Actualy according to the top authorities on death and dying, i.e. Dr.Madelaine Lawrence and her near death experience research. Most people – 9 outa 10 – that have died and come back after prolonged periods of time, say it was the most pleasurable experience they have ever had and in fact look forward to it in the future.
Apparently, your body does into a very calm mode, and a period of reflection and euphoria comes over after your heart stops and you start the dying process.
Sounds odd but hey, I’d rather see it as a euphoric experience rather than a hellish nightmare of eternal gloom. Wouldn’t you?
Sometimes I sit here after reading an entire column from a question and watch the “your reply” phrase stare back at me as if it’s asking… and man, how to address thi-s one… what i-s my reply?
I read some of those and felt the statements might of let down norm cuz really most people either said “try not to think about it” or “I’m scared but what’s the use in fighting with it” and then there’s us that are ok with this.
Well, not to discredit my opinion, but I suffer from depression and I’m a Christian and damn all I can say is the next place I go better top this life… what if it doesn’t? Well, sorry to cave, but if it doesn’t I can’t do anything about it then.
What advice I do offer since I think about death quite alot, is that you preserve yourself in the other things you can’t see. Strange advice huh? What I mean is… I’m middle age, I had to go to Poland to find someone to love me, I live in my parents and house and can’t find any work… factoring out God that I’m saying lots of pleas to, your riches remain in the people that love you, I think to find yourself as a person and apply what it is you love most into something that will last is helpful. Immortality… wow the second time this week I’ve gotten into the subject… it’s been sought after since time began I figure and the various vicarious ways one could achieve this. I personally love art and creating, to write a poem that got published or draw a picture that hung even in the local library would be be enough for me. But what is best (in my opinion) is the image you leave in other people’s minds… make people wan-t to remember you, love you… even miss you… that’s the only way I know to live on in this world… is to be loved. It’s a fame and immortality in itself. I don’t know what this sounds like, but think of others more and not yourself… I’ve always found it easier to work out other people’s problems than my own …I’m useless to fix me… but maybe someone else can tell you better than I… I d-o hope something might have helped that I said. Good luck Norm
<Note>
I took ONE course in “World Religions” in college, so if I make some blunders below, try to be understanding. Thanks.
</Note>
The problem that I have with the Hindu point of view is that their most basic premise is that Life is Suffering (Suffering being caused by Desire). If that’s the case why would anyone one WANT a second (or third, or hundreth) go around? You’d hafta be forced to go back. Sorry, but that seems to me like they’re saying Life is Hell (an undesirable place to be that you’re forced into against your will, forever).
Sure, as long as you don’t lose any ground, right? You don’t think Life is Hell because your life isn’t hell.
Sorry, but as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Male born, raised, and living in the United States another life doensn’t hold the same promise that it may for others.
And I’m not really keen on the chances I got in the whole “reincarnation crap shoot”. A quick look at the stats will tell you that the most “new” people are being born in poor and/or repressive areas of the world.
I believe you’re thinking of Buddhism here: 1) suffering exists in the world, 2) the cause of suffering is craving (or desire, as you say), 3) it is possible to reach the end of desire and suffering, and 4) the way to achieve this is the Noble Eightfold Path. So one way to look at this, norm11469, is that you have independently realized the First Noble Truth, without any instruction from a Buddha. Nice work.
But they don’t say that life is only suffering. There is also joy, contentment, exhilaration, peace, exuberance, etc. But every experience is unsatisfactory to some extent (and, in fact, this may be a more accurate formulation of the First Noble Truth, which is generally translated as “Life is suffering.”)
The Buddhist perspective is that suffering is a necessary prerequisite for wisdom. In the Buddhist cosmology, there are heaven realms and hell realms, but only the human realm has the right mix of pleasure and pain to facilitate enlightenment. For this reason, a human rebirth is seen as a very fortunate occurence. In the heaven realms, there is so much pleasure that beings are not motivated to seek liberation. In the hell realms, there is so much pain that one can’t develop the mindfulness or concentration necessary to make spiritual progress.
The Tibetans actually use personal suffering as a practice to cultivate compassion. One of their teachings is to be aware, when you are suffering, that countless people are feeling and have felt the same way you feel right now. In addition to fostering compassion for others, this is supposed to help put your own suffering in perspective and get you out of your own head a little.
Well, death and rebirth aren’t random, they’re based on karma. The solution, then, is to do good and avoid evil in this life, to improve your station in the next. Not all that different from the Judeo-Christian-Muslim approach.
is’nt it sad that even though we know that death is inevitable , and you only live once , people find it so hard to tell each other what they really think? how many opportunities and chances to make things better have been spurned because we think there is time for that later? people , especially familys go through life not really knowing each other because of this fear of sharing our deepest thoughts , for whatever reason . the key to a happy life , i feel , is to have that special someone who you can tell these thoughts to , confide in , and share your lives and thoughts together . death scares the hell out of me , the thought of nothingness for ever is one that is beyond comprehension . but if i can share the time i have on earth with someone i love , and enjoy the little things in life and be content with my lot , then i made the best of my short time here.
is’nt it sad that even though we know that death is inevitable , and you only live once , people find it so hard to tell each other what they really think? how many opportunities and chances to make things better have been spurned because we think there is time for that later? people , especially familys go through life not really knowing each other because of this fear of sharing our deepest thoughts , for whatever reason . the key to a happy life , i feel , is to have that special someone who you can tell these thoughts to , confide in , and share your lives and thoughts together . death scares the hell out of me , the thought of nothingness for ever is one that is beyond comprehension . but if i can share the time i have on earth with someone i love , and enjoy the little things in life and be content with my lot , then i made the best of my short time here.
is’nt it sad that even though we know that death is inevitable , and you only live once , people find it so hard to tell each other what they really think? how many opportunities and chances to make things better have been spurned because we think there is time for that later? people , especially familys go through life not really knowing each other because of this fear of sharing our deepest thoughts , for whatever reason . the key to a happy life , i feel , is to have that special someone who you can tell these thoughts to , confide in , and share your lives and thoughts together . death scares the hell out of me , the thought of nothingness for ever is one that is beyond comprehension . but if i can share the time i have on earth with someone i love , and enjoy the little things in life and be content with my lot , then i made the best of my short time here.
is’nt it sad that even though we know that death is inevitable , and you only live once , people find it so hard to tell each other what they really think? how many opportunities and chances to make things better have been spurned because we think there is time for that later? people , especially familys go through life not really knowing each other because of this fear of sharing our deepest thoughts , for whatever reason . the key to a happy life , i feel , is to have that special someone who you can tell these thoughts to , confide in , and share your lives and thoughts together . death scares the hell out of me , the thought of nothingness for ever is one that is beyond comprehension . but if i can share the time i have on earth with someone i love , and enjoy the little things in life and be content with my lot , then i made the best of my short time here.
The thing is, I have no idea whether there is an afterlife or not. It’s my belief that God created this universe some amount of time ago, probably measured in the billions rather than the thousands of years ago. And left it.
I have never seen anything that cannot be attributed to the way this world works. Even the way people act can be predicted well enough, given a thorough enough understanding of their cuirrent situations.
Or, perhaps more precisely, my prayers have never been answered. Simple experiment : attempt something once while appealing to Deity. Try again without the whimpering. No difference whatsoever in how well it turns out.
Try again - does God act in this world? Did He write the Bible? Most certainly not, if God is the New Testament God, kind and guiding and all-helping. And the Old Testament God is multifaceted - that is, completely confused. Thus, either God changes His mind once in a while (!), or the Bible is a work of Man. Imperfect, ignorant, ununderstanding Man. Men, usually insane men.
Thus, my conclusion - God made us and allowed the world to continue running. I don’t buy the “it just is” argument for how the universe began, despite taking for granted certain explanations of physics. Remember, the entire point of science is that IT IS NEVER RIGHT! It is ALWAYS being revised.
Newton’s First? Perhaps it is right, perhaps not. I have yet to witness a perfect demonstration of any of his Mighty Three.
Granted, the Newtonian clockwork universe is somethwat passé. Oh well.
taking for granted certain explanations of physics. Remember, the entire point of science is that IT IS NEVER RIGHT! It is ALWAYS being revised.