Cessation of Existence & Afterlives.

Mu is indeed the answer I give to the question. I consider it an "Unanswerable Question". It may not be, but what that basically means in Buddhism is "Useless Shit For Our Purposes".

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

Edited my post to be more detailed.

In particular, I don't really believe causality applies to a spiritual level.

Whenever I wonder about the point of life, I come to the same conclusion. There is no point. And since, dying is basically like falling asleep, forever, I might as well enjoy myself while I'm here.

I bet existential angst in the afterlife is even worse.

Imagine having lived in two worlds that both seem pointless!

/halfjokingmode

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

I would be less worried about a Cessation of Existence and more concerned about being in conscious pain from horrible, squick-inducing injuries. Or worse, being semi-conscious during a coma detailed by this Redditor account.

There appears to be an afterlife for this thread, anyway.

These two sets of concerns arent mutually exclusive. You can be very worried about both.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

I've only skimmed this - the first couple of pages, and the last couple of pages. I didn't really want to answer in-depth, because, ironically, discussions like these can trigger suicidal feelings in me. However, since I'm a Troper and fiction seems to hold all the answers for me for anything, my mind went to fiction when I was reading some of the discussion on here.

Some years ago, I read the Peter S. Beagle book, "A Fine and Private Place." I borrowed it from a friend and then moved, and never got my own copy (maybe next time I get to go to Otakon... I bought an illustrated/comic version of "The Last Unicorn" this year and had it signed. The author is a wonderful man... but I digress...)

Anyway, what I remember of "A Fine and Private Place" is that it's a fantasy about ghosts. If I remember correctly, there were interesting rules for the ghosts, such as having to stay in the cemetery their bodies were in. Not everyone who died left a ghost, they were apparently rare. There was a living man who was a hermit bumming around in the cemetery who could see and talk to ghosts. There were a pair of ghosts, a middle aged man and a young woman who wound up trying to solve the mystery surrounding the man's death, within their limitations. The two spirits learned that they would eventually fade away, losing their memories and senses of self - so it was a story that dealt with both an afterlife and cessation of existence.

One of the things I remember best about it was some discussion of suicide and disbelief that "anyone would be so bored of life they would ever want to end it." The ghosts missed being alive, and resolved to make the best of what they had left in their little half-life. LIFE itself suddenly became very important, a thing that one would and should never get bored of.

... In other words, I always think about that book whenever I see people complain that they wouldn't want an afterlife because they fear it would get boring. If you aren't so bored of your life now that you'd want to end it immediately, there's the thought that that maybe you'd never get bored of new experiences, even if they stretched on forever or even around and back again.

(I think the book, at least how I remember it, got the suicidal impulse wrong, however. Whenever I experience that tugging, it's never because I'm bored with life at all, it's because I feel worthless and like my very existence is something that should not be). I'd love to have more life in some plane I was hopefully better suited to.

In which I attempt to be a writer.

If you have suicidal thoughts you should see a professional (if you aren't already).

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

Seconding Best Of's advice. The story sounds interesting, I'll have to look it up sometime.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

Don't worry. I am under help and know all the people I'm supposed to call. Not afraid to take a stay in a clinic if I need to because I have done that before. I'm actually on an even keel now, not depressed right now... It's just that I have a condition that I'm very honest about. I fight, but I know that I might lose someday, that some stupid impulse might get the better of me.

Stories that remind me that the pursuit of beauty is ideally endless are a help. I could live forever, provided I thought I could and don't succumb to thinking it's meaningless.

In which I attempt to be a writer.

Do you remember before when you was born?

Yeah, it was really lame.

Truth be told, the idea of cessation of existence isn't all that terrifying to me, even though I believe in heaven.

edited 16th Mar '16 11:36:27 PM by Protagonist506

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"

I dunno, to some degree I think it makes more sense If you replace the working parts you get a different machine. It's so much easier to measure life in experience points. That sounds quite a bit like the River World books.^note Not the horrific Sy Fy movies with the same name. Avoid those like the plague. Since I know you're still around, Best Of, do you still feel the same? Has the last four years changed your feeling on death and the afterlife (or lack thereof)? This is what necro'd the thread?

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

No, my feelings haven't changed at all. I still don't believe in any kind of an afterlife, nor do I want one; and I don't fear death, except for the pain and sadness I might feel from the situation causing my death.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

BEFORELIFE IS NOT A SUBJECT OF THE AFTERLIFE THREAD

As for me, I only have one question whose answer would set my choice on wether cessation of existence is preferable to an afterlife or not...

Is there good wifi on the afterlife?

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes

Of course. How do you think God keeps hearing prayers?

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"

consie state of the world, I think god use internet explorer for it

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"

Ceasing sucks, you can't do anything. Of course it won't be unpleasant, but there are plenty of things people would rather avoid even if they won't notice when it happens.

To me cessation is the thing that makes most sense and which I would prefer. I would not mind living for a very long time, farther than what humans usually live (provided I wasn't completely decrepit and senile), but I would want to eventually die permanently and not have my consciousness live on, as I think it would be too much for a human to bear.

Frankly, the idea of falling asleep, and never waking up, would terrify me. Perhaps it isnt an entirely rational fear, but there it is. It isnt entirely irrational, either. To the extent that hope and optimism are what make life worth living, losing any future at all seems to me the very worst thing that can happen.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

Being forced to exist forever is actually one of my greatest fears. But the thought of dying is also terrifying. You just can't win, huh?

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

I actually had that fear (of living forever), too-but I overcame it. If we assume the Bible is true, then it's safe to assume that Living Forever Is Awesome because YHWH's immortal and enjoys it, and so do other immortal beings in the Bible.

"Any campaign world where an orc samurai can leap off a landcruiser to fight a herd of Bulbasaurs will always have my vote of confidence"

Frankly, I just don't get a fear of immortality. Ymmv, I guess.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

Does the Bible actually say anything about God enjoying immortality?

I just want the comfort of knowing that if I don't want to live anymore, that it is a possibility for me to sleep eternally.

edited 18th Mar '16 11:50:28 AM by wehrmacht