Infinity issues

Hello again. Wanted to share something that always seemed nonsense to others, but quite logic for me. I always had trouble with the idea of eternal life after death. While others always seemed to find relief in this possibility, to me it`s been the most horrifying thing imaginable. Thinking about existing forever was always far beyond distressing, and the certainty that it is either that, or ceasing existence at all, would make me feel trapped, doomed, and that there was no solution available at all. It used to be so bad, that I couldn´t even sleep as a child, and stress caused me the feeling that someone was whisperng in my ears, like when someone is mad at you, but it was not a hallucination because I knew it was in my head. I would love to know if anyone else has had this kind of trouble with time, death and eternity as well.

Parents
  • Like you, the logic of etermal afterlife seems a bit of a ropey concept.

    There is no proof of life after death - I spent over 10 years studying this with the Society of Psychical Research and all the information I could find and all the tests we performed could find absolutely no conclusive proof.

    30 years later and they are no further forward which makes me think that if there isn't even a glimmer or evidence then there is a pretty good chance it doesn't exist.

    I think we are just biological machines where our sentience is an accidental byproduct of millions of years of evolution.

    It is quite natural to worry about what comes next but I find a comfort in thinking that all the most unpleasant people in history are not hanging about somewhere no doubt tormenting people in the afterlife just as they did in life.

    The afterlife would also get pretty crowded when you consider that at this point in time there have been around 100 billion people who have ever lived ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimates_of_historical_world_population ) so their telephone directory will be enormous.

    If you struggle in crowds then how does 100 billion sound?

    Then again since autism is caused by our brains and they obviously won't be there in the afterlife then will we still be autistic?

    Meh, too much vagueness, no proof and the answers all seem unpaletable so I'm sticking to my belief of it being lights out at the end.

Reply
  • Like you, the logic of etermal afterlife seems a bit of a ropey concept.

    There is no proof of life after death - I spent over 10 years studying this with the Society of Psychical Research and all the information I could find and all the tests we performed could find absolutely no conclusive proof.

    30 years later and they are no further forward which makes me think that if there isn't even a glimmer or evidence then there is a pretty good chance it doesn't exist.

    I think we are just biological machines where our sentience is an accidental byproduct of millions of years of evolution.

    It is quite natural to worry about what comes next but I find a comfort in thinking that all the most unpleasant people in history are not hanging about somewhere no doubt tormenting people in the afterlife just as they did in life.

    The afterlife would also get pretty crowded when you consider that at this point in time there have been around 100 billion people who have ever lived ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimates_of_historical_world_population ) so their telephone directory will be enormous.

    If you struggle in crowds then how does 100 billion sound?

    Then again since autism is caused by our brains and they obviously won't be there in the afterlife then will we still be autistic?

    Meh, too much vagueness, no proof and the answers all seem unpaletable so I'm sticking to my belief of it being lights out at the end.

Children
  • I had to find an answer away ffrom religious influences, because it was driving me crazy. I became an atheist first because nothing about Heaven was appealing at all. Glad I found other ways to interpret all that.

  • I am curious why proof or disproof is necessary on some matters in this world. 

  • There is no proof of life after death - I spent over 10 years studying this with the Society of Psychical Research and all the information I could find and all the tests we performed could find absolutely no conclusive proof.

    We have quite a good understanding of how the brain stores memories, and it does involve physical structures and processes.

    This implies that after our bodies die, our memories die with it. So if our spirit did survive, it wouldn't remember who we were, who we loved, what mattered to us.