What becomes of the consciousness after death?

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Note: possibly controversial.

Some day - could be now from a crazy explosion, or a hundred years later from a heart attack - we'll be dead. Then we'll likely be either burned or buried, returned to the dust from which we were made.

No one knows when their time will come. Most of us probably don't know how we'll die. And of course, no one knows for sure what happens to the "soul", "spirit", or consciousness after the body dies. I believe this to be a major cause for the general fear of death. Since there's no knowledge on the subject, humans turn to religion.

Atheists who don't believe in a higher being and/or an afterlife may believe death is the end - the consciousness only exists in chemically -transmitted signals though the synapses of the brain. Once those are gone, so are we.

On the other hand, religious people may believe in some sort of afterlife. We have the East Asian religions and reincarnation and enlightenment. We have the Western Abrahamic religions and Paradise, Hell, and Heaven. Here, death is not the end - something lies beyond the spirit's departure from the Earth.

What are you opinions and beliefs?
 
Methinks this could be brought up inside the Religion post. In fact, I think it works better there.
 
True, but that might derail and/or clutter the other discussions going on.
 
I don't see any need to merge the two threads at present. Let this one try and grow.
 
I do believe in an afterlife, Heaven and Hell in the Christian faith. The judgement of all souls take place and you either go to Heaven or Hell depending on God's said judgement.

In terms of now, I do not think the soul/consciousness is able to be 'moved' to a new place/body/whatever to avoid death.
 
I don't know, and I don't want to know.

I've always liked climbing up hills to see what was on the other side. Death is just another hill I'll climb when the time is right, adn then I'll find out what's there

The great thing being, if it's disappointing (eg, nothing), I won't even be around to care!
 
In my heart, I believe and hope there is more after life, that there is another state of being such as heaven as the Christian belief goes.

In my brain, I wonder, and some times worry that there is nothing after wards, just blackness, emptiness, you cease to exist.

If the first is true, I can understand taking chances and risks, going on thrill rides, and living life as you know that there is something beyond

If the second is true, I can't see how you could go through life with out being locked in a padded room to protect yourself. Any moment you could die and that be it, gone, blinked out forever. Just driving down the road could cause this, and everything you are, every thought would be gone forever.
 
Which is why I prefer not to dwell on it: to consider it a big fat "I do not know, and I won't know until the day I die".

That way it's a mystery left to discover, rather than either a source of false hope or despair and insecurity.
 
Big Lutz said:
In my heart, I believe and hope there is more after life, that there is another state of being such as heaven as the Christian belief goes.

In my brain, I wonder, and some times worry that there is nothing after wards, just blackness, emptiness, you cease to exist.

If the first is true, I can understand taking chances and risks, going on thrill rides, and living life as you know that there is something beyond

If the second is true, I can't see how you could go through life with out being locked in a padded room to protect yourself. Any moment you could die and that be it, gone, blinked out forever. Just driving down the road could cause this, and everything you are, every thought would be gone forever.
Click to expand...

If the second is true, I'd rather be out there "taking chances and risks, going on thrill rides, and living life" as I know it's the only one I've got, so I might as well make the most of it.
 
Big Lutz said:
If the second is true, I can't see how you could go through life with out being locked in a padded room to protect yourself. Any moment you could die and that be it, gone, blinked out forever. Just driving down the road could cause this, and everything you are, every thought would be gone forever.
Click to expand...

On the contrary; life is more beautiful because you live it only once. Everything you do means and matters more because of it.
 
I don't really care. And I don't want to know. I'll discover it the day I die, I don't want to dwell with it now.
 
Consciousness is a state of being created by the transmitted electrical impulses through nerve cells. When our heart stops beating, no oxygen is being exchanged into the cells for carbon dioxide, they stop functioning, and they die. A dead cell cannot transmit impulses, so consciousness ceases, and we die. This is why death is sad, because the "soul" of the person is gone. They are dead.
 
Religions are created for two purposes:

1-To make people do more good deeds.

2-To overcome the fear of losing our conciousness after it goes away.

I think none of us will learn until we die.
 
i don't know. i've leaned towards the ideas of heaven and hell, and reincarnation...i'm not making any decisions. i refuse to believe there will be nothing left after i pass, though.
 
Ask the dead man. Scan his brain. What else can we do to find out the answer?
 
I just go with reincarnation. It's simple, and makes sense to me that our spirit would be someone else's in another life.
 
Nobody knows anything. We can only speculate, and that is all anyone will ever be able to do.
 
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