Have I just proven the existence of an afterlife?

Sorry, what?
if you die and your memories/existence is lost then you won't be observing it.

Reply 2

OP

Original post by XOR_

Sorry, what?
if you die and your memories/existence is lost then you won't be observing it.

Exactly - but I am observing it.

Reply 3

Original post by Sabertooth

Exactly - but I am observing it.

Because you're alive.

Reply 4

OP

Original post by XOR_

Because you're alive.

Yes but when I'm dead I will have no memory of it, unless there was some kind of afterlife in which to remember/observe.

Reply 5

KillChrist

Nobody has ever experienced death, only dying. So it can be argued that nobody has ever died. It's all a question of how you view reality; subjective or objective? For me its something in between. Currently undefined.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 6

Original post by Sabertooth

Yes but when I'm dead I will have no memory of it, unless there was some kind of afterlife in which to remember/observe.

- Yes but when I'm dead I will have no memory of it
True because you will cease to exist.
- unless there was some kind of afterlife in which to remember/observe.
There isn't any proof of an afterlife.
Are you saying you remember being dead?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

OP

Original post by XOR_

- Yes but when I'm dead I will have no memory of it
True because you will cease to exist.
- unless there was some kind of afterlife in which to remember/observe.
There isn't any proof of one.

There is no way to see into the future and every single thing we do is in the past. I created this thread in the past and typed each of these characters now in the past. If I was dead and there was no afterlife then how could I view my life? Every second that ticks by is a memory.

I get the feeling that maybe I'm not explaining this too well..... :dunce:

Reply 8

KillChrist

If you spend your life thinking about death, and in death you think about your life. What will you do when you die? Think about what you thought about.

Reply 9

OP

Original post by KillChrist

Nobody has ever experienced death, only dying. So it can be argued that nobody has ever died. It's all a question of how you view reality; subjective or objective? For me its something in between. Currently undefined.

I think I'm viewing it subjectively.

Reply 10

KillChrist

I find death to be fascinating and beautiful.

Reply 11

Original post by Sabertooth

There is no way to see into the future and every single thing we do is in the past. I created this thread in the past and typed each of these characters now in the past. If I was dead and there was no afterlife then how could I view my life? Every second that ticks by is a memory.

I get the feeling that maybe I'm not explaining this too well..... :dunce:

- If I was dead and there was no afterlife then how could I view my life? Every second that ticks by is a memory.
An afterlife assumes you have already lived, if you haven't already lived then you haven't been dead yet, your entire existence is birth->current.
Even if there was some form of life after death, say a reincarnation of sorts I would still find it vastly more unlikely that memory would be preserved.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 12

OP

Original post by XOR_

- If I was dead and there was no afterlife then how could I view my life? Every second that ticks by is a memory.
An afterlife assumes you have already lived, if you haven't already lived then you haven't been dead yet, your entire existence is birth->current.
Even if there was some form of life after death, say a reincarnation of sorts I would still find it vastly more unlikely that memory would be preserved.

OK so I thought of an example. Right before you fall asleep you are alive, you're thinking, but you don't remember these minutes when you wake up. Yet you lived them at the time. What I'm trying to say is that death without some form of consciousness (not necessarily saying reincarnation) is like being asleep and those few minutes are your whole life. The fact we do remember our life points to an after death consciousness.

Reply 13

username1740449

13

I've come to the conclusion that either you're high or you aren't explaining this so well

Reply 14

username1740449

13

Now obviously I don't know what happens because I'm alive, but I can see two ways of looking at it:

1. There's nothing after death

2. There's something after death

and both are technically right depending on how you look at it. There's nothing in terms of consciousness because we'd need our brain to function in order to gain consciousness and obviously when we die it stops working. However, in a way there's something as energy can never be truly lost. When we die we decompose and all this energy will go to the soil, the worms, the trees, the birds whatever way you look at it and so our energy will continue to thrive even if we consciously don't.

Reply 15

.Iqra.

18

You are such a deep thinker.

Reply 16

queenofswords

I'm really interested in the actual point you're making but I'm finding it difficult to follow.I assume its this?:

(1) Consciousness is memories.
(2) Memories/ consciousness cease to exist after death.
(3) I am conscious/ having memories right now
(4) If consciousness seizes to exist after death (3) would be false. It does exist- I am proving that right now by being conscious.
Conclusion: Therefore (2) is false. If I am conscious at any point in time then that itself proves that consciousness does exist.

This is an interesting argument but it assumes people think that consciousness doesn't exist. Even people that don't believe in an afterlife do not think that. That would be a self-defeating belief since you are conscious right now. Its just that you cannot say that the consciousness you are feeling presently will continue exiting in the future. It's not contradictory to say consciousness exists now but won't exist at a different time. Even if my consciousness stops existing at a future time, it does not mean I will stop being conscious at this present moment.

Reply 17

RogerOxon

21

Original post by Sabertooth

I get the feeling that maybe I'm not explaining this too well..... :dunce:

That's not the only option .. :wink:

Reply 18

markova21

21

No idea. All I can compare it to was when I had surgery. From the time the Anaesthetist put the needle in me to the time I was in the small recovery ward, there was nothing in between. No physical feeling [obviously], no dreaming and no being conscious of anything at all around me. So unless there's an afterlife, I guess that's what death might feel like. Except for the lucky ones who might go to Heaven, if such a thing exists. Was actually thinking about it the other day funnily enough, even though the operation was ten years ago. [It was only to have my gallbladder removed, but because I had Gallstone Pancreatitis the Pancreatic Surgeon had to properly open me up to get a look at the Pancreas as well. I woke up with 28 staples, and I now have a massive scar that seems to go on for ever]. I was thinking of the nothingness of the sensation.

Reply 19

Plantagenet Crown