Afterlife (Endings)

by BBella , Monday, January 14, 2013, 06:51 (4330 days ago) @ dhw

my atheist self points out that humans, because of their extreme awareness, need explanations for things they do not understand, and need reassurance in a world full of unknown dangers, suffering, and the knowledge that eventually they will die. -I agree, there are many that do have (and have had) these ideas and needs. I was one of those people. ->as science demolishes the myths and false explanations, our more "sophisticated" religions have to change, and ultimately to seek refuge in whatever remains unexplained.-A lot of mainstream religions these days are changing into more esoteric religions that, I think, are more like self-help groups than religions (which I have no problem with). Maybe it is for this very reason you state - science. 
 
>"but"...the theory that all these mysteries can be solved by an even greater mystery ... a form of eternally existing intelligence...is mindful of tiny specks like us ... is far, far beyond the reach of my intellect and imagination, and I have no intuition that tells me it must be there, let alone interested in us. -Because of my own personal experiences I do believe there is something more than meets the eye. I don't know what. But because of others experiences I believe that the possibility weighs more heavily on the side of another dimension/side ( to the unseen) of life as we know it. I have, and millions of people have as well, experienced what they feel could only be a caring or mindful eye watching over them at a certain or crucial time in their life. This is why I say, faith and belief, for the most part, are more about experience than knowing. ->If I told you that the sun was a conscious being, would you believe me? If not, why not? (Billions of people throughout history HAVE believed it.)-Odd you should ask. Once, when I smoked marijuana, I was guided (thru a wormhole I would call them) to understand that the sun was living being. So, I wouldn't say I believe it but I wouldn't discount it either. Nothing is impossible. -> You wrote: [...] "if you haven't already realized it, the kind of answers to these kind of questions (God, the afterlife, etc) can only be truly answered or understood through personal experience." I think that is right. And we always come back to subjectivity ... we are for the most part trapped within ourselves, with hopelessly limited vision and understanding. -Trapped within a subjective mind (and body) with hopelessly limited vision and understanding, is obviously the way it is meant to be as that is the way it is, for us all. And many (I was one), have felt this limitation as a curse or maybe better said, as a deficiency for the natural mind as if something is hidden that should be known. For me, my own personal limitations drove me to a loneliness (even surrounded by a loving family) that so many others have been driven to as well, because of these very limitations. And desperate to step beyond the pale of these limitations (out of the trap) just to know that one more piece to the puzzle, to ease the feeling of being trapped - coincidentally (or not) - that one piece of the puzzle appears before us, and the mind finds a way. It is at this breaking point, as Keanu Reeves said in the movie remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still, "Only at the precipice do we evolve." This is what I mean by our beliefs as well as our faith, for many of us, isn't determined by what we know or see or have been taught. It's that which was unknown and unseen before but at just the right moment appears and guides our way. Whatever it is that happens in the mind when pushed to the edge, whatever it is you see over the edge, determines how you will think thereafter. And, of course, no one cares then about a scientific explanation. -> BBella: I would like to ask you what kind of an afterlife (saying there is one) would make sense to you?
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> I'm afraid it's the same problem as what kind I would like! It would only make sense if I kept my identity and was able to meet up with people I knew (preferably those I loved!) ... but (the key question) what would an eternal self living eternally with other eternal selves do throughout eternity? If you lose yourself, you might as well be dead. And the option you once offered of choosing to return to earthly life would only make sense if I knew I was myself (some people do claim to remember their previous lives, but I certainly don't). Does a cycle of being me and then not knowing I am me make sense? Eternal death makes sense, but of course that does not constitute an afterlife!-If there is an afterlife, and if, as I would like it, and what makes sense to me, we do keep our main identity throughout (only leaving it behind temporarily as we choose to visit different places/dimensions/times) and we do meet up with loved ones ( as NDE'rs have said they have experienced) in our main "down" times, I would think by now, since eternity is a long darn time, that many places and times and things to do and experience would have been created and are still being created. Even time itself may be something only experienced on places like Earth. Eternal death makes absolutely no sense to me now, but if it is so, I have no problem with it being so, especially after I am gone.