How does your mind deal with the concept of “nothing.” Since we don’t believe in an after life, it’s hard to imagine dying and not existing...
I do ponder on the thought that my energy would be reused and I’d come back as something else, but I’m kinda done with this planet, so that’s not comforting, lol.
It's easy to imagine being dead you ever wake up and forget where you are and how everything was black before you opened your eyes. It's just like that but like sleep you wouldn't realize the time that went by. Also yea I mean sometime I think about if in another life I could be in Japan or somewhere that doesn't have a join me or die cult trying to possess the whole worlds people.
I don't believe you come back as something else per se, or in this personal energy you mention. When I die, the collection of molecules that make up my body will be redistributed. The energy impulses generated by the chemical reactions in my cells will dissipate into the universe. Their contributions to the universe will be far less than a molecule of water would make to all of earth's oceans.
My concern isn't what happens after I die, but what I can do to improve life while I am still around. As far as the effect dying will have on me personally, I don't think I will be any different than I was a century before I was born.
Well if the idea that there is only nothing when you die bothers you, try focusing more on being present with the people in your life that really matter. Build experiences and relationships, so that one day when you stand before the void. You may look back and say my existence had meaning.
We once discussed thoughts of returning to the soil, going to scientific research and freezing.
It might be a lot like the event horizon as described by Steven Hawking's Theory on the energy around black holes the energy basically becomes densified and repurposed. Then there are the other unexplored dimensional influences, we are unable to explore in our current carbon form.
If there was no such thing as nothing, we would be just all crowded together. There would be no space, so nothing is a good thing. I hope that comforts you.
This is one question that I don't understand why people have trouble understanding. It's seems simple to me that when your brain stops working, there will be no more you. It's like the millions of years before you were born. I hear people ask "if you don't believe in heaven, where do you go?". You'll be dead, you won't go anywhere. When a car's engine dies, does that energy go somewhere?
Sure your chemistry will eventually help the grass grow, but that's about it. I have no trouble with that.
It's a lot like how things were for me in 1870.
It's something that I can understand well enough rationally, but emotionally, I don't at all like the idea of not existing. I guess it just goes in the bin with all the other things I don't like. I do like to promote the idea of longevity research à la Kurzweil.
I saw a story of a very young boy who claimed a past life. He had a birth mark similar to an axe wound on the back of his head. Supposedly he located where his body was buried. Identified his killer which resulted in a murder conviction. The recovered body had a massive axe wound to head. I take these stories with a grain of salt, but who knows? I sure don't. My common sense tells me it's most likely lights out. But I do find these kind of claims very interesting.
I am going to admit something. Sometimes I wish that there was strong scientific evidence of a "spirit"/"soul"/"conscious thinking essence" or something else that survives death. I am not scared of death or that there will be something unpleasant waiting for me. I do find it rather sad that this may be the only one that were guaranteed of and once it's over, it's over forever.
I don't think it's possible to ponder "nothing." And I don't "don't believe" in an afterlife (sorry, I couldn't think of a better way to say it). Everything that we know about "us" happens in the mind, so it makes sense that whatever is "us" would cease to exist if there were no mind to create that. However, we've yet to be able to measure beyond death. So for now, it's the "null" hypothesis, and that's where I am. I accept the "null" hypothesis, but I still wonder what might or might not happen once the mind and body stop functioning.
Ok, just for kicks let's say reincarnation is a reality, and we have had and will have countless moments of existence. It would seem that the conscious mind would immensely be cluttered if it could recall past or future existence. So for me, just because I have know recollection of past or future existence, dismiss this possibility I can not.
You will simply quit thinking - the brain dies, and EVERYTHING that made you "aware" will cease to exist for you. Each person's world dies when they die. You more than likely will not know you are dying (if you're lucky), so the best thing to do is to treat each day as though it's your last... IMHO.