Page 1 of 3
What follows death? (no spam)
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 5:42 pm
by fable
Yes, it's another average, run-of-the-mill thread about what you expect to find after you die, assuming you expect to find anything. Where will you go? Will you just be hanging around? Will you achieve some kind of noncorporeal enlightenment, or simply cease to exist? Will you bifurcate, transvect, or noumenalize? Enlightened minds want to know!

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 6:00 pm
by Weasel
Call me a doupter on both...a after life and cease to exist.
I would like to believe there is more after death, but I have doupts. I guess it might be called a lack of faith....being as someone who has passed on hasn't comeback to say there is more. (Disclaimer: This is not to call people who think/claim to have been visited by a ghost a liar.)
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 6:12 pm
by fable
(Disclaimer: This is not to call people who think/claim to have been visited by a ghost a liar.)
That's understood in this topic. If anybody wants to assert that only they have the truth while all others are misled, they are welcome to do so--provided they do it politely.

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 10:10 pm
by Mr Flibble
Very interesting topic!
As I come from a scientific background, don't follow any religion and as an engineer prefer the 'easy to explain' option, I see it as you die and that's it. To me being dead would be like being asleep. You are simply no longer conscious or aware of your enviromnent, the difference being you simply don't wake up again.
The idea of being dead doesn't really bother me though, it's the getting there that does.
Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 10:22 pm
by Word
I see nothing in death. Nothing to remember about youre life, nothing to regret, no hope, no fear, no conscious, nothing at all. So to me death is something to fear, because I never want to be nothing(pardon the double negative). But at the same time I would have nothing to fear once I reach death as you cannot fear not being aware without being aware at that time.

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 11:10 pm
by Tamerlane
Well I'd like to think that we don't just cease to exist. From my RC upbringing, I've heard of the usual heaven and hell scenarios. But I'm one those people who would rather believe something that I've seen myself instead of taking advice from a book which has been altered so many times that its just not funny anymore.
I do see some logic behind reincarnation though.

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2002 11:55 pm
by Eerhardt
Another Roman Catholic here. I believe in Heaven and Hell, but I can't say what it looks like. The idea of Hell being a place full of fire with all manner of demons poking you with their tridents, seems a bit outdated to me, so I'm pretty sure that's
not what Hell is like

. I do believe in a personified God and that I'll meet him or her after death.
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 12:00 am
by Beldin
I'm not sure what to believe....on one hand I don't believe in god, but on the other hand I can't believe that it's "all over" when we die....
It might seem like a joke, but the one thing I can most closely idetify is this quote from Terry Pratchett - just remember that it's of course "overdone" because it's meant to be satirical - but I agree with the core message - otherwise I couldn't explain the wide range of religions on our planet which ALL claim to be the "right one"...
The gods of the Disc have never bothered much about judging the souls of the dead, and so people only go to hell if that's where they believe, in their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won't do if they don't know about it. This explains why it is so important to shoot missionaries on sight.
[size=0]-- (Terry Pratchett, Eric)[/size]
So to cut it short - I think we go where we "think" we're going to go....like - maybe an endless dream (or nightmare if you want...) ...but maybe I'm just wishing that the Aborigines are right and we ARE living in a dream, and "death" is just like "waking up"

... as I said, I'm not quite sure ....
No worries,
Beldin

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 12:11 am
by Ode to a Grasshopper
I don't know. I'm a sort-of believer in reincarnation, but likewise I don't think the cycle goes on forever until you achieve 'enlightenment'.
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 1:01 pm
by EMINEM
What follows death?
Judgment for the way you lived your life on earth. Definitely not something to look forward to (which might explain why so many refuse to even contemplate the notion), but I think being held accountable for what you've done and what you've failed to do, makes perfect sense given that good and evil, right and wrong exist, and we have freedom to choose between the two. If there is no form of judgment that takes place after you die, it makes no difference whether you lived like a saint or a devil.
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 1:16 pm
by VoodooDali
Well, if there is a hell, I've always thought I'd be stuck in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for eternity...
A huge part of me wants to believe there is something after death, but the logical side says "highly unlikely." So, basically, I try not to think about it.
(Note: It's easier to deal with the highly unlikely scenario when you are younger. It's little harder when you are advanced in years like Fable)
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 1:22 pm
by fable
Originally posted by VoodooDali
(Note: It's easier to deal with the highly unlikely scenario when you are younger. It's little harder when you are advanced in years like Fable)
Gee, thanks. May your mammaries stretch so long over time that you trip over them.

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 1:23 pm
by frogus
All you really are is the collected experience of yourself by everyone else. The only interesting or useful place in which you exist is in the minds of others...this is just as true after death as before, except after death you don't get a chance to do good things or make any happiness for anyone else... That is why you need to do enough of that before you die to make up for afterwards. Don't be selfish - chances are there is no heaven or hell. Living a great life is the only way of carrying on after your body dies.
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 1:24 pm
by VoodooDali
Ugh...what an image! Just in jest--you know I'm almost as old as you (but not sagging yet

)
Speaking of old, I wonder what Gwalchmai has to say about this topic...
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 1:34 pm
by fable
Originally posted by VoodooDali
Ugh...what an image! Just in jest--you know I'm almost as old as you (but not sagging yet
)
Heh, I know.

Personally, I think there's something after death, but I'm not quite sure what, and I'm not sure it's the same system for everybody. I'm keeping an open mind. I figure I'll find out, and report back.

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 3:35 pm
by RandomThug
Just a theory
that dream you had last night. remeber it? You know the realllly realistic one. the one where when you woke up you either believed it happened or had a hard time gathering yourself to realize it was a dream. That dream (which in reality lasted a meer fraction of a second) that still burns in your brain for the remainder of your day.... remember that dream? I do.
Now imagine you've been shot in the chest... you fall to your back.... bleeding horribly from the gaping wound. Each breath takes you deeper and farther.. you cant grasp whats going on... you fight the urge to sleep... you fight the pain.... until its gone.. and you know you are about to die... and you go to sleep.
Your brain panics, freezes in a need to continue living. You imagine in your last seconds your eternity, lest it be heaven hell or that Airport in texas. You go into a dream like state of heavy unconciusness, a dream so realistic.... you can feel it all. And you never wake up.
Sure there are holes in this theory, as in your brain needs life to function in dreams.... but what if that was it, that moment is frozen in your mind and it all stops. that last moment is your eternity....
that or your worm food.
thug
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 8:36 pm
by Obsidian
Do I believe in higher powers? Yes. Do I believe in a continued existence? I'd like to. Reincarnation makes a certain sense to me. But my biggest belief is that my life is defined by who cares about me. Therefore, when I die, regardless of the spiritual world, I will live on in others because anyone who has ever respected me, will at some point look back and say Man, was that a ________ guy.
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 8:56 pm
by Dottie
Since Thorin doesnt seem to be present I will answer on his account. When you die the intergalactic space dog will swallow you wholesome. After being exposed to his gastric juices for 73 days and 2 hours everything but your true self will be gnawed away. After that all homosexual members of the BPP will go straight to heaven, and the rest of humanity will be forced to toil on the coffee plantation. The reason for this is that it must be some perk with being a homosexual member of the BPP.
Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2002 10:41 pm
by Tamerlane
Me toil on a coffee plantation!?!?
Well at least I won't be alone. As for death, I really like the Viking concept, go to Vallhalla (sp?) where you can spend an eternity fighting and partying. Well I'm not partial to the fighting aspect but you get the idea
