Why I would rather believe in the afterlife

[The Transcended Omniverse]

I don't care about the truth. The only truth I care about is what is relevant to me and gives my life meaning. That being, knowledge (truth) gained about composing and music theory since I wish to be a composer. The truth that there is no afterlife makes my life empty and meaningless and, thus, is not relevant to me and is not how I find meaning in my life which is why I don't care about such truth. It is for this very reason that I am trying to find every way I can to have a belief in the eternal blissful afterlife. I'm not sure this is possible though. But I will try all I can, nonetheless.

I am going to talk about materialism which is the idea that there is no afterlife of eternal bliss as a reward for people who go through much suffering in this life. Unlike some materialists, I find no meaning whatsoever being a materialist. I think an afterlife of eternal bliss is absolutely neccessary.

The misfortune of this life renders our greatest dreams and pursuits into nothing more than pipe dreams. For example, if a very talented singer has some great or even genius singing talent that he/she wanted to pursue and share with the world, but he/she got into some tragic accident that permanently took his/her singing voice away, then he/she would no longer get to pursue his/her genius talent anymore.

His/her life would now be rendered into lesser pursuits. Pursuits that he/she is not as talented in. As a matter of fact, they might be pursuits that he/she never wanted to pursue and finds them to be completely bland, empty, meaningless, and nothing compared to his/her singing career.

There are many talented people in this world who never get to pursue their great talents and share them with the world due to something such as a tragic accident or a fatal illness that ends their lives shortly. They never get the chance and are then bound to forever remain dead in the end with no afterlife for them to live on in and express their talents in.

How is that meaningful? To me, with no afterlife, then this very life is nothing more than some fool's errand in which our very acts, lives, and goals/dreams solely lie on the hands of fate. When we find profound meaning in our lives and pursue a certain goal/dream in our lives that has such profound meaning to us, then it is only because we were lucky enough to stay alive since no illness or form of major suffering in our lives has crippled or killed us off yet. But if our lives are unfortunate and we then have much suffering in our lives that ends our lives shortly, then it is all nothing more than a simple matter of "too bad so sad." To me, that is an utterly meaningless life regardless of how much you make the best of it anyway.

For us as human beings and our lives to solely lie on this wretched hands of fate and for us to die with no afterlife, especially those who are very innocent people, then I don't care who you are and what you did with your life. You, in my eyes, are all nothing more than an inferior species. I don't even see you as a human being. I see you all as nothing more than pieces of meat that are all just bound to rot and decay away. Having no suffering in your life and living on forever in eternal bliss is the one and only thing that makes your life great and is the one and only source of joy, happiness, and good meaning one can have in his/her life. Nothing else.

But we are all nothing more than just this random and quite unfortunate product of nature. It is a physical form that is prone to suffering, disease, illness, and eternal death. We are not products of our own making. In other words, we are not a product of transcendence and immortality in which we can live how we want and live for all eternity with no suffering in our lives to hold us down and dictate our fate in this life.

Instead of treating ourselves like high class elite immortal beings who can live and pursue their goals, talents, and dreams all they want, we instead have to treat ourselves for what we are. That being, we are all nothing. We cannot rule over this life and live by our own rules. This life instead has the advantage over us. It is a life ruled by fortune and not by any righteous grand cause. Innocent people will go through much suffering and evil people will have it all handed to them in life.

If an innocent person goes through much suffering and dies while an evil person lives on in bliss, then it is a matter of:

"Haha! I was fortunate enough to live on for something great in my life and I had it all handed to me while you were the unlucky one! How sad for you!"

This very quote is the grand meaninglessness of this life. It is, by far, the most outrageous, rage-provoking, and absurd thing. It really gets to you and really enrages you to do something about it. It really makes you wish there were an afterlife to give innocent people the lives they deserve and evil people the lives they deserve. Most materialists would say to innocent suffering people:

"I know that this life is quite unfortunate and that there is no afterlife for any of us. But it is all about making the best of it anyway and finding good meaning in our lives anyway."

This quote shows ignorance of the person's suffering. It's like you are not even in this person's shoes to truly understand the depths of his/her suffering. I feel that all the immense suffering and desire of innocent suffering people to want to live a blissful afterlife is all being masked by the sheer insulting ignorance of this quote. Do you even realize just how many people are suicidal who think their lives are worthless and meaningless due to all their suffering?

So for you to still bring that quote up front would be the most insulting and ignorant thing you could do on your part. I don't care if the afterlife really doesn't exist. I really think people need to have the hope and comfort in it anyway. Especially those types of suffering people I've mentioned. For you to call that selfish and cowardly would be the stigma we all see today against depressed and suffering people.

So with all of this being said, you can see why I find materialism to be nothing great at all. I wish I never became a materialist and I wish I had the belief in the afterlife regardless if that said life exists or not. I have a great composing talent that I have yet to pursue and express to the world and now, I feel that it is all nothing more than a game of Russian roulette in which I am just taking my chances here and hope that some fatal illness doesn't come into my life and kill me off before I get the chance to share my great autistic composing talent to the world. This life is nothing more than some foolish game to stay alive. Nothing more than a fool's errand. There's nothing here for us. It is a life we were all better off not living in the first place.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I would like to believe in an afterlife too, but I value over truth over comfort.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'd rather believe I'm the best looking person in the world and that unicorns exist.

 

[The Transcended Omniverse]

I would like to believe in an afterlife too, but I value over truth over comfort.

I don't care about the truth. The only truth I care about is what is relevant to me and gives my life meaning. That being, knowledge (truth) gained about composing and music theory since I wish to be a composer. The truth that there is no afterlife makes my life empty and meaningless and, thus, is not relevant to me and is not how I find meaning in my life which is why I don't care about such truth. It is for this very reason that I am trying to find every way I can to have a belief in the eternal blissful afterlife. I'm not sure this is possible though. But I will try all I can, nonetheless.

 

[Thief]

too many copies of a learning device to say no one survives the last breath.

 

[Altfish]

I would like to believe in an afterlife too, but I value over truth over comfort.

Spot on.

Heaven sounds awful though. All those righteous boring people praising god and driving you mad; I want to be with Jimi Hendrix, George Best, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and the likes...much more fun.

 

[Thief]

Spot on.

Heaven sounds awful though. All those righteous boring people praising god and driving you mad; I want to be with Jimi Hendrix, George Best, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and the likes...much more fun.

and where do you think they went?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

and where do you think they went?

Same place as Elvis.

 

[allfoak]

There is no need to believe in anything.
It is obvious to all that there is more to life than the material.
We all know it, yet we seem to want to ignore it.

Faith, hope and love are things with which we can all identify, yet we act as if these things are less important than the daily grind of making a living and finding a little pleasure to somehow balance it all out.

We make excuses and live lives of distraction so that we don't have to face the things that are happening inside.
The things that become the most important things in our lives when something tragic happens.

 

[Thief]

Same place as Elvis.

you're not going too?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

you're not going too?

Only when the fat lady sings.

 

[Thief]

Only when the fat lady sings.

she with Elvis?

 

[HonestJoe]

How would the existence of (or belief in) an afterlife make this life any more meaningful? If it’s an unconditional afterlife, why shouldn’t we all just kill ourselves to get there now? If it’s conditional (e.g. suicide is a sin and if you die a sinner you don’t get the pleasant afterlife), it just becomes part of the suffering and unfairness of existence.

However uncomfortable it might be, especially in our darkest moments, the “make the best of it” concept of life isn’t any less true. That doesn’t mean it’s necessary or right to bring it up with someone who is suffering or struggling with that very reality, just as you wouldn’t tell a grieving mother “People die, get over it!”. Part of that “making the most of it” is ignoring the overall meaningless and unpleasantness and focusing on immediate and concrete positives.

I actually believe concepts of an afterlife are really about exactly that. Life is difficult and often unpleasant, especially if we’re doing it in a “good” way, but the promise of an afterlife seeks to balance that out. The problem is that you have to really believe it does for it to work but we can also believe all sorts of other things (regardless of whether they are true or not) to create that balance of our own. Everyone has something they use for that, including some of the things you dismiss out of hand. They must all work though, or we wouldn’t be able to survive.

 

[Altfish]

Same place as Elvis.

Elvis is still alive, I saw him last week at our chip shop

 

[Altfish]

and where do you think they went?

Well I hope it is a small club with good ale and a stage at one end, with Ian Curtis singing Atrocity Exhibition to be followed by Jim Morrison screaming, "You cannot petition the Lord with prayer"

 

[Terese]

I wouldn't mind if there was an afterlife. What is important is here.

 

[George-ananda]

@MattMVS7

As a student of the paranormal and spirituality I am a definite believer in life after death from a strictly objective consideration. The preponderance of evidence is overwhelming. I am aware of all the 'skeptical' objections to the evidence supporting life after death and I objectively believe these arguments are materialists best attempts to 'explain away' the evidence and are to me not convincing at all in the face of so many examples and different types of phenomena suggesting life after death..

But of course no one else will take anyone else's word for it (as it should be). Look for yourself at the evidence, I've pointed you to links in the past but you seem just interested in bemoaning your fate and as I said before, I can't help with that. If I had no beliefs myself, I would also be prone to depressive nihilism.

Because something is subjectively better does not mean it can not also be objectively better (unless your an internal masochist).

 

[Erebus]

The truth that there is no afterlife makes my life empty and meaningless and, thus, is not relevant to me and is not how I find meaning in my life which is why I don't care about such truth.

I wouldn't say the truth is necessarily that there's no afterlife. To my mind, the truth is simply that we don't know what we may or may not experience after death. It's possible that we cease to exist, go to a heaven or hell, reincarnate or experience something utterly alien.

If believing in a heavenly afterlife gives you hope and a sense of meaning, then by all means go for it. Bear in mind though that people can find just as much hope or meaning in the idea that we only get one shot.

 

[YmirGF]

So with all of this being said, you can see why I find materialism to be nothing great at all. I wish I never became a materialist and I wish I had the belief in the afterlife regardless if that said life exists or not. I have a great composing talent that I have yet to pursue and express to the world and now, I feel that it is all nothing more than a game of Russian roulette in which I am just taking my chances here and hope that some fatal illness doesn't come into my life and kill me off before I get the chance to share my great autistic composing talent to the world. This life is nothing more than some foolish game to stay alive. Nothing more than a fool's errand. There's nothing here for us. It is a life we were all better off not living in the first place.

I must say that I am struck by your imagined excellence as a composer. I create sonic tapestries in my mind all the time and understand that if I spent years to learn music and a variety of instruments I just might be considered an interesting composer. That said, at this stage in life, I'm not that hung up on sharing this inherent foible of my mind. It's nice for me, but it would be a massive effort to translate what I imagine and how I imagine it into three dimensional musical works.

If it is important to you, you will go through the ordeal of learning how to make your ideas real in ways that others can appreciate. Understand though, you will not be a Mozart in two weeks. It will take a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of commitment. Again, IF it is important to you, you will decide to make this commitment to yourself.

That aside, I'm still wrestling with the idea of why no afterlife makes your life meaningless. To my thinking, it should make every second of life MORE meaningful.

 

[viole]

I don't care about the truth. The only truth I care about is what is relevant to me and gives my life meaning. That being, knowledge (truth) gained about composing and music theory since I wish to be a composer. The truth that there is no afterlife makes my life empty and meaningless and, thus, is not relevant to me and is not how I find meaning in my life which is why I don't care about such truth. It is for this very reason that I am trying to find every way I can to have a belief in the eternal blissful afterlife. I'm not sure this is possible though. But I will try all I can, nonetheless.

Well, this could be a good explanation why the natural tendency in belief in the afterlife (and god, etc.) has been naturally selected.

Ciao

- viole