• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Afterlife-age : Ever think about what happens after you die?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Kabouter said:
No, just assume nothing happens. Don't see any evidence supporting any other theory, so little use thinking about it. I'm not bothered about death anyway, dying on the other hand...

You know I'm not bothered by it, but it is one of those things that makes me say holy shit out loud. The idea of nothing, not even a empty space or pitch black is just too much. I'm not scared of it though, it's just not something that I can comprehend.
 
I think it's a little greedy and arrogant to think your consciousness and memory will stay alive forever. It's especially ridiculous when you know those two things are just a product of the physical brain and once the brain's dead, that's it :/

So what happens after you die? Well from what I know either some bugs, or microorganisms will eat your entire body(cept maybe the bones I guess) and all the cells that you had basically gets transferred to those maggots or Vultures whatever(really depends on how you died and where you ended up). So when you die, you become part of a bunch of flies Congratulations!. The After-Life isn't sexy :(
 
msdstc said:
You know I'm not bothered by it, but it is one of those things that makes me say holy shit out loud. The idea of nothing, not even a empty space or pitch black is just too much. I'm not scared of it though, it's just not something that I can comprehend.

You know about it every time you fall asleep and wake up 8 hours later in seemingly no time at all. Kinda like how billions and billions of years passed by instantly when you were born.
 
msdstc said:
Well this is where I say i have different views, because you have a radically different view from me. I don't believe we are a spirit having a human experience. How would you explain things like brain damage, memory loss, loss of various functions, etc.

In this reality our consciousness is in a vessel that we call the body and we are bound by it's rules or limitations until we are freed. Rather as a soul we are born in to this realm to teach and prepare us for the higher senses should one choose to advance to a higher realm. Your physical body isn't your etherical body. Our planet is quite interesting as I will say it again give it 3 more years and you may just become a believer in what is taking place.

I put my views out and in no way am here to convert. All I'm doing is reflecting my own experience and thoughts in contrast to yours.
 
msdstc said:
You know I'm not bothered by it, but it is one of those things that makes me say holy shit out loud. The idea of nothing, not even a empty space or pitch black is just too much. I'm not scared of it though, it's just not something that I can comprehend.


What's in between atoms? Heck, what's in between the air you breathe? You must know the desnity of air is quite low, otherwise we wouldn't be able to breath it or anything.

THAT is nothing.


Unless you were thinking of the metaphysical or something nothing.

I just imagine death as a nice long sleep. If I awake from it fine, if I don't, will I really care?
 
Undubbed said:
I think it's a little greedy and arrogant to think your consciousness and memory will stay alive forever. It's especially ridiculous when you know those two things are just a product of the physical brain and once the brain's dead, that's it :/

So what happens after you die? Well from what I know either some bugs, or microorganisms will eat your entire body(cept maybe the bones I guess) and all the cells that you had basically gets transferred to those maggots or Vultures whatever(really depends on how you died and where you ended up). So when you die, you become part of a bunch of flies Congratulations!. The After-Life isn't sexy :(

Well I agree with the first part, but religion and spirituality are peoples opinions and my views are constantly changing based on everyday life and various different experiences, so I try not to enforce my thoughts too much.

As for the second part I think you've missed the point of the thread, or at least where it has ended up. I obviously know we're dead and gone, but that doesn't explain what nothingness is.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
I honestly don't know where atheists on the internet are coming from when they say they don't fear death. Sure nothingness means you don't have to deal with all the world's shit anymore, but the idea that you can no longer enjoy the great things the world and the people in it have to offer is terrifying to me.

I sometimes lay awake at night wondering about how I fall asleep and scared shitless that I have no control over it.
Well . . . I fear death . . . I just don't fear being dead. Nothingness is awesome. I love sleeping . . . every time I wake up, I wish I could just go back to sleep. Maybe that is just me though. Or maybe it comes with age.
 
Althane said:
What's in between atoms? Heck, what's in between the air you breathe? You must know the desnity of air is quite low, otherwise we wouldn't be able to breath it or anything.

THAT is nothing.


Unless you were thinking of the metaphysical or something nothing.

I just imagine death as a nice long sleep. If I awake from it fine, if I don't, will I really care?

But that doesn't answer my question or help me wrap my head around the lack of anything.

LCGeek said:
In this reality our consciousness is in a vessel that we call the body and we are bound by it's rules or limitations until we are freed. Rather as a soul we are born in to this realm to teach and prepare us for the higher senses should one choose to advance to a higher realm. Your physical body isn't your etherical body. Our planet is quite interesting as I will say it again give it 3 more years and you may just become a believer in what is taking place.

I put my views out and in no way am here to convert. All I'm doing is reflecting my own experience and thoughts in contrast to yours.

Ok few questions. How old are you? What is your religion if you have one? and I hate to ask this, but do you do drugs, based on what you said about experience, can I ask if not drugs then what?

edit- are you into metaphysics?

Druz said:
You know about it every time you fall asleep and wake up 8 hours later in seemingly no time at all. Kinda like how billions and billions of years passed by instantly when you were born.

But like I and others have said throughout the thread, there are dreams, there is some awareness, and if none of that there is pitch black at least there is something. There is never nothing.


edit edit- Oh yeah that thought about no control over sleeping... it doesn't scare me, I've tried to think about it hard before though, it's really interesting. We just close our eyes and that's it for us for the next few hours, we don't really have much control as we lie there.
 
msdstc said:
Well I agree with the first part, but religion and spirituality are peoples opinions and my views are constantly changing based on everyday life and various different experiences, so I try not to enforce my thoughts too much.

As for the second part I think you've missed the point of the thread, or at least where it has ended up. I obviously know we're dead and gone, but that doesn't explain what nothingness is.


Can you really explain nothingness? Nobody that has experienced it can really tell you about it. And, since brain activity ceases upon death, even if we found a way to revive them, it's unlikely they could tell us anything about it.
 
msdstc said:
But like I and others have said throughout the thread, there are dreams, there is some awareness, and if none of that there is pitch black at least there is something. There is never nothing.


you dream subconciously, you don't even know you've had dreams until you wake up out of deep sleep or wake up completely.
 
LCGeek said:
In this reality our consciousness is in a vessel that we call the body and we are bound by it's rules or limitations until we are freed. Rather as a soul we are born in to this realm to teach and prepare us for the higher senses should one choose to advance to a higher realm. Your physical body isn't your etherical body. Our planet is quite interesting as I will say it again give it 3 more years and you may just become a believer in what is taking place.

I put my views out and in no way am here to convert. All I'm doing is reflecting my own experience and thoughts in contrast to yours.
I find that your avatar matches your statements very well.

baloonfun.jpg
 
Althane said:
Can you really explain nothingness? Nobody that has experienced it can really tell you about it. And, since brain activity ceases upon death, even if we found a way to revive them, it's unlikely they could tell us anything about it.

I understand that believe me... that's the part that makes it so difficult for me to comprehend.

Druz said:
you dream subconciously, you don't even know you've had dreams until you wake up out of deep sleep or wake up completely.

I know that, but sometimes you don't remember these dreams... there are times, like I said, where I just remember darkness.
 
msdstc said:
I obviously know we're dead and gone, but that doesn't explain what nothingness is.

There's no such thing. You're body still exists when you 'die'(unless you got blown into ashes I guess). The law of conservation doesn't stop at human beings. YOU still exist when you die. It's just that your consciousness has died since your brain died.
I'm of course assuming that when you die your entire body is intact which may not be the case for some unfortunate people :(

Though I'm not sure how conscious a person is while sleeping, I like to liken death to sleeping or at least being in a permanent comma or something. I mean when I was kid I found it incomprehensible that I would lay in bed and in seemingly 5 seconds wake up 8 hours later :/
 
msdstc said:
Ok few questions. How old are you? What is your religion if you have one? and I hate to ask this, but do you do drugs, based on what you said about experience, can I ask if not drugs then what?

26

I have no religion as I'm agnostic but the experiences I feel in life and the multiple layers of understanding I try to gain from anything.

I do drugs at times though not currently mostly related to dmt like weed, shrooms or other psychotropic drugs at times.

Most of my understanding of consciousness comes from the fact I'm highly visually oriented, meditate like crazy, and can astral project/lucid dream quite well. I also have mystic arts training that most never bother to do and wouldn't take seriously, it was a requirement of learning quadratic math.
 
It used to blow my mind but I realized "What does nothingness feel like" was a really dumb question.
 
LCGeek said:
26

I have no religion as I'm agnostic but the experiences I feel in life and the multiple layers of understanding I try to gain from anything.

I do drugs at times though not currently mostly related to dmt like weed, shrooms or other psychotropic drugs at times.

Most of my understanding of consciousness comes from the fact I'm highly visually oriented, meditate like crazy, and can astral project/lucid dream quite well. I also have mystic arts training that most never bother to do and wouldn't take seriously, it was a requirement of learning quadratic math.

Well that last part answers my metaphysics question. From what I'm reading it looks like you read a lot of pseudo science, sorry if that is offensive. Also the drugs thing too. Did you not have these views until after you started the drugs? or what brought these on is the better question.

Undubbed said:
There's no such thing. You're body still exists when you 'die'(unless you got blown into ashes I guess). The law of conservation doesn't stop at human beings. YOU still exist when you die. It's just that your consciousness has died since your brain died.
I'm of course assuming that when you die your entire body is intact which may not be the case for some unfortunate people :(

Though I'm not sure how conscious a person is while sleeping, I like to liken death to sleeping or at least being in a permanent comma or something. I mean when I was kid I found it incomprehensible that I would lay in bed and in seemingly 5 seconds wake up 8 hours later :/

Well the first part once again isn't really what I'm getting at however we do eventually decompose so our bodies cease to exist. Either way our bodies have no consciousnesses or awareness it's our brain that controls this.

Going on I like what you said in the second paragraph about comas. The thing about sleeping going by fast is true, but again it doesn't work for me. However to talk to a coma patient about their experience and such might answer a few questions. It still doesn't help me wrap my head around nothingness.
 
LCGeek said:
I also have mystic arts training that most never bother to do and wouldn't take seriously, it was a requirement of learning quadratic math.
:lol

Yeah, I had to take some buddhism before differential equations.
 
speculawyer said:
Yeah, that will pass. After while you won't really want to live forever. It is quite liberating.

I've had that hit me... Life would be monotonous and boring after a while. It's scary to think sometimes about eternity. edited- just ridiculous and depressing.
 
Sometimes my dead cousin comes to me in my dreams, she unexpectedly died of surgery complications from cancer, she was only given 2 years to live with cancer, like a week later she was dead.

The first time she came to me was very typical fashion for her, she was always a bit morbid, she was telling me about her funeral, she was saying how surreal it was to be at her own funeral. She was overjoyed to have experienced this. She really was in character.

The next time she visited me she was with these two girls. I get the feeling they were all trainees. I believe she was giving me a glimpse of what the other side was like,, she didnt have to say things, they were conveyed. Heaven isnt a place where you just chill, everyone is assigned jobs, the joy you get in doing those jobs is immense. Because you're working for God. Her job was to ferry souls from earth to heaven. It was conveyed to me that people are much to scared to make the journey on their own.

So she visited again, this time was different I saw her and her 2 friends going back and forth In and out of earth. She was now in charge of the other girls as she had been promoted.

I believe it was conveyed that you dont instantly see God, that happens gradually. Theres a sort of detox and decision making period. During that period the more evil things you've done the more time it takes to detox.You understand darkness and guilt and lifes choices. Its all your choice. some people had so much hatred for themselves and fear of judgment they wouldnt choose the next step, which was to meet God and be judged.some people were extremely anxious to meet God.

God sits on his throne, judgememnt is not like a God judging a mortal, i could understand that we are judged in a way that you could tell God understands the human condition
 
msdstc said:
I've had that hit me... Life would be monotonous and boring after a while. It's scary to think sometimes about eternity. edited- just ridiculous and depressing.

I think the idea of being able to see society progress over 1000's of years would be absolutely wonderful. Even if my own life was boring.
 
Undubbed said:
I think it's a little greedy and arrogant to think your consciousness and memory will stay alive forever. It's especially ridiculous when you know those two things are just a product of the physical brain and once the brain's dead, that's it :/
Yes, this is the conventional idea, but this is not what is found when you consider torsion fields, quantum mechanics, recent biology findings (turning a frog embryo into a salamander by projecting salamander DNA into a frog egg, epigenetics) and cymatics.

You will find that external 'subconscious' energies shape your physical conscious (what would normally be defined as human consciousness) brain/experiences and your DNA/body.
Kinda like an external blueprint.
 
msdstc said:
Well that last part answers my metaphysics question. From what I'm reading it looks like you read a lot of pseudo science, sorry if that is offensive. Also the drugs thing too. Did you not have these views until after you started the drugs? or what brought these on is the better question.

Meta physics is all about philosophy and supposition it's not a physical science. Mystics arts aren't science, they are only useful because some of them focus on high math concepts like chaos in the case of discordianism. Theosophy, kabbalah or the merkaba all use tons of sacred geometry symbols and focus on congruency and cohesion from chaos or the infinite.

Speculawyer bhuddism isn't a help unless you get in to the tibetan book of the dead I found gnostic christianity more useful over all. :D :D
 
We are eternal:

The Hindus are right when it comes to reincarnation. However we aren't passing spirits from one form to another, but molecules. Scientific theories tell us that there is no conscious 'afterlife' per-se. However, the elements that we are made of were formed billions of years ago in the hearts of massive supernova explosions, and those elements were passed from the air, water, earth, dinosaurs, mammals, insects, etc... to us. Those elements within us will be passed to other things after we die. Billions of years from now, the sun will explode and the process will possibly start over again. So you could look at it this way, we were, are and ever will be.

Another way to look at it is through the theory of time. Time now is fluid, however the past is stone. The events of the past are still there, however we are constantly experiencing a new time. We are all going about our lives pushed at the front of time's wave. however, theoretically Physicists say that everything that has happened is still there. Your deceased loved ones are still playing with you, you are still jerking off to Terra Patrick or playing Final Fantasy 7 for the first time, people are still going about their lives (and on the other side of the coin every horrible atrocity) is frozen in its slice of the past and it will always be there. So in a way we are immortal that way too. It is also why making this life count and to make it the best one possible is so important. Because those actions will always be there. Your life will be etched permanently in time... a life 'movie' that lasts how ever long you live.
 
LCGeek said:
In this reality our consciousness is in a vessel that we call the body and we are bound by it's rules or limitations until we are freed. Rather as a soul we are born in to this realm to teach and prepare us for the higher senses should one choose to advance to a higher realm. Your physical body isn't your etherical body. Our planet is quite interesting as I will say it again give it 3 more years and you may just become a believer in what is taking place.

I put my views out and in no way am here to convert. All I'm doing is reflecting my own experience and thoughts in contrast to yours.

Why in 3 more years? OH! I know why! That when we all become Mayans again and go back to killing sacrifices for our UFO overlords! Probably we will vibrate at a higher frequency with some (insert quantum mechanics here).
 
CENOBITE said:
Why in 3 more years? OH! I know why! That when we all become Mayans again and go back to killing sacrifices for our UFO overlords! Probably we will vibrate at a higher frequency with some (insert quantum mechanics here).
Maybe he's just really scared of the 2012 elections?
 
I gave an abrupt reply earlier in the thread (we die, that's it, we live on as impressions through our offspring). I just had this conversation with my girlfriend. I am one who really goes day by day and doesn't think about death. I learned I ought to be more reflective in my day-to-day life (she brought up Socrates). It's sort of easy to just go through the motions and not think of life as a whole.

Can you guys recommend any good reads on psychology or human consciousness? I ought to invest more time into learning why I am the way I am.

It's a trippy idea coming up with conclusions about how we come to be and the possibility of "coming to be" again after death. It was a great conversation that I ought to bring up with some of my friends some time over some beers and bowls. I love getting lost in my thoughts sometimes.
 
CENOBITE said:
Why in 3 more years? OH! I know why! That when we all become Mayans again and go back to killing sacrifices for our UFO overlords! Probably we will vibrate at a higher frequency with some (insert quantum mechanics here).

Schuman Resonance is more practical and it is rising no need for mayan stuff or quantum mechanics. As for the UFO bits too much conspiracy BS there besides the neocons, russians, and nazis already have there fair share of black technology from the greys.

As for 3 years I'm waiting for obama to show the goods and make it known if he means business or if he's just another politician.
 
Proc said:
It's a trippy idea coming up with conclusions about how we come to be and the possibility of "coming to be" again after death. It was a great conversation that I ought to bring up with some of my friends some time over some beers and bowls. I love getting lost in my thoughts sometimes.
Heh, I've found that the topic tends to bother people :P
 
In one sense.. I think the conventional materialist conception of death is accurate. "You" are actually a collection of memories caused in the wake of a living brain. When it dies, you die. Atheistic nothingness.

But in another sense.. I think the mystic viewpoints of the world hint at another possibility of the concept "You". In Hinduism, Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, Christian Mysticism, and Kabbalah, there is the insinuation that we are all avatars of the Godhead. In a sense, we are all "God" acting as various individuals, as well as all "material" existence... meaning that you and I are actually aspects of the same living being. We are sub-aspects of the one living universe. When we have a discussion on the street or on GAF, it is actually like God is having a conversation with himself. When we fight and war, it is actually God doing battle with himself... perhaps as a kind of game.. or perhaps as a result of forgetting that we are all from the same source. Perhaps that's just the mechanics of being divided into sub-sections.

Whenever a person in meditation has the "everything is one" sensation, it hints at this possibility. Whenever people string together pseudo-scientific understandings of quantum mechanics or field theory, it is because they are trying to convey that all reality is actually one "object" subdivided into many parts that act as if they are separate. This is a very ancient feeling that comes up again and again in religion. One might say it is THE religious experience.... BUT most people's understanding of religion comes from words and hearsay... not experience.

So in this sense of the concept "You"... the body dies. The individual dies. But the one consciousness... the one reality... the one "God" (personally a term which I think has grown tacky and misunderstood by too many, but may once have been a fresh term that refers to my understanding of the living universe)... that can never die. The individual dies, but the living universe goes on. The avatar of god dies, but the god lives on. The user of NeoGAF gets banned, but NeoGAF continues its dialogue with itself. :D

And because new forms of life are born, in a way "you" will be reincarnated... again and again.... although it's not really YOU... since your memories are gone. Your brain and body are gone.. but that lifeforce persists... and gives rise to new avatars.

It's a possibility :lol

I would love to believe in the individual transmigration of being from one human to another in a true "reincarnation"... but I don't see how this could work... despite all the crazy shit I just wrote :lol I do think that personality is a material phenomenon. Sure... "material" could be an illusion created by Godhead consiousness, but I don't see how a human could become another human any more than a rock could be reincarnated as another rock. Even if there is a living godforce which is behind humans and rocks, I don't see how they could carry continuity of person from one to the next....
 
LCGeek said:
Schuman Resonance is more practical and it is rising no need for mayan stuff or quantum mechanics. As for the UFO bits too much conspiracy BS there besides the neocons, russians, and nazis already have there fair share of black technology from the greys.

As for 3 years I'm waiting for obama to show the goods and make it known if he means business or if he's just another politician.

Heh, I knew vibrations had to come in there eventually. I just looked up Schuman Resonance. It has to do with lightning occurrence. I'm not sure what that has do do with anything.

Thanks to Cost-to-Coast I'm always learning lot of new-age stuff from Ham radio aficionados... who apply frequency theory to EVERYTHING. Maybe that's where this is coming from?
 
BocoDragon said:
In one sense.. I think the conventional materialist conception of death is accurate. "You" are actually a collection of memories caused in the wake of a living brain. When it dies, you die. Atheistic nothingness.

But in another sense.. I think the mystic viewpoints of the world hint at another possibility of the concept "You". In Hinduism, Buddhism, Islamic Sufism, Christian Mysticism, and Kabbalah, there is the insinuation that we are all avatars of the Godhead. In a sense, we are all "God" acting as various individuals, as well as all "material" existence... meaning that you and I are actually aspects of the same living being. We are sub-aspects of the one living universe. When we have a discussion on the street or on GAF, it is actually like God is having a conversation with himself. When we fight and war, it is actually God doing battle with himself... perhaps as a kind of game.. or perhaps as a result of forgetting that we are all from the same source. Perhaps that's just the mechanics of being divided into sub-sections.

Whenever a person in meditation has the "everything is one" sensation, it hints at this possibility. Whenever people string together pseudo-scientific understandings of quantum mechanics or field theory, it is because they are trying to convey that all reality is actually one "object" subdivided into many parts that act as if they are separate. This is a very ancient feeling that comes up again and again in religion. One might say it is THE religious experience.... BUT most people's understanding of religion comes from words and hearsay... not experience.

So in this sense of the concept "You"... the body dies. The individual dies. But the one consciousness... the one reality... the one "God" (personally a term which I think has grown tacky and misunderstood by too many, but may once have been a fresh term that refers to my understanding of the living universe)... that can never die. The individual dies, but the living universe goes on. The avatar of God dies, but the god lives on. The user of NeoGAF gets banned, but NeoGAF continues its dialogue with itself. :D

And because new forms of life are born, in a way "you" will be reincarnated... again and again.... although it's not really YOU... since your memories are gone. Your brain and body are gone.. but that lifeforce persists... and gives rise to new avatars.

It's a possibility :lol
Nailed it.
 
BocoDragon said:
there is the insinuation that we are all avatars of the Godhead. In a sense, we are all "God" acting as various individuals, as well as all "material" existence... meaning that you and I are actually aspects of the same living being. We are sub-aspects of the one living universe.

this is definitely an old belief. One that is definitely an interesting and cool one, the idea of the earth as a 'living system' like gaia or ... ahem... Final Fantasy. It is a nice 'in between' belief. but what if life is rare? what if we are it? and what happens if we all die? is the idea of the universe as God would then be one of a 'sleeping' god. An unthinking god. I don't know, it seems like animism... our ability to give personality to inanimate objects.
 
OT but, anyone else ever feel like we're in a snow globe and all other 'material' makes us a blip on the radar compared to all other material/matter?

Like some dude could just step on the earth and kill us all.. and all he'd think is that there is mud stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
 
Full Recovery said:
OT but, anyone else ever feel like we're in a snow globe and all other 'material' makes us a blip on the radar compared to all other material/matter?

Like some dude could just step on the earth and kill us all.. and all he'd think is that there is mud stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

There are more GALAXIES in the universe than are STARS in our own (Milky Way) galaxy. Think about it...
 
CENOBITE said:
Heh, I knew vibrations had to come in there eventually. I just looked up Schuman Resonance. It has to do with lightning occurrence. I'm not sure what that has do do with anything.

Thanks to Cost-to-Coast I'm always learning lot of new-age stuff from Ham radio aficionados... who apply frequency theory to EVERYTHING. Maybe that's where this is coming from?

Schuman Resonance also comes up when dealing with Hemi Sync, Brainwave generator, and the concept of binaural tones.

Coast to Coast is definitely interesting but it has it fair share of crazies give george noory's show a whirl he finds some of the most out there shit you can put on the air waves.

Touching the old beliefs is way too much for me as I'm dozing off. Gaia and all stars or planets have their own vibrations and consciousness which effect all entities within or on them. I'm not touching the various concepts of hollow planets. God source, God Seed, and God Creation are of higher reflections of the one existence we share, I say existence not universe because typically at that point you're dealing in multi verse.
 
once you die you will be taken to a white room with a pedestal. on this pedestal will be a delicious slice of pizza.

you can eat this pizza and have nothing to look forward to for eternity.

or leave the pizza and live for eternity with the promise of a delicious pizza.

what do you do?
 
LCGeek said:
. Gaia and all stars or planets have their own vibrations and consciousness which effect all entities within or on them. I'm not touching the various concepts of hollow planets.

Heh... hollow planets. You went there.

Anyway, I don't consider vibration to be a form of consciousness. I know there doesn't need to be consciousness to have life (like trees), however, I do think it is easy for those with more 'magical' thinking to confuse the two, thus coming up with stars and planets having thoughts. That net is just too wide for reality.

I used to listen to Art Bell and George Noory way back. In fact I used to be a HUGE cryptozoological, UFO, ghost, spirit believing Christian... in other words, I know a shit-ton about new age and other beliefs.

After reading Carl Sagan's "Demon Haunted World" 9 years ago started a change in me towards critical thinking. You could say I was 'enlightened' and I mean that in the classical sense too. A fog was lifted and I finally can see clearly.
 
Wii said:
Nailed it.
Thank you!

CENOBITE said:
this is definitely an old belief. One that is definitely an interesting and cool one, the idea of the earth as a 'living system' like gaia or ... ahem... Final Fantasy.
Yes, pretty much... except that I would extend the "living system" to the entire universe, not just earth.

CENOBITE said:
but what if life is rare? what if we are it? and what happens if we all die?
Well speaking from this living "universe" theory, life is not limited to earth biology. Alien biology perhaps, and there is likely vast amounts of it out there, but also other non-biological phenomenon are actually example of "life". They are not based upon cellular biology (our current definition of "life"), but are nonethess active, "living" phenomenon: rocks, stars, chemistry, magnetism, gravity, black holes, dark matter... the big bang... All are examples of animated "life". They are actively working phenomenon. They are "alive". Even the void of space is not truly "nothingness" if we understand field theory.. it is actually not the absence of phenomenon but a type of phenomenon itself.

A rock seems lifeless, right? But it is actually a collection of dancing electrons with many active properties. It's just as animated as a cell, but less complex in configuration.

And probably earth life will end. As will this universe. And so what? The hindus thought of this! They supposed that the universe is endlessly reborn and dying, again and again.... Big Bang, then Big Crunch. Repeat. Perhaps the expanding and contracting universe is like the endlessly beating heart.

The hindu even described the various ages of the universe as "kalpas", and we are currently in the kalpa of decline. This universe is on a decline! scary huh? oh well. It will start again :D

CENOBITE said:
is the idea of the universe as God would then be one of a 'sleeping' god. An unthinking god.
I think this "God" is very much "alive", but he isn't like a human. In my opinion that is all you are really saying here. He doesn't have thoughts, feelings, preferences. God doesn't have a brain. He doesn't create a reality, step away, and then interfere in it to accomplish things. He is not the laymen understanding of the abrahamic god. It is just to say that the universe is living.

But perhaps, if you simply tell other people about a living universe... the only understanding they can get from it without direct experience is an abrahamic-type god. God as human. It's the only conception of god that can really be passed through a society en masse.

CENOBITE said:
I don't know, it seems like animism... our ability to give personality to inanimate objects.
I'm kinda saying that it's NOT giving personality to the universe. I am saying it's "alive"... which is just to say that it's active. Working. Doing something. This is undeniable from any belief structure.. but I am saying that the unit of true living energy is not cellular biology, it's the universe itself. It sounds perfectly "rational" to me. Unprovable... just a philosophical position, but rational.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom