Suppose It Was Revealed To Mankind There Is In Fact An After Life, What Then?

[Juanita]

I acknowledge that that is a possibility especially if the soul is a "recorder" of the person. But that is not necessarily the result if the body was the I/O interface of the soul with the corporeal world. Damage to the interface (the stroke in this example) while making it harder for the soul to interact properly with the world wouldn't necessarily cause any major alteration of the personality.



Not necessarily. There are at least two possibilities. First is the one I said of you won't have conscious access to those memories. Which means that why you learned things from this life and they will influence the next, you won't realize it. Then there is the possibility that whatever it is that crosses over is a baseline personality/whatever and you basically start over and work through a new life developing new details. Now granted, I can't, at this moment, figure out what the point of this life would have been, well not for the second and the first is still rather iffy. But I also realize that there is plenty out there that we currently are just not developed enough to understand at this point in our collective development. So I can't say there wouldn't be a point.



That is quite a different scenario than most are supposing, but well within the OP's vague suppositions. Interesting. However, this supposition would not be consistent with the concept that an after-life has always been there. This would be a new from-here-on-out type of after-life.



I can't really disagree with you based upon this particular version of life after death. I would say that there would probably be some variations in your results depending upon what happens with one's body between lives. If it is the same body that simply gets re-animated with the same soul again, people might not be as eager to engage in wars and such as one could eventually end up alive but immobile. But a new body every time....damn!

Yes, a new body each and every time.. We are here to learn--to experience for soul growth...

 

[Juanita]

If you speculate that life after death means reincarnation, then surely there would be a new body each time.

But, life after death does not necessarily mean reincarnation. Perhaps we just get one mortal life, then spend the rest of the time as spirits.

and the idea doesn't have to be a new sort of life after death. Just because we didn't know it existed, that doesn't mean it didn't. America existed before Columbus discovered it, in fact, even before the first mammoth hunters discovered it.

Reincarnation is always a choice, but when you see your life review and understand all the opportunities that you failed to take advantage or how you could have made much better decisions and choices, you eventually decide that you want to try it again...

 

[Dittohead not!]

Reincarnation is always a choice, but when you see your life review and understand all the opportunities that you failed to take advantage or how you could have made much better decisions and choices, you eventually decide that you want to try it again...

You sound awfully certain on a thread in which most of us are engaging in wild speculation.

 

[Juanita]

If we knew there was an immortal afterlife, then why place any importance on this one? I'm assuming that this afterlife isn't a universally horrible experience, but at least neutral compared with our current one. Though even then, it would be substantially difference, since we wouldn't be mortal. All of our physical fears would disappear. We wouldn't need to eat or keep warm, or fear injury or sickness. So, it would pretty automatically be better than this one. So why bother with this one?

Very good question... The afterlife is made up of many levels and levels or realms within the different levels....Progression is the goal--to higher and lighter levels of conscienseness...It just gets better and better the closer you get to the Source...

 

[Juanita]

You sound awfully certain on a thread in which most of us are engaging in wild speculation.

I am certain--no doubts--no speculation......

 

[Juanita]

Reality is not governed by vague analogies, its governed by specific physical interactions. If neural activity is what can interact with souls, then neural activity is what will determine the souls properties. Brain damage simply alter neurological output just like any other shift in personality. There is no physical mechanism that can determine between the changes to a personality we humans consider good and those we consider bad. The primary reason for gods is that we seek an entity who responds to human emotional desire rather than the arbitrary nature of the universe.

I think I said this already, but conscienseness/soul/spirit has nothing to do with the brain--the brain dies when the body dies, the soul/spirit/conscienseness does not--it exists after physical death just like it did before physical birth...

 

[Juanita]

Perhaps because this life is for the purpose of learning so that we will be more successful in the next. Maybe this world is just a sort of Kindergarten where we learn things like how to get along with each other, how to be responsible for ourselves, things like that.

Exactly--you have it right.. It is all about unconditional love----forgiveness, tolerance, charity, responsibility, understanding, etc.....

 

[Juanita]

Why do so many relate the afterlife as heaven and hell? What if it is neither rather existence in another dimension?

There is no everlasting hell, but neither is it a heaven where you sit on a cloud playing a harp...It is actual life and living that life...

 

[Juanita]

The OP specifically says that we know nothing about this afterlife. I think it might be very dangerous to assume anything about it. Besides, what could we learn here that we couldn't learn there? This world is full of terror and danger. It teaches us to fear and mistrust. Imagine shaping a mind from birth without those things? It would be an infinitely superior existence to never be here in the physical world at all.

The same quandary is actually true of specific afterlives from religions, too. At best, the physical world is a worse existence, at worst, it is essentially a deathtrap, where one can lose that much more important immortal existence at any moment. The entire notion of an afterlife renders the physical world kind of silly. As a training ground, as a test, as pretty much anything but an inferior version of an otherwise successful spiritual realm, there is no need nor purpose for a physical world. That's why it really can only be interpreted as a comforting dream. As real thing, a non-physical afterlife is pretty nonsensical.

How do we learn and grow in the physical world? By challenges, decisions, choices, heartbreak and struggles, all in a negative environment......There is no negativity on the Other side, so growth takes much longer.. So souls opt to reincarnate to speed up the process...

 

[Juanita]

What Andy said!

My answer to the question posed in the OP is that it doesn't matter. What if there wasn't a big bang? What if the world was created in 7 day? What if the world is or isn't 6,000 years old? In terms of how you live and how you wish to be treated and how you treat others, it doesn't matter. When you hit your thumb with a hammer is it critically important for you to know how pain is processed within the body? Do you need this information in order for you not to hit your thumb with a hammer again?

There is no afterlife because there is nothing but the present. No alpha, no omega. Afterlife is always today.

Hit yourself on the thumb with a hammer and it will hurt in the present and the thumb hurting present will last for longer than you want. We cannot change the past. It doesn't exist. Nor does the future. All we have is now. We can affect the future only by how we think and act in the present. If your thumb doesn't hurt now in the present that is because you didn't hit it with a hammer in the past.

Only the present matters today.

Eckert Toole would agree with you on the NOW, but that does affect the afterlife, where everything is in the "now".....Physical beings live according to linear time.....what happens when this physical body dies?

 

[Juanita]

Actually, I was speculating not on the details of the afterlife, but on the purpose of this one.

How could the immortal existence be lost due to events in the physical world? An unfortunate accident can end this mortal life prematurely, but the physical body will eventually die anyway.

Another thought: If we knew for sure that there there was an afterlife, but did not know what it might be like, then people would still fear death as it would still be an unknown.

Some of us know quite a bit about the afterlife...so it is not an unknown and thus we have no fear...

 

[Juanita]

"Just because..."

There is no life after death. That much is true. Hypothetical statements that are false by definition can result in all kinds of meaningless and worthless results.

Why do you believe that there is no afterlife? So you think that we live this one moment in eternity and that's it?

 

[Risky Thicket]

Eckert Toole would agree with you on the NOW, but that does affect the afterlife, where everything is in the "now".....Physical beings live according to linear time.....what happens when this physical body dies?

When the physical body dies time no longer exists. Time is a physical world illusion.

 

[Juanita]

When the physical body dies time no longer exists. Time is a physical world illusion.

Right, when the physical body dies, time no longer exists for that physical body....not so for the spiritual body/soul...

 

[maquiscat]

"Just because..."

There is no life after death. That much is true. Hypothetical statements that are false by definition can result in all kinds of meaningless and worthless results.

First off, sometimes it is just simply fun to play the what if game. And since meaning and worth are opinion based values, what may be meaningless and worthless to you is not so for others.

Secondly, lack of evidence of the existence of something does not automatically equate to the something not existing. This continent existed long before most humans even thought about it yet alone proved its existence. Bacteria, viruses, cells, various forms of energy, all existed even while there was no evidence yet found to prove their existence.

It is much more than a "what if" scenario...

Explain please. I think I have an idea of what you mean, but I do not wish to assume.

Certainly animals have souls as do all of God's creations.. What do you think that the Source used to create the universe and everything in it...?

Your evidence of this? At this point I really doubt that you have anything other than hearsay by way of support for your assertion. Mankind currently has no way to detect or measure a soul, should one exist (which I believe they do). You have nothing which can provide repeatable independently verifiable proof of a soul.

I am certain--no doubts--no speculation......

Which is all fine and well, but you still have no proof which can be replicated by others. I can at least prove unicorns are real, sans all the hype and misinformation built up over the centuries.

I think I said this already, but conscienseness/soul/spirit has nothing to do with the brain--the brain dies when the body dies, the soul/spirit/conscienseness does not--it exists after physical death just like it did before physical birth...

Again, no proof, and with this not even any supporting evidence. What proof can you provide that shows that the brain has nothing to do with the soul? Even if it is just an interface (the keyboard, mouse and monitor for a crude analogy) between the soul and the body, the brain and soul are still intertwined during the life period.

 

[notquiteright]

There is a reason for everything and everything happens for a reason....

Perhaps, but there is precious little evidence it is at the direction of a Supreme Being

Most of the time the reason appears to be- 'CRAP HAPPENS'

Which seems to fit a great deal of the rather tragic and senseless things that occur without any Divine Intelligence behind it.

My mindset is more like when I come back it is going to be as a stripper's thong, rather than endure the idiotic crap now- your reward will come in Heaven. Or for that matter claim my good or ill fortune is the result of a previous life.

The history of religion has been man's attempt to explain what was unexplainable at the time, like thunder, illness, drought or flood. As our knowledge grew mysticism faded. I can only imagine the look on so many dead preachers going for their just reward in Heaven finding out the truth that there is none... I can almost here their voice as they say..."Well ain't this some ****!"

But keep the faith ma'am, for some it is all they have.... eace

 

[Risky Thicket]

Right, when the physical body dies, time no longer exists for that physical body....not so for the spiritual body/soul...

Why would time be necessary in the spirit world? I think it would be a hindrance.

 

[rathi]

I think I said this already, but conscienseness/soul/spirit has nothing to do with the brain--the brain dies when the body dies, the soul/spirit/conscienseness does not--it exists after physical death just like it did before physical birth...

The brain is what defines a persons personality and consciousness. In order for a soul to reflect an individuals personality, it therefore must logically interact with the brain.

 

[Juanita]

First off, sometimes it is just simply fun to play the what if game. And since meaning and worth are opinion based values, what may be meaningless and worthless to you is not so for others.

Secondly, lack of evidence of the existence of something does not automatically equate to the something not existing. This continent existed long before most humans even thought about it yet alone proved its existence. Bacteria, viruses, cells, various forms of energy, all existed even while there was no evidence yet found to prove their existence.



Explain please. I think I have an idea of what you mean, but I do not wish to assume.



Your evidence of this? At this point I really doubt that you have anything other than hearsay by way of support for your assertion. Mankind currently has no way to detect or measure a soul, should one exist (which I believe they do). You have nothing which can provide repeatable independently verifiable proof of a soul.



Which is all fine and well, but you still have no proof which can be replicated by others. I can at least prove unicorns are real, sans all the hype and misinformation built up over the centuries.



Again, no proof, and with this not even any supporting evidence. What proof can you provide that shows that the brain has nothing to do with the soul? Even if it is just an interface (the keyboard, mouse and monitor for a crude analogy) between the soul and the body, the brain and soul are still intertwined during the life period.

I have enough proof for myself, as do millions of others....I have seen spirit manifested as ectoplasm, I have photos of ectoplasm....I have communicated with my loved ones directly and also through Mediums.. Spirit has channeled hundreds of times through average gifted people.. Spirit such as Seth, Emmanuel, Silver Birch....Mediums such as Edgar Cayce and many others have channeled spirit... It is nothing new.... We also have millions of accounts of ADCs, NDEs, OBEs, near-death visits, visions, etc. that spirit and the afterlife exist.....

 

[Juanita]

Perhaps, but there is precious little evidence it is at the direction of a Supreme Being

Most of the time the reason appears to be- 'CRAP HAPPENS'

Which seems to fit a great deal of the rather tragic and senseless things that occur without any Divine Intelligence behind it.

My mindset is more like when I come back it is going to be as a stripper's thong, rather than endure the idiotic crap now- your reward will come in Heaven. Or for that matter claim my good or ill fortune is the result of a previous life.

The history of religion has been man's attempt to explain what was unexplainable at the time, like thunder, illness, drought or flood. As our knowledge grew mysticism faded. I can only imagine the look on so many dead preachers going for their just reward in Heaven finding out the truth that there is none... I can almost here their voice as they say..."Well ain't this some ****!"

But keep the faith ma'am, for some it is all they have.... eace

My belief is that the Source does not meddle in our lives; He neither punishes nor rewards...He gave us free will for a reason....we know before we are reborn in the physical, what it is we need to learn and to experience..The Source may have a divine plan for the universe, but we are responsible for our own choices and decisions in our lives.

 

[Juanita]

Why would time be necessary in the spirit world? I think it would be a hindrance.

I should have worded that better...There is no such thing as time "as we know it" on the Other side....They seem to experience it all in the "now". I like to picture it a lot like multitasking--doing several things at the same time, but aware of each thing that they are doing...

 

[Juanita]

The brain is what defines a persons personality and consciousness. In order for a soul to reflect an individuals personality, it therefore must logically interact with the brain.

That may be, but I know that when you die, you take your personality with you...

 

[DiAnna]

That may be, but I know that when you die, you take your personality with you...

That's disappointing. I'd hoped to do better next time around.


Although I don't believe in an all-seeing deity of wrath and/or salvation, I am open to realms of energy after physical death, because brainwaves are as unique as DNA, so I can grasp the possibility that when brainwaves eventually duplicate themselves, it could be a type of "reincarnation". I sincerely doubt that memories from previous physical incarnations exist, at least not consciously, because if so every human on the planet would be bombarded with such memories, using them as a roadmap to follow rather than creating a new map of one's own.

I do not know what happens after death. There is no irrefutable evidence, nor can there ever be. Some people are sensitive to what they perceive as another realm, where the "souls" (for lack of a better word) of the departed reside. Most who claim to be are, in my opinion, charlatans, albeit many are well-meaning charlatans. A precious few are quite possibly the real deal, whose minds are able to escape physicality, observe, return and report. That doesn't mean that I "believe" in reincarnation or an afterlife, but I can logically and rationally perceive it as a possibility. I cannot know what I cannot know, and I accept that.

 

[Juanita]

That's disappointing. I'd hoped to do better next time around.


Although I don't believe in an all-seeing deity of wrath and/or salvation, I am open to realms of energy after physical death, because brainwaves are as unique as DNA, so I can grasp the possibility that when brainwaves eventually duplicate themselves, it could be a type of "reincarnation". I sincerely doubt that memories from previous physical incarnations exist, at least not consciously, because if so every human on the planet would be bombarded with such memories, using them as a roadmap to follow rather than creating a new map of one's own.

I do not know what happens after death. There is no irrefutable evidence, nor can there ever be. Some people are sensitive to what they perceive as another realm, where the "souls" (for lack of a better word) of the departed reside. Most who claim to be are, in my opinion, charlatans, albeit many are well-meaning charlatans. A precious few are quite possibly the real deal, whose minds are able to escape physicality, observe, return and report. That doesn't mean that I "believe" in reincarnation or an afterlife, but I can logically and rationally perceive it as a possibility. I cannot know what I cannot know, and I accept that.

Having an open mind is crucial, for so many reasons.... Many people cannot believe until it happens to them and that is understandable..I have been quite fortunate in finding good mediums and have only been disappointed twice...But I can tell you that my loved ones have remained close to me and have often helped me out....Spirit "can" help, as long as it doesn't interfere with your LifePlan--those things that you came here to learn and experience...You have a wonderful personality and basically, it is who you really are...

 

[rhinefire]

The underlying problem with this thread is it attaches death to life even though they are separate entities. You exist then you do not. Being dead means you are not even so much as a rock. We put head stones on graves to maintain an attachment with the living. Why not grind up or incinerate bodies when they become meaningless? Use them for fertilizer. If there is such a thing as a soul it exists only after death because the brain is our guide in life. Blow up a balloon the pop it then you will understand the cycle we experience called "living" and you can witness the end of it. Oh, and don't bury the balloon, just dump it in the trash.