Nanaki's Mohawk
Ex-Soldier
I find comfort in that too LittleAngel. I don't like the idea of existing for eternity that is so common in religion.
What happens when you die?
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If there is no afterlife, or anything after death, then there is no reason at all for living.
In this idea, no matter what we do in life, or what happens to us, all paths lead to the same end: non-existence. Living is simply prolonging the inevitable, trying to run from death only to eventually be caught.
There is no reason to try and work for peace in this world, there is no reason to try and have rights, there is no reason to help those in need, there is no reason protect this planet, and there is no reason to work towards happiness. None of this will have any impact once you die, since you simply do not exist anymore. You could have created world peace, but that will not matter to you, nor anyone else in the entire world after we die. You could jump off a cliff and die immediately, and reach the same end.
I've had a friend argue that science is the answer. We work towards furthering science until we discover immortality and do not have to die. That is all fine, we no longer have to die and thus we can exist forever, but what's the point? Raising a family, being with loved ones, enjoying life, or something of the sort could be stated as reasons, but even still what's the point? There is nothing to work towards, and there is no purpose in living. You live forever, but it would be an empty life, simply living to live.
Personally, I believe that there is some reason for us being, some higher calling. Whether it be Heaven or Hell or Purgatory, there would be no reason for us to not just kill ourselves now and get it over with unless we have a purpose for being here.
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
Hamlet 3:1
This is one of my favorite Shakespeare pieces,
where Hamlet ponders why we would bother going through all the pains of living
if we simply 'sleep', without a dream.
</pre>
In this idea, no matter what we do in life, or what happens to us, all paths lead to the same end: non-existence. Living is simply prolonging the inevitable, trying to run from death only to eventually be caught.
There is no reason to try and work for peace in this world, there is no reason to try and have rights, there is no reason to help those in need, there is no reason protect this planet, and there is no reason to work towards happiness. None of this will have any impact once you die, since you simply do not exist anymore. You could have created world peace, but that will not matter to you, nor anyone else in the entire world after we die. You could jump off a cliff and die immediately, and reach the same end.
I've had a friend argue that science is the answer. We work towards furthering science until we discover immortality and do not have to die. That is all fine, we no longer have to die and thus we can exist forever, but what's the point? Raising a family, being with loved ones, enjoying life, or something of the sort could be stated as reasons, but even still what's the point? There is nothing to work towards, and there is no purpose in living. You live forever, but it would be an empty life, simply living to live.
Personally, I believe that there is some reason for us being, some higher calling. Whether it be Heaven or Hell or Purgatory, there would be no reason for us to not just kill ourselves now and get it over with unless we have a purpose for being here.
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.
Hamlet 3:1
This is one of my favorite Shakespeare pieces,
where Hamlet ponders why we would bother going through all the pains of living
if we simply 'sleep', without a dream.
</pre>
Dark Fenrir
Ex-Soldier
What I think happens is after you die your soul leaves your body and is transferred to another organism that is about to be born. Your previous body decomposes and such, but you continue living on as another being with no recollection of your previous life.
Interesting concept if I do say so myself.
Interesting concept if I do say so myself.
Interesting it is.
I believe that too. (But then I believe so many things...
)
Or, (this one came up with myself...) it could be that your 'heaven', or 'afterlife' or whatever is decided by your religious beliefs in the physical life.
Like you go to heaven if you're christian, or to nirvana, or be reincarnated, etc. etc.
I mean, what would it feel like if you've been hoping to get into heaven your whole life and end up a frog right after you die. That would be a little screwed up if you ask me.
*screams: What happened to the faith?*
lol
I believe that too. (But then I believe so many things...
)Or, (this one came up with myself...
) it could be that your 'heaven', or 'afterlife' or whatever is decided by your religious beliefs in the physical life.Like you go to heaven if you're christian, or to nirvana, or be reincarnated, etc. etc.
I mean, what would it feel like if you've been hoping to get into heaven your whole life and end up a frog right after you die. That would be a little screwed up if you ask me.
*screams: What happened to the faith?*
lol
Oh right
!I forgot that little detail...
But that sure would be awesome to remember everything from our past lives.
I believe in the Christian religions beliefs of life after death. I urge you all to really research the religions sometime. I hate thinking about those out there walking blindly through life, uneducated on your religious choices. Of course a part of the Christian belief system is to educate our brothers, sadly todays civilization feels overwhelmed by others, even when they approach the topic from a nonthreatening stance, we become "bible-thumpers", but I digress. I'll defend my religion to anyone willing to attack it, and educate anyone curious.
I think all religions should be studied to some amount. Not only does it give you several possibilities and theories (any of which could be true, since we cannot truly say what is true), but helps see others' perspectives. Maybe it could explain why some are in-right out-right up-right down-right happy all the time.
Xx Sir Auron Xx
Banned
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD><TD vAlign=top colSpan=4><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left><HR color=#000080 noShade SIZE=2><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>Your Ultimate Appointment:
What Happens When You Die?
by Joshua Reid
</TD><TD vAlign=center align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><HR color=#000080 noShade SIZE=2><!-- Begin Webinator Ignore --><TABLE class=see_also_table cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=150 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=see_also_table_head>
</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End Webinator Ignore -->We don't like to think about death. It's not a pleasant subject, and we avoid even discussing it seriously or giving it any diligent study. If our career plans involved a foreign assignment, our desk would be littered with brochures and travel folders as we would try learn all we could about our forthcoming destination. If we were scheduled for an exam that our lives depended upon, we would be studying in earnest. Yet the most certain event in our future is one we try our best to ignore and attempt to relegate to a comfortable distance.
I once suggested to a financial executive (who was about 50 years of age) whom I was traveling with that he probably had less than a thousand weekends left in his life. He was startled! "What do you mean?" he gasped.
"Do the math," I suggested. With an actuarial expectation of about 20 years left in his life, and with nominally 50 weeks/year, that leaves him with about a thousand weekends. (When we say "twenty years," that sounds remote, academic, intangible. When we think of "weekends," it tends to confront us with a more graspable reality!)
Our appointment with death is an absolute certainty - probably our only certainty. It may come sooner than we expect: a car crash, a stray bullet, an unforeseen stroke. We all know of personal examples where death has come suddenly, without warning, without any preparations. When it finally does come, what do we expect it to be like?
Shedding Our Misconceptions
One of the penalties of our casual - or reluctant - attitude about death and dying is that most people are steeped in myths and misconceptions. Almost every commonly held belief is erroneous, misleading, and contrary to what we do know about the subject.
There are numerous books that have been published about "near-death experiences," which at best are less than reliable sources, no matter how well intended. But there are several incidences that we can trust as reliable. Stephen, as he was being stoned, gave us a glimpse:
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. - Acts 7:55,56
So this notion that being greeted by the Lord Himself - at least in his case - is not fanciful. As serious Christians, we can take significant comfort from Stephen's experience. Paul also speaks of a "near-death" type of experience in which he was caught up to paradise. <SUP>1</SUP> Since this happened 14 years before writing about it to the Corinthians, some scholars believe it may have coincided with his experience at Lystra where he was stoned and dragged out of the city and left for dead. <SUP>2</SUP> (Whether this was a "near-death" experience or an actual death-and-return, we'll have to wait until we can ask him.)
Messages From the Dark Side
What makes this subject so difficult to research is that most information is not only unreliable, it is the specific focus of deceit by the ultimate Deceiver himself. One of the first mistakes is to look for answers in the wrong places. Channeling, necromancy (attempted communication with the dead), and all forms of commerce with demonic activity are expressly prohibited in the Scripture.<SUP>3</SUP> Even such ostensibly harmless things such as a Ouija board or role-playing parlor games can prove extremely dangerous and are not to be taken lightly.
Satan's deceptions are designed to eliminate any awareness of a coming judgment and accountability, and to promote the perceptions that all roads lead to the same place. (Remember, he is the "prince of this world," and the "prince of the power of the air."<SUP>4</SUP>) Don't be among the naïve or impressionable: this is very dangerous territory:
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. - 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14
Also, Jesus warned us to:
Enter ye in at the strait [narrow] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. - Matthew 7:13-15
If the gate you're relying on is wide, with a large majority taking advantage of it, you've got the wrong gate ! And for many, the truth about death should be terrifying. They will be in for a shocking surprise.
Heaven and Hell
This subject also squarely confronts the issues of Heaven and Hell. Unpleasant. Controversial. And clearly the subject of fanciful folklore in all directions and dimensions.
The Hebrew Sheol, and the Greek Hades, are not the grave. The grave is where the body goes. Sheol and Hades is where the departed spirits go. (For this brief discussion, we'll regard them as equivalent.)
Gehenna, however, is their final disposition. Hades is cast into Gehenna at the end.<SUP>5</SUP> (In fact, their topology appears to be opposites: Hades is presented as geocentric; Gehenna is in "the outer darkness.")
It is significant that Jesus spoke much more about "Hell" than He did about Heaven.<SUP>6</SUP> The very concept of the need for a Savior presupposes the avoidance of the otherwise certain destiny of desolation and eternal punishment. The good news is that you and I are the beneficiaries of a love letter: a letter written in blood on a wooden cross erected in Judea about two thousand years ago and which is the fulcrum of all history and the entire universe. The crucifixion was not a tragedy: it was a crowning achievement. His achievement makes it possible to avoid an otherwise certain destiny.
The Physics of Immortality
There are many in the secular world who do not even take the existence of the "afterlife" seriously. There are many who do, however. Frank J. Tipler, Professor of Mathematical Physics at Tulane University, is a major theoretician in the field of global general relativity, that rarefied branch of physics created by Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose. In pursuing a mathematical model involving the end of the universe, Tipler (a professed atheist) came to two conclusions (one obvious, and one stunning):
1) Using the most advanced and sophisticated methods of modern physics, and relying solely on the rigorous procedures of logic that science demands, he discovered a proof of the existence of God. (You're thinking, "No kidding, Dick Tracy!")
2) He also now believes that every human being who ever lived will be resurrected from the dead.
He claims to have arrived at these conclusions about God and immortality "in exactly the same way physicists calculate the properties of an electron." (While I personally disagree with much of his published book, this turnabout for a professed atheist is interesting.<SUP>7</SUP> You can learn more about the resurrection from the most important chapter in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 15.)
A far more insightful book is by Erwin Lutzer, One Minute After You Die. He is a truly delightful friend, has pastored the Moody Church in Chicago for over twenty years, and we used his popular book as our point of departure for our current briefing package on this subject. We also explore the intrinsic architecture of man, why he is immortal (saved or not), and we attempt to repair some of the misconceptions about Sheol, Hades and Gehenna, and the real nature of our present physical reality, as well as some of the more problematic issues involved in the "afterlife."
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
What Happens When You Die?
by Joshua Reid
</TD><TD vAlign=center align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><HR color=#000080 noShade SIZE=2><!-- Begin Webinator Ignore --><TABLE class=see_also_table cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=150 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=see_also_table_head>
</TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End Webinator Ignore -->We don't like to think about death. It's not a pleasant subject, and we avoid even discussing it seriously or giving it any diligent study. If our career plans involved a foreign assignment, our desk would be littered with brochures and travel folders as we would try learn all we could about our forthcoming destination. If we were scheduled for an exam that our lives depended upon, we would be studying in earnest. Yet the most certain event in our future is one we try our best to ignore and attempt to relegate to a comfortable distance.
I once suggested to a financial executive (who was about 50 years of age) whom I was traveling with that he probably had less than a thousand weekends left in his life. He was startled! "What do you mean?" he gasped.
"Do the math," I suggested. With an actuarial expectation of about 20 years left in his life, and with nominally 50 weeks/year, that leaves him with about a thousand weekends. (When we say "twenty years," that sounds remote, academic, intangible. When we think of "weekends," it tends to confront us with a more graspable reality!)
Our appointment with death is an absolute certainty - probably our only certainty. It may come sooner than we expect: a car crash, a stray bullet, an unforeseen stroke. We all know of personal examples where death has come suddenly, without warning, without any preparations. When it finally does come, what do we expect it to be like?
Shedding Our Misconceptions
One of the penalties of our casual - or reluctant - attitude about death and dying is that most people are steeped in myths and misconceptions. Almost every commonly held belief is erroneous, misleading, and contrary to what we do know about the subject.
There are numerous books that have been published about "near-death experiences," which at best are less than reliable sources, no matter how well intended. But there are several incidences that we can trust as reliable. Stephen, as he was being stoned, gave us a glimpse:
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. - Acts 7:55,56
So this notion that being greeted by the Lord Himself - at least in his case - is not fanciful. As serious Christians, we can take significant comfort from Stephen's experience. Paul also speaks of a "near-death" type of experience in which he was caught up to paradise. <SUP>1</SUP> Since this happened 14 years before writing about it to the Corinthians, some scholars believe it may have coincided with his experience at Lystra where he was stoned and dragged out of the city and left for dead. <SUP>2</SUP> (Whether this was a "near-death" experience or an actual death-and-return, we'll have to wait until we can ask him.)
Messages From the Dark Side
What makes this subject so difficult to research is that most information is not only unreliable, it is the specific focus of deceit by the ultimate Deceiver himself. One of the first mistakes is to look for answers in the wrong places. Channeling, necromancy (attempted communication with the dead), and all forms of commerce with demonic activity are expressly prohibited in the Scripture.<SUP>3</SUP> Even such ostensibly harmless things such as a Ouija board or role-playing parlor games can prove extremely dangerous and are not to be taken lightly.
Satan's deceptions are designed to eliminate any awareness of a coming judgment and accountability, and to promote the perceptions that all roads lead to the same place. (Remember, he is the "prince of this world," and the "prince of the power of the air."<SUP>4</SUP>) Don't be among the naïve or impressionable: this is very dangerous territory:
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. - 2 Corinthians 11:13, 14
Also, Jesus warned us to:
Enter ye in at the strait [narrow] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. - Matthew 7:13-15
If the gate you're relying on is wide, with a large majority taking advantage of it, you've got the wrong gate ! And for many, the truth about death should be terrifying. They will be in for a shocking surprise.
Heaven and Hell
This subject also squarely confronts the issues of Heaven and Hell. Unpleasant. Controversial. And clearly the subject of fanciful folklore in all directions and dimensions.
The Hebrew Sheol, and the Greek Hades, are not the grave. The grave is where the body goes. Sheol and Hades is where the departed spirits go. (For this brief discussion, we'll regard them as equivalent.)
Gehenna, however, is their final disposition. Hades is cast into Gehenna at the end.<SUP>5</SUP> (In fact, their topology appears to be opposites: Hades is presented as geocentric; Gehenna is in "the outer darkness.")
It is significant that Jesus spoke much more about "Hell" than He did about Heaven.<SUP>6</SUP> The very concept of the need for a Savior presupposes the avoidance of the otherwise certain destiny of desolation and eternal punishment. The good news is that you and I are the beneficiaries of a love letter: a letter written in blood on a wooden cross erected in Judea about two thousand years ago and which is the fulcrum of all history and the entire universe. The crucifixion was not a tragedy: it was a crowning achievement. His achievement makes it possible to avoid an otherwise certain destiny.
The Physics of Immortality
There are many in the secular world who do not even take the existence of the "afterlife" seriously. There are many who do, however. Frank J. Tipler, Professor of Mathematical Physics at Tulane University, is a major theoretician in the field of global general relativity, that rarefied branch of physics created by Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose. In pursuing a mathematical model involving the end of the universe, Tipler (a professed atheist) came to two conclusions (one obvious, and one stunning):
1) Using the most advanced and sophisticated methods of modern physics, and relying solely on the rigorous procedures of logic that science demands, he discovered a proof of the existence of God. (You're thinking, "No kidding, Dick Tracy!")
2) He also now believes that every human being who ever lived will be resurrected from the dead.
He claims to have arrived at these conclusions about God and immortality "in exactly the same way physicists calculate the properties of an electron." (While I personally disagree with much of his published book, this turnabout for a professed atheist is interesting.<SUP>7</SUP> You can learn more about the resurrection from the most important chapter in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 15.)
A far more insightful book is by Erwin Lutzer, One Minute After You Die. He is a truly delightful friend, has pastored the Moody Church in Chicago for over twenty years, and we used his popular book as our point of departure for our current briefing package on this subject. We also explore the intrinsic architecture of man, why he is immortal (saved or not), and we attempt to repair some of the misconceptions about Sheol, Hades and Gehenna, and the real nature of our present physical reality, as well as some of the more problematic issues involved in the "afterlife."
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
I do not believe in any set religions, and I have no idea what happens after death... but I do believe that there will be something, and these are my reasons why (and I know these are flawed... but still worth contemplating IMO)
If everything measureable in the universe (mass and energy) is conserved through a basic law of physics, it doesn't make much sense for the consciousness to just "vanish."
If time lasts forever, every last combination of possible set-ups of mass and energy must eventually be reached. And once the universe reaches the EXACT same position twice (both mass and energy in the exact same formation), wouldn't time repeat? Sure... this would take an unimaginable number of eons of time to accomplish, but given infinite time, it makes sense, right? So will you just repeat your life, over and over again? (I don't know)
Since nobody can say that they KNOW what happens after death (no matter how strong your faith is, it is still faith, not knowledge), I believe that every person is responsible for leading a happy, comfortable life, and MORE importantly, doing what they can to make other lives (both animal and human) better. If life ends forever, I want mine to have been enjoyable, and I want others' to have been enjoyable as well.
Sorry if that was long or badly written. I was up until 4:00AM last knight writing English...
If everything measureable in the universe (mass and energy) is conserved through a basic law of physics, it doesn't make much sense for the consciousness to just "vanish."
If time lasts forever, every last combination of possible set-ups of mass and energy must eventually be reached. And once the universe reaches the EXACT same position twice (both mass and energy in the exact same formation), wouldn't time repeat? Sure... this would take an unimaginable number of eons of time to accomplish, but given infinite time, it makes sense, right? So will you just repeat your life, over and over again? (I don't know)
Since nobody can say that they KNOW what happens after death (no matter how strong your faith is, it is still faith, not knowledge), I believe that every person is responsible for leading a happy, comfortable life, and MORE importantly, doing what they can to make other lives (both animal and human) better. If life ends forever, I want mine to have been enjoyable, and I want others' to have been enjoyable as well.
Sorry if that was long or badly written. I was up until 4:00AM last knight writing English...
*Resets thread*
I think that when I die I:
A) Wake up in some inside some furry little bastard's body and live my life as a squirrel with all my human knowledge.
B) I am reincarnated as a hero that has his own background music.
C) That I will be sent somewhere in an alternate dimension where I have to keep reliving the way I died.
D) That I restart my life.
I think that C makes most sense to me, though. Because that would be scary... *Shivers up the neck*
I think that when I die I:
A) Wake up in some inside some furry little bastard's body and live my life as a squirrel with all my human knowledge.
B) I am reincarnated as a hero that has his own background music.
C) That I will be sent somewhere in an alternate dimension where I have to keep reliving the way I died.
D) That I restart my life.
I think that C makes most sense to me, though. Because that would be scary... *Shivers up the neck*
Some ppl that almost died in the hospitals say that they were walking through a dark tunnel with some kind of light in the end. Beyond that I have no idea what happens but I think that it depends on your life and good deeds you did on your life and you turn into an animal or something. That is what budists think anyway
Vagabond
Ex-Soldier
That's a misconception. True Buddhism doesn't concern itself with any form of the afterlife, since the entire concept of Buddhism is centered around the idea that there is no self. No ego.
Reincarnation was a concept borrowed from Hindu beliefs, and were used in stories to teach Buddhism. Much like Christianity, the symbolism of the religion has surpassed and replaced the actual beliefs.
What happens when we die? Who cares? I think Heaven, Hell, Nirvana, etc, are just more symbolism. If you are honestly doing good to others just to get into Heaven, doesn't that make you a rather selfish person? If the way to get into Heaven was to be an evil person, would you be doing evil deeds instead?
Live your life in a way that makes you happy, who knows what comes next.
You turn into a ghost and spend the rest of eternity pulling chairs from under random people and walking through walls.
You also get to freak out little kids by hiding underneath beds while moaning loudly.
You also get to freak out little kids by hiding underneath beds while moaning loudly.
Actually being reborn as an animal would not be the result of living a "good" life. It would actually be the result of living a life of ignorance.
I think it is moreso that we are concerned with this life. Humanity is extremely important, as this life presents the most favorable conditions to reach Nirvana in. Those in Heaven are too vain, those in Hell are in too much pain, those as animals are too ignorant, etc., etc., etc.
It's important that we were born as humans; who knows when the conditions will be such as to allow us to be reborn as humans again?
A little clarification: Reincarnation & rebirth are not the same ideas. Hinduism relies on reincarnation - the idea that an immortal Self is transmigrated from body to body to learn lessons (basically it is You in another body). On the other hand, Buddhism relies on rebirth - the idea that what one considers as the Self is not immortal & constantly changes from life to life (If you were to see one of your past lives, it would be like watching a movie of someone who just seems similar).
Since one of the basic tennants of Buddhism is that all things are impermanent & subject to change, it's not really logical to put stock into the idea of reincarnation.
You seem to have a fairly negative take on religion in general. However, on some level I'll have to agree. Many people do not realise that symbols were meant as a means to teach things easier. However, The Buddha was extremely wise & during his life forbade his disciples from creating images of himself or symbolic images for fear that people would become mislead. Of course, as soon as he died everyone decided to go against his wishes. Imagine that.
Vagabond
Ex-Soldier
You're right, I'm not a fan of religion. I have a very deep faith and I don't like it being re-translated and changed to make it convenient for those in power and then told it's the truth.
But just because I don't follow a religion doesn't mean I don't learn from the wisdom of it's founders.
But just because I don't follow a religion doesn't mean I don't learn from the wisdom of it's founders.
i have heard of people who die for a few seconds can see dead family members and friends but if you have no conciousness when you die how can you remember it?
Lucifer Morningstar
The Prince of the East
Some scientists chalk this up to a chemical in the brain similar to or even identical to the massive hallucinogen DMT being released either right before or right after the actual physical death or near death. They say this also explains the tunnel and/or white light.
Very true Lucifer, and it has strong scientific backup. I think its great that our brains make it easyon us when we are about to kick the bucket.