The mind and the after life

[capriceman]

Okay, i know its a odd subject that could get really opinionated, but lets be civil.

The other day back at work we got into discussing the after life, me being skeptical about everything, i stood back and listened. I'm religious in the fact that i hope theres a heaven but i really don't know. I guess most people believe in a heaven and hell. however some believe in that once you die you wander here just not in a body and others believe in reincarnation. After my old house and the crazy $h! that went on there i kinda think i believe in ghosts and things but i guess we cant truly grasp on that concept or ever will be able to understand it, but what if everything we know and don't know just doesn't exist? my coworker mike stated that what if you die and nothing exists. think about it. it is impossible to not think about having a mind, not being able to think, just not existing. It is one of those life questions i wish i had the answer to but i dont. its kinda of like explaining the mind if you think of a red ball in a open coordinate plane does it actually exist somewhere? like a new universe opening up with whatever you think of appearing? what if we are just like a very advanced SIM's game. A recreation of like a Playstation 8 game where you can destroy peoples lives. what if we are the mind of a really smart guy and all he is thinking about making his own universe with stars and galaxies. since in your mind you can create anything, but does it exist.

After the discussion i really felt blank and confused but i guess there is stuff that is meant for us not to understand but what do i know, nothing, I'm just in it for the long haul, and if you need it I'm pullin' for you.

The reason why this came up is because back in November i was working the night shift for the police station. i was doing paper work then a call comes for a domestic disturbance might be hostile with guns. i gear up with 4 other guys and we head out. All i remember is getting there and entering a older 1940's house. Next thing I know I'm in a ambulance coughing blood and my one partner staring at me and a picture of his family and about to cry. I then blacked out due to loss of blood but thanks to modern medicine I am able to be here. I found out that since I'm most experienced i entered in first was hit in the back of the head with a bat then shot at 4 times one was stopped by the vest and the second one in the right leg, other one in my left arm, and the other into the chest cavity. i guess it could have hit a major vane and i could have died but they got it out and I'm completely fine except for some minor therapy for muscle damage. what sucked was being not able to do anything for a month and a half.

I'm glad its all over, but the talk about the after life really made me think if that could have been the end. like i didn't have anytime to think of what i did wrong or how it all could have been prevented or what if it was my partner that just started his family. It made me value life differently and how fragile it really is...

I just want to know what you guys think about the after life and what is it? I'm very interested in what you guys say.

Sorry, but i just need to express this some where since i have been letting it eat at me for to long i think i might need professional help with my physiological problems.

Oh and what i was attacked for was because they were stashing cocaine in that house and some other bs. sickening really.

[Oracle of Delphi]

What if you did die on that Domestic Call, and just woke up in a different reality, thinking that you lived?

What if we are all really inside a video game and the people playing us left the video game running, while they went to go eat dinner. Talk about Sim-City!

Edited January 6, 2008 by Pontiac Custom-S

[VenSeattle]

Well... I also hope this subject remains civil. Here's mine...

I believe that organized religion has served a very valuable purpose over the millennia in organizing and unifying society. It has provided education, direction, self-purpose, culture, etc and preserved it throughout time. As good as this has been from a "big picture" perspective, I think society will continue to evolve. Like "multiple gods" gave way to "one god", "the teachings of "one god" will eventually develop into a philosophy to living life without the piety for a superior being.

Despite the knowledge and advancements humankind has achieved, I fear majority of earth's population devote most of their time and life to not living. They're in constant preparation (whether they realize it or not) of what will happen to them after they die. If mankind were to eventually rationalize the existence of nothing after death, the amount of energy and effort devoted to preserving life, improving life, maintaining life, and advancing life would be exponential.

Until then, majority of humankind will continue to take their own lives in vain without giving the few years alive the attention, value, and respect it deserves.

[Mr.Krinkle]

I dont know but there better be a Pork Chop Tree somewhere in the mix. If not, better off not knowing.

One thing I am 99.9% sure there aint no 72 Virgins.

[Robert Hall]

I take a rational, scientific atheist view of things...when you are alive, you live, when you die, your are dead. No afterlife. Without proof of the existence of anything after death, I really can't believe in anything after death, so enjoy life while you are here...so I focus my effort on the here and now, and future..when I die, it's all gone..

[mustang84]

I was raised to believe in an afterlife but ever since going to college and especially since going to Rome, I've been struggling with that and am no longer a believer. Like Ven said, far too much energy is devoted toward preparing for eternal life rather than just living and enjoying life. I believe that when we die, we will go into a hole in the ground and that is that...but it does not bother me because everything comes to an end. Live life to the fullest, help those around you, be a good person, and your deeds will pass on to future generations even though you will not.

[Oracle of Delphi]

One thing I am 99.9% sure there aint no 72 Virgins.

What????????

[loki]

Despite the knowledge and advancements humankind has achieved, I fear majority of earth's population devote most of their time and life to not living. They're in constant preparation (whether they realize it or not) of what will happen to them after they die. If mankind were to eventually rationalize the existence of nothing after death, the amount of energy and effort devoted to preserving life, improving life, maintaining life, and advancing life would be exponential.

the last part doesn't make much sense...to me. I'm Catholic, but i may be understanding what you wrote different than what you meant. I'm not saying the following is directly correlated, but japan is probably the most "unrelegious" country around and has the highest suicide rate, and i think it also has the lowest birth rate too. ( I could be wrong)

[Camino LS6]

Asking the question makes us human, assuming we have the answer makes us fools.

If an afterlife exists, only the dead know about it - everything else is just fiction.

I have one belief regarding all of this, that an afterlife is a possibility.

And I only believe that much because I can't conceive of an end to my own conciousness.

[VenSeattle]

the last part doesn't make much sense...to me. I'm Catholic, but i may be understanding what you wrote different than what you meant. I'm not saying the following is directly correlated, but japan is probably the most "unrelegious" country around and has the highest suicide rate, and i think it also has the lowest birth rate too. ( I could be wrong)

Last I checked suicide can be honorable in Japanese culture, so I don't understand your association between the two. I won't pretend to understand the culture entirely, but a western perspective on suicide can not be used to successfully evaluate their culture. The fundamentals are far too different.

[loki]

Last I checked suicide can be honorable in Japanese culture, so I don't understand your association between the two. I won't pretend to understand the culture entirely, but a western perspective on suicide can not be used to successfully evaluate their culture. The fundamentals are far too different.

yes, but historically simpuku was part of a code of honor, which was part of hierarchy of family and state. that system is largely dead. it's not quite the same but the ...hunger for tradition, has also been shown in greece and the pagan movement there. it's not quite the same thing, because in japan they suicide, their decision about their own life, if they want to bring the past back, they don't seem to be pushing the rest of the ideals that go with it. (unless our self importance in usa's media prevents that from making news) suicide for a cause is not a good thing, and if it hurt others it'd be considered a terror act.

i think thats what i want to say. what do you think?

[NOS2006]

I dont know but there better be a Pork Chop Tree somewhere in the mix. If not, better off not knowing.

One thing I am 99.9% sure there aint no 72 Virgins.

"Are you my virgins? I hope not."

"Why?"

"Because there are some ugly ass guys out there! If this is paradise, I've been screwed!"

"Did they say there would only be female virgins?"

"Holy crap! Hey! I could have Clay Aiken!"

hahaha

[loki]

i got kinda caught up in my other posts...

capriceman- damn. that would suck. this the first time you told us on here, about being shot?

[vonVeezelsnider]

Sorry to hear about what happened to you. It's people like you who keep psychopaths like that off the streets and out of OUR way, so a tip of the hat for 'taking one for the team'. You must have been bored spending all that time off duty. When my dad was run over by a stolen car @ a police road block in 1974, he was so bored that he was back on duty a week later doing desk-work.

[capriceman]

capriceman- damn. that would suck. this the first time you told us on here, about being shot?

about this instance, yes.

I have been shot before but thats another story in other posts i think i posted before. what sucks is that on that night i wasn't supposed to be there. It is a part time job because due to budget cuts they need in a sense part time workers to cut overhead. I normally am there to help out with paper work or respond in high risk situations or VIP transport. I used to be a sniper for the army for 15ish years, so i was accepted in no time and i have health insurance already covered. my full time job is machining/engineering. (sleep wastes time in my opinion) During my military years i have many sitiations were i was injured or expirenced cultural differences beyond my my own paradigms

if you have never been shot and you want the effect heat up a soldering iron and stab yourself its about the same feeling.

Thanks for you comments.

Yes i was very bored but it gave me time to read some books and study some things so it was okay.

as for the afterlife i agree with exactly what Camino said "And I only believe that much because I can't conceive of an end to my own consciousness."

I do believe that not one person will ever be able to understand each culture. I do sometimes even let my self judge others with out truly trying to understand them.

[capriceman]

What if you did die on that Domestic Call, and just woke up in a different reality, thinking that you lived?

What if we are all really inside a video game and the people playing us left the video game running, while they went to go eat dinner. Talk about Sim-City!

never thought of that but that would have to mean all of you are dead too? hey is that Goldie the goldfish i used to have.....

if i am in Simearth 7842 i will be pissed tho. i don't want a volcano to just form in the middle of my city.

[loki]

never thought of that but that would have to mean all of you are dead too? hey is that Goldie the goldfish i used to have.....

if i am in Simearth 7842 i will be pissed tho. i don't want a volcano to just form in the middle of my city.

or a monster to come and the military only have 1 space they can occupy at one time. ARCO's look cool though.

...getting off topic. hehe

[capriceman]

or a monster to come and the military only have 1 space they can occupy at one time. ARCO's look cool though.

...getting off topic. hehe

lol yeah

lets go bungee jumping off the llama building