For Those Who Believe In Life After Death . . . .

[atalanta]

What do you see yourselves doing on your millionth birthday ?
Bearing in mind that you will have no corporeal body, all the pleasures of this world such as food, drink, conversation, singing hymns, will not exist. So how will you celebrate being 1,000,000 ?

[EDDIE51]

The concept of 'time' will not exist.
Not that it matters as once you die that is it, nothing.

[Old_Geezer]

We will forever exist in this moment.

[birdie1971]

Bazile - "... Who says our conciousness of life after death will have any relation to how we think about our present existence on this side... Who says there will be such a concept of a million years in the after life?"

and

EDDIE51 - "The concept of 'time' will not exist."


Two claims there that 'time' as we understand it will cease to have any meaning in the afterlife. Who says? On what is that claim based other than supposition and wishful thinking?

In a way, this goes to the heart of the matter as to what the afterlife is and what it means to exist there. By that I mean if 'you' go there and yet have no concept of time, how can it be said that 'you' continue to exist in any meaningful sense? How we perceive the passage of time is fundamental to what makes us human. We constantly think about past events; we constantly think about possible future events and what they may mean for us personally and the wider world. All human languages would be rendered meaningless if the concept of time were removed from them. In fact the previous sentence couldn't be conceived of, let alone written down. And that one too.

To restate, it is often claimed that 'you' go to some kind of heavenly paradise after you die. But if when there 'you' have no corporeal body, no concept of the passage of time, no feelings of jealousy, anger, sadness, etc., how can it be said that 'you' exist in the afterlife when all semblance of your humanity has been neutered?

[agchristie]

Birdie,

Another excellent and well crafted response.

Certainly got me thinking if I believed in an afterlife. What quality would I have? My existence is so diluted It would be akin to a duck swimming round and round in a pond. A duck, however, doesn't have a concept of boredom so would I actually mind?

I would literally be left with the realisation that I am existing merely because it is something to do!

[mibn2cweus]

//I would literally be left with the realisation that I am existing merely because it is something to do!//

Interesting prospect . . . that non-existence would no longer be an option.

[naomi24]

^Hell.

[Zacs-Master]

The OP needs to read Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the end of time series. Seriously.

[paddywak]

Nothing,I'll just lie in my box and decompose for a while,by the time a couple of hundred years of I'll be well rotted away after a million years I'll be long gone.

[Old_Geezer]

"how can it be said that 'you' exist in the afterlife when all semblance of your humanity has been neutered?"

Who is to say that existence is not viable unless you are human ? Surely the idea is that humanity is related to your present existence and you leave that behind.

Non-existence need not be the default condition, and more than nothing the default universe (for want of a better term).

[douglas9401]

Giving the benefit of the doubt, Ms Jayne, I'm going with the spirit and not the appliance. :-)

[birdie1971]

Old_Geezer - "Who is to say that existence is not viable unless you are human ? Surely the idea is that humanity is related to your present existence and you leave that behind. Non-existence need not be the default condition, and more than nothing the default universe (for want of a better term)."

I apologise in advance if I'm misinterpreting your post - I find your wording a little confusing. I admit that may be my failing.

However, if I concentrate on, "... Surely the idea is that humanity is related to your present existence and you leave that behind..." then my previous assertion still stands. If you leave your corporeal body behind and exist outside of it, then unless you take with you all of the aspects of you that make you "you" then how can it be said that "you" go to heaven (or hell, or anywhere else)?

Let me try and make my thoughts clear. You, I and every other human being on this planet are made up of a complex mix of kindness, anger, jealousy, empathy, hatred, love, sorrow, joy, etc. If just one of those multifaceted emotions is removed from your psyche then you are not "you" any more. You're a different "you". If all the so called negative emotions were removed from you, then you would cease to be you. You'd look the same and sound the same but you wouldn't be "you" in any meaningful sense.

As for, "... Non-existence need not be the default condition...", well it is if one is attempting to be rational. It's the null hypothesis. That you cease to exist when you die is the most logical explanation and the one with least question marks attached to it. You didn't exist before you were born and you will cease to exist when you die. The "heaven" hypothesis which inevitably leads to the "supreme deity creator" hypothesis is not logical, requires great leaps of imagination to support and is ultimately narcissistic in nature.

In words of Monty Python, "We come from nothing, we are going back to nothing. In the end what have we lost? Nothing!"