Do You Believe In An Afterlife?

[Snade]

Swishful thinking = the hope that God will be merciful to homosexuals despite the Bible's unequivocal condemnation of homosexuality

As far as other concepts of an afterlife are concerned, they, like all belief systems, originate in the human brain; if they make you feel good, have at 'em. Just don't be so naive as to expect others to invest in YOUR own private Nirvana.

 

[metta]

I don't believe in god, heaven, hell, reincarnation, nirvana, paradise, or any sort of afterlife.

Am I wrong?

I don't think so.

I believe in reincarnation. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "been there done that" .

When I used to visit a local Buddhist monastery for meditation classes, we did talk about that. The only way I can accept that without more evidence is that our bodies do degrade and what is left can be used as minerals for plants and animals. So that is how I see reincarnation. I'm too much of a realist to have faith in a belief system.

 

[cityboy-stl]

If there is an afterlife, one would think there also has to be a beforelife. No?

I hope so.

But empirical evidence for a beforelife, afterlife, or for God, is pretty much non-existent.

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

"Any 'god' small enough to fit neatly in my brain and thought process would be far too small to be the being we are seeking."

 

[cityboy-stl]

"Any 'god' small enough to fit neatly in my brain and thought process would be far too small to be the being we are seeking."

That would be true. Just as any God who is totally, absolutely, completely, constantly, continuously, unending, unrelenting, uncaring, unfeeling, utterly absent, and stonewall silent, is also not the being, I am seeking. God needs to actually exist. Not neatly in my brain. But in reality. Any other "God" is simply a made conception to fit neatly in my brain.

All it takes is verifiable, empirical evidence. But no, can't do that.

So Show Up, and BE REAL, because you know, we really do need you.

 

[Rickrock]

Yes, I believe in an afterlife and if there is an afterlife then there must be a God. I don't know what the afterlife is like nor what God is like.

 

[Rickrock]

I am beginning to believe that most people go to an interim afterlife which includes reincarnation, but that is just a hypothesis at this time.

 

[metta]

At 18, during my first year of college, I took a humanities class and one of the required books was Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy. I went through the process of questioning all that I had learned in my life and only keeping what could be proven by fact. That is when I realized that it was all man made. It was a terrible time to come to realize that. My dad died a few months later. Later, I took a course on World Religions in college, and it confirmed what I realized from a book trying to prove that God exists.

I realize most of the World thinks differently, and I'm fine with that. But over the time I have realized this, slowly, the percentage of people that don't consider themselves religious has continued to grow.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Many agnostics and atheists see religious faith as either naive or abrogating of personal responsibility. The adherent is either willing duped by manipulative institutions, or avoids dealing with reality by assigning events to the will of a mythical figure. There have also been very strong advocates of atheism who argue that the presence of religion prevents humanity from addressing its ills and working to ameliorate them, when the very opposite has been true, at least in the history of the West. Does that make religious free of vice? Hardly, but it's not only a plague either.

From a rationalist perspective, had I not the experiential affirmation of my own encounters with the divine, I would prefer it as a transcendant dimension of life, even aspirational.

In an absolutely concrete comparison, I find the proposition of a supernatural world much, MUCH more plausible than any suggestion that humanity has potential to traverse this solar system to any other, or to ever establish in this world a Utopian state, or to ever evolve past violence, homophobia, and greed.

And my post is not intended as a rebuttal of any posts here, only evoked by reading the discussion.

 

[Dargelos]

If you want to know what it is like after you die, try to remember what it was like before you were born. That is what it is like after you die.
I forget who wrote that, it is still true whoever it was.

 

[Tantric-Master]

If there is an afterlife, one would think there also has to be a beforelife. No?

I hope so.

But empirical evidence for a beforelife, afterlife, or for God, is pretty much non-existent.

What kind of empirical evidence would convince you that life continues in some form after physical death?

 

[Tantric-Master]

I don't believe that we all end up in Heaven or Hell - and I still haven't decided where my religious beliefs lie, or if in fact if I have any.

I have visited spiritualists and mediums and cannot rule out totally that there is not some form of spirit presence. Unless these people are complete mind readers, there is no way they would have known some of the stuff that they have told me. Too many obscure things have come up in my readings for example the answering of a question that I had previously only discussed with a close friend. Unless I am totally gullible there has to be something

I may never know........

Since you reported that you have visited spiritualists and mediums, you are probably aware that some of the revealed VERIFIABLE information was not previously known by any of the people present who were participating in the session.

How does one explain that ?

 

[Tantric-Master]

If you want to know what it is like after you die, try to remember what it was like before you were born. That is what it is like after you die.
I forget who wrote that, it is still true whoever it was.

In Dr. Michael Newton's book, Journey of Souls, he regresses people hypnotically to a point before physical birth. It's interesting reading.

Relevant to that, I have a friend considered to be a sage in Hindu/Sufi circles who remembers the process of physical birth and what preceded it. Her recollection is consistent with Dr. Newton's findings as well as the Spiritist tradition.

 

[Peloso]

In an absolutely concrete comparison, I find the proposition of a supernatural world much, MUCH more plausible than any suggestion that humanity has potential to traverse this solar system to any other, or to ever establish in this world a Utopian state, or to ever evolve past violence, homophobia, and greed.

Testify!!!

 

[cityboy-stl]

What kind of empirical evidence would convince you that life continues in some form after physical death?

The same empirical evidence that convinces me that life exists before physical death.

 

[NotHardUp1]

If you want to know what it is like after you die, try to remember what it was like before you were born. That is what it is like after you die.
I forget who wrote that, it is still true whoever it was.

But, that would also simply be Nihilism.

Believing that a soul comes into sentience at conception or birth isn't even necessarily religious. Believing that the collected thoughts and mind or soul persist after physical death is equally not solely the domain of the devout.

A popular theme in science fiction is the persistence of the mind, the relocation of an identity into another medium other than the brain and body. That science itself has taught us that memory is the storage of ideas and experiences through electrical transmission endorses the concept that thought and awareness are products of energy. And it's only a small step to then believe that energy is not limited to the body.

Add on top of that the much ballyhooed theory that there are multiple dimensions overlapping in space, unawares, then religious views of the afterlife are hardly fantastical.

 

[NotHardUp1]

In Dr. Michael Newton's book, Journey of Souls, he regresses people hypnotically to a point before physical birth. It's interesting reading.

Relevant to that, I have a friend considered to be a sage in Hindu/Sufi circles who remembers the process of physical birth and what preceded it. Her recollection is consistent with Dr. Newton's findings as well as the Spiritist tradition.

Where can I find any information on the late Dr. Newton's credentials?

If regression therapy should be something that is reproducible, and verifiable What one therapist can resurrect via hypnosis, another should be equally able to do.

If hypnotherapy is a science, it is reproducible and verifiable via peer review and duplication.

To accept it as a truth, this "experiment" in taking a memory to pre-birth must be peer-reviewed and verified, otherwise, it is a belief, not a science.

 

[Thula]

We're each entitled to our own opinion / reasoning.
Atheist here - I believe in life before death.

 

[Tantric-Master]

Where can I find any information on the late Dr. Newton's credentials?

If regression therapy should be something that is reproducible, and verifiable What one therapist can resurrect via hypnosis, another should be equally able to do.

If hypnotherapy is a science, it is reproducible and verifiable via peer review and duplication.

To accept it as a truth, this "experiment" in taking a memory to pre-birth must be peer-reviewed and verified, otherwise, it is a belief, not a science.

Dr. Michael Newton - Michael Newton Institute

Dr. Michael Newton was a highly acclaimed international spiritual regressionist, who discovered how to enable people to access the wisdom of the spirit world and their higher guidance whilst living their lives.Known as a pioneer of afterlife exploration, his dedicated research over 30 years...

www.newtoninstitute.org

EXCERPT:

Dr. Michael Newton held a doctorate in Counselling Psychology, was a certified Master Hypnotherapist, and a member of the American Counselling Association. He was also a practicing Psychologist who held positions in the faculty of higher educational institutions as a teacher in Los Angeles. In his lifetime he also spent time as a corporate consultant, and worked as a behavioral counsellor and group therapy director for community mental health centers and spiritual renewal organisations in cooperation with hospital and social service agencies.

 

[Tantric-Master]

The same empirical evidence that convinces me that life exists before physical death.

Specifically, what type of empirical evidence would you need? Realistically, what would actually convince you that life exists after physical death?