We all know what happens to our bodies when we die, they rot and are probably eaten by bugs. But what happens to our soul, consciousness, spirit, or whatever you want to call it. It is such a tough question that is essentially unanswerable, but that makes us want to find out even more. It's hard for us as people to understand that something just ends so abruptly. All of life has just been one door closing and another one opening, so why should death be any different? It is a lot easier to believe that there is life after death. This belief helps people grieve, and also be more accepting when it is their time to go. What if there is nothing after death though? Is it worth living a lie just to be more comfortable when other people die?
I believe that every human has a consciousness, I used to think that a person was only their memories and what is inside their heads, until I saw two tv-shows - one called Upload, and the other called Living With Myself. Upload is about a time in the future, where people can upload everything in their minds into a computer, and then they are killed and live in the computer forever. I asked myself if the person inside the computer was the same person that lived before, and my answer was no. The living person had a consciousness, while the computerized o
ne didn't. The TV show Living With Myself was similar, but instead of putting memories into a computer, scientists put those memories into an actual identical body. I asked the same question to myself, and my answer was the same - the two different people with the same memories had different consciousnesses. If you don't believe that there is such a thing as a conscience, then I feel that it is impossible to believe that there is an afterlife. (As a side note, both of these shows are very good and open up really cool philosophical and moral discussions, not just this one)
Believing in a consciousness, soul, or spirit is the first step in believing in an afterlife. I am not quite ready to believe that my soul will go up to heaven and eat ice cream with all the founding fathers (if they even made it there). The only thing holding me back from not believing is my belief that the soul and the body are separate. I know that there is no evidence for that, but I just feel it, which is what beliefs are anyway. So why would our consciousness die at the same time as our bodies if they are separate? I also just found this article by Newsweek (https://www.newsweek.com/where-do-you-go-when-you-die-increasing-signs-human-consciousness-after-death-800443) saying that consciousnesses don't die at the same time as the body. I don't know man. I'm just really confused.
What do you think happens after we die? Also, comment if you disagree with anything I said and why!
ReplyDeleteHey Eden,
This is a very deep and complicated question. Obviously, according to the Torah there is a place called “Olam Habah”, “the afterlife” where you either make it to heaven or hell, but this does not tell us much about what it is like after you die, especially becuase many biblacal refernces aren’t literal. Personally, I believe that there will be some sort of judgement where you stand before the creator of the world and assess what you have done in your life. I do not know if there is a separate world where we all exist as souls or different beings, but what I do know is that maximizing your life and being the best person you can be on this planet will allow you to make it to a better place. What does your dad think about this as I am sure he has an interesting answer?
Hey Eden, this is a very thought-provoking and deep discussion that I think about often. I was actually going to write about it for a blog two weeks ago but decided that writing about it made me more confused and thirsty for answers. I agree with you completely. The only reason I think that there is life after death is to make myself feel better about the people who have passed. I like to think that when people die that are close to you, they can watch over you in some way. Then I think about when we sleep- complete nothingness. No consciousness and no thoughts. I hope that isn't what happens when we die because that is just so sad and depressing. I guess that possibility gives me more motivation to live my life to the fullest. Thank you for talking about this because I thought I was crazy- I love these deep conversations that have no real answer
ReplyDeleteHey Eden, I have asked myself this question so many times and have struggled to come to a conclusion. Personally, I believe that after we die, we return to earth in another life form as another species(similar to Moana lol). I feel that our souls have jumped from species to species so that we experience how every animal lives on Earth (i know it's weird ahaha). If that's true, I'd want to come back as a dolphin or an orca. In the show "The 100", in like one or two of the seasons the main characters start their new lives on a planet called Sanctum where the royal natives have found a way to live forever. They somehow downloaded their entire consciousness onto an AI chip thing and killed others in order to continuously live through numerous bodies. Obviously that's very unrealistic but I though it was kind of cool ahaha.
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