This is my only issue with claiming atheism, and it's why I am an agnostic. Such positivity in the unknown is so arrogant. With something like this, you can have some evidence to support your belief, but it's not closer to definitively proving your point. Accusing agnostics of taking the easy way out or being wishy washy for not claiming a side is also small minded, but I digress.

Saying that we didn't exist before birth and have no memory of it is like saying a computer has no memory of it's previous life where it worked for 90 years and then had it's entire hard drive wiped clean through a reformat and shows no signs of ever working before then. We don't have the knowledge or the perception to know about those mechanisms as it pertains to our own consciousness and existence. If it was a system of reincarnation, and I'm not saying that it is, then wouldn't the best system be one where you don't have any memory? There are more issues with that, but that's a much longer conversation we can get in to. We can have whatever beliefs we want about this, but the fact is that we just don't know for sure. If there is more to after "death", and if the system works as it should, then we will probably never know the answer. There is so much we don't know and throwing out terms like forever is another example of us not even being able to really comprehend what that could mean. We think the space in our own universe goes on forever, but it's just belief.

Theoretically and/or technically, you don't have to "have a body" to exist. You can just be a consciousness with a very persistent illusion of having a solid body and solid things around you. This is not to say "feeling" something of an action towards you such as someone punching you in the face or you stubbing your toe is "proof" of having a solid state. Whatever is "programmed" is "real" and if you are programmed to feel pain when a certain something happens then it's still part of the system. I'm not a computer programmer or an expert in that field (I took a couple of college classes), but there are conditions in which programs must obey commands. Just like when you program a computer, the code has conditions such as "if a then b" etc (if someone knows about programming then please either expand or correct me). So it might be like, "If punched in the face, then feel pain" etc. A computer or program doesn't really have a way of proving if it's real or not. To them it probably seems real. They are carrying out their function. The command is carried out and they can't prove that Jim from MIT programmed that code in them, no more than we can prove or disprove that there is a God that did the same to us. Do we know if the programs in our computers think they have solid states or just consciousnesses?

This is why I love shows like Westworld (tv show about reality and consciousness in humans and robots). Here's a quote from the show: "If you can't tell, does it matter?", on whether or not we're real.

Everything mentioned on this topic so far is just philosophy, and we really know a tiny tiny amount of what is probably known as our "reality".

You could be right, but you could also be extremely wrong too.

I also think it's extremely important to be able to differentiate between religion and these thoughts of an "afterlife". They aren't mutually exclusive. It just seems that way because of so much indoctrination over centuries. If you believe there could possibly be something after this it doesn't mean you are religious. It might mean you're agnostic or of some other state of mind.

Your conciousness dies with your body and you end up rotting in the ground unless you're creamated.

I can't understand the fact that people have a hard time believing that life ends at death. Nobody has memories of before they were born, but when you tell them you don't believe in an afterlife, they'll say things like "then where do we go?". What do they mean by that? We'll be dead, not on vacation. I think if you have a hard time understanding death, you just aren't trying very hard.

Well, having just lost my 46 yo hubby suddenly, it's very sad. I almost wish I believed he was here in spirit, I know he is not.
His ashes are in a box in my closet right now cause it's too hard to deal with at this point in time. Hasn't been very long.
We had a turbulent relationship and we're separated more than together the last 6 months of his life. But were together for almost 20 years. It's such a crazy story, even hard for me to believe.

I think the sense of self as a body is an illusion. When we die we lose nothing. You can’t lose what you never had. The entire physical realm of our perception is an illusion, but beneath the constantly changing material world there is a higher reality. In that reality time does not exist and there are no “things”.

In Homer Hickam’s true book, “The Rocket Boys”, he tells of asking his small town preacher what happens when we die. The answer amazed and delighted me. “Can you handle the truth? As long as anyone is alive we are all alive.”

I think of it like this, if a four-dimensional sphere entered our three dimensional space it would appear to be a tiny marble that came out of nowhere expanding until it reached its largest size then receding again into nothingness. Yet it always exists in 4 dimensions but only perceived by us while in our three dimensions. Life maybe like this linked to a higher dimension so when our three-dimensional body fails are 4th dimensional consciousness takes over. Thus an afterlife. This is unlikely but not out of the realm of possibility. I can deal with unlikely. It is remote but I enjoy every day I get here and maybe there is more. If not, no harm, no foul. I am not building a religion on this idea.

Actually it brings me great comfort knowing that I will be non existent when I die. I won’t know I existed in the first place . No memories , no recollection , just absolute nothingness. I’m overjoyed seeing my friends and loved ones here now among the living . That’s enough for me .

Since I never been Dead... How the Fuck will I know?

Something I just read.

[healthy-holistic-living.com]

The thing is, this isn't exactly news. For me, The Law of Conservation of Energy makes perfect sense. It states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; energy can only be transferred or changed from one form to another.

In my opinion, the expression "for all eternity and beyond", is woo woo, and is used to try and form a readers opinion, as opposed to presenting the facts to be considered without any spin.
I don't think that JimiYugo had any intention to manipulate anyone, just my version of proofreading.

It doesn't bother me one bit.
It doesn't make me sad, mad, or any other damned thing.
I have no issue with nothingness. I'm also perfectly fine with this life
being the only one I get. I fail to see why this should cause people so
much angst. I really don't get it at all. Just be glad you're here while you're
here, and don't worry about what you have no control over.
Too many humans make things far more complicated than they need to be.
Such an unbelievable waste of time.

UPDATE: I've made changes to the following text:

'Realizing this and thinking about it just for a moment quickly brings about a feeling of indescribable sadness, imagining that we will never again see our loved ones, and makes the reason for the desire for more life, the afterlife, quite obvious. Hence, God.

What are your thoughts on this? How do you cope with the realization that this life is all there is, and all that there will ever be, for all eternity and beyond?'

Flora and fauna get to eat my remains.

I'm fine with it. We all get our alloted time, and then ... "poof" !

Most of us will be quickly forgotten and after few generations completely erased from existance. No one remembers the grand grand grand whatever anyway. Few exceptions I can think of...the likes of Galileo, Newton, Einstein and the freaking awesome Beatles. Those will live forever after death

I really don't "deal with it" anymore, it is really just a matter of letting go of expectations and stopping the constant denial of my own mortality. Life is what it is, not what I wish it was. We are what we are, not what we wish we were. And the reality is that when we don't try to be something we're not (immortal) and instead deal in reality, reality isn't so bad actually. People have been told from the cradle that they can't handle bare-metal reality. But if you are willing to admit you're a mortal being with limited intellectual and sensory equipment, you can then realize you have correspondingly modest needs.

Sometimes I joke that at my age, just taking a good dump is all the accomplishment I really care about in a given day. Today I finally got around to exchanging a phone at the store, and investigating a TV we're considering buying, I had a meeting with my subcontractor that went well, and got some milestones accomplished at work. This is such a cornucopia of goodness if you're willing to see it as such, that you can become so easily amused that you don't need to understand the meaning of life, and save a damsel in distress every day to feel adequate.

My late wife died in our home last Sept.13th,after a battle with aggressive lung cancer,as the burial was almost $4K,my stepson and I donated her body to science and the cremated remains sent back,ashes we scattered in much of the backyard. She just got gradually weaker at home after Radiation and then Chemotherapy,after her last fall and hospitization,the Doctors said "We cannot help you anymore"(go home and die).So Sept 13,2017 she just closed her eyes and slipped away...... We were never religious but the Hospice care people did provide a Minister for comfort.....

I didn't exist as myself before I was conceived and born. I won't exist as myself after I'm dead and cremated. Before I was born, I only existed in the abstract, like in the imaginations and hopes of my parents. After I'm dead, I'll only exist in the abstract, like in the memories of my loved ones and anyone else I may have affected by my living.

So, the hope is that while I'm enjoying my life, I'll leave the world and the people in it somehow better in exchange for taking up space on this beautiful planet.

I need no belief in gods to live a good life, and to realize that what I do with my limited time, in this form I call me, does matter to those around me. Help when I can to be a positive participant in this colony of humans, plants, animals.

My reward is happiness with a life well spent, which is what I feel is what is meant by "heaven" in contrast to the penalty of feeling I wasted my life creating pain for others, which would put me into a "hell" of self guilt and being hated by others. Those are natural consequences for the way we live our lives, in my opinion.

What happens after death? I disagree with with your answer being an obvious truth. I believe you are right and I see no reason to believe otherwise, but still the correct answer is "I don't know". A fact is something that is objective, something that can be verified. The answer to this can't be verified, so we shouldn't call it a fact until we actually can.
Having a strong foundation for your believes means often not accepting what seems obvious at first. I think quantum mechanics should have taught us that lesson. I'm not into pseudo-scientific woo but I'm also not a fan of making claims that can't be justified except by saying "it's obvious". That's what religious people do and we should strive to be better than them.

It's simple, even if we don't fully understand it. I suppose our conscious ceases to exist, but we will always exist in one form or another. We are part of the universe. I'd be interested to see how my atoms continue on without me. Idle wishes...

Ummm, if you are dead, you will not care, so why waste a moment of precious Life on it?!

i have no comforting beliefs regarding this, no stored energy, no soul, no reincarnation, no heaven, no hell. life is temporary. deal with it? what choice have i got? it is what it is.

g

To me this is quite easy. Any energy that is stored within our body will be returned to the earth upon our death. This in turn is used to fuel new growth. It’s the circle of life... no more, no less. All the mystical nonsense is because people fear death. Death is as much of a part of life as birth is.

Although I can't verify it , I have read of people who come up with information and can ( supposedly ) even speak in a language they did not know in their current life . They do claim to believe in reincarnation .