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kebinu777

- 3 years ago

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Why do people not want to believe in an afterlife?

Atheism in general seems like a depressing way to describe the afterlife. While no one truly knows what happens to you after you die, why would you want to believe in something that ends in nothing. How could an eternity of nothing be a better idea for what comes at the end? Anything seems better than atheism.

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Why should I believe in a fairytale land where angels sing and clouds dance with rainbows? It's not real. It's artistic perfection, the ultimate dream, everlasting life in a beautiful heavenly home, not reality. In reality you die and the electrical impulses in your brain and heart stop working. Forever. Why try to kid myself?

It isn't that i don't WANT to believe there isn't an afterlife, its that its only reason for there not to be one. Religion is/was created out of insecurities and most people just cant wrap their head around not being able to live forever either on the Earth as a ghost or in heaven/hell. Just enjoy your time on this planet because when you die you're just be helping it as fertilizer

I think most people WANT to believe in an afterlife. I wish there were an afterlife; I would love to think that I'm immortal! However, I think the idea of one is just wishful thinking. That doesn't mean I don't WANT to believe in one, it just means I CAN'T believe in one because of the other beliefs I hold.

Three seperate things :The Body, The Mind, The Spirit.

Why would you EVER want something like what you want the outcome to be to influence such an important belief? Athiests don't just not want to believe in an afterlife, they just don't interpret what we know about reality to the conclusion that after brain function ceases. The idea that masses of people have gone to hell to endure eternal punishment does not seem better than atheism to me. If its the idea that those people were "evil" is what comforts those who find hell to be a just punishment, then I simply don't see evil that way.

Not wanting to believe in an afterlife is what I'd call a true death wish.

These are all great definitions but lets talk about afterlife. Give out what you think will happen when you die. I want to hear from all of you exactly what you think happens after you die.

Plastic cowboy, I hope you read my post below yours. And Believe it or not.... faith can be found outside of religion. Faith is not just bound to the belief in "the god" that various religions draw up.

oh - SIDENOTE: if this is the ONLY reason you believe in god... you'll probably go to hell anyway... something about faith, i think...

i'm sure i'll catch a lot of flack for this, but i just can't see how someone can LOGICALLY decide to be atheist... atheism being defined as a disbelief in god... NOTE: i'm speaking in terms of christianity... let's say these are your options: - believe in god - don't believe in god here are the consequences (concerning afterlife): - go to heaven - go to hell now, here are the combos: - believe in god = go to heaven - don't believe in god = go to hell and lastly, the logic: - if you believe in god & there is a god = go to heaven (considering you behavior) - if you believe in god & there isn't a god (or afterlife) = oh well, no harm / no foul - if you don't believe in god & there is a god = hell (this can be debated) - if you don't believe in god & there isn't a god = oh well, you were right so it seems to me that you have (possibly) everything to lose by not believing in god AND also everything to gain... and by not believing in god, you still have everything to lose... but really nothing to gain... sad day.

Kebinu777, My friend you are living in an enclosed box only looking at the walls. You must look outside of this box to understand. Let me explain.... I know this is a long response but i promise the read will be worth it. So let me first state that i'm an atheist. Since there is no book or structure to atheism, i think each atheist is different ( which is the point). Each individual should have there own beliefs given the information and brain power available. Some atheists believe there is no god. Some believe there is a supreme power that just put things in motion and let the processes take their course. I happen to believe in a God. A supreme power beyond our universe, not some god who is connected to humans everyday life. So onward with my stance. I believe that when we die, we lose this life. This life is our realization of the world around us and our hundreds of internal processes that keep us living. After that, if we pro-created then our genes will live on and help humans achieve the next evolutionary stage. The materials that make up our bodies are precious to say the least. These materials will be broken down over time during the decay process to feed plants and insects so they can continue their evolutionary processes. It's a unified cycle of life i feel pretty good about. Now to tackle your biggest blind spot... "Atheism seems depressing" First off it's the complete opposite. Since my faith in science and movement to atheism i have never been happier for a few reasons. I have come to terms with this life i have. I know there is no afterlife, no dream that there is some life beyond this one which is better and more peaceful. People who believe in that are not satisfied with there current lives to the point they are willing to waste it away and wait it out until they die...and then they think they will be saved. Some people try to speed up the process which is called suicide. Oh those poor poor souls. Only if someone would of told them the truth.... things might have been different for them. Understanding this is the only life i get makes me wanna LIVE!!! I don't wanna waste one second because thats one second i'll never get back and never see again. When it comes to life i wanna love it, cherish it, understand it, enjoy it, pro-long it, succeed in it, learn from it, remember it, and more. I wake up each morning looking at the sun speachless in it's beauty, awed by it's complexity, respectful of it's power, understanding of it's creation and purpose. I look at everything this way. Connecting the dots to understand as much as i can and not settling for religious ingorance. The same religious ignorance that says not to question and to not ask why. Well i couldn't help it... i wanna know why.... i wanna see the info... i wanna test and re-test... i wanna be open to anything. And the best part is along the way... if something comes along to prove something i think is right ends up being wrong... then thats great!!! i'll rejoyce at my new knowledge, accept the change and see how it alters other related theories. It's an on-going process of collecting information and using individual brain power to filter it. Some people are so blinded by religious brainwashing that they can never break free. Well let me tell you from experience that freedom is nothing short of exhilarating!!!

@metta_in_mind "@Griz That's a little uncharitable imo. Surely people don't believe in an afterlife because they can find no good reason to. People reach the conclusions they do because of the evidence at hand and their particular circumstances. I see no evidence that atheists or agnostics as a group are more selfish or badly behaved than those who have faith in an afterlife. There are many ways at arriving at ethics and integrity without invoking the supernatural." I accept that correction, and please accept my thanks. While I've spent time in the agnostic mindset the atheist mindset is one that I have no frame of reference for -- so I guess! As for "evidence at hand" concerning the afterlife? I wasn't aware there was much, if any.

People are afraid of things they don't understand. No one knows what does on after we die. If they think we shrivle up and decay, what is the positivity in that?

@metta_in_mind I agree. It feels good to do good and be good. A lie detector test is a good example- people sweat up a storm and are stressed out when they have to lie ( except for the pschopaths who have no qualms in lying). So I think human beings have like an internal barometer for good versus bad and that doesnt matter which religion they have or dont have. It`s in us all.

Perhaps rather than a way to avoid the afterlife, it might be seeking a world where there are no consequences for actions beyond that which people would exercise upon people? Perhaps a way of hoping there is no higher authority to answer to, than self?

When I read this question I wonder if belief is a choice? It seems to me one either has an inclination and a willingness to have faith in a certain belief system or not. It is a heart-thing, not an intellectual thing. (Not to say that people of faith are not intellectual). I remember lying in bed as a little kid, trying to conceive of how it would feel to not exist at all. I could not get my head around it, obviously. My ego can not tolerate the concept of nonexistence. For me, it is more comfortable to believe that a part of myself will go on.

hello kebinu, im just going to answer the original question and not read the other answers (no time!), so this might already have been said. atheism is not a way to describe the afterlife, first of all. atheists accept the world for what it is, we dont make up stuff just because we can't handle the truth. there is absolutely no evidence suggesting an afterlife. none. no, there isn't. (a quote from the bible or any other "holy" scripture doesn't constitute proof.) sure, death seems scary. but we don't make up stuff to make it less scary. and to me, as a radical atheist, you saying that to you anything seems better than atheism, just shows how narrow-minded religious followers are.

Buddhists have had secret writings which they have held back from mankind- holy books that were considered too much for the normal human state of mind to process. These holy writings have been found- age old writings- and slowly been made accessible to people. In these writings- the masters of meditation have actually described what happens after death. The reason they can do this is the following: The 4 depths of meditation- 1. first depth contains a feeling of sadness because one turns away from materialism and the worlds temptations. 2. a sense of euphoria and deep happiness at having found the essense of one`s self- one`s soul 3. due to detachment, the evolving of the ability to remember everything that has happened since birth. No psychotherapy is necessary because every trauma can be remembered and regarded with this detachment 4. now in the deepest form ofmeditation - former and future lives can be accessed by the mind. Those who have successfully reached stage 4 of meditation can tell us what happens after death, because they not only can see former lives- but the can see what happens between lives. The description of what happens can be found in "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by Sogyal Rinpoche.

Haha, but seriously, if that is the case and there is an instant poof into nothingness then I hope I wouldn't die alone. If I knew for a fact that there was nothing else to be witnessed after death then I would want to die looking back at someone I loved. I would hold try to hold onto that in my brain for the longest time before everything that ever was to me was gone. I would want that person to be the very last thing I knew. Also, what if when you died your soul was switched over to side B in a parallel universe where you are something else that has no recollection of your previous life and therefore it would be like that other life never happened? These two lives just continually switching back and forth, changing into something different each time.

Alright, I'm trying to comprehend the transition from this world to "nothingness" If it's like the opposite of being born, if its like a reversal of your entire life until you literally know nothing feel nothing and are nothing again then I understand it. But I think its to hard to go directly to jail without passing "Go" when you die. You should be allowed a transitional state at least. Some sort of brain function that allows you to know this is going on.

@kebinu777

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Why do people not want to believe in an afterlife?

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Three seperate things :The Body, The Mind, The Spirit.

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Not wanting to believe in an afterlife is what I'd call a true death wish.

kebinu777

These are all great definitions but lets talk about afterlife. Give out what you think will happen when you die. I want to hear from all of you exactly what you think happens after you die.

Dpworld88

Plastic cowboy, I hope you read my post below yours. And Believe it or not.... faith can be found outside of religion. Faith is not just bound to the belief in "the god" that various religions draw up.

plastic_cowboy

oh - SIDENOTE: if this is the ONLY reason you believe in god... you'll probably go to hell anyway... something about faith, i think...

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People are afraid of things they don't understand. No one knows what does on after we die. If they think we shrivle up and decay, what is the positivity in that?

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Perhaps rather than a way to avoid the afterlife, it might be seeking a world where there are no consequences for actions beyond that which people would exercise upon people? Perhaps a way of hoping there is no higher authority to answer to, than self?

truthseeker

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chantarella

kebinu777

kebinu777

Why do people not want to believe in an afterlife?

Three seperate things :The Body, The Mind, The Spirit.

Not wanting to believe in an afterlife is what I'd call a *true* death wish.

These are all great definitions but lets talk about afterlife. Give out what you think will happen when you die. I want to hear from all of you exactly what you think happens after you die.

Plastic cowboy, I hope you read my post below yours. And Believe it or not.... faith can be found outside of religion. Faith is not just bound to the belief in "the god" that various religions draw up.

oh - SIDENOTE: if this is the ONLY reason you believe in god... you'll probably go to hell anyway... something about faith, i think...

People are afraid of things they don't understand. No one knows what does on after we die. If they think we shrivle up and decay, what is the positivity in that?

Perhaps rather than a way to avoid the afterlife, it might be seeking a world where there are no consequences for actions beyond that which people would exercise upon people? Perhaps a way of hoping there is no higher authority to answer to, than self?

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Not wanting to believe in an afterlife is what I'd call a true death wish.