Non believers/athiests/and similar: what is your view after death and the end of life?

[The Kilted Heathen]

Well, I'm not a non-believer, but...

Personally, I believe that when we die, our soul becomes one with the Навь - the Spirit World - while retaining self born of the Spirit. This is akin to a drop of water being added to a glass of water; the drop is there, but dispersed and one with the whole glass. Thus while I may be experiencing my own afterlife, at the same time I am experiencing the afterlife of my parents with them.

So far as my religious culture goes, most who die reside in Hel; this is the underworld afterlife, hardly inhospitable, and simply the next life after passing through the shroud of death. Nastrond is built within Hel, and is where Nidhogg devours the souls of the wicked.

Valhalla is the Hall of the Slain. Half of those who die in battle (and no, not a "battle against cancer" or any manner of psychological ill) and are chosen by Odin reside here; the first half are chosen by Freyja and are taken to Sessrumnir. Rather than the typical thought of Valhalla as a place where the Einherjar fight and party for all eternity, Valhalla is a hall of peace. It's 540 doors lead to barrows of the fallen; Valhalla is the common-hall where they gather to feast and sing tales.

 

[Quintessence]

Guys, I'd like to remind folks this thread isn't in a debate area.

That is all.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

As many others have said, I believe the "you" you know the most intimately of all is simply gone. That the organic matter of your body becomes "other things" - like the soil, growing into the grass, etc. is usually a moot point to the actual intent of the question - that being the hope that there is somehow "more" to experience beyond death.

The most important aspects of the human "self" are lost at death. Your unique brand of consciousness is stuck in the matter of your brain, which begins the descent to decay within moments after death - and will never "be" again. That the matter that once made up your body is now on the wind, in the grass and the leaves is a nice thought... but nothing more. It is not as if "you" (your conscious self) get to experience being grass, leaves, etc. You get nothing. So enjoy while "you" have something instead.

 

[SkepticX]

As I said, I have been personally witnessed (and suffered) considerable cruelty enabled by afterlife beliefs.

Sounds like they wouldn't really count as a comfort then, or that while the afterlife belief itself may be a comfort, the additional baggage would need to go ... or something like that--the vagaries of speaking in generalities/about groups rather than individuals.

 

[LuisDantas]

Sounds like they wouldn't really count as a comfort then, or that while the afterlife belief itself may be a comfort, the additional baggage would need to go ... or something like that--the vagaries of speaking in generalities/about groups rather than individuals.

I should have been more specific and clear.

Believers in afterlives often abuse such beliefs, turning them into false justifications for pride, emotional abuse and exceptionalism of various forms. It may easily become a predatory belief.

 

[Mister_T]

Hoping for the best (blissful afterlife with loved ones), anticipating the worst (oblivion/nothingness).

 

[loverofhumanity]

I didn't say anything because I wasn't capable, at the time, of either speech or cognitive thought.

It was just a figure of speech to indicate how ludicrous it is to write off another existence after this one when we were in a similar situation when in the womb.

I think we need to reflect on the fact we came from the world of the womb' and could very well be in another womb to evolve into a higher life form in another world.

 

[Cephus]

And what is real to you?

That which is demonstrable and supported by objective evidence.

 

[Cephus]

It was just a figure of speech to indicate how ludicrous it is to write off another existence after this one when we were in a similar situation when in the womb.

I think we need to reflect on the fact we came from the world of the womb' and could very well be in another womb to evolve into a higher life form in another world.

But it's a bad example. In the womb, we lack any ability to rationally examine our surroundings or condition. We lack any ability to collectively evaluate our situation and compare notes with anyone else regarding their observations and experiences. There's no intellect involved with a fetus. There is with those who are born, educated and rationally-minded.

And even if it is true that there is some "other world" out there, it is still irrational to believe in it without having objective evidence that it is factually the case.

 

[Jiggerj]

I had surgery and was knocked out. What I remember of that time on the operating table is a big black nothingness. That's what I think death is, and yet, I find it quite comforting. There may be no joy there, but there is no pain either. There is no hatred, and no sense of guilt or shame over the mistakes we've made in this life. Our life is over, but so too are our battles, our physical longings and shortcomings, our obsessions, our wants and needs... If this nothingness can be related to anything it would be the sound of an eternal sigh of relief.

 

[Quintessence]

*** Official Mod Post ***​

Some posts in this thread have been cleaned up because this isn't a debate area of the forums. As a reminder:

10. Debating in Non-debate Forums or Posting in DIR/ONLY Forums
Religious forums is structured to provide spaces for many different kinds of conversations. Different kinds of conversations belong in different areas of the forum:

1) Debates should be kept to the debate areas of the forums, including Religious Debates, General Debates, and Political Debates. Debating anywhere other than these forums may result in moderation.

(there is more to Rule 10, but the above is the relevant section for this particular subforum)
​

For those that want to debate or nitpick people's responses to this question, this isn't really the space for that. We'd definitely encourage creating a thread for that in, say, Religious Debates though!

 

[Dei Ty]

You slowly cease to exist. Your immune system shuts down, your cells die, and saprobionts eat everything uncalcified.

 

[Vancouversailor]

I recently watched a video documentary from a cave in Southern France. The cave was filled with numerous drawings/etchings on the walls, depicting scenes that included both humans and various animals. Carbon dating indicated that the pictures were made around 35,000 years ago, a fact that might be disputed by various creationists but nonetheless is a scientific fact. The message in the drawings, as I saw it, was a classic version of our more modern "Leroy was here" graffiti.
That got me to thinking along lines somewhat parallel to the theme of this discussion thread. We cannot live forever, but through our actions, behavior and creativity, we have the ability to be remembered forever, or at least a long time, thereby in some symbolic sense living forever, if not in form than in thought and design.
I am sure we can all easily think of people who lived centuries ago who we are familiar with because of the legacies they left. When the lid one day closes on our coffin, or the oven door at the funeral bureau slams shut, we are physically gone. But it is up to us if our memories are to live on, making a difference to other people, or if that door slamming shut was the end of our life on this planet.

 

[Cockadoodledoo]

This might give some people hope........

Let's say Einstein is about to die, but before he does a 'being', working behind the scenes, transfers Einstein's consciousness to a robot shell which Einstein is quickly able to control. Einstein then makes his way towards a light where he finds a room. There, Einstein realises that having died, and as there is no God, he must have created the robot shell and afterlife room himself.

So Einstein gets to work, first discovering how time travel can be accomplished, and then discovering how to create building blocks from nothing. So he travels back 100 years, and by creating building blocks, he builds the afterlife room. He then builds a robot shell from more building blocks and brings it to his death bed, where, behind the scenes, he transfers the dying Einstein's consciousness to the robot shell.

So a simple afterlife awaits Einstein. Now consider what can be achieved together with all the scientists who have or will die:- the afterlife room will be perfected to become the afterlife realm, and the robot shell will be perfected to become the spirit body.

 

[Vancouversailor]

I've heard it said that what really distinguishes human beings from other members of the animal kingdom is an awareness, from early in life, that one day we are going to die. That might not be so distressing if you are a healthy 20 year old, with what appears to be an eternity ahead of you before you reach old age. After you pass the midlife markers like age 50 or 60, awareness of the inevitable path towards the grave or a crematorium starts to become more and more real, and most people will, sometimes fleetingly, others more intensely, start thinking of ways to cheat death.
That's where religion all got started and where it gets its main fuel. If you can't beat death you can at least believe in an afterlife, be it in heaven or hell or through reincarnation. Those of us who have experienced a near death experience, in my case a cardiac arrest that left me with no vital signs for seven minutes and then a month in a coma, know there is nothing. Just darkness. The lights go out and that is it, unless, as in my case, doctors are able to resuscitate you and repair any damaged organs, basically turning the lights back on again.
For me that was actually a positive experience because it brought with it a realization that we have just this one life and that it is up to us to make the most of it.
Some of us may actually end up accomplishing great things and living on in history because of what we created. Examples are famous artists like van Gogh and Michelangelo, writers like Shakespeare or Ernest Hemmingway or Mark Twain, the occasional royalty like England's Queen Elizabeth I or scientists like the Canadian doctor who discovered insulin and saved the life of countless diabetics worldwide. These people are of course long since dead, but not forgotten.
Of course not all of us can achieve immortality through fame, but we can be remembered for the difference we made to family, friends and our community, for more than one generation.

 

[allfoak]

Hello!

I'm posting this here because... I don't know where else to post it basically, and to have it as a non debative (if that's a word) section to not debate it. Please don't debate stuff here.

I'm saying "and similar" on the titles to include all those who don't have a religious belief after death and the end of life. This also includes agnostics and similar.

So if you are among them, what do you think happens after you die? Is it a complete nothingness? You become a ghost? You can come back to life again? Any thing else?

Thank you for sharing. I'll take serious answers with respect.

Important note:
Believers, please don't make fun of it. Don't questions them badly or give passive-aggressive remarks. That won't be tolerated. Do that and you ain't gettin' 'ny shawurma, ya dig?

What I understand is that there is a healing process that must take place and then we return to our soul.

 

[illykitty]

So if you are among them, what do you think happens after you die? Is it a complete nothingness? You become a ghost? You can come back to life again? Any thing else?

I don't know for sure, of course.

However, I think that the ego-self dies but the body and energy gets recycled, used by other things so in a sense it's reincarnation like @Quintessence said. You also live on in people's memories. If you had an impact on their lives, maybe some of your wisdom, humour, charity or any other part of you becomes part of the people you knew. Maybe they pass on your traits to other people. And obviously if one had children, all of these apply but also things like genetics.

It's poetic. To me that is beautiful and makes me feel at peace. It also reminds me to be a good person.

 

[viole]

Hello!

I'm posting this here because... I don't know where else to post it basically, and to have it as a non debative (if that's a word) section to not debate it. Please don't debate stuff here.

I'm saying "and similar" on the titles to include all those who don't have a religious belief after death and the end of life. This also includes agnostics and similar.

So if you are among them, what do you think happens after you die? Is it a complete nothingness? You become a ghost? You can come back to life again? Any thing else?

Thank you for sharing. I'll take serious answers with respect.

Important note:
Believers, please don't make fun of it. Don't questions them badly or give passive-aggressive remarks. That won't be tolerated. Do that and you ain't gettin' 'ny shawurma, ya dig?

Same place I was before being born.

Ciao

- viole