Reply #23: We just don't know -but there is a You who fears Death and [View All]

a You who can think about Death without Fear. The fear of death is needed for day to day survival-it is important to maintain that.
If you can reach the other You-some people reach it through meditation- it can help you live and think without fear of death getting in the way.

It is quite possible that individual consciousness no longer exists after physical death. It is also possible that it does not or that it survives for a period of "time" and then no longer exists, or unfolds into something richer or more complex, or re-creates itself in some way.

I see no evidence for the traditional story of heaven, so I don't concern myself with it any longer.

I think we live in a state of uncertainty. The physical evidence of death seems to indicate that physical death is the end of the being or creature's consciousness. However that does not mean it is true.

The emotional fervor that surrounds the topic of Death and Afterlife seems to indicate a strong desire or need on the part of many humans to believe in a life after death-to the point of forcing others to believe the same thing.

I notice, however, that many of the people who want to force their beliefs are not eager to die and enter the heaven they insist will be there for them.

My conclusion from this is that such people are very weak in their faith and are weaving their religious beliefs like an imaginary cloak to cover up their fear so they can get through life. On the other hand, many of those who seem to want to die violently for their faith seem indoctrinated and delusional.

As for a freeper heaven-would a god who constructed the incredible universe in which we exist build a freeper-rule heaven/hell? I don't think so. I suppose there is a small chance that there is a God in the form of a giant freeper but I think it unlikely. Billions of people lead good, loving, and meaningful lives without freeper-like heaven and hell beliefs.

I think the heaven/hell concepts stem from the times when human beings thought the earth was flat, heaven was in the sky above and hell was underneath; earth was the center of the universe and human beings were the centerpiece creation. Medieval church spires pointed to heaven as they believed it to be.

It is interesting that, although we have known for centuries that heaven is not in the sky above our heads-churches are still being built with spires pointing to "heaven." I think it takes awhile for cultural organized religion to incorporate new information.

The central question about life-why does anything exist at all-has not been answered. Sometimes I think we don't understand because our brains can conceive of things that are not real-purple cows and nothingness.