
“
Near death experiences [NDE] and out of body experiences [OBE] are common. Some people believe that they see a 'tunnel' and they interpret that tunnel as a form of transition from the physical world into the world of the afterlife. Some people think that they are consciously removed from their physical form and float above their own bodies.
...
A far more likely explanation is that the experience of travelling down a tunnel is attributable to biochemical and neurophysiological causes.
It is well documented that the hallucination of flying is triggered by atropine and other belladonna alkaloids. OBEs are easily induced by dissociative aesthetics such as ketamines. Others are:
Dimethyltryptamine [DMT] – Causes the perception that the world is growing or shrinking;
Methylenedioxyamphetamine [MDA] – Stimulates the feeling of age regression so that things we have long forgotten are brought back to memory;
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide [LSD] – triggers visual and auditory hallucinations and creates a feeling of 'oneness' with the cosmos.
The very fact that there are receptors in the brain for such artificially produced chemicals demonstrates that the brain, under certain circumstances (such as the stress of an accident or a trauma), can also produce startlingly similar chemicals which also produce any or all of the above experiences typically associated with an NDE.
As to why people experience the 'tunnel' - that's due to the visual cortex where the information from the retina is processed. Hallucinogenic drugs and a lack of oxygen to the brain (as often happens near death) can interfere with the normal rate of firing by nerve cells in this area. When this happens, “stripes” of neuronal activity move across the visual cortex which is interpreted by the bran as concentric rings or spirals. These are more often than not, perceived as a tunnel.
“
It is also worth noting that people who claim to have experienced an NDE almost always confirm that their 'experience' conforms to the teachings of their particular beliefs. So NDE christians often claim to have seen or spoken to jesus and NDE muslims have seen or spoken to mohammed and so on and so forth.
Imagination is interpretation liberated from the restraints imposed by objectivity essential to understanding and the ability to distinguish reality from chimera . . . but not everyone prefers the former to the latter.
This is not to suggest that imagination is not useful or potentially conducive to consideration of what the reality might be. But it is only a first step towards arriving at a conclusion based on a logically established non-contradictory correlation between what might, can and should be and what really is.
This is not to suggest that imagination is not useful or potentially conducive to consideration of what the reality might be. But it is only a first step towards arriving at a conclusion based on a logically established non-contradictory correlation between what might, can and should be and what really is.
people bang on about free will, but how can it truly be free will when you are threatened with eternal hellfire and pain if you are not good?
terrifying someone into doing what you want is not freewill - it amounts to bullying or threatening
true freewill, and true goodness is how you behave when its a total choice, when there are no penalties
terrifying someone into doing what you want is not freewill - it amounts to bullying or threatening
true freewill, and true goodness is how you behave when its a total choice, when there are no penalties
I prefer not to "believe" things in the sense implied in this question. I don't know whether my consciousness will persist after the death of my body but since my consciousness seems to be so intimately connected to and dependant upon my physical body it seems unlikely that it will. But I don't "believe" in any of the alternatives listed, even the "something else". Soon enough I will know - or not. Meanwhile I don't intend to bother my head about it...
Exactly what the Bible tells us...Not many people are aware of this...
(Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6) For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.
No consciousness...so there cannot be any such thing as ' active' ghosts.
There ARE demons, and they can imitate dead people...but the dead can do nothing...
So all beliefs where people think they can approach their dead relatives for help...are wrong.
They are simply approaching the demons...which is dangerous.
(Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6) For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.
No consciousness...so there cannot be any such thing as ' active' ghosts.
There ARE demons, and they can imitate dead people...but the dead can do nothing...
So all beliefs where people think they can approach their dead relatives for help...are wrong.
They are simply approaching the demons...which is dangerous.
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