there's people, when you ask them "where do you go when you die?" they'll respond with something along the lines of... "heaven" or "you just die. that's it." well, couldn't they be two in the same? i've been feeling rather atheist lately, and i've thought to myself, that "just dying" is so much like heaven. how pleased must one be when they're just dead? No pain- of course, this has it's drawbacks- no pleasure, but no worry, pains, violence, destruction, opening up the newspaper only to discover more people dead, worrying about money, friendships, family problems... It must be so blissful to just throw in the towel! this isn't from any kind of suicidal point of view, nothing like that. i just feel death needs to be glorified more. my grandmother, in her 80's, health is declining, arthritis, emphyzema, and overall declining health. tha's not how she wants to be living. she's told us herself she'd much rather be dead, which generally we all understand- in fact, she recently fell in her home, and thought for a few minutes that she was indeed dead- only to be stuck in the same situation two minutes later, thinking "well crap, now i have to get up." when she dies, hell, i'll be sad, but i'll rejoice in the fact that she no longer is in pain, doesn't have to worry, and since she's catholic, she'll be with her much-missed parents, husband, and other relatives/friends. a little bit of sadness and mourning of course, is expected. but when a family member or close friend dies, rejoice in the pleasure they now feel, whether you're a flat-out atheist, or a believer in a pleasant afterlife. rather than being, for lack of a better word, selfish, and thinking about how they're not going to be with you- take it from their point of view! a pain free "life." just my two cents.
most people can't handle this viewpoint because it essentially means that life is meaningless (beyond the biological aspects). personally i look at death as the end of suffering.
Bro, death doesn't need to be glorified more, life does, this terribly brief beautiful thing. That lost split second of miracles we all take for granted each and every second. Death is an ever present friend to us like the air in our lungs or the color of our blood. Death stalks us mercilessly and comes when we least suspect it. Death is behind us, before us, and in us ever present. People today do more to drown out this fact than actually live their lives. Ugh. The moment is a sweet blessing, a flickering pause before the great goodbye. Even if life has no meaning and tomorrow no hope, please take stock in your present second. Today you get to breathe, love, hope and fucking dream. Presumably, death is an eternal end to this, where flesh suffers no memories or none to remember it. Damn...If reality is that fucking bleak we have no choice but to. As far as we know we get one shot at this, so what's to lose if we give it our very best? Stay green.
total absence of existence seems only like any kind of "heaven" if life had been particularly joyless. is that a fair assesment? anyways.... like i aluded to recently in another thread... i've been beyond, i know what awaits me... and thank psychedelics. .... heres something partially relevant. i wanted to express what it means to know more... but this is about as close as i can get from the neurons that are firing at the moment. and i just wanna make clear, this is not an apraisal of death and an encouragement to suicide. i've been suicidal, and also know there's always so much more worth living for.
We'll just call you Aristotle. lolz I've decided recently (bout 3-4 months ago) to try and be alot happier. I've realized I can achieve most of this concerning 2 things: myself and others. They sort of overlap, quite a bit actually, because to me, joy from others to myself comes from helping others (Note: cliche) and joy from myself to myself comes from furthering my knowledge and my expressive capabilities (music, art, writing, philosophy, etc.) By helping others, I don't mean "CHARITY YAY!" (not that charities are bad or anything), but by helping other people to realize their full potential, see things differently/more clearly, generally opening their eyes and helping them through tough situations. However, I cannot escape the fact that death is the one thing nobody knows for certain, and as I have an inherent love of knowledge, this unattainable understanding entices me. I'm not saying I'm gonna kill myself in the name of science, but still I can't deny my curiosity. Basically, I'm going to try to make death my climax/end point, not my relief. Sorry if that made no sense P.S. AK I would love it if you would PM me sometime about your writing/writing in general and stuff like that... I think I could learn alot from you... Digit, too if either of you would be so kind (I don't know if you're a writer but I know your a philosopher in some sense and an artist as well)
What waits for us after life? Life, nothingness, emptiness? I think people should address that question when the time comes. My heaven is your hell, your heaven is my hell. To each their own. Surround yourself with people you love, and challenge your inner doubts. I'd rather live with emotions, ups and downs, than be in eternal bliss and happiness. I'd rather have one to call my own, one to love, than one to worship. To each their own. Make your life your heaven. Let darkness, if end shall be, fall behind. Illuminate your present self.
That's exacty what I'm saying AndyPL, you know. Kudos on your choice to be happier metalstonerking, life's too short not to try to achieve some measure of it. Yeah, death is always the climax if you're working hard on trying to make life more worth while. I'll PM sometime bro. Peace.
death is a way of cotroll us for if we existed into infiity then we could be god for if you are given enough time you can achive anything
you know I can actually see both aspects life and death good things. Life being good for the moments, you get to experience: a look at inosence you fell in love with, a long goodbye, the simple things that we all treasure. Those are the things that shape life to be a wonderful existance. But on the negative aspect of it. with joy comes pain, without pain joy becomes useless. But thats off topic, I can see at the end of life looking forward to death, the great beyond. One last true experience to live. at least imho