which is more comforting: void or afterlife?

would you rather have:

  • Total voters
    38
JGirl said:
i like to believe i am eternal
if you find yourself intimidated by the terms eternity and forever, it's probably because you are thinking of them as units of time. so you think, omg what will i do for all eternity?
i see them as states of being. i think time is only important to us as mortals
Click to expand...

my life is powered by self development.
i cant see it possible to develop oneself forever without reaching an end, and if memory doesnt allow sustainable development, then all is in vain and only reach worthy state would be what infp's long for, equanimity through easiness of of enjoyable imagination.

thus, life would just be a never ending theater. suddenly, if you add an end to the theater, life seems pointful.
 
My views don't really coincide with either of those options.

When afterlife is mentioned my mind automatically shoots to "heaven/hell" type scenarios, and I absolutely do not believe in such a thing. But nor do I believe that there is just void nothingness after death.
 
[MENTION=5160]Vilku[/MENTION]
my life is powered by self development.
i cant see it possible to develop oneself forever without reaching an end
Click to expand...

no disrespect, but this is rather limiting i would say. there is no limit in eternity. therefore there would be no limit to self development, only perhaps your perception of what development is.
 
Jill Hives said:
My views don't really coincide with either of those options.

When afterlife is mentioned my mind automatically shoots to "heaven/hell" type scenarios, and I absolutely do not believe in such a thing. But nor do I believe that there is just void nothingness after death.
Click to expand...

mh yeh, stereotyping words meanings according others.. ughf. is just horrible i know. (esp when the context is decided by yourselves as i cant communicate it so efficiently here.)
i think afterlife as in star wars, the force which binds universe together.

yep bible must have been a wonerful story at the primitive times, but now we actually understand the concepts a bit better.
its best define everything yourself.

JGirl said:
[MENTION=5160]Vilku[/MENTION]


no disrespect, but this is rather limiting i would say. there is no limit in eternity. therefore there would be no limit to self development, only perhaps your perception of what development is.
Click to expand...

create a view of perfect. attain it, only to realize the eternal quality doesnt allow the stopping of time, now you spend eternity feebly trying to stay in that state.

thats not perfect to me, thus perfecy is unattainable if time = unlimited, and seems little point in life which you cant end.
i would love the kind of world where im god, but eventually id get bored when i understand im just repeating myself in an unlimited loop.

thus void seems quite comforting, but im actually thinking of becoming a jedi.

the unlimited nature exactly is what makes eternity seem quite pointless way of living, i want an end at some point to ensure im not just repeating myself.
 
The idea of a sort of Christian afterlife with all kinds of judgment and politics and wrath terrifies me endlessly-- I guess I'm lucky that it's fiction. And I don't know what void is but that seems pretty dark and nihilistic.

I like the Buddhist (I think) idea that you never actually were and the very idea of there ever having been a you is only an illusion cooked up by your mind in conjunction with your ego. I think your body and your stuff is going to go, but the ideas and emotions and impulses are pretty much common in everyone and nothing is so wholly original as to be permanently lost just because one body decomposes.

So yeah, it's not really a fair question because it sort of assumes that people are only their egos and are wholly impermanent instead of a bunch of eternal impulses and ideas and actions collected together and then broken apart. I don't think that death is some lonely isolated experience where you're forced to go to some other place or you exist in some other state-- if anything, it's the end of isolation and all in all a relatively minor event.
 
If I kill myself: void. Rest + no consequences.

Otherwise: afterlife.
 
Apone said:
The idea of a sort of Christian afterlife with all kinds of judgment and politics and wrath terrifies me endlessly-- I guess I'm lucky that it's fiction. And I don't know what void is but that seems pretty dark and nihilistic.

I like the Buddhist (I think) idea that you never actually were and the very idea of there ever having been a you is only an illusion cooked up by your mind in conjunction with your ego. I think your body and your stuff is going to go, but the ideas and emotions and impulses are pretty much common in everyone and nothing is so wholly original as to be permanently lost just because one body decomposes.

So yeah, it's not really a fair question because it sort of assumes that people are only their egos and are wholly impermanent instead of a bunch of eternal impulses and ideas and actions collected together and then broken apart. I don't think that death is some lonely isolated experience where you're forced to go to some other place or you exist in some other state-- if anything, it's the end of isolation and all in all a relatively minor event.
Click to expand...

well, i made the mistake of assuming others would define what it means by themselves as i do.
but hey, im a jedi now!
=D
yes the force binding all together is very similar as in buddhism but with the twist of modern culture instead of old and science/psychology playing a high role as its all about self development + curing the world + bein selfless = all i naturally am .. xD!
perfect religion for me.
and yes thats what afterlife means to me, the binding force but many think otherwise due to christian popularity.
 
dont we like a challenge?

a challenge affords us the opportunity to learn.

perhaps what we would consider to be 'comforting' is over rated.

we get to experience all of this life. why would we go through all the trouble if 'void' was the end result?

can we even perceive a void?

to go back to the void would be us losing our conscious awareness. let me know if you have a different idea of what 'void' even is.

afterlife makes sense.

our experience in this existence is limited to a degree, but we always have a choice

perhaps all that we understand must be limited for our own benefit. within this form we cannot comprehend the infinite. we are bound to time.

could be that our consciousness is evolving in the existence, developing within the womb of a greater being.

an apple seed contains all the information needed to create an apple tree.

on a grander scale, why wouldnt this life give birth to another life?

i suppose if you dont care about the afterlife and you'd rather experience nothing, that is probably what you will get.

millions of sperm go out on a mission... only one of them will penetrate that egg.

there are so many layers to the existence...

but it must all be contained in One

of this One which we come from, I am convinced.

fun topic!
 
Afterlife.

The idea that this life is all there is is pretty lousy. Why should we have imaginations and be able to imagine something greater and far better than this life? If the answer is simply "evolution and the universe are cruel," then I'll go ahead and blow my brains out rather than lying to myself like existentialists do with their whole "man creates meaning in his life" charade.

Anyway, I think people misunderstand what the afterlife is probably like. We use words like "eternity," but I'm pretty sure it's more like an eternal now--if that doesn't make sense, it's because we (myself included) can conceive what it's like to live outside time. If anyone's read the book Flatland, it would be a bit like the 2-dimensional square being plucked out of his plane into the world of three dimensions--an utterly novel experience that we could have never imagined, or even imagined imagining.

Finally, I'm of the opinion that whoever we were in life ends up dictating who we will always be in the afterlife. There's no fire or demonic torment, or clouds and harps; instead, there is an eternity to spend with your own choices and a clear understanding of their outcomes on yourself and others. If you made bad ones and were thus self-centered, you are a blind, deaf, mute soul, totally wrapped up into yourself. If you made good ones, you have a close connection with other living things and people and (probably) a higher power.

Just my $0.02.
 
Either the void or afterlife are comforting.
The void sounds very peaceful and the afterlife sparkles with potential and possibilities.
However if I choose to believe in the void then I would have to accept that Im not sane, as I have seen too much that I cant explain without believing in an afterlife.

Here are some quotes from 'Seth'. Im sorry if these quotes offends anyone, it is not may intention. Everone is entitled to their own beliefs

Seth-
Click to expand...
 
Afterlife. If I am chosen to enjoy eternal life in Heaven, it will be a joy. If I'm damned, then I will burn and be gone forever in which case it won't matter either. (Hell is not an eternal entity, it is a non-existence.)
 
Why should I think about which would be more comforting if I think that both are wrong? :)

Reincarnation [x]
 
myself said:
we get to experience all of this life. why would we go through all the trouble if 'void' was the end result?
Click to expand...

if something else gave you purpose rather than yourself, how would that be any more significant?
i dont see difference in the worth of life whether its a random anomaly whch just occured or created with divine purpose.
both the same, whats the difference?

its life, whatever form, whatever end.

except in the latter your perhaps not free.
 
Vilku said:
if something else gave you purpose rather than yourself, how would that be any more significant?
i dont see difference in the worth of life whether its a random anomaly whch just occured or created with divine purpose.
both the same, whats the difference?

its life, whatever form, whatever end.

except in the latter your perhaps not free.
Click to expand...


Random anomaly is not the nature of reality.

actions have consequences.

we reap what we sow.

Truth liberates, it does not enslave.

Our opinions do not change Truth.
 
I can imagine a void easier than I can an afterlife, but because I don't believe this is my first and only time on earth, I'm inclined to extend that logic to the future as I do to the past.

I don't know what's true or what to believe, really... but I would feel frightened by the idea of this being my only lifetime and nothing afterwards. Eternity is likewise an overwhelming thought, but I feel comforted by the idea that I am a part of something larger and that this (mortal life) isn't the best there is, or that this isn't the most insight and understanding I will have into life and the universe and the complexities they entail. And maybe I'm a bit narcissistic, as the part of me that is my ego wants to be indulged and find out what this (my current life) is for and to understand myself from a farther vantage point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top