I’m pure atheist however I do think there may be some form of a afterlife . Deffidently not the Christianality version of it or god but perhaps some form of an after life . I don’t think it’s going to be what anybody thinks it is nor do I think any of the religions of today are right about it . But maybe it’s a spiritual world of some sort ? This imo is just wishful thinking on my part but ya never know . Also what do you think are the odds of rebirth ? Reancarntion ? I don’t think here needs to be a god for this to be a possibility. Your thoughts ?
I believe we exist in a universe of opposites. Happy/sad, short/tall, day/night, hot/cold, good/evil, birth/death etc. therefore in keeping with this observation, the very fact that we exist must mean the opposite is also true; non-existence. Nothing would grant me greater pleasure than to believe in an afterlife and a reunion with all of the loved ones who preceded me in passing. However, based upon my empirical observations, I cannot. I have often wondered where I was before I was born. Is that not the same place we return to when we die? Non-existence. It’s not the most consoling reply, but the universe is not obligated to conform to our wishes.
It is hard for us humans to think cosmically but IMO the entire chain of organisms can be considered to be a single entity. Time is an illusion—even quantum gravity theory has it so. The concept of an afterlife makes no sense from a cosmic perspective. There’s just life and we are it—right now and forever more. To put it crudely, we are in heaven right now but lack the awareness to fully appreciate our station.
To yearn for immortality as a separate personality is a futile and foolish quest IMO. The sense of self as a particular body is just an illusion anyway. Some bodies are shared by multiple “selves”, all illusory.
Every second of conscious awareness is a heavenly miracle of staggering proportions!
wow!
As an agnostic I'll answer in a religious manner (lol)....By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.
That ash, that dust for the most part is oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. If you want to think it in a spiritual manner or an "reincarnation" manner, how I look at it is that when I'm gone, that dust will provide for the next tree, the blade of grass, the worms....whatever because it's just a constant circle. What you're made of is not destroyed, it's re-used. The Carbon in you at that atomic level could of been part of a T-Rex many many MANY years ago.
As an atheist, I do not believe in any form of afterlife. However, wanted to share a couple of links here:
Just yesterday, I listened to an interesting conversation on the topic on NPR's 1-A broadcast. You can listen to it here: [the1a.org]
In another post on this forum, I shared a link about people of the Druze sect who believe in reincarnation. You can read it here: [agnostic.com]
PS: There's a reason we all are atheists. We lay very strong emphasis on reasoning and proof. We don't see any of that for the concept of God. In the same way, we don't see any for the concept of Afterlife. Therefore, there is no good reason why someone would believe in one and not the other. Both share the same human motivation -- a desire to explain the complexities of this world with something simple -- but no proof.
I don't believe in any form of afterlife. No heaven, no hell, no reincarnation, no nothing. Death for me is a dreamless sleep for eternity, a one-way trip of our consciousness into oblivion. I believe we are made of matter and energy. Both are eternal, but when we die, they just both scatter away in their separate ways.
I think too many atheist dismiss an afterlife based on shear principle. There is nothing more synonymous with God then afterlife and to accept there is an afterlife would almost be like accepting god. However there is an alternative that is rooted in logic and science. If you take Einstein's famous equation E=mc2 which simply states, we are energy and if you understand the equation, we are alot of energy. Then we look at the first law of thermodynamics which states energy cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be changed. So maybe there is an afterlife that we can not even begin to comprehend.
Atheism or theism doesn't involve a position regarding the continuation of consciousness after death. However, as a skeptic and naturalist, the evidence indicates that consciousness is a process which takes place inside a living brain. As the brain dies, these processes break down and eventually cease. Thoughts, memories, and emotions are not "things" in the same way that fire is not a "thing". When the processes and reactions that cause fire stop, the fire doesn't go anywhere, it just stops. So too with consciousness.
The human mind often needs a hope of this world, seeks an illusion for there to be a chance after death. Particularly I do not want to know if there is life after death, I want to live very well in the only life I know I still have. And what I can leave for my future generation.
Since no one has come back there are no odds. Its a question without an answer. So the real question is what is the value of the idea of a afterlife? I suppose only in its effects on your current life. If it helps you deal in a positive way great. If it is a fear based dogma then it is bad. Odds I would think need a base line of some kind of information. As far as I know there is none.
I believe the default position should be that when the brain dies, the thinking mind stops. Any thoughts, senses, and awareness are all gone. Complete oblivion and we cease to exist. It may seem bleak but that's what I have to go with, unless evidence to the contrary comes along
If you believe in an afterlife, you need to redefine yourself from pure atheist to something else. As an atheist, when you're dead, you're dead. Any other belief, you are something else.
@maturin1919 We are going to have to agree to disagree.
@maturin1919 I'll have to disagree with you also. The umbra of atheism touches on all sorts of religious, mystical and supernatural subjects.
Most atheists, struggling to escape their family religion, find that one endeavor so difficult they rarely venture further. But there is a great deal more in atheism than a consideration of gods.
@HankFox I actually agree with @maturin1919 on this, I think there are a lot of people with atheist beliefs about deities who don’t hold purely scientific materialist beliefs on other aspects of life. It’s very possible to believe in an afterlife while not believing in god or gods.
@maturin1919 You haven't really thought about it. There's a HELL of a lot more in this box than mere disbelief in gods. And I'm not talking about feminism or social justice causes.
@maturin1919 Eventually, I'll have a book on the subject, explaining some new ideas. I expect you to me my relentless enemy.