Do you think your "spirit" lives on after death? I'd like to believe that it does, that we don't just disappear and die and that's it. But if you do believe in a "spirit" living on, watching from above or starting the next chapter of the spirit's life, do you believe that just because it's comforting? I'm scared of dying, but I wouldn't be quite so much if I knew my "spirit" would live on - that I would still be able to think and have my personality and go to a different place.
2006-07-21 05:54:56 · 21 answers · asked by Jaxter 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
You, me, and everybody reading here on Yahoo never DIE! We just vacate the body and return to where we were before we were born. Yes, it is just that simple!
2006-07-21 06:01:54 · answer #1 · answered by Aunt Susan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe the energy that makes me "ME" (i.e. my spirit) stays intact after death. I think it is returned to the energy of the universe (like pouring a cup of water back into a pool). When something else is born, the energy that goes into its spirit is drawn from the energy of the universe (like dipping a cup into the pool and pulling it out). Some of what used to be "me" may be in there, but certainly not all. To me, this also helps explain people who experience past lives, and why multiple people can seem to have been the same person in a past life - they got part of that person's energy (but not all).
Personally, I find this idea far more comforting than many ideas of an afterlife out there - to be ultimately reunited with the spirits of those who have gone before me and with the Divine. I don't see the afterlife as "Just like this life only better". To me, it's a complete shift of state and existence.
2006-07-21 06:21:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, the reason we do is by a natural brain reaction to our consciouness. We, as atheists, have the ability to reason beyond the inherited mental defense mechanism that is responsible for most people's belief in a god of some kind. It has been discovered that the belief in a diety who protects and brings you to a happy home when you die, is actually a natural reaction in our brains, to the knowledge that we will all die someday, and any day. This belief acts as a buffer for anxiety and depression that many would feel if it was proven god did not exist. And, we as atheists, have either reasoned above and beyond our natural instincts, or have been born without this mechanism in our brains, like a mutant with a special power to see through B.S.. So, I guess we are kinda special. And, now that I know these things, I cannot in good conscience, try to force the mental security blankets away from those who obviously need it.
2006-07-21 06:13:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yeah, I know what you mean, it seems pretty hard to believe that our conscience just disappears into nowhere after a life of experiences and feelings. Some schools of thought believe that our soul-spirit-ghost-lifeforce is a type of electrical energy and cannot simply disappear since according to the scientific law of matter and energy it states that "matter and energy can not be destroyed, only transformed". Into what? you may ask. Who knows? Maybe this is the basis for so many beliefs in strange phenomena such as reincarnation, past lives, astral projection, teleportation, energy transference, etc. I'm just speculating.
2006-07-21 06:09:24 · answer #4 · answered by tropicvibe 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I know that when my body dies I live on. I am the soul that lives in this body. I have personally seen souls without bodies. People call them ghost. I am positive that we never die. That is my truth that I have come to through my personal experiences. I don't expect other people to just believe my experiences. I encourage them to go out and have their own. That is the only way any one can truly know these things. Do some research on life after death. Go through the data yourself. Find time to try and connect with those that have left their bodies.
Love & Light
Sharon
One Planet = One People
2006-07-21 06:11:03 · answer #5 · answered by skippingsunday 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's why people accept religion and a belief strictly on faith.
You are right on with your observations, death is a scary thing, I certainly don't want that to be the "end". But I have no real proof of an after-life so for now I have to conclude there is none. But I hope that there is something more and if there is I will be extremely happy. I'm just not going to blindly accept that there is.
2006-07-21 06:01:33 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Think about this......if you burn a piece of wood, it turns into ashes and carbon dioxide is released into the air. So is the ashes and the carbon dioxide still a wood? No, it turned into other forms and will never be that piece of wood again. Therefore, I believe when a person dies, he/she will become another form. And the chances of becoming human again is 1 in a trillion chances?. But hey, if you are alive now, why not another chance. I will never believe in Heaven and Hell....To me, god is not something that is intelligent or living, it is tons of things, such as that earth contains so many different substances that it is able to luckliy create life. And for those who believes in God (the one creator), ask yourself who introduced you to God? If it is from your parents or some religion group, you are nothing but a "recorder" or a "Flyer-Ads." Hope it's not too hard to understand.
2006-07-22 18:05:40 · answer #7 · answered by Yusuke U 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life does not begin with birth, nor does it end with death. Prior to our birth, we dwelled as spirit children with our Father in Heaven. There we eagerly anticipated the possibility of coming to earth and obtaining a physical body. Knowingly we wanted the risks of mortality, which would allow the exercise of agency and accountability. “This life [was to become] a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God.” (Alma 12:24.) But we regarded the returning home as the best part of that long-awaited trip, just as we do now. Before embarking on any journey, we like to have some assurance of a round-trip ticket. Returning from earth to life in our heavenly home requires passage through—and not around—the doors of death. We were born to die, and we die to live. (See 2 Cor. 6:9.) As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven.
2006-07-21 06:04:12 · answer #8 · answered by kimber g 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, my spirit is the "breath of life." When I die what happens? I stop breathing, right? So my body is buried in the ground. But what happens to my breath.
God breathed and the world was created. My spirit is alive as God's Spirit. I came from God and I go back to God. Only my body goes into the grave.
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. .....And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The Spirit of God is the essence of life. Without God none of us would be alive. He is Spirit and He is Life.
2006-07-21 06:06:56 · answer #9 · answered by cathyhewed1946 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i believe in reincarnation, which is the belief that the soul or spirit of a person will never die. the body in which the spirit resides is merely a vessel that carries the soul until nirvana is reached. so until your soul is pure, this recycling phase will take place. i think its kind of comforting that this will happen and some thing that was once in my body will live on forever.
2006-07-21 06:05:22 · answer #10 · answered by cuckoo meister 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the soul lives on. i believe in reincarnation and there have been many scientific research done on this topic. People who have had past life memories have been documented in these studies. You soul takes another body in another family and writes another story. No need to be scared about death---it is just a comma, not a period and I believe that ultimatey we are reunited w/our maker after we have learned all the lessons we need to. This also makes everyone our brother and sister.
2006-07-21 06:02:38 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋