Newsweek Declares that Heaven is Real!

[_Quasimodo]

Why do you want there to be an afterlife?

Not to be self-loathing, but do you really want to live forever? I think people are more afraid of death than wanting to consciously exist forever. You'll never get over the fear of death as long as you live. Death and us being finite is what makes birth and the time we have to enjoy life beautiful. After 100 years with half of it your body aching all over, I think we'll be happy and ready to clear out and let the next generation have its shot.

That's a good question, Harold.

For me it's not a question of what I want. It's more a question of what is true. I would very much like to know what is true. Whether an existence beyond death or a peaceful nothingness. I'll except either.

[_just me]

I don't want to die OR live forever. *shrug*

[_Cicero]

I don't want to die OR live forever. *shrug*

ditto

[_Quasimodo]

I don't want to die OR live forever. *shrug*

The way I see it, you just can't win.

At night, when you are sleeping, you experience both. Times when you are dreaming (what does that really mean?) you create whole new worlds in your mind that you react and relate to. Realities that your subconscious controls that can take you anywhere.

At other times in your sleep your subconscious is on shut down and you experience nothingness.

You've been to both. Neither will be a surprise at death.

[_just me]

I don't want to die OR live forever. *shrug*

The way I see it, you just can't win.

At night, when you are sleeping, you experience both. Times when you are dreaming (what does that really mean?) you create whole new worlds in your mind that you react and relate to. Realities that your subconscious controls that can take you anywhere.

At other times in your sleep your subconscious is on shut down and you experience nothingness.

You've been to both. Neither will be a surprise at death.

Eternal sleep sounds perfect!

[_RayAgostini]

That's a good question, Harold.

For me it's not a question of what I want. It's more a question of what is true. I would very much like to know what is true. Whether an existence beyond death or a peaceful nothingness. I'll except either.

That's pretty much where I stand too. People think that when I do posts like these that I have some kind of "ulterior motive" or "belief", that I want it "to be true". While I'm quite sure that was my motive at times in the past, age and experience have given me very different perspectives. And actually, the prospect of continuing to exist is more daunting than ceasing to exist forever, because if the latter is true, you won't even know you existed! But if the former is true that opens all kinds of possibilities, including bad ones.

Overall, so far (I'm 58) I can say I've enjoyed most of my "earth life", and I tend to look back on the positives rather than the negatives, and like to reminisce on the "good times". But to do something like this all over again? I'd rather be dead for eternity.

If I did wish for a continuing existence, I'd hope that this one ("earth life") was only something like learning to ride a three-wheeler, and the future holds something like riding a Saturn 5 rocket into space. And if there's some kind of progression, so that the next "experience" is better than this one, more educational, more intelligent, etc., then I might wish for it. But as things stand, I only try to evaluate what the possibilities might be (as Quas says, "the facts" we have from research and experiences to date), not what I "know as a fact", so I at least try to keep informed, with the proverbial "open mind".

International Association for Near Death Studies.

[_Quasimodo]

Eternal sleep sounds perfect!

Lets play another game. Daydreams.

Visualize that you're standing at the shore of a quiet lake in the mountains. 5,000 feet above you is a mountain peak. An arduous trail leads to the top, but you don't have to hike that trail (it's a daydream). You can just spread your arms and fly above the pines to the top. Once on top you can see hundreds of mountain peaks, lakes and valleys.

Of course, all this is in your imagination, but what does that really mean? You are creating whole worlds in your mind.

[_Quasimodo]

That's pretty much where I stand too. People think that when I do posts like these that I have some kind of "ulterior motive" or "belief", that I want it "to be true". While I'm quite sure that was my motive at times in the past, age and experience have given me very different perspectives. And actually, the prospect of continuing to exist is more daunting than ceasing to exist forever, because if the latter is true, you won't even know you existed! But if the former is true that opens all kinds of possibilities, including bad ones.

Overall, so far (I'm 58) I can say I've enjoyed most of my "earth life", and I tend to look back on the positives rather than the negatives, and like to reminisce on the "good times". But to do something like this all over again? I'd rather be dead for eternity.

If I did wish for a continuing existence, I'd hope that this one ("earth life") was only something like learning to ride a three-wheeler, and the future holds something like riding a Saturn 5 rocket into space. And if there's some kind of progression, so that the next "experience" is better than this one, more educational, more intelligent, etc., then I might wish for it. But as things stand, I only try to evaluate what the possibilities might be (as Quas says, "the facts" we have from research and experiences to date), not what I "know as a fact", so I at least try to keep informed, with the proverbial "open mind".

International Association for Near Death Studies.

I'm just a smidgen older than you Harold and I have a full appreciation of the aches and pains that go along with that age.

I have a knee that hurts like hell at times. I tore all the ligaments skiing about fifteen years ago. I have skied since I was twelve, but age and overconfidence finally caught up with me. Even though it aches often, I wouldn't trade it for all the years of pure joy I had skiing.

I'm trying to age gracefully, but I've never been graceful at anything. We'll see how that goes.

[_ludwigm]

Overall, so far (I'm 58) I can say I've enjoyed most of my "earth life"

I'm just a smidgen older than you Harold and I have a full appreciation of the aches and pains that go along with that age.

I am 67.

A joke (true...):
If one of this age wakes up at morning, and no pain - then he/she is dead.

And something serious - to the topic:
From too much love of living,
_ From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
_ Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
_ Winds somewhere safe to sea.
(The Garden of Proserpine - by A. C. Swinburne)

[_moksha]

great story, I believe the good doctor. I have long left the idea of materialism behind. To each their own. I do not judge those who reject these possibilities.

Excellent point Lostindc. If other see the universe as only a patterned collection of atoms, we need not judge their microscopic perspective.