• RollingC said on Mar 08, 2007....

  I do believe in the afterlife. And that's all I know as I'll find out the reality of it when I get there.
  Rc
  

• RollingC said on Mar 08, 2007....

  ps... it would seem that if we have to die in order to go to the afterlife that we do have a soul that carries on our essence.... I know that we have an aura about us that can be seen by the trained eye and scientific equipment... a special camera.... and the camera easily captures the different colors of our aura... but still haven't got a clue as to what it really means and why the different colors of each individual.
  Rc
  

• mom said on Mar 09, 2007....

  Well Zayda-  I believe that we had a pre-earth life with our Heavenly Father and when we leave this earth we will have an afterlife with him also.  I also believe that our soul consists of our earthly body and spirit.

• moonriver said on Mar 09, 2007....

  zayda -- i had wanted to write down and post in my blog at least a summary of my beliefs on this, accumulated through years of reading. but, better than none, here is my initial outline:
  
  
  1. i don't believe in god as elaborated by all conventional organized religions; but i believe in a cosmic consciousness that expresses itself in the workings of the universe as gradually being discovered by the sciences.
  2. the workings of the universe are such that sentient beings gradually evolve
  3. fragments of this cosmic consciousness are "cast out" into the sentient beings, to experience life, learn life's lessons here on earth as well as in other parts of the universe.
  4. after death, the fragment soul partially reintegrates with the whole, experiences evolution on a higher plane, then goes back for the next life.
  5. this cycle goes on through successive lives here on earth (and elsewhere), with each soul fragment gradually evolving from an infant soul, to baby soul, to young soul, to mature soul, and finally to old soul, after which, reintegration with the cosmic soul continues on still higher planes.
  6. meanwhile, more new souls are cast out again into more cycles of lives. even after life on earth shall have ceased after the sun exhausts its solar fuel, the same process continues in other parts of the universe, among other sentient civilizations.
  7. there is no higher purpose, and there is no ultimate end. the cosmic cycle is infinite, and serves as its own purpose.
  8. by gradually expanding their senses, the older souls among us can remember past lives, become more self-aware of their cosmic tasks in this life, and seek and join hands with their soulmates from past lives.
  9. aural matter-energy is different from the soul. aural matter-energy rapidly deteriorates and dissipates after death, with exceptions. souls don't deteriorate and die.
  10. ultimately, it is the cosmic tasks of a soul that will define a person's life, sense of mission, moral values, and social-sexual choices. the challenge is to understand the task that your soul set for itself in this life, to remove the blinders, to shed false personality, to realize where that sense of emptiness is coming from.
  
  mind-blogging? yes. and i'm not the only one saying this.
  
  

• silverwhisper said on Mar 09, 2007....

  in my view, our soul is a concept that represents our essential identity rather than a supernatural entity. therefore, when i say that something speaks to my soul, or feeds my soul, i mean that it touches me deeply, or assuages me in some manner.
  
  therefore, for me, a soul exists only insofar as knowledge of me is perpetuated, either by myself or those who actually know me. this is similar i believe to some viking ideas about spirituality. as a consequence, i do not subscribe to an afterlife--at least, not in any traditional sense of the word.
  
  ed

• Zayda said on Mar 09, 2007....

  but ed, what do you see as "the traditional sense of the word". are you referring to the Christian concept of afterlife as the "traditional" sense? or something else?
  
  
  

• silverwhisper said on Mar 09, 2007....

  yes, i'm referring to the traditional christian sense of the word. i'm indulging in a bit of re-appropriation of the word by ascribing this meaning to it, i'm sure, but basically, if my soul, as a concept expressing my essential identity, then my concept of the afterlife might well be the vast realm of memes running around out there.
  
  does that clarify or just muddy things further?
  
  ed

• beyondtheveil said on Mar 09, 2007....

  I believe all that is, to be consciousness.
  I do not believe matter to exist as we normally think of it.
  I do not believe time, as a flow, to exist. Time is a tool for measurement.
  Therefore, when we die, we are "re-assimilated" into the eternal now of
     the consciousness, probably without a separate identity as we think of it
     on this plane.
  The realm we return to is unexplainable, unknowable, and no concept can
     be formed in this existence.

• Zayda said on Mar 09, 2007....

  silver--i'm not sure. i'll have to think about it a bit.

• curmudgeon said on Mar 09, 2007....

  I like beyondtheveil's description very much - that we are made of of elements that exist in the Universe for as long as the universe lasts. These elements are neither created nor destroyed, simply converted from one form to another.
   
  In a sense we never die.
   
  And I really appreciate the notion that the Universe is in and of itself a concious entity. Well said!
   
  As a Christian, I am far less concerned with "earning" my way into eternal reward than I am with trying to live in the Kingdom as best I can right here, right now.
   
  I figure I'll find out what happens on the other side when I get there.

• msnzap said on Mar 09, 2007....

  I HOPE SO, and I so want the afterlife to be like the Robin Williams movie," What Dreams May Come" I want my animals to be there, my family with all their weirdness gone, and I can eat chocolate and drink wine and it be be OK

• moonriver said on Mar 09, 2007....

  i just noticed, i wrote "mind-blogging" instead of "mind-boggling." changed the sense of my comment's last line. hope it wasn't a freudian slip.
  
  

• hotaka said on Mar 09, 2007....

  Zayda, your questions are requiring more thought time than I have right now. I had to type my answer to the first question on my laptop last night coming home on the train. I'll be commenting on Monday.

• Zayda said on Mar 09, 2007....

  Hotaka--Take all the time you want, dear.

• FaithfulDisciple said on Mar 09, 2007....

  Hi there Z, I've discussed about this topic Afterlife in my blog about a week ago.  Yes I do believe in the afterlife as the soul transcends from the physical realm of this life to the next stage, the afterlife.
  
  The afterlife or the next stage represents the stage of higher perfection which a soul must attain to complete its journey which is to reunite with God our Creator.  As to how to attain higher perfection, these are the means by which religion (Christianity or otherwise) or philosophy is based upon; to provide a set of standards by which the soul can progress or develop.
  
  The highest level of perfection is the reunification with God from where the spirit of the soul came forth.
  

• Aristotle said on Mar 10, 2007....

  Zayda:

  My beliefs are just about identical to Moonriver's post. 

  Aristotle

• beyondtheveil said on Mar 10, 2007....

  moonriver- I can only hope that afterlife is as you describe.

• truthsayer said on Mar 10, 2007....

  Yes there is an after life.  Yes you have a soul.  No you do not reincarnate, but, if I really wanted to get you to be slack in this one chance you have at life on planet earth, I sure would try to get you to believe that you had plenty of time ; ) and that if you don't "get it right" this time around, don't worry...

  Now, cell memory is interesting.  And quantum mechanics, or quantum physics...fascinating!!!  But it explains more about what Jesus said, than people want to get their minds around.  It is absolutely fascinating though : )

• Zayda said on Mar 11, 2007....

  I thought I would share three of the responses from Sallis' book that I found interesting.
  
  
  Gore Vidal
  We are nothing more than a race of bacteria which has infested the Earth and is devouring it and destroying it and soon we will be gone.  The idea that our ghosts will go on into all eternity is nonsense, except the fact that we are recorded on light.  All light will have our images on it, apparently, until the end of the galaxy or cosmos.  So, in a way, there is immortality like old movies, or TV, which is total immortality, because they keep replaying it all the time.  So we may be on a tape being played all the time, but when we are dead, we are gone. (Sallis 41-42)
  
  Sharon Stone
  I believe in Einstein's theory of time, that all our lives are happening at the same time. (Sallis 46)
  
  Charles Le Gai Eaton
  I could not call myself a Muslim if I did no believe in the Hereafter (the "real life" according to Qur'an).  But what does "belief" mean?  Each of us is a city of many factions, often opposed to each other.  A significant story:  An Irish priest was asked what his parishioners believed about the afterlife.  He said, "They believe all that the Church teaches about Judgement, Heaven, and Hell.  At the same time, they believe that when you are dead that's it."  Two beliefs, side by side.
  
  Few, if any of us, are consistent, single-minded.  If someone believes without any shadow of a doubts that Paradise exists and that he is fit for it, then he must look forward to death with eager anticipation and his whole life passes in the radiance of his certainty.  Of how many people is this true, even among fervent "believers"?  If you ask me, "Do you believe?" I must answer, "Yes!"  If you ask, "Are you sure?" I turn away; or else I reply, "Sometimes, in prayer, is invocation."  If you were to ask me on a cold, wet morning when I am out of sorts, you might get a different answer.  (Sallis 47)
  

  
  
  

• hotaka said on Mar 11, 2007....

  Hi Zayda. I am a little late joining the discussion. Basically, I think it would be great to think that after we have shuffled off the mortal coil the essence that makes our soul or spirit would continue on. The sure are enough versions of what will happen. You may go to Heaven or Hell, work your way up to Nirvana, be reincarnated and so on. I have read about the Astral Plain (take you trips around the Bay / Bring you back the same day / Timothy Leary - Moody Blues anyone?) and various ideas about reincarnation. It seems there is an innate human desire to continue existing in some form or another.

  As always, I am undecided but prefer to think that there is some possibility that I will carry on somehow. But I would prefer to have more freedom than being tied to moribund flesh.

• silverwhisper said on Mar 12, 2007....

  those observations are quite interesting. i'm glad you posted 'em, zayda.
  
  ed

• Sudonim said on Mar 14, 2007....

  Silverwhisper expressed what I believe, maybe more eloquently. But Gore Vidal's thought of light going off into space stirred my imagination. It does, though, seem farfetched that light from earth would remain coherent enough for someone on a distant planet with sophisticated tools far beyond what we have, could be peering on us like Big Brother.  God, maybe? Sounds like a topic for a science-fantasy novel.

• LadyGamer said on Apr 02, 2007....

  I believe in the soul. I believe in its continuation. I believe in reincarnation, of a sort.

• truthsayer said on Apr 02, 2007....

  What if there were parallel universes, and you were living all possibilities, in one?

• LadyGamer said on Apr 02, 2007....

  Would that not enter into the realm of the perceivable?

• truthsayer said on Apr 02, 2007....

  It does, but we are not usually "aware".  I am extensively strange ; )  I am a Christian, but was trained in science (physics, quantum physics/mechanics, General System's Theory, General Semantics, etc.) so I don't have all the conflicts others seem to.  But you are most certainly right...it all has to do with perception.  Unfortunately for some people, the seen world is completely dependent upon the unseen world.  We do get glimpses from time to time though, don't we? 

• Sudonim said on Apr 02, 2007....

  I once worked with a physicist who believed in the literal translation of the Bible.

  If a camel went through the eye of a needle, it did just that. I'm amazed that in this day and age, so much of the population still believes in this supernatural stuff. There must be some genetic tendency toward it.

• truthsayer said on Apr 05, 2007....

  Do you know anything about new physics, quantum physics or quantum mechanics?  Perhaps you need to do a little research, before you judge.  But, I suspect you are quoting that physicist totally out of context, since that Biblical quote was a metaphor, not an accounting of someone's "journey" in Jesus' time ; )

• Sudonim said on Apr 05, 2007....

  Of course the "eye of the needle" was a metaphor. That's the point. Some people believe things literally that shouldn't be taken literally.

  As far as quantum physics goes, I'm not in a position to judge, but I've worked with very brilliant physicists and other scientists from MIT, Harvard, and Stanford, and believe me, they can make the most obvious mistakes. So I'll reserve judgment until I get more evidence, but my guess is that all this new age stuff will end up amounting to nothing.

• truthsayer said on Apr 05, 2007....

  There is already technology based upon it!  You may be wearing it!  You may be sleeping on it!  It is used in medicine, biology, batteries, micro chips, clothes, sports equipment, prosthetics, lasers...it is all over the place.  Nanotechnology is based upon the new physics.  You must read up on it, if you wish to comment on it.  Because, it is already "here". 

  As for the eye of the needle...the person must not have known his Bible then, just because he is a physicist, doesn't mean he, or she, for that matter, is perfect.  The historical parts of the Bible are literal.  Some parts are symbolic and literal at the same time.

  Anyway, I am glad that you are reserving judgement; but, I ask you this:  If you do not "read up" on it, how will you get more evidence?

  c'ya,

  truth

• Sudonim said on May 18, 2007....

  As a retired PhD scientist and engineer who worked in electron

  microscopy for  years, I'm familiar with some aspects of nanotechnology.

  But, like 9 out of 10 members of the National Academy, I'm loathe to

  believe in the supernatural with no evidence.

• Sudonim said on May 18, 2007....

  Truthsayer-  What will I read to convince me that there's an afterlife?

• RollingC said on May 18, 2007....

  Sudonim:   Can you read some of my first blogs and make a comment? It's a real experience that I had and there's no scientific explanation for it...
  http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/24883/Close-Encounter-with-the-Unknown
  Rc 

• Sudonim said on May 18, 2007....

  RollingC-  Thanks for the link to your story. It was certainly interesting, but
   such things do happen as coincidences, I think, with the billions of
  people on earth and the billions of happenings. It reminds me of once
  when my daughter was a teenager, and I accidentally knocked her
  new transistor radio to the floor. She wasn't too happy about it, to say
  the least. When I returned it to the table and turned it on, there was
  nothing at first, but then a male voice came on to say:  "Don't worry,
  everything is all right!"  Then silence again. Turned out, I had switched
  the radio on at just the right moment in an afternoon soap opera.
  It happens. What are the chances that it could happen again?

• curmudgeon said on May 19, 2007....

  Sudonim - I'm afraid then that you will never ever come to believe if your entire outlook is rooted in the physical and the rational.
   
  Faith, like love, is not rational. What "evidence" is there that someone loves you?  What "evidence" is there that proves beyond all doubt that you truly love someone and that it's not simply a random series of coincidentally well-timed hormone releases?
   
  The truth is, there is none. But we choose to go forward loving the people we do and trusting that others love us despite having incomplete information. It's not rational, but we'd go nowhere with our lives if all we had to base our decisions on  was observable evidence.
   
  There is no logical, rational argument that can convince one to believe in something that transcends rationality and logic. It is something that can only be experienced, singularly and collectively, by people willing to let go of their rationality and simply believe.
   
  You mentioned that you are a physicist and that another physicist you know takes the Bible literally. Given that you're both in the same field, is it RATIONAL on your part to believe that his way of thinking is somehow inferior to yours? On what rational basis do you make that judgement? What hard evidence is there that this person's thinking is inferior?

• RollingC said on May 20, 2007....

  Coincidence I think not Sudonim, I never expected that to happen and it was no coincidence that it did at that moment and on that day.  I have more questions than answers and I am totally mystified as to why I'm the only one in the family that had that experience. 

• Sudonim said on May 20, 2007....

  Curmudgeon-  What evidence that someone loves you?  By their

  behavior, of course. I don't like to behave in any way that transcends

  rationality and logic. But when we make rational decisions, we have

  to take in second order effects and third order effects, which

  sometimes are hard to predict. We just do the best we can.

  I believe irrational thinking is inferior. I've suffered plenty from

  emotional decisions based on irrational thinking.

• Sudonim said on May 20, 2007....

  Curmudgeon-  There's a difference between decisions based on
  faith in the absence of evidence, and those based upon educated
  guesses on the basis of the evidence in hand. Some think that
  the evidence in hand points to intelligent design, I don't. I prefer to
  leave the incomplete evidence as just that--something to be filled
  in as we acquire more information.
   

• StupidGenius said on Jun 26, 2007....

  Dont believe something that you cant see, hear, feel or prove.
   
  The question is interesting but all of the above is pure speculation with the exeption of some good points.
   
  Just forget about religion and all the other nonsense. live your life right and find out about the rest when you die.

• RollingC said on Jun 26, 2007....

  Living your life " right " has different meanings for different people.  The facts that point to a life that's led in a benevolent manner is usually championed by the many "religions" around the world. All in their own special way.
  Rc
  

• StupidGenius said on Jun 26, 2007....

  Living your life right is normaly championed by religion??? have you read the old testament or the koran??? god is warmongering, selfish and jelouse in these texts maybe he is not the perfect role model for others. SG (a.k.a *GOD*)

• Sudonim said on Jun 26, 2007....

  To me, it is satisfying to think that when I die, I am melded into the natural world.
  Eventually probably all of the atoms and molecules in my body will be recycled into new living beings. That's the beauty of nature. Would I like to live forever?  I think it was Ted Turner who said life is like a "B" movie--you like to stay until the end but wouldn't like to see it again. I don't think there's an afterlife, and that's fine with me.

• Me-Myself&I said on Jul 10, 2007....

  YES i do .....i have been here and done this .....my soul has been around

  for awhile trying to get it together *smile* learn the lessons....i hope i can get it

  right this time!

• Emanzi said on May 22, 2009....

  I believe in an afterlife, but more in a continuous reincarnation of your life until you learn of the eternal and deathless life (that can only be experienced in the present moment of now) you are trapped to re-live this life again and again until you realize the truth of your being and that you are more than your mind and emotions. You are an expression of universal energy and humans are very lucky species. We are the only animals capable of experiencing our own consciousness and are the chosen species. We are the first to control this earth as well as many countless other beings in parallel universes. When we have fulfilled the unveiling of consciousness we merge with it and become part of the whole from where we came from. For those who refuse to let go of identification and labeling, judgment and material gain shall remain forever and continuously in insanity and Immortal pain. My idea of hell is endless pain, physical and emotionally but they aren’t forsaken. Their Karma is carried with them to the next life and they are considered 'Unfortunate'. They are still able to become aware of the universe and conscious of consciousness. Nothing in the past can stop you from being present now. God has become more of a conceptualized idea of a 'man up in heaven’; I prefer the term Goddess but not referring to anything in form. Goddess is the mother of all consciousness, the universe and eternal present. 'She' is the player of form, comes into form and out of form. The world is like the playground of countless souls manifested in form and space to balance the form is the formless. Goddess is the formless. Life has no opposite, death is a portal to a higher eternal life.

• RollingC said on May 22, 2009....

  I certainly believe in an afterlife but I don't know what's on the other side.  I'm sure I'll find out when I get there.
  Rc

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