I am skeptical about the possibility of an afterlife because I have not personally experienced anything that would tell me otherwise; that said, I am open minded to the possibility of an afterlife existing. However, what if there really is no afterlife? what would the point of our lives be? It seems so stupid to live for some amount of time which is insignificant when compared to eternity.

Any thoughts?

meant to write "what if there is no afterlife"

What if the night sky is a huge carpet of black cloth sprinkled with glued gem stones?

Well, we have to find out. :)

This is an easy question to answer. If the afterlife does not exist, when your brain / body dies to the point that the cells are completely dead and no chance of resuscitation is possible:

Black nothingness like a dreamless sleep will occur.

PERMANENTLY.

As to meaning in this scenario?

I have considered both sides of this and have come to the conclusion that "meaning" "purpose" are all simply delusional. Let us say you are excited to get home and play your game to get your character to level 50.

This is a prime example of something that has meaning to you on that day. But does it truly matter or is the entire meaning simply created out of nothing within your own mind?

So as you can imagine, the afterlife existing does add a whole new way of thinking and a whole new possibility on whether or not meaning is more than simply an illusion.

So the key question is whether there is an afterlife. If no afterlife, our current lives are meaningless in the greater scheme of things. What difference does it even make if the earth were to explode tomorrow, given that there are infinite planets in the universe...We humans are pretty ego centric-like it would make a difference to anyone else in the universe if earth no longer existed.

The only way to become certain about the existence of the afterlife is to have experiences that make it possible to become certain. If a person finds that he (or she) isn't able to have confirmational experiences, he might want to try to find out why this is so. The reasons can vary.

Recoverer, have you ever had such experiences?

Please see my response to the other thread you have going on.


ottawa1 wrote on May 20^th, 2012 at 3:38pm:

Recoverer, have you ever had such experiences?

recoverer wrote on May 20^th, 2012 at 2:36pm:

The only way to become certain about the existence of the afterlife is to have experiences that make it possible to become certain. If a person finds that he (or she) isn't able to have confirmational experiences, he might want to try to find out why this is so. The reasons can vary.

This sums it up...obviously something has happened that suggested you might want to figure out "what if...".  And you are right...if there is nothing afterwards...everything would seem absolutely meaningless.  I know alot about a little regarding where I have been and where I am going and I fully expect to learn more...you can too dependent on your desire for assurance.