I’m pure atheist however I do think there may be some form of a afterlife . Deffidently not the Christianality version of it or god but perhaps some form of an after life . I don’t think it’s going to be what anybody thinks it is nor do I think any of the religions of today are right about it . But maybe it’s a spiritual world of some sort ? This imo is just wishful thinking on my part but ya never know . Also what do you think are the odds of rebirth ? Reancarntion ? I don’t think here needs to be a god for this to be a possibility. Your thoughts ?
The same bush flowers many times over its duration. Don’t know about anything else but that is empirical and predictable. Using a little imagination the idea of cyclic existence can be extended to other forms of life; the life of a being the equivalent to a fruit on a tree. Simple and beautiful and humbling.
The human mind often needs a hope of this world, seeks an illusion for there to be a chance after death. Particularly I do not want to know if there is life after death, I want to live very well in the only life I know I still have. And what I can leave for my future generation.
I believe we exist in a universe of opposites. Happy/sad, short/tall, day/night, hot/cold, good/evil, birth/death etc. therefore in keeping with this observation, the very fact that we exist must mean the opposite is also true; non-existence. Nothing would grant me greater pleasure than to believe in an afterlife and a reunion with all of the loved ones who preceded me in passing. However, based upon my empirical observations, I cannot. I have often wondered where I was before I was born. Is that not the same place we return to when we die? Non-existence. It’s not the most consoling reply, but the universe is not obligated to conform to our wishes.
I articulate that my one "belief" is that I believe that I am more than the three dimensional being standing in front of you, that there is something in me that transcends the physical universe around us. What that looks like? Don't have a clue...except that it may be a higher dimensional existence.
Atheism or theism doesn't involve a position regarding the continuation of consciousness after death. However, as a skeptic and naturalist, the evidence indicates that consciousness is a process which takes place inside a living brain. As the brain dies, these processes break down and eventually cease. Thoughts, memories, and emotions are not "things" in the same way that fire is not a "thing". When the processes and reactions that cause fire stop, the fire doesn't go anywhere, it just stops. So too with consciousness.
Close to none - the concept on its face is...kind of vain when you think about it. It shows how vain we are as a species; like the idea of an all powerful deity that could stop everything, for...YOU
The beginning of the tv show The Good Place brings this idea up. All the world religions got about 5% correct and some pot head in the 70’s got around 90%. If there is an afterlife, I think the pot heads are going to be correct about what it all entails.
Mote point until you die or some scientist creates a provable way to travel beyond death if such a thing exists. Odds? How can you define odds for something impossible to measure? People die and as far as we can tell are meat. It is all opinion and personal bias. I agree the Christian heaven is not only vain but boring. But the idea of anything that cannot be proven begs a far more relevant question; what does one do without that information. Do they use it to be a better person? Does it drive one to effort and cause that helps themselves and others? I do not know if there is life after death. On our side of things it is reasonable to say no. And if there is another side? I will deal with that one way or another at that point. Or maybe I won't, we all will just stop. That too me is as sad as heaven is boring and vain etc. I love being alive even when I do not. So for me I do not know but I do, like Mulder, want to believe.
I think too many atheist dismiss an afterlife based on shear principle. There is nothing more synonymous with God then afterlife and to accept there is an afterlife would almost be like accepting god. However there is an alternative that is rooted in logic and science. If you take Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 which simply states, we are energy and if you understand the equation, we are alot of energy. Then we look at the first law of thermodynamics which states energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be changed. So maybe there is an afterlife that we can not even begin to comprehend.
I think there may be some left over energy from some people, and none from others. But I don't think it's a "life"..... just residual energy.... because it can't be destroyed.... and some of my s have more than others.
As much as I am non-religious, don't believe in a god or gods and so on I do wonder about reincarnation.
I didn't believe (found it difficult to comprehend) in it when raised as a Hindu but for the last 10 year's I've tapped into these "findings" on YouTube and must these stories are very convincing. How do we dismiss as lies? The last one I listened to was a think Jenny Cowell. I could be wrong about her first name. She remembered her life in Ireland, went there, found her children and reunited them. (They were All estranged as they were separated from each other) All 7 children put in orphanages after her death, except one who stayed with his abusive father. She was in her 30's and her kids more than double her age, oldest one was 72.
... also about the little boy in Scotland, who said he was living on an island called Barra, and the pilot who fought in the war whose plane was taken down and remembered where the plane was taken down.
I'm interested to know what you think about this?