Religion You are going to die... so let's discuss what we each think happens next.

[Terthna]

In my opinion, the only verifiable truth regarding death is that we all leave a corpse behind. What this means is that, if there is an afterlife (and I have seen no evidence to suggest that there isn't one), our continued sense of self is going to rely on us being able to function without all the precious organs we've all been relying on throughout our mortal existence. Imagine being able to perceive without any of our physical senses; what would that mean for us?

Take your eyes for example; as useful as they are, they are also sorely limited. But imagine being able to see without them, without those limits; from every perspective and in every direction simultaneously, to an infinite distance and magnification, across the entire light spectrum and beyond. It's enough to drive one mad trying to comprehend it, and that's just one of our mortal senses. These's also the fact that all of them are merely sending electrical signals to our brains, which then interprets it into something that makes sense to us. This is important because we won't have a brain either; so how exactly is thinking going to work?

Without our physical limitations, bare minimum we won't have to deal with our hormones influencing us anymore; but are we looking as having perfect recall of all our memories? Total control over our thoughts? Perhaps we'll even be able to force ourselves to perceive things that aren't actually there, or ignore things that are; which may actually end up being the defense mechanism that prevents us from immediately going mad, the instant we perceive what it means to exist as souls freed from the constraints of our decaying bodies, but it also means we'd have the ability to live out each and every fantasy we could ever wish to. That might be what everyone does at first, to work out all of their baggage from their mortal lives, until they become comfortable with their immortal one and decide to exit their thought cocoons so that they may experience it more fully.

So yeah; this is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.

 

[Cherico]

Some of my family members will miss me, some of my friends will miss me, there will be a period of morning and then they will get on with their lives. The world will continue to turn, life will go on and culture and humanity will continue to go forward.

 

[Lord Sovereign]

As long as I get to see my loved ones again, I'm not too bothered about what afterlife I'd go to, be it Hel or the Asphodel Meadows.

As for my views, the First Law of Thermodynamics comes to mind. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only transform. That and, well, it is curious that every single culture there's ever been has a concept of the afterlife. So you can't quite rule it out.

 

[ShieldWife]

I think than an afterlife would be great, but I think it’s highly unlikely that I (that is to say, my mind) will continue to exist in any meaningful sense after I die. In a sense, I live on through my children and eventually their descendants, as well as through the lives who I influenced.

 

[Terthna]

I think than an afterlife would be great, but I think it’s highly unlikely that I (that is to say, my mind) will continue to exist in any meaningful sense after I die. In a sense, I live on through my children and eventually their descendants, as well as through the lives who I influenced.

It's kinda hard to find any proof one way or the other. I mean, for all we know, we're all going to get reincarnated into a fantasy world, isekai-style. Or maybe there is an afterlife, but only a select few get to go there; with everyone else getting their souls broken apart and recycled into someone else who might make the grade next time. Or maybe Heaven and Hell went to war, and the former lost; leaving only the latter for souls to go to after they die.

There's really no end to the speculation, and no way to disprove any of it. Heck, maybe they're all a possibility, including oblivion; it just depends on what you personally believe that will determine what happens to your soul after you die.

 

[Lord Sovereign]

There's really no end to the speculation, and no way to disprove any of it. Heck, maybe they're all a possibility, including oblivion; it just depends on what you personally believe that will determine what happens to your soul after you die.

I'd like to think I go "somewhere." Be a bit dull if everything just stopped there. An ideal aspect of afterlife for me would be to see how things progressed on the world I left behind. The basic concerns of "will my family be alright?" can be answered, along with having the eagle eye view all historians wished they had of history in progress.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

If I were to die today, I'm confidant I will go be with the Lord, and I will be chilling with Him and other believers and the angels for however long until the First Resurrection happens. Moses and Elijah conversed with Jesus and seemed to be aware of everything that was happening on Earth, and when God allowed Samuel to appear to Saul, Samuel knew everything that was going on as well (and even delivered God's message to Saul!), so it seems that dead souls are active/awake/conscious while dead, not just asleep/inactive until they are resurrected.

No idea if I'd be able to talk with nonbelievers. I'm not sure if I should take the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus literally in regards to how the literal metaphysics of the afterlife works in regards to whether or not the souls of believers and nonbelievers are separated. The parable was a point about how you can only choose if you will give yourself to Jesus while you are alive.

From the Bible, it is unclear what Hell actually is. It is the place where people who reject God get their wish and are eternally separated from God. It's unclear if this is just a plane devoid of God that they continue to exist in, or if it's eternal torment (as in the popular imagination derived from Dante's Inferno), or if it just symbolic and means that you will simply cease to exist (Lake of Fire = metaphor for destruction of the soul?). I'm not a theologian.


As for hormones affecting how you might think or feel in the afterlife, we were created in the image of God. I think our looks and the emotions we feel were divinely intended, and we will have those looks and emotions in the afterlife. No idea how we would feel differently when we get new, better bodies free of sin and illness and death.

 

[Zyobot]

Pretty late, but if there is an afterlife, I have to wonder why there've been no instances of "breaking the barrier" between realms? Or at least, no credible evidence of any, even without dismissing the possibility that it happens, but we just don't pick up on it.

For example, I'd imagine at least some of the dead would attempt to communicate with the living or find a way back into the mortal realm, and given that statistical probability means that at least a few of them may be inclined to try, I find it curious as to why there's been an absence of Force ghosts appearing every so often? True, there could be a universal law preventing contact between realms or something, though the alternatives... don't really appeal to me, even if there's no way to outright disprove them. In any case, I’m not exactly reassured by The Dead’s silence, though I suppose the only way to find out why… is to join them.

 

[ATP]

If i was good catholic,i would go to Paradise.Since i am not,it would be either Purgatory or Hell.Since Purgatory lead to Heaven eventually,i hope,that we all meet there !

 

[Captain X]

My body will decay, the government will tax me, and I will vote Democrat.

 

[Lord Sovereign]

My body will decay, the government will tax me, and I will vote Democrat.

Come to think of it, if memory serves I believe you've mentioned you have Native American ancestry. If so, where did your forefathers think they'd go after death?

 

[Captain X]

Come to think of it, if memory serves I believe you've mentioned you have Native American ancestry. If so, where did your forefathers think they'd go after death?

They believed in a spirit world, which some people see as an interpretation of heaven because it was seen as a continuation of life, involved an end to all pain and suffering, and a reuniting with friends and family who had died before you. I don't know much of these beliefs, though, as I was never taught. Most Natives now are Protestant Christian of some form. My own family is Lutheran, which is what I was raised as. Coincidentally, the other side of the family is also Lutheran. So I can't really tell you any more than what you could probably look up for yourself.

 

[Zyobot]

My body will decay, the government will tax me, and I will vote Democrat.

I take it you think death is the end of it, then?

Personally, I really hope it's not. But, as I said before, I don't exactly find the Dead's perpetual silence to be a comforting indicator...

 

[ATP]

They believed in a spirit world, which some people see as an interpretation of heaven because it was seen as a continuation of life, involved an end to all pain and suffering, and a reuniting with friends and family who had died before you. I don't know much of these beliefs, though, as I was never taught. Most Natives now are Protestant Christian of some form. My own family is Lutheran, which is what I was raised as. Coincidentally, the other side of the family is also Lutheran. So I can't really tell you any more than what you could probably look up for yourself.

It remind me fragment of memories of one of american anthropologist - /forget name,as usual/ - when he go to tribe of North american indian,and asked about their culture older living man.
He answered,but from time to time was going to his home.
Anthropologist thought,that there must be older man there,but ,when he asked,old man come back with book about his tribe culture.
Modern cyvilisation - there is no more people who remember old customs in Poland,too.

 

[Terthna]

Pretty late, but if there is an afterlife, I have to wonder why there've been no instances of "breaking the barrier" between realms? Or at least, no credible evidence of any, even without dismissing the possibility that it happens, but we just don't pick up on it.

For example, I'd imagine at least some of the dead would attempt to communicate with the living or find a way back into the mortal realm, and given that statistical probability means that at least a few of them may be inclined to try, I find it curious as to why there's been an absence of Force ghosts appearing every so often? True, there could be a universal law preventing contact between realms or something, though the alternatives... don't really appeal to me, even if there's no way to outright disprove them. In any case, I’m not exactly reassured by The Dead’s silence, though I suppose the only way to find out why… is to join them.

Imagine I took you back in time 2000 years, and told you the prove the existence of atoms to the people of that time, using only the tools they have at their disposal; do you think you could accomplish such a task? We're not even capable of observing more than a fraction of a fraction of our own plane of existence; what gave you the idea that we ought to be capable of observing other planes beyond, to the point were the fact that we cannot means that they don't exist?

 

[Zyobot]

Imagine I took you back in time 2000 years, and told you the prove the existence of atoms to the people of that time, using only the tools they have at their disposal; do you think you could accomplish such a task? We're not even capable of observing more than a fraction of a fraction of our own plane of existence; what gave you the idea that we ought to be capable of observing other planes beyond, to the point were the fact that we cannot means that they don't exist?

I'm not saying they don't exist, since absence of evidence doesn't mean evidence of absence.

All I'm saying is that I imagine that some of the dead would at least try to communicate with us in ways we can understand, though maybe they're just unable (or even universally disinclined) to, for whatever reason. That, I find rather odd, but if there is an afterlife on another plane of existence that'll be discovered a thousand years from now by living researchers, I'm more than happy for my fears to have been for nought.

 

[Terthna]

I'm not saying they don't exist, since absence of evidence doesn't mean evidence of absence.

All I'm saying is that I imagine that some of the dead would at least try to communicate with us in ways we can understand, though maybe they're just unable (or even universally disinclined) to, for whatever reason. That, I find rather odd, but if there is an afterlife on another plane of existence that'll be discovered a thousand years from now by living researchers (and become common knowledge some time after that), I'm more than happy for my fears to have been for nought.

How? They have no mouths to speak, no hands to touch, no physical form that we can detect; they left that behind to rot when they died. We live in a deeply connected society; people expect to be able to communicate with anyone at any time, no matter how much distance separates them. That, I think, is what's causing you to find the idea that the dead might not be capable of communicating with us "odd". There was once a time on this planet where our inability to travel, let alone communicate, over long distances made it so that people in other parts of the world may as well have not existed.

 

[Zyobot]

How? They have no mouths to speak, no hands to touch, no physical form that we can detect; they left that behind to rot when they died. We live in a deeply connected society; people expect to be able to communicate with anyone at any time, no matter how much distance separates them. That, I think, is what's causing you to find the idea that the dead might not be capable of communicating with us "odd". There was once a time on this planet where our inability to travel, let alone communicate, over long distances made it so that people in other parts of the world may as well have not existed.

Perhaps you're right.

I just imagine they'd have had ample time to come up with something, and I suspect more than a few have at least tried, even if none of them were successful. Sure, they may have no physical form or ability to directly interact with the material world anymore, but it still baffles me none of them have pulled a Ben Kenobi and manifested themselves as ghosts who'd visit from beyond the grace, every so often. I'm not holding anything against the dead, I just can't wrap my head around the total radio silence between us and them. Hopefully, I'll remember to ask about it, once I join them.

 

[bintananth]

What happens to our physical form is well documented: it decays.

The fate of our spirit is unknown and all we have is faith that there's some form of afterlife waiting for us when we die.

 

[Zyobot]

What happens to our physical form is well documented: it decays.

The fate of our spirit is unknown and all we have is faith that there's some form of afterlife waiting for us when we die.

Well, yeah. No surprises there, really.

In which case, the obvious question is whether or not there actually is an afterlife, and what it's like if the answer is "yes". The fact the dead don't communicate with us at all—or at least, not in ways we can readily understand—makes me wonder whether there's life after death to begin with. Sure, there could be some factor preventing two-way interaction that we simply don't know about, but all that does is raise further questions. (Actually, now I'm curious to read some philosophy on the subject, even if it's ultimately speculative and untestable.)