Not a religious question although religion is the answer for some. There are thoughts and answers on this other than the religious ones.

Life after death? Yes or no?

If I had to give my best, very uneducated guess, I would say no. I really have no idea, although I bet this gets moved to Pol/Sci/Rel.

The Buddhist answer is a bit complicated, but basically the answer is "no."

Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation, but we do believe in rebirth, which is slightly different. When unenlightened beings die, their unskillful tendencies are reborn in the body of another being. So by being a jerk, you cause your jerkyness to be reborn in another being. It's not "you" really, but you caused it, and it inherits your jackassery. You're not born again in a different body - by living an unenlightened life and then dying, you induce your karma to be reborn in another body.

When an enlightened being dies (a Buddha, or someone who became enlightened by practicing the teachings of a Buddha), that person's life is absolutely, positively extinguished. Becoming enlightened means getting rid of all your rigid cravings and desires that cause rebirth. To become enlightened is not a process of being something more than what you are...it's a process of becoming less than what you are.

I tend to doubt it but either way that's one question we all get to have answered eventually.

I, for one, hope I come back as Bukdow.

I don't believe in Heaven or Hell. I believe in reincarnation/rebirth or that we just rot in the ground (leaning towards the latter).

we're worm food, IMO

Not if we get cremated (which I plan on doing)!

Everyone talks about an afterlife like it would be a good thing. It sounds horrible to me.

I'm content with there being "nothingness".

I'd go on but I don't want to offend anyone...

I'd go on but I don't want to offend anyone...


Why not?

I'm not worried about what happens to me after I die. There's no "me" while I'm still alive! Identity is all an illusion anyway.

Why not?

Well, I just think people who believe in an afterlife are people who, for the most part, aren't content with there being just nothingness after you die.

Maybe I'm just content because I haven't done shit in this life.

You SOB, you made me do it.

I bet there isn't more to the story

purple = reverse psychology

Tell ya what. Zekyl will kill himself and if he doesn't report back we will conclude there is no afterlife. K?

I got dibs on his ex. You guys can have srt4b's, that bitch.

I was raised Christian but it never really worked for me. I wish it would have, I guess, but it didn't. I think we're done after this life.

A couple of my buds are Jewish, another a Buhdist, and maybe its just the circles I run in, but none of them are too into it.

Summing them up, its always seems to be such a stretch to believe that this happened and that happened, when in our lifetimes, nothing really miraculous has happened to make anyone believe. I guess thats what faith is all about. But it never really grabbed me.

My mom is a Christian but I was never raised in a religious household (if that makes sense). God was never talked about, we never prayed, never went to Church, etc.

I was raised Christian but it never really worked for me. I wish it would have, I guess, but it didn't. I think we're done after this life.

A couple of my buds are Jewish, another a Buhdist, and maybe its just the circles I run in, but none of them are too into it.

Summing them up, its always seems to be such a stretch to believe that this happened and that happened, when in our lifetimes, nothing really miraculous has happened to make anyone believe. I guess thats what faith is all about. But it never really grabbed me.
To me, "faith" means being confident in the things you know. It's not about pretending to believe things that don't seem plausible. You can't simply choose to believe something, if you're just not convinced. And the idea that we live once in this world, and then go on to spend an eternity somewhere else, just seems really implausible.

I'm actually pretty surprised by the number of people here who don't believe in an afterlife. In my experience, people who are raised in the USA with only the tiniest little bit of exposure to Christianity still have a hard time envisioning a universe without Heaven.

This thread was meant to have a poll.

Tahoe?

I'm actually pretty surprised by the number of people here who don't believe in an afterlife. In my experience, people who are raised in the USA with only the tiniest little bit of exposure to Christianity still have a hard time envisioning a universe without Heaven.

I was really young when that stuff stopped making sense to me. It's weird.

Or I really didn't give a shit since I wasn't raised that way (even with a Christian parent).

This thread was meant to have a poll.

Tahoe?

I should have. They don't get much easier than 'yes' or 'no', but I'm sooooo busy with those shuttle updates.

Nah, it's not as simple as "Yes" or "No" when it comes to these things. You need an "I don't know" option as well.

Swam, its not that I don't hope that there is. I try to live my life as a decent human being. I fuck up, but usually feel bad if I do, so I do have some sort of a conscience. Hopefully all that helps.

I guess I'm sort of agnostic, but if there is no Supreme being, I don't see anything that points to an afterlife.

http://www.near-death.com/

Interesting site I like to read through late at night when I have nothing to do.

http://www.WTFDetroit.com/

Interesting site I like to read through late at night when I have nothing to do.

WTFDetroit is what I do all day, not just late at night. You know that!

I got dibs on his ex. You guys can have srt4b's, that bitch.
Which one?

I'm somewhere between Deist and Buddhist. I love the buddhist ideals, but I don't know enough about it. If there was a center (not sure what they call them, but their version of a church or mosque) around here that I knew about (here being Toledo), I would most definitely go to learn more. The only reason that the deism is in there is because I was raised in a Christian household and its hard to shake that "there must be SOMETHING, whether it cares or not" mind-set. Slowly been happening though, as I went from "christian" to "there's probably something there, but I don't think it really cares all that much and I don't worship it".

As to afterlife, I definitely have my doubts. Its possible, but I'm leaning towards no. I lean towards what Swami said.

Rebirth?

Can rebirth/reincarnation really be considered an "afterlife"?

My doctor talked to me about Buddhism when I went for personal issues. Total geek, but Buddhism has always fascinated me. It's always really been the only "religion" I've connected with.

Of course, I don't share

Learn about the different flavors of Buddhism, if you want. People live their lives quite differently depending on the flavor they like. I'm Theravada, which is very traditional and ancient and involves lots of analytical philosophy and less of the trappings of traditional religion. Most Chinese Buddhists are Pure Land, and that's almost identical to Christianity in many ways.

Eh, I'll get into the different "flavors" at another time. I've pretty much only cared about learning about the "basic" stuff like the Five Precepts, the Noble Eightfold Path, etc.

That's all that really matters anyway. You may want to check out "What The Buddha Taught" by Venerable Walpola Rahula, it gives a really well-rounded introduction to Buddhist basics.

EDIT: all this is beside the point anyway. My whole belief about life after death can be summed up as: Much good can be accomplished in the life of a living human being. Not much else really matters that much.

I believe in Heaven. I've experienced too many wierd concidences in my life to change my mind about that. Even if there is not, at least believing my actions in life translate into the afterlife is important. It makes me a better person.

^ Which I'm all for.

^^Wouldn't that be... "For which I am all"?

chris, not to invade, but would you mind sharing some of these experiences? If not, that's cool.

^^Wouldn't that be... "For which I am all"?

I dunno, lol. I'm all for him for doing/believing whatever to make him a better person.

This thread is brought to you by The Foundation for a Better Life

^^Wouldn't that be... "For which I am all"?

chris, not to invade, but would you mind sharing some of these experiences? If not, that's cool.

Just wierd stuff, like dead reletives trying to contact you and show you the way. Things like that. One example:

My wife's father (Lance) died of a heart attack about 6 months ago. We had been debating to move to Denver at the time. We did finally move here in October last year. Not too long after, my wife was having a bad day and really missing her dad. I told her he's still with her (but of course she felt like it wasn't the same). We passed a hospital on the way home and the "Ambulance" sign had the letters "Ambu" blacked out and only "LANCE" was lit up. I didn't say anything and kept driving home. But when we got home my wife said "something wierd happened on the way home" and I said "you saw the sign too, huh?"

Maybe that has nothing to do with heaven, but things like that make you believe that there is life after death, and that our loved ones are watching over us.

I've experienced a few more like that, and heard many more from family.

^^Wouldn't that be... "For which I am all"?

"Ending a sentence with a preposition is a thing up with which I shall not put." - Winston Churchill

This thead is making me think of Star Wars and yoda.

I believe in Heaven. I've experienced too many wierd concidences in my life to change my mind about that. Even if there is not, at least believing my actions in life translate into the afterlife is important. It makes me a better person.

That's hogwash. We've had this misperception of god and heaven for so fucking long now and all it has done is burden people with a whole lot of guilt.
I don't think the purpose of any type of god was so that people would get think about being good so they'd get to go the the Big Candy Store in the Sky.
I've never believed in the dead trying to "contact" us. If they have been, they're awfully bad at it, cuz all they might be leaving us is some sort of half hearted hint that we have to A) Stop and wonder if it was them and B) Wonder about things like half an ambulance being lit up.
If there is this place where the dead are, and it's so great, or they'v eachieved some sort of freedom of their spirit, or they are now aligned with some sort of Super Intelligence, how come they can't just pick up the phone, or text us?
And what's with running around in sheets, popping up in some dark hallway and yelling "BOO"? You came across the dimensions of time and space to make me shit my pants?
And if heaven is so great, what the FUCK are they doing poking around in places like Chattahootchie or Moscow or Detroit for? Didn't they do enough wasting time down here while they were alive?

If there's a heaven, we'll never get there until we can die without ONE regret. Because to regret means that you knew you were fucking up while you were fucking up, but you did nothing to stop fucking up: You just went with it because that's what people do.

There have probably been less than ten people who have truly lived a life that they CHOSE to live by contemplating every decision they made, in ALL the people who have EVER lived on this planet.

The reason we want to believe in life after death is because we KNOW we are wasting this chance at life, yet we do absolutely NOTHING about it. Therefore, we tease ouselves with visions of heaven and hell, of maybe coming back, of 700,000 different religions or philosophies to patronize ourselves, to assuage our knowledge that we have totally fucked up THIS ONE CHANCE; we can't force ourselves to admit that we have blown it here and now, and there is no going back.

Our hope is our children, our history: that is our immortality. That is our heaven. That's why we poke and prod our children to do better than us; that is why we try to provide a better life for them than we had. But in the end, it's all futile.
Just when we are on the verge of figuring anything out, we give in to our hormones, our raging instinct to procreate, to prevent loneliness. Our pathetic need to "share life" with someone else. More often than not, this someone else is someone we never take the time to get to know; we just jumpo into bed with him or her, and the emotional growth of the relationship stops, and our own emotional growth stops. And then it recedes.
You think I'm wrong? Why do more than 50% of us get divorced? Why are we at a point when the fewest marriages in our history reach 25 years? Why are so many children raising themselves and then having babies?
Most of us die without even beginning to live, and yet we speculate about heaven and hell? What "god" would let us into an eternal paradise when we have not even half way figured out how to enjoy life here?
We have been blessed with an intelligenced tha tis beond comprehension. We can think, feel, absorb. We understand our senses, appreciate them. Yet, for the most, MOST part, we live a life that is no better than a cow that grazes in a field and then is slaughtered to feed other beings. We deaden our senses with drugs, alcohol, sex, mindless entertainment. We kill each other for sport. We abuse our children. We elect fools to lead us, complain about them, then do nothing about them. We sacrifice every ounce of spirit and power that we were born with, give it up to someone who we think "completes us" or "has us at hello". We bare children who will, if they are smart, abandon us as soon as they can, and not do anything for us as we reach doddering old age and become more of a burden to them than when we were raising them, because when we were raising them, we had no clue and we FUBAR'd them.

And then, we want to spend our lives wondering about life after death. If we lived while we were alive, that would never even enter our minds. We would die tired, old, expended, exhausted, happy. We would die as Neitsche said we should: If asked "would you do it again, with NO CHANGES?" Our answer would be "YES! Life! Once more!"

So go ahead, fool yourselves. Try to convince yourself and everyone around you that there is a god, the one in the "bible"; the one who sent his "son" down here to "redeem" you, and give you "eternal" life. You know it's a lie. You know the life you live is a lie. You know you are wasting this ONE opportunity to get it right.
The sad thing is, your ego tells you you'll have some other chance somewhere, so you won't take advantage of this chance, like 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999% of those who have ever lived.

Zip, that was bitterly beautiful.

My old philosophy teacher had some interesting views on reincarnation that made me want to further explore it.

I still haven't.