Life after Death

[Crunchy Cat]

People often wonder how a loveing ang good God coud allow the horrific atrocities of 9/11 and Auschwitz, Buchenwald and all the other horrors such as eathquakes etc etc.

It's a symptom of a problem. People should be wondering why they think a life form called 'God' even exists despite the absence of supportive evidence and the increasing amount of contradictory evidence.

If we just die and thats it then what is the point of all this.

If by 'all this' you mean the univers then I don't know that the question makes sense. The universe as a whole doesn't have intention (that requires sentience). Cross sections (i.e. humans) of the universe do have intention. Reality does seem to have a built in process to promote the persistence of life (hence, it becomes a purpose of life to persist).

I know they say that the ones who accept Christ go to heaven and those who don't don't. But isn't that the sign of a very mean god? He gives us an offer we cannot refuse a bit like the Mafia.

Ahh, Christian belief. It gets even better. Apparently if you do 'good' then you're doing 'God's will and if you're not doing 'God's will then you are doing 'Satan's will. This basically means asserts that 'God' exists, 'Satan' exists, 'Good' exists, 'Evil' exists, and allthough you have 'Free Will' you are never responsible for your actions as they are 'God's will or 'Satans' will... but despite this utter lack of responsibility, you will be held accountable upon death. It's pretty absurd isn't it?

All this however, I believe, makes complete sense if our consciousness survives the death of the physical body and after a time takes on another body to complete a purpose. Trouble is we often haven't a clue what that purpose is.

There is no evidence that consciousness persists after death.

All the above does not comfort someone whose loved one has died, they miss their loved one terribly but in th grand sceme of things it makes some sense even though we may not be able to comprehend this.

Yep, it sucks to loose someone you love. Entropy is very necessary for the universe to function correctly. Without, life as we know it wouldn't be possible.

We must have been created by something, all religion aside.

Why? Why do we have to have been 'created'?

How could such an incredibly diverse world with such unbelievable comlexity have just evoved.

I'll assume your question is targeted at life on earth. If so, it's question that many people are learning the answers to. My suggestion would be to take some classes in evolutionary biology to start.

 

[Crunchy Cat]

...but to just say we are a body and a brain seems too simplistic.

Does it really matter how it seems if it's true?

How is it posible to store every single memory in just a finite brain...

Good question. The answer isn't known yet; however, sleep is a big part of it. Apparently while you're sleeping, your brain encounters regulated pulses of decreasing charge. The memories that are strongest will survive at the lower levels of electrical pulsing while the weakest will die off (hence making 'room' for new memory).

...and how can the unbelievable comlexity of the human body just be explained away by evolution from monkies.

Evolution from Monkeys? Ohhh, the educational system has failed you deeply. You're oldest common ancestor is likely a virus. You're closest common ancestor is some sort of primate that no longer exists. Human life (all life on earth actually) evolves. There is a plethora of supportive evidence for this and zero contradictory evidence. What this effectively means is that reality says evolution is true... and what reality says is true is true.

Why haven't more monkies evolved into humans?

I think you have a misconception about how evolution works. To simplify the concept, you have to have an environmental pressure and some genetic variations that meet that pressure better than others (for a particular species). The variations that best promote survival are the ones that are more likely to reproduce. Somewhere in human evolution, a variation of increase intelligence. Seeing as that promoted survival, the variation persisted. Conversly, if there aren't enough environmental pressures, big genetic variations aren't likely to persist. Take the common roach for example, it's been around longer than humans have, yet it hasn't changed much. It's present form has just been really good at adapting to different environments.

To answer your question explicitly, there would have to be some very specific environmental pressures over a long period of time for a another primate species to 'evolve' into something resembling a human (it's unlikely that it would look exactly like a human as there are no known species whom have converged on identical bodies).

Also humans and other animals breah oxygen and breath out carbon dixide but plants do the exact opposite so that we depend on each other.

Plants and animals adapted to each other. Animals and plants are part of the environmental pressures that the other faces. Quite expected IMO.

And what about the near death experiences, they all seem to have the same pattern, and the people who can recall past lives under hypnosis.

NDE's are reproducible now btw and ones that occur naturally have gone through several experiments in hospitals. Every result shows that NDE's are hallucinations. Cellular activity persists for quite a while after clinical death. Some of those cells are brain cells.

 

[Crunchy Cat]

I beleive the consciessnes is seperate to the brain.

Why 'believe'? I mean in general. It seems silly to accept some idea as true just because you like it.

The brain just couldn't accomodate all the images that it does over a lifetime , it is only made up out of neurons.

It apparently does; hence, it kind of contradicts what you asserted.

When the body dies the "spirit" seperates from the brain, and perhaps meets other spirits. It is dificult to prove this as it is subjective and thus cannot be subjected to objective logic, one could only prove it to themselves. It is in a totaly diferrent dimension. That,s my belief.

This is called viral rationalization. You accept this idea as true because it satisfy's you, but you have some objective knowledge that contradicts what you hold as true. In response, another 'dimension' is claimed to exist and thusly resolves the contradiction for you. You then would likely spread this knowledge to someone (ex. a child) whom trusts what you say is truth and the cycle would continue.

Why not break the cycle of delusion and deception?

 

[happypervert]

I think we are energy that is released after we die. However I dont believe in Life after Death as most religions preach. I do think there is something else out there but what it is we only find out when we die.
There is an interesting book I am currently reading called: The dead are alive by Harold Sherman. He makes one think about life after death in a totally different way than most religions.

 

[shaman_]

Clearly there is no "Life" after death but sure it is possible that there is some further existence. Unfortunately the evidence for this is sketchy at best.

If we did manager to continue in some form how would we even interpret or enjoy this existence with our brains turning to dust and our senses gone?

 

[lordofkaamos]

Speaking scientifically, where goes all information cumulated througth all our lives? Speaking in termodinamical sense and his relation with information theory, heat is related to information (in an abstract sense thank´s to Shannon information theory), when we die our bodies lost all his heat and left cold and blue, may be all our information is released in form of entropy to the universe?
Much people believe that´s sad believe that there´s no an existence after our lives, everything that we are disapear, but think "I" only have sense in the presence of others, others define our mind and "I" define others minds, you can see this in cases of humans without a mind, they are feral kids, childs raised for animals, who after being found for humans never left their animal part and never get a human mind. I think death is a pure state of eternal unconscience where the "I" and "WE" created for our societies simply dissapear leaving "us" (as if anything like "us" or "i" existed after life, je,je,je,je)into an eternal void, an eternal peace, a total freedom.

 

[johno]

At death, there is a shift in consciousness. Just because the body dies does not mean your soul dies. You are not your body. The real you is seperate from the body. Death is like walking into a different room, you are still you, just in a different dimension and in a different state of being. The other side has many levels and vibrates at a higher rate. The earthly existence is very heavy and vibrates at a very low rate. Thats why it is hard to communicate with souls who have crossed over....they have to lower their frequency rate and you have to raise yours in order to connect with them. There is no such thing as death. It is an illusion.:m:

 

[Sauna]

At death, there is a shift in consciousness.

Really?

If so, what happens when an unconscious person dies?

 

[johno]

A fair question. There is continuity and a connection....thats never lost when a person is unconscious.... but it is different in each different situation and being concsious or unconscious at the time of death doesn't matter....you still arrive on the other side at some point one way or the other when you stop breathing..every persons way of arriving on the other side is different....you go thru different experiences etc... Just because a person is unconscious doesn't mean their soul is dead and disconnected.... Before they pass they may be half here and half there before making the transition ...or they may just be "unconscious" and not near death at all......big difference...and then they are still here..once again, it depends on the circumstances, but the end result is the same....you will always be you....you can't change that and you can't die....(even if you want to really "die" you will be disappointed). Believe what you want about death, but I had an NDE in the 70's and it changed my entire outlook on life. I know what to expect, ask anyone who has had one.

 

[caamsa]

Nde

I am on the fence about this whole life after death thing. But what blows my mind are the out of body experiences that people have had when dead. When they come out of their body but still are in the physical world.

What the hell is an out of body experience!?....I mean how do you come out of your body and you can still see things and hear what is going on and then come back to describe it in detail. I am sure that some people will say that your brain is not truly dead and your brain still hears what is going on and then the out of body is just a dream. but..........................................................................................

People/Children describe people they have never seen (like doctors and nurses working on them) while in the hospital. Their description of the people and what happens is very accurate. That is not a dream. How do you explain a out of body experience in a scientific way.

 

[c7ityi_]

When you die, you live.

 

[johno]

I couldn't say it better.

 

[shakushinnen]

Hi Alkimos,
Do you think the existence of God necessarily implies that he interferes in human affairs?
John