What do you look like?

[Nimos]

This is something I have be wondering about for some time and not really sure how to make sense of, or how people imagine it to be. I think it probably consist of several questions and understandings, so feel free to correct me or use your own description if you don't think mine is accurate enough..

As described in Genesis in the bible Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden and a lot of Christians if not all, believe that when they die, they come to heaven if everything goes well or they are resurrected to live on a new earth which is a new paradise, where there are no harm or suffering.

What puzzles me is how do people see themselves in these places depending on how you believe in them.

Meaning do you see yourself as a human walking around or as a spirit sort of thing?

As human in heaven
If you are a human, how old are you? and how old are your grandmother for instance? Are everyone the same age?

As spirit kind of thing in heaven
What do you think one looks like? Do you have to eat? Can you interact with things in heaven?

Heaven or paradise it self
What do you imagine this being like, are there houses? cars? how do you get around? Are there entertainment like televisions, mobile phones etc? or what do you imagine people doing all day for eternity to entertain themselves?

 

[Spirit of Light]

Spiritual being trapped in the human body for this lifetime.

 

[SalixIncendium]

As human
If you are a human, how old are you?

As a human, I'm 53.

and how old are your grandmother for instance?

If she were still living, she would be 104.

Are everyone the same age?

As a human? No.

As spirit kind of thing

What do you think one looks like? Do you have to eat? Can you interact with things in heaven?

By spirit, I am presuming that you are talking about the form one takes after the body and mind die. I don't quite see things in such a way.

The Atman, the self that is immortal, existed before my body and mind were born and will continue onward beyond the expiration of this human form. I am the Atman experiencing a human life.

As for what it looks like, the Atman is the observer. The eye cannot gaze upon itself.

As for eating, a human eats to provide fuel to power and maintain the body and mind. For what purpose would one eat if there is no body or mind to feed?

And regarding heaven...

Heaven or paradise it self

What do you imagine this being like, are there houses? cars? how do you get around? Are there entertainment like televisions, mobile phones etc? or what do you imagine people doing all day for eternity to entertain themselves?

As I see it, heaven is not a place separate from oneself where one goes when s/he dies. Heaven is a state of mind that can be experienced in the here and now.

So to answer your questions, in heaven, there are houses, there are cars, there is entertainment and cell phones, and there is RF to entertain oneself.

 

[ChristineM]

I'm 49 year old human being, am afraid grandfather is dead, grandmother is 95 (grandad was 1 day older).

As for after. Of course there will be cars, houses etc. Our planet will be essentially the same after i die as it was before.

Some of my atoms may even go towards the construction of new cars and houses. The first law of thermodynamics tells us that in a closed system energy (matter) can neither be created or destroyed. So my, your, everyone's atoms continue and will help form other matter in the future.

 

[Thief]

it is written....flesh cannot inherit the kingdom

God is Spirit......mind and heart
the sons of God are likewise

 

[Nimos]

Spiritual being trapped in the human body for this lifetime.

So when "this" body dies you jump in a new one or how is that to be understood?

 

[Spirit of Light]

So when "this" body dies you jump in a new one or how is that to be understood?

Depending on where you will be reborn. According to my understanding of Buddhist teaching, we can be reborn in the animal realm, human realm or heavenly realm. In my understanding there is not a permanent soul that goes from body to body, I have not understood it all how the rebirth actually happens. If I can be born into the heavenly realm then I would have ended samsara (rebirth cycle) But I do not know if I will reach it.
There is a lot of Buddhist cosmology that I still have not a good grasp on but i getting there (i hope)

 

[Nimos]

As a human, I'm 53.



If she were still living, she would be 104.



As a human? No.



By spirit, I am presuming that you are talking about the form one takes after the body and mind die. I don't quite see things in such a way.

The Atman, the self that is immortal, existed before my body and mind were born and will continue onward beyond the expiration of this human form. I am the Atman experiencing a human life.

As for what it looks like, the Atman is the observer. The eye cannot gaze upon itself.

As for eating, a human eats to provide fuel to power and maintain the body and mind. For what purpose would one eat if there is no body or mind to feed?

And regarding heaven...


As I see it, heaven is not a place separate from oneself where one goes when s/he dies. Heaven is a state of mind that can be experienced in the here and now.

So to answer your questions, in heaven, there are houses, there are cars, there is entertainment and cell phones, and there is RF to entertain oneself.

I think people might have misunderstood what I meant with human. I don't want to know peoples age currently, but if you believe that when in heaven you look like the age when you died or when you were 20 years old. And whether you believe your grandmother would also be 20 years old or whatever.

I have to admit that I don't know a lot if hardly anything about Hinduism, so sorry if some of my questions might sound slightly stupid.

So you are not really a human but an Atman, which I can understand from quick research is a soul of some sort? So anything can be an Atman like animals?

 

[Nimos]

I'm 49 year old human being, am afraid grandfather is dead, grandmother is 95 (grandad was 1 day older).

As for after. Of course there will be cars, houses etc. Our planet will be essentially the same after i die as it was before.

Some of my atoms may even go towards the construction of new cars and houses. The first law of thermodynamics tells us that in a closed system energy (matter) can neither be created or destroyed. So my, your, everyone's atoms continue and will help form other matter in the future.

Im pretty sure, I know you are an atheist? So you don't qualify

 

[Nimos]

it is written....flesh cannot inherit the kingdom

God is Spirit......mind and heart
the sons of God are likewise

Do you believe that its a spirit yourself or are you just stating what the bible say?

 

[Nimos]

Depending on where you will be reborn. According to my understanding of Buddhist teaching, we can be reborn in the animal realm, human realm or heavenly realm. In my understanding there is not a permanent soul that goes from body to body, I have not understood it all how the rebirth actually happens. If I can be born into the heavenly realm then I would have ended samsara (rebirth cycle) But I do not know if I will reach it.
There is a lot of Buddhist cosmology that I still have not a good grasp on but i getting there (i hope)

Im wondering if the heavenly realm is the end of the rebirth recycle, that's the end station so to speak. Do you have any idea what to expect there or what its like or doesn't Buddhism speak about that? (Again im not well into it)

 

[Spirit of Light]

Im wondering if the heavenly realm is the end of the rebirth recycle, that's the end station so to speak. Do you have any idea what to expect there or what its like or doesn't Buddhism speak about that? (Again im not well into it)

Well the Enlightenment that is needed to enter the heavenly realms is called "blowing out" meaning everything we cling to in this world will be gone, there is no physical body there. so it seems to be only silence and tranquility and i cannot say honestly what is there because I have not been there (obviously ) But in my understanding, it is the existence of pure consciousness.

But until I should reach enlightenment, I am unable to give a fully satisfying answer to what Nirvana/Nibbana would be like.

 

[Nimos]

Well the Enlightenment that is needed to enter the heavenly realms is called "blowing out" meaning everything we cling to in this world will be gone, there is no physical body there. so it seems to be only silence and tranquility and i cannot say honestly what is there because I have not been there (obviously ) But in my understanding, it is the existence of pure consciousness.

But until I should reach enlightenment, I am unable to give a fully satisfying answer to what Nirvana/Nibbana would be like.

Ok thanks

 

[Spirit of Light]

Ok thanks

Very welcome

 

[KelseyR]

I look heavenly

 

[SalixIncendium]

I have to admit that I don't know a lot if hardly anything about Hinduism, so sorry if some of my questions might sound slightly stupid.

So you are not really a human but an Atman, which I can understand from quick research is a soul of some sort? So anything can be an Atman like animals?

In my view, Atman is the same as Brahman, which is the highest principle...Absolute Reality. So I, in my true nature, am the same as Brahman. And the Atman can experience life in any form, so in answer to your question, yes, the Atman can experience life as an animal (reminding you that humans are, indeed, animals from a biological standpoint), a plant, or any being in relative reality.

 

[ChristineM]

Im pretty sure, I know you are an atheist? So you don't qualify

Thanks for the exclusion

The op did not specify "atheist need not apply" let me just check... Nope.

Oh and atheists are human too

 

[England my lionheart]

According to christineM I look "lived in" :-/

 

[Nimos]

Thanks for the exclusion

The op did not specify "atheist need not apply" let me just check... Nope.

Oh and atheists are human too

I am the OP and an atheist my self

And the reason I know that you are an atheist is because you wrote on my profile earlier regarding another topic. I know atheist do not believe in heaven etc. So obviously what we think about it i find less interesting compared to what those that actually do believe. So my first post and first reply were not meant to offend you

 

[sayak83]

This is something I have be wondering about for some time and not really sure how to make sense of, or how people imagine it to be. I think it probably consist of several questions and understandings, so feel free to correct me or use your own description if you don't think mine is accurate enough..

As described in Genesis in the bible Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden and a lot of Christians if not all, believe that when they die, they come to heaven if everything goes well or they are resurrected to live on a new earth which is a new paradise, where there are no harm or suffering.

What puzzles me is how do people see themselves in these places depending on how you believe in them.

Meaning do you see yourself as a human walking around or as a spirit sort of thing?

As human
If you are a human, how old are you? and how old are your grandmother for instance? Are everyone the same age?

As spirit kind of thing
What do you think one looks like? Do you have to eat? Can you interact with things in heaven?

Heaven or paradise it self
What do you imagine this being like, are there houses? cars? how do you get around? Are there entertainment like televisions, mobile phones etc? or what do you imagine people doing all day for eternity to entertain themselves?

You don't look like anything, as there are no photons in any of the heavens, nor any atom from which they get reflected. I see the mind as sort of a informational structure that is sustained by the electrochemical signals of the material brain. This informational structure gets mapped into another entirely different substrate when it re-emerges in another reality (another material realm or a heaven realm). I have no idea as to what sort of a substrate that would be, but it would probably be nothing like space-time-matter-field substrate form of this reality. The fact of re-emergence has to do with the abstract mapping of the information and thought structure that constitutes "me" in that plane. So, for example, a mathematical operation can be expressed either in binary space or decimal space. They look utterly different on the surface expression, but the identity of the operation itself is retained.

That's my guess. I have no evidence. Take it as you will.