I'm not sure what's going to happen.

[Sesshy]

I can't fathom not existing anymore. How is it even possible? How can my thoughts, my memories, my everything just be gone?

Most people when they think of not existing, they just imagine an empty blackness... But that's not it. Not existing means literally NOTHING, it's impossible to imagine what it looks like because it doesn't exist, it CAN'T exist.

I don't understand how you people of the world can so blindly believe in an afterlife, in a god. Is it ignorance? Or perhaps you're all just like me, but you force yourself to believe so that you don't have to go crazy thinking about it like I do.

Honestly I'm jealous. If I could be blissfully ignorant towards reality and believe in a higher power then I would be in a much better place most likely.

I've tried really hard to find proof of an afterlife. Hell, a simple ghost would change my ****ing life, but of course I'm the only man in the world who apparently hasn't seen one. Which leads me to believe that all you people who claim to have seen a ghost, you were probably hallucinating or dreaming.

Today, I don't want to hear all your solutions on how to ease my mind of all this, because it's impossible. Unless you can channel spirits to come say hello to me, then just answer this one question.

How do you live believing in a higher power? There's no proof. The idea of it alone is absolutely idiotic. We die and magically appear in a paradise? Don't even get me started on reincarnation, that's just as bad as not existing.

If you don't believe in anything, how do you live knowing you will eventually cease to exist? I can't stand the thought of not existing. And don't give me that "It's just like before you were born so don't worry about it.", It doesn't help.

[offlineforever]

I personally do not believe in God or a higher power.

I just live day by day, ocassionaly the thoughts of me ceasing to exist does stop me dead in my tracks, but sometimes that helps motivate me to try to be the best person that I can be (yes I know that sounds tacky/sentimental).

[Dancer]

To begin with we all go through this at some point in our life, questioning everything, seeking answers, and wondering if the whole world is mad.

I'm not a religious person and I can't say that I believe in the God of the bible but I do believe in a higher-power and I believe that power is within each of us.

I don’t think most people do imagine an empty blackness if they were not to exist anymore. Many people facing this become quite spiritual.

Ignorance is quite simply a lack of knowledge. Not believing in something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It just means it doesn't exist for you in you present state of awareness.

That that you wish you could feel came to me while sitting by my mothers hospital bedside. A little old woman was going around offering kind words to people in such a soft voice. She showed me a newspaper clipping to offer up an explanation for what she did. It was about her and how she went around the hospital offering comfort to the sick and dying. She was a lovely, soft spoken, lady. I couldn't get her visit out of my head. I decided I wanted to be like her. That's when a peace came over me like I had never felt in my life before.

I can and do sense 'God' for want of a better word. I have experienced a higher-power working from time to time in my life. When I first experienced this it opened up a curiosity in me that almost became obsessive. I began to read everything I could get my hands on.

I don't believe in ghosts but of course that doesn't mean they don't exist, they just don't exists for me in my present awareness.

And, just in case this thread might head down that road, I would like to point out that spiritualism (talking to dead people) and spirituality (beyond religion) are two different things.

I had all those big-life questions too. Then it came to me......

Perhaps the answer is that there is no answer.

We do the very best we can with what we have and what we know.

Please don't shoot the messenger.

Take care.


PS.

Nothing doesn’t exist, everything exists. Even in space there is space they call Dark Matter, it looks like nothing but it isn’t nothing. There’s stuff there they just don’t know what it is yet.

You would never not exist - even if you only live on in the hearts of the people who know you. But there’s more, so much more than we are capable of understanding at this time.

[GlitterTrashDoll]

I often think about this far too much, and it honestly scares me to death, literally terrified of the thought.

[PassedExpectations]

i believe in a higher power because i look at everything, the whole universe down to the insides of an atom, and all the things that make up our world, and cannot see how it can happen accidentally. i believe in the christian/abrahamic God because of the teachings, and how closely they resonate with me and have worked in my life when i challenge myself to use them (even the harder teachings), and the religious experiences i've had (not like visions, just feelings of intense clarity when i'm praying, releif when i need help, etc.)

[little.ophelia]

In a way, believing in nothing is just as strong a belief as believing in something. The point of faith is that there is no proof. If humans could prove that God existed, then God wouldn't be what people believe He is, which is something beyond human comprehension.

I've also often been jealous of people who seemed to have such a solid faith, but it always comes from somewhere, and it won't mean anything unless it does. Not existing is the most terrifying thing I can think of also. I don't know what to tell you about that. Then again, the more you do while you're alive, the more of yourself you'll leave behind in others and in the world around you, so in a way, you'll never really be gone.

[Gentlementalmen]

I find it interesting that you emphasise that nothing after death CAN'T exist, but then see a belief in a creator just as unbelievable.

For me, I am religious. Not through blind faith, mind you. I started questioning religion endlessly, until I was totally certain that not only does God exist, but the religion I chose was true and right in all it teaches. I believe in an afterlife because the idea that a human soul can just cease to exist is absurd. I used to toy with the idea of reincarnation until the soul reaches enlightenment, but now I trust in God to do what is right and good. So yes, I believe in the afterlife. I think the idea of heaven/hell as most people understand it is extremely simplistic and trivialised.

As for there being no proof of a creator, I would disagree. A universe as fine-tuned as ours, from the unimaginably enormous functioning of galaxies and stars down to the precise function of the tiniest cell can be no accident or coincidence. It has been designed and created by a higher being that is beyond the dimensions of time, space, and physical substance. I find myself awestruck when reading about new scientific discoveries because it just further proves to me the existence and intelligence of God.

I'm not suggesting that this is the only proof for a creator, or that you should find it as compelling as I do. I'm just sharing what came to mind for me, and a bit of why I believe what I do.

[sevn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sesshy

If you don't believe in anything, how do you live knowing you will eventually cease to exist? I can't stand the thought of not existing. And don't give me that "It's just like before you were born so don't worry about it.", It doesn't help.

I've read quite a few books, watch many documentaries and have experienced to many things to beleive in religion. I'm a very strong Atheist.

When my life was turned up side down though, I went to a local church so I could just be around good decent people. For so many months that church and those people helped immensely.

Now days I just keep myself too busy to think about those deep philosophical problems. So I suposs I can live my life without worrying because I have

a) already decided upon something at the very least
b) I am okay with religion in our society
c) keep myself too busy

at least thats how I personally deal with it :)