General Discussion

I know that sounds like an obvious statement.  We all know that one day we shall pop our clogs, kick the bucket, use any phrase you like but it will happen to you.

I have spent years trying to make sense of life.  I was brought up in a religous family.  No matter what I was taught at school, or told by my family, or by the church, it just did not make perfect sense to me.  Without wanting to insult anyone, The Bible just caused too many problems for a rational thinker to accept.  I did envy those who were devout in their faith.  They seemed so fulfilled and happy.  I wanted to have that, and so began to study more.  Learn about escatology, and also about cosmology, as I wanted to see all points of view.  Marx once said that religion was, 'the opium of the masses', and I now think that sadly, this may be the case.

However, I digress.

This thread is not about whether or not you believe in God or not.  It is about Death.  How scary that it is.  I mean have you really thought about it?  For starters, how will it happen to you?  It's a morbid thought. 

Then there is the essence of what this thread is about.  What is more frightening?  The idea of death being oblivion and its finality, or the idea of an afterlife.  I mean, let us entertain that thought for a second.  Say there is an afterlife.  Eternity?  That is a pretty long time.  And how would you feel if you died and were suddenly someplace else?  You'd be blooming confused that is for sure! 

Now I personally, if I was a betting man, would not like the odds of there being an afterlife.  Afterall, what is the point of this life if there is one later?  Does that mean that this whole existence is just one big test, to see if we meet the necessary rquirements to enter paradise?  Nah, why go to the bother of making the Universe and its entirity for something as banal as that?

Either way you look at it, when you just stop, and for ten minutes think of nothing else...

Gives you a chill down your back doesn't it?

a wise man once said:

death smiles at us all. the only thing a man can do, is smile back.

 fear not, a wiser man wrote:

we are eternal; all of this pain is an illusion.

how perfect is death? it fits lovely on this earth. without it, we cannot sustain life.

wow, heavy dude, heavy.

You shouldn't let the thought of death make you worry so much. Its inevitable, it happens to everyone, just live your life to its fullest.

As for afterlife, I could go into it more, but I personally do believe there is an afterlife. I do believe there is a God or "Creator" of some sort. It doesn't make sense to me that there would be none.

That doesn't mean I believe 100% of the bible, but it does mean I do have some faith and I don't think that death is the end and that you suddenly become nothing. As I said before, the idea that when you die you become non-existant just doesn't make sense to me.

I am not saying these things don't make sense to me in order to make "death" seem any better. I have just reasoned with myself often about this subject and can come to no other conclusion except that there has to be some creator of some sort and that there is ultimately some reason why we are here.

Originally posted by Majestico

I know that sounds like an obvious statement.  We all know that one day we shall pop our clogs, kick the bucket, use any phrase you like but it will happen to you.

I have spent years trying to make sense of life.  I was brought up in a religous family.  No matter what I was taught at school, or told by my family, or by the church, it just did not make perfect sense to me.  Without wanting to insult anyone, The Bible just caused too many problems for a rational thinker to accept.  I did envy those who were devout in their faith.  They seemed so fulfilled and happy.  I wanted to have that, and so began to study more.  Learn about escatology, and also about cosmology, as I wanted to see all points of view.  Marx once said that religion was, 'the opium of the masses', and I now think that sadly, this may be the case.

However, I digress.

This thread is not about whether or not you believe in God or not.  It is about Death.  How scary that it is.  I mean have you really thought about it?  For starters, how will it happen to you?  It's a morbid thought. 

Then there is the essence of what this thread is about.  What is more frightening?  The idea of death being oblivion and its finality, or the idea of an afterlife.  I mean, let us entertain that thought for a second.  Say there is an afterlife.  Eternity?  That is a pretty long time.  And how would you feel if you died and were suddenly someplace else?  You'd be blooming confused that is for sure! 

Now I personally, if I was a betting man, would not like the odds of there being an afterlife.  Afterall, what is the point of this life if there is one later?  Does that mean that this whole existence is just one big test, to see if we meet the necessary rquirements to enter paradise?  Nah, why go to the bother of making the Universe and its entirity for something as banal as that?

Either way you look at it, when you just stop, and for ten minutes think of nothing else...

Gives you a chill down your back doesn't it?

    I've basically resigned myself to the conclusion that I don't care what happens after I die, so long as I don't lose my conscious thought, because it is what I treasure most. Heaven, Hell, Reincarnation, Purgatory, or an infinite void of nothing, I don't care, as long as I have my thoughts.

You do realize that you've already been dead once right?

Before you were born, you weren't alive. That doesn't bug you, so why should the big nothing at the end of life freak you out? To tell the truth, I'm more afraid of the pain proceeding death than death itself.

Originally posted by Majestico

This thread is not about whether or not you believe in God or not.  It is about Death.  How scary that it is.  I mean have you really thought about it?  For starters, how will it happen to you?  It's a morbid thought. 

Then there is the essence of what this thread is about.  What is more frightening?  The idea of death being oblivion and its finality, or the idea of an afterlife.  I mean, let us entertain that thought for a second.  Say there is an afterlife.  Eternity?  That is a pretty long time.  And how would you feel if you died and were suddenly someplace else?  You'd be blooming confused that is for sure! 

Now I personally, if I was a betting man, would not like the odds of there being an afterlife.  Afterall, what is the point of this life if there is one later?  Does that mean that this whole existence is just one big test, to see if we meet the necessary rquirements to enter paradise?  Nah, why go to the bother of making the Universe and its entirity for something as banal as that?

Either way you look at it, when you just stop, and for ten minutes think of nothing else...

Gives you a chill down your back doesn't it?

I am not a religious person, but I have no fear of death. I have spent the majority of my life trying to be a good person who has balanced personal happiness with helping others achieve theirs, and it has brought me great satisfaction in the process. This is a testament to the way I was raised however, which just happened to be in a christian family. Although, from my experience, morals are neither guaranteed in a religious household nor improbable in one that abstains. My only thoughts about the ramifications of my dropping dead tomorrow would be concern for those I leave behind. As long as I share as much of myself as possible in the time that I am here, there is nothing more I can do. This policy affords me great freedoms in the way I choose to live and deal with others. It also removes the governance of possibility.

Realise that you will die someday. Make peace with that realization and understand that you are currently alive, it is the most liberating thing imagineable.

Randy Pausch is quite insprational.

Originally posted by DailyBuzz

 

Originally posted by Majestico

This thread is not about whether or not you believe in God or not.  It is about Death.  How scary that it is.  I mean have you really thought about it?  For starters, how will it happen to you?  It's a morbid thought. 

Then there is the essence of what this thread is about.  What is more frightening?  The idea of death being oblivion and its finality, or the idea of an afterlife.  I mean, let us entertain that thought for a second.  Say there is an afterlife.  Eternity?  That is a pretty long time.  And how would you feel if you died and were suddenly someplace else?  You'd be blooming confused that is for sure! 

Now I personally, if I was a betting man, would not like the odds of there being an afterlife.  Afterall, what is the point of this life if there is one later?  Does that mean that this whole existence is just one big test, to see if we meet the necessary rquirements to enter paradise?  Nah, why go to the bother of making the Universe and its entirity for something as banal as that?

Either way you look at it, when you just stop, and for ten minutes think of nothing else...

Gives you a chill down your back doesn't it?

You know what I don't get about religion? How generally it's a fairly simple a straight forward process to pass the trials of 'salvation', but how people just continually harp on it long after they have accomplished the feat. I mean it'd seem a lot more inviting if people said "yea, I got saved 23 years ago, glad I got that out of the way so I can move on with my life". You just rarely ever hear that from anyone. Most religious peope want to go on and on about religion day after day and never give it a rest.

 

I am not a religious person, but I have no fear of death. I have spent the majority of my life trying to be a good person who has balanced personal happiness with helping others achieve theirs, and it has brought me great satisfaction in the process. This is a testament to the way I was raised however, which just happened to be in a christian family. Although, from my experience, morals are neither guaranteed in a religious household nor improbable in one that abstains. My only thoughts about the ramifications of my dropping dead tomorrow would be concern for those I leave behind. As long as I share as much of myself as possible in the time that I am here, there is nothing more I can do. This policy affords me great freedoms in the way I choose to live and deal with others. It also removes the governance of possibility.

Realise that you will die someday. Make peace with that realization and understand that you are currently alive, it is the most liberating thing imagineable.

Randy Pausch is quite insprational.