How many atheists here, though not believing in God, Satan, heaven or hell, still believe in some kind of conscious existence after death ? Anyone ? I, for one, do not believe in any kind of conscious existence after death. Death is the end.

Tags: Consciousness, Continuation, Death, Life

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I call afterlife a lie. Money exchanged for promises should result in criminal charges and prosecution. 

Joan, will you ever come down out of idealism to realism?

There are criminal acts and civil wrongs.

An act is criminal only when it violates a law. I doubt the existence of any laws about an afterlife.

However, suppose A promises B an afterlife and B pays for the promise.

B probably won't tell an heir.

An heir who learns of the payment might think A wronged B.

Heir-of-B can sue A in a civil action and might recover what B paid.

Belief in an astral body can easily confuse you into thinking that something exists outside of you, and that you "have a soul" rather than the truth that YOU are the soul. But is any of this real in any sense? Yes. I have had OBE's and they are simply a projection of your own consciousness. This is like saying you can take a flashlight and project beams of light. The projected beam does not exist separate from the flashlight and it never "gets caught outside of the flashlight." Once the body dies (or the flashlight is no more) then the beam stops. The light beam no longer exists. This may be why in astral lore it is said that your astral body is connected to your real body by a cord. Not everyone can see this cord, but it is the ancients way of saying something similar to what I have explained above. Keep in mind that it is human nature not to believe in death, and we have tried through millennia to discredit death. In my dreams, for example, I can fly. In reality I can no more fly than Superman.

In past times mediums and spiritism were the thing. This was another "life after death" hoax in which the medium or an accomplice used ectoplasm to project the dead for you. Many hoaxs are out there and it involves fleecing you of your money. Such things cannot stand up to modern scrutiny. What about "ectoplasm?" Nothing. They made it all up!

Glossolalia is another subject. Someone in this forum wanted something written about it. I'll try to do a humorous take on it soon. Again, it's pure bunk. It proves nothing.

Dennis, I agree with all you write!

This is for Michele. You speak of a "fadeout of consciousness about a week after" meaning (I suppose) that consciousness at death may take a week to be fully gone. Let me ask you when the light bulb stops glowing once we have taken electricity away from it? Very quickly. Your "weeks fadeout" is an adjustment phase having to do with the living who remain. That means YOU and not the departed. When my former wife died in Texas my daughter and myself heard her doing dishes and laundry, and walking up and down the halls. This is what she should be doing, but our minds were being prepared for the fact that this will never happen again. It's part of the grief process. Did any dishes or laundry actually get done? No. It's not related to her desire to remain with us. Its related to our desire not to let her go.


That is deep and very touching.

Beautifully stated. Excellent point of hearing dishes being done while she did not do them. Your point, "No. It's not related to her desire to remain with us. Its related to our desire not to let her go."


Michele strikes me as some kind of Zen Buddhist or something. Even though Buddhism is atheistic it still believes in nonsense such as reincarnation and ascended masters and all that foolishness.

Such claims so easily happen through tricks of the mind, and get passed one person to another, even if there is no truth to the claims. That is why I include Zen Buddhism as one of the untruthful disciplines. Buddhism too easily succumb to foolishness and people believe it for reasons having more to do with wishful thinking than critical thinking. 

I hope most of us realize that all god myths are human stories.  Some people find comfort in them and in the concept of a life after death.  These can be dangerous beliefs.  My son, now deceased, once wrote in a note to his friends concerning his impending death, "I am in a better place."  Believing that death will lead one to a better place can discourage the will to live. 

Personally, I hope my deceased mother was right.  She believed that "death is the end of suffering."  The mind can only function when the brain is alive.  There is no consciousness to exist after the brain dies, nor any place for it to exist.  When we die, all that's left is ashes or bone fragments and memories.  When those who remember us die, all we once were ceases to exist. However harsh this may sound, it is a rational, healthy belief that encourages us to stay alive.

I'm sorry you lost your son L Ross. I can't even imagine.~ Mindy

L Ross, I am so very sorry to learn of your deceased son. "I am in a better place," is only one of the dreadful consequences of believing lies about life and death. Obviously, being in a bad place, suffering some loss, or facing some challenge is tough, however depression and pessimism can be transformed into involvement and healthy interaction with others. So terribly sad he chose a permanent solution for a temporary situation.  


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