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.

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  • I used to think about the afterlife a lot, and still do although it doesn’t hang over me as much as it used to. I once believed in God and was preoccupied with eternal punishment because I believed I was bad, although my understanding of theological teaching evolved as I got older and it stopped being a preoccupation. Now, I don’t believe in God, although I would like to as the reassurance was comforting. I think a lot about the state of ‘nothingness’ after death, about ‘how come I was born in this body rather than as an animal such as a rabbit’. Thinking about infinity takes up some time, imagining it going on and on and on, putting up an imaginary wall at the end of it, but something is beyond the wall …. Nobody has ever satisfactorily answered these questions. I find it helpful to imagine looking down on the earth and considering how minute and insignificant I am among all the created world and thinking about how all life, plants and animals die. New life is always being born and eventually, according to astronomers, the earth will eventually cease to exist. Somehow, knowing I came from non existence and will return to that non state, is consoling. 

  • I think the religious obsession with "eternal" and "eternity" is based on a failure to truly comprehend infinity.

    Eternal punishment.  So you burn for a billion years. Then a trillion more. But even then you're not even a quadrillionth of the way through your time in the fire.

    What kind of crime could possibly deserve such a horrendous punishment? I wouldn't even do that to Hitler.

    And yet we are told a "loving god" would do this to people for trifling misdemeanours?

  • Actually that isn't what we are told by God or Jesus, that helfire stuff is inventions of the guys with big hats. 

    There is however likely (It seems to me) to be a time when one needs to choose eternal life or nothing at all, but by then I am reliably informed everyone will know the score, so it'll be a fair choice...  

    I'm trying to love the life I have, and subdue it enough to confidently step into the next challenge (whether it's a long cold rest or some spiritual shenanegans) when the time comes.

    Knowing that God is both real and "good to know" is a great help with that, I've found. 

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  • Actually that isn't what we are told by God or Jesus, that helfire stuff is inventions of the guys with big hats. 

    There is however likely (It seems to me) to be a time when one needs to choose eternal life or nothing at all, but by then I am reliably informed everyone will know the score, so it'll be a fair choice...  

    I'm trying to love the life I have, and subdue it enough to confidently step into the next challenge (whether it's a long cold rest or some spiritual shenanegans) when the time comes.

    Knowing that God is both real and "good to know" is a great help with that, I've found. 

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