I wasn’t talking about the multiverse though, I was specifically addressing your point that someone being dead versus living on but where you will never see them was the same thing from your point of view. You also claimed that the only reason people find the concept of heaven comforting is because they will get to meet their loved ones again.
And you’ve now conceded the point on this, since you’re now agreeing with me that the knowledge of someone being in a place of suffering would be upsetting regardless of whether you got to see that suffering first hand. This strongly implies that the knowledge of someone being in a pleasurable place would be good news regardless of whether you got to see their enjoyment first hand.
So, I think we’re done on that point.
Now, regarding the multiverse specifically, no, I wouldn’t find the presence of a multiverse comforting per se, since, as you say, for every positive quantum reality there is a negative one (though it may depend on the specifics of which model we’re talking about).
But we are talking about the multiverse, that’s the whole point of this thread. I did not say it was exactly the same, I said that either one leaves me with a loss. That either one leaves me no longer whole.
Yes, I grieved far more over my friend that died than I did the one that moved to Colorado, but that is largely because, even though it’s pretty hard to actually see him, I still send him a text every now and then, even the occasional phone call, and more importantly, he replies.
No, I did not say that was the only reason that they find it comforting, I said that it’s a very large part of what is used to comfort them. I’ve been to funerals, more than I would have liked to have, and the officiant always says the same thing, that we will be reunited. That they are watching us now, and preparing us a place with them.
I was even tempted to try going to my friend’s church, what with his pastor talking about how he was waiting for me, and I really, really wanted to see him again, and I thought that if I followed the same path, there was a chance that I would. That didn’t last all that long before I rejected that magical thinking, but if I actually believed, in any way, that it would “work”, then I would have.
If the idea that we would not be reunited with them means so little, then they would not say these words as a means of attempting to comfort. My parents have graves next to each other(pre-bought, they aren’t in them yet), and they also bought plots nearby for the rest of us. There is a very strong emotion attached to the idea of being reunited.
This is personal, so you don’t have to answer, but have you lost anyone close to you? Whether by moving or by death?
I’m not sure what your game is here, in declaring that I’ve “conceded” and that you have won the thread here. I didn’t see it as a competition in the first place, and this insistence that I’ve conceded seems more than a bit premature, and more than a lot presumptuous.
I did no such thing. I said that to be comforted by the knowledge that they are living on, having experiences, would also require the acknowledgement that they are also in a place of suffering.
You presumption was incorrect, so your conclusion is as well. By your logic, though, you have “conceded” that the knowledge that someone is suffering in agony should be terrible news regardless of whether you had to see their distress firsthand.
If you say so, then sure. Unlike the friends that I have lost, I will not miss this debate all that much.
I agree, and that was the entire point I was making from the beginning.
That’s the point of the OP, but not the specific thing that you said that I am responding to.
And let’s also reflect on the point that my first word on this matter was personally i.e. I was happy for this to be a purely subjective matter. You were the one trying to make a debate on this, and then refuted your own point by bringing up the concept of hell.
Here’s your exact words:
(emphasis added)
I didn’t see “very large part”.
But, I don’t want to be too combative on this. If you’re now saying that your position is that we care about meeting relatives again and the fact that they’re living on (whether or not we get to see them again), then sure, we’re in agreement.