this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
89 points (89.4% liked)
Asklemmy
43987 readers
851 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy ๐
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Agnosticism after doubting my way out of Protestantism in my teens. Major contributing factors were my parents' divorce (which was clearly the right thing for them to have done, as one was abusive) and realizing I was queer
I'm split damn near 50/50 on whether I think a deity or deities exist. Physics observations that suggest our universe is a simulation, and weird things about consciousness (dreams, deja vu, near death experiences, psychedelic experiences, cultural parallels in seemingly isolated ancient civilizations, etc.) fascinate me and keep me wondering what might be "up there." At the same time, studying biology made me realize the "power" of randomness over millions of years to "create" what people find meaningful without there necessarily having to be divine influence. Typewriter-monkey-Shakespeare philosophical stuff.
I really, really hope reincarnation or a non-hell afterlife exist, though. I am TERRIFIED of oblivion. :(
Do you remember what it was like before you were born?
Exactly.
This is the argument/reassurance I hear most often, but it doesn't make me less afraid, unfortunately. Even if I were shown undeniable proof that my consciousness will stop existing after my death and therefore be unable to experience negative emotions/pain/fear/etc., my problem is that, well, I just really don't wanna stop existing.
To me, nonexistence is only preferable to a hell-type afterlife of guaranteed eternal suffering
If I could choose, I'd most prefer reincarnation (preferably as a human or other sapient being...)
I'm still haunted by the possibility that I send a version of myself to oblivion every time I lose consciousness. ๐ซ
energy is neither created or destroyed
all matter is energy in a different state.
there is no oblivion