Life after death? Conciousness?

[sleepwaIking]

As humans we are all born and the memories, thoughts, expressions and feelings of the ones who raise and influence us are expressed through our childhood and into our adulthood. As humans we are aware of the physical world and all the science behind it; But what about thoughts, emotions, and feelings? What about our conscious as a whole? The human brain cannot imagine imagination... Imagination is built into our brain from the beginning. No other animal alive can question it's existence. No other animal wonders if there is more to offer in life other than the short time we have to live. When one is prompted to think about the earth as a whole.. Does that person think about the earth's age? Millions and millions of years have passed since it's birth, yet some of us have only been alive for fifteen, maybe twenty years... twenty years that are dwarfed in comparison to the past.

I must bring forward a topic... well, more of a minimal demand of anyone reading this:
Think about YOUR life and YOUR memories. Now place religion and spirituality aside and ask yourself; "when I die, will these thoughts, memories, emotions and experiences live on after death... Will I live eternally or will I cease to exist on all levels of existence (besides memories of loved ones). Will I be conscious after my physical body dies or will everything just stop and end for ME.. ?"

Once this question is brought forward unto ones thought process, it is important to dwell on it.. To think deep into this very such topic and question YOUR existence and YOUR life.

I must ask, no, beg for people to provide some stories of their own, or even stories of loved ones who have experienced out of body experiences... Or if you've been visited by a family member in way of mental feelings, or a sign brought forward by one who's passed.

Please don't bring religion into this as I do not have a single religion to follow.. I am just a teenager who needs reassuring that there IS a reason I'm alive and there IS a "life" after this physical one.

Any study or views are welcome concerning consciousness and afterlife. Thanks.

[God Emperor Baldur]

The term "I don't know" is the best answer

[ratgirl34]

I can't say I know anything for a fact. All I can say is that after my father passed away I felt his presence in two separate occasions. Once at his funeral, and again about a month later when I was out quading with my step father and flipped the quad on top of myself.

I can see where even people who don't believe in life after death can make the argument that: 'of course you'll feel like your father was at his funeral. You're thinking of him and in a state of distress, the brain does crazy things under those situations.' However, when I'm in physical danger i don't think of my dad, we were never that close and I never felt protected by his presence. So why then would I sense him while I am in danger? Particularly why would I have the sense that he's trying to hold the quad back, or lower it down gently?

I'm sure that someone could offer a feaseable explanation for the quad incident. But I just don't buy that I would create that feeling of presence at that time and place. Maybe our consciousness lingers for awhile after we die, maybe we just lose our bodies and eventually go somewhere else. Maybe we just fade away to nothing after awhile. Or maybe we are gone when we die and the thoughts of those close to us create the feeling that we are still there. Perhaps there is some psychic ability in everyone and sometimes it manifests in weird ways.

I have no strong belief or evidence that any of that is true or false, but I hope that there is some form of life after death.

[Phoenix Songbird]

There is a reason to live and it's different for everyone.

As for the second question uhhh...ask me again in 90 odd years or so? Set up a ouija board.

[Sugarbeary]

Apply yourself, and be the best you can. Perhaps guide-less at one instance, but a purpose will find you.

You say you are a teenager? So maybe you are in high school. Get all A's in your classes, take as many AP/AICE/IB/whatever elite classes you can. Go sports if you can sports. Be social! grab yourself some friends, across all spectrums, keep an open mind. Think about joining the armed forces, or establishing a hobby that will put you in a position to excel (like learn how to program, for instance). Sleep is good, but down time is not if you are seeking a purpose. Seeking is active, down time is passive (although down time can refresh you, excessive downtime is bad). Volunteer everywhere, feed the homeless, clean the streets, join a club, do relay for life, I mean if you put in effort into seeking you will find something.

[Inritus_v3]

The way everyone should look at it is this:
Either you die and some part of you that we don't know about and has never been proven to exist in any way at all will go some place that we also don't know about and also has never been proven to exist.
Or, you die and your brain, which is the source of your conscience, imagination, thoughts and memories, dies with you. Which has actually been proven every time something died.

[sleepwaIking]

Inritus_v3

The way everyone should look at it is this:
Either you die and some part of you that we don't know about and has never been proven to exist in any way at all will go some place that we also don't know about and also has never been proven to exist.
Or, you die and your brain, which is the source of your conscience, imagination, thoughts and memories, dies with you. Which has actually been proven every time something died.

For people like me, who fear death and the possibility of nothingness have a hard time coping with the reality that everything about oneself just ceases to exist after their physical body dies. That's so hard to imagine because naturally our bodies and brains prevent us from imagining a world without us in it.. Whether that be physical or an alternate reality. I would like to believe that I will somehow continue on into another stage of "life" and all that I've experienced and lived for wasn't just a waste. I want to believe there's a reason for all of this and it wasn't just some
Biological accident created by explosions. I just see no need to live in a world where there is no continuation of spirit after body dies

[Inritus_v3]

sleepwaIking

Inritus_v3

The way everyone should look at it is this:
Either you die and some part of you that we don't know about and has never been proven to exist in any way at all will go some place that we also don't know about and also has never been proven to exist.
Or, you die and your brain, which is the source of your conscience, imagination, thoughts and memories, dies with you. Which has actually been proven every time something died.

For people like me, who fear death and the possibility of nothingness have a hard time coping with the reality that everything about oneself just ceases to exist after their physical body dies. That's so hard to imagine because naturally our bodies and brains prevent us from imagining a world without us in it.. Whether that be physical or an alternate reality. I would like to believe that I will somehow continue on into another stage of "life" and all that I've experienced and lived for wasn't just a waste. I want to believe there's a reason for all of this and it wasn't just some
Biological accident created by explosions. I just see no need to live in a world where there is no continuation of spirit after body dies

If you fear death, you fear life. It's all part of the same thing. Once you accept that nothing is permanent, it's not hard to cope with it anymore.

[Ask Jappleack]

what, i can imagine imagination. its simple, as simple as imagining lol.

[Brothern]

sleepwaIking

As humans we are all born and the memories, thoughts, expressions and feelings of the ones who raise and influence us are expressed through our childhood and into our adulthood. As humans we are aware of the physical world and all the science behind it; But what about thoughts, emotions, and feelings? What about our conscious as a whole? The human brain cannot imagine imagination... Imagination is built into our brain from the beginning.

While the exact specifics of how the brain works is not fully understood, because it's complicated, it is hardly a mystery. Human consciousness is constructed by the brain. It can be deconstructed using tricks (like chemicals, alcohol) for example. So, specifically, one could interfere with the gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) neurotransmission which negatively impacts long-term potentiation (LTP), which causes interruption in the hippocampal function ... leading to a temporary inability to form memories. AKA, "Man, I was sooo drunk last night, I don't remember a thing!"

The brain is a complex organ. It's been fine-tuned via evolution for hundreds of thousands of years in our immediate ancestors. Incredibly complex and interesting, but it's not magical.

sleepwaIking

No other animal alive can question it's existence. No other animal wonders if there is more to offer in life other than the short time we have to live. When one is prompted to think about the earth as a whole.. Does that person think about the earth's age? Millions and millions of years have passed since it's birth, yet some of us have only been alive for fifteen, maybe twenty years... twenty years that are dwarfed in comparison to the past.

In the scope of the entire Animal Kingdom, our closest cousins included in the Great Ape biological family do approach our levels of introspection. It's simple, perhaps comparable to a young child's, but it's there. The chimpanzees and gorillas that have been taught sign language easily demonstrate that they have a basic concept of self and a understanding of how their lives are finite. There are several Youtube videos of Koko, for example, where she is questioned about death or where she expresses an immediate want to have offspring.

Extinct species of hominids even more so; they were probably comparable to our intellectual capacities.

Also - the Earth is a little older than that. It's closer to 4.54 billion years old. It was pinned down with iron-uranium radiometric age dating. smile

sleepwaIking

I must bring forward a topic... well, more of a minimal demand of anyone reading this:
Think about YOUR life and YOUR memories. Now place religion and spirituality aside and ask yourself; "when I die, will these thoughts, memories, emotions and experiences live on after death... Will I live eternally or will I cease to exist on all levels of existence (besides memories of loved ones). Will I be conscious after my physical body dies or will everything just stop and end for ME.. ?" ... Please don't bring religion into this as I do not have a single religion to follow.. I am just a teenager who needs reassuring that there IS a reason I'm alive and there IS a "life" after this physical one.

Nope. You'll be dead.

Give me a second, I'll throw in my 2 cents here on "life" in a bit ... (gotta quick meeting).

[Sugarbeary]

Inritus_v3

The way everyone should look at it is this:
Either you die and some part of you that we don't know about and has never been proven to exist in any way at all will go some place that we also don't know about and also has never been proven to exist.
Or, you die and your brain, which is the source of your conscience, imagination, thoughts and memories, dies with you. Which has actually been proven every time something died.

well, the angels told the disciples and Mary that Jesus is risen, and people have witnessed Elijah be taken away to Heaven, and that is proven by witness accounts but I know that isn't good enough for you.

[Inritus_v3]

mluck24

Inritus_v3

The way everyone should look at it is this:
Either you die and some part of you that we don't know about and has never been proven to exist in any way at all will go some place that we also don't know about and also has never been proven to exist.
Or, you die and your brain, which is the source of your conscience, imagination, thoughts and memories, dies with you. Which has actually been proven every time something died.

well, the angels told the disciples and Mary that Jesus is risen, and people have witnessed Elijah be taken away to Heaven, and that is proven by witness accounts but I know that isn't good enough for you.

Oh well my grandpa said that his neighbour once wrote a letter to a guy who said that somewhere on the wall of a public bathroom it was written that Jesus never existed in the first place and god is actually a gay guy in Somalia. That's proven by witness accounts but I know that isn't good enough for you.

[Samadhi23]

sleepwaIking

I must ask, no, beg for people to provide some stories of their own, or even stories of loved ones who have experienced out of body experiences... Or if you've been visited by a family member in way of mental feelings, or a sign brought forward by one who's passed.

Is there anything specific you are looking for story-wise besides contact with the dead? I have been studying transcendental meditation for over a decade now so I have become quite familiar with being out of body; but I am rarely interested in contacting the dead or anything of that nature.

There is one circumstance that comes to mind where I got to watch someone's transition into the greater reality. It was quite fun to 'see' the amazement at a world that has become second nature to me. As a rather standalone event, however, I wouldn't take anything as canon from that alone.

sleepwaIking

Please don't bring religion into this as I do not have a single religion to follow.. I am just a teenager who needs reassuring that there IS a reason I'm alive and there IS a "life" after this physical one.

Any study or views are welcome concerning consciousness and afterlife. Thanks.

If that is ALL you are looking for, then yes, /reassured. However, I recommend seeing for yourself more than taking the word of others. Which brings me to a more primary question: how do you know that this reality is real?

[All_The_Worlds_a_Stage]

I don't know. I think its eternal return.

[Brothern]

sleepwaIking

I must bring forward a topic... well, more of a minimal demand of anyone reading this:Think about YOUR life and YOUR memories. Now place religion and spirituality aside and ask yourself; "when I die, will these thoughts, memories, emotions and experiences live on after death... Will I live eternally or will I cease to exist on all levels of existence (besides memories of loved ones). Will I be conscious after my physical body dies or will everything just stop and end for ME.. ?" ... Please don't bring religion into this as I do not have a single religion to follow.. I am just a teenager who needs reassuring that there IS a reason I'm alive and there IS a "life" after this physical one.

Brothern

Nope. You'll be dead. Give me a second, I'll throw in my 2 cents here on "life" in a bit ... (gotta quick meeting).

Our "being" is biologically based. When our bodies go, so will we. Anything outside of that - well, what is the point of that? Our bodies are our experiences, so what are we without our bodies?? There's nothing "eternal" living has to offer except a conscious prison of endless eternity, monotony and boredom. No wind and sun on your face, no satiating foods or warm coffee after brisk fall mornings, no cuddling with your lover, or having the pleasure of sitting at a concert with friends drinking wine. None of that.

Experiences are defined by their beginnings, but also by their ends. That is why life is so precious and pleasurable. There is nothing desirable about an experience that never, ever ends.

It's also why (I believe) life ought to be governed with the utmost appreciation and compassion. This is the one and only life we've got, so we've got to make it count for ourselves and for others. I personally hope to live in such a manner that whenever my time comes, be that tomorrow or in 60 years, that I will draw my last breath being satisfied with what I've accomplished in life and who I've touched. The analogy is - "I'm not concerned about the ending of my story, but how beautiful and meaningful it is to read it."

(It's also a basis of some of my morality and political views. That poor Guatemalan kid who's in a US-Mexican border detention center right now, because some arsehole of a conservative doesn't want "dirty illegal immigrants" in his country. Screw that. That's the only life that kid is going to experience. Damn if I don't speak up for the kid's rights.)