philosophers help!!! i dont know what to beleive......?

Question

i dont know what to beleive. but doesnt the thought of there being a god and an after life kind of contradict this dimention in what we know as reality?? i mean if you think about it it seems like we are talking about a science fiction movie. but at the same time, we are here. so how can something so opposite coexist with eachother? when ever i beleive in an afterlife i fell that if thats real then how is this dimention real? and if i dont beleive in an after life then it makes me question how the physical dimention got here in the first place. and with these thoughts it has me in a loop and makes me feel like im on an acid trip or as if im in some bizzare dream.

with this in mind, i am constantly obssessing over this and cant get it out of my head. i am always doubting my reality, and it makes me anxious and even depressed to think that my loved ones dont even exist.

Answer 1

The path to understanding is making peace with the fact that you will never understand these things. Just accept it and be at peace.

Answer 2

You don't believe anything besides what follows your own views.
This will be one of the very few times I ever use a quote on answers...

"Believe nothing, no matter where you have read it or who has said it, unless it agrees with your own reason." - Gautama Siddartha Buddha

All you can do is read more, and ask more questions, not have someone state what to believe for you. Just never stop asking questions, and teaching what you learn also helps you learn more. This is the only way you can find out what you need to know and be at peace, though it will likely never happen. That's why philosophers exist, really. To figure all they can in their field of knowledge, whether it be religion theories, or creation theories. In truth, though, they all eventually tie together, which is why philosophers usually die before they figure it all out. It is a hard road, but mentally stimulating, and quite fun, if you have the patience for it.

Answer 3

Perhaps you could think of it this way...what substantive difference would it make in your life one way or the other? If you knew for a fact that nothing exists, that it's all in your mind, how would your actions change on a daily basis? I think you need to wrap your head around the fact that nobody guaranteed you'd have all the answers. But that doesn't mean that you have to come up with one, either. The human brain is hardwired to come up with an answer for things; sometimes, just knowing that can help when we can't. Having said that, understand that panic attacks can have a biological component, and that the psychological reasons we ascribe to them may not be accurate at all--in other words, you might actually be having attacks over some other cause, but this one sounds more acceptable to you. I would talk to a therapist.

Answer 4

I have heard it explained as being in different planes of existence, or different vibrations. Their energy resonates at a higher rate than ours does. I am not saying it is true or false, but it is one possible explanation for the seeming contradictions.
There is really no need for you to worry or obsess about it. It is what it is, and has been that way for eternity.
If you enjoy reading about other possible explanations or expanding your knowledge on these things get The Seth Books. It is a series of books purportedly channeled by a psychic named Jane Roberts. An entity named Seth spoke through her and answered all of these kinds of questions. It was actually rather fascinating. The first one is called Seth Speaks. It sounds as if this is a book that could answer many of your questions.
Autobiography of a Yogi is also very good.
You are obviously being called to expand your understanding. Go to the library in the nonfiction area and look at the books with the decimal system number starting at 133.
Best of luck and happy learning. It is a wonderful journey.

Answer 5

The problem with the afterlife is that if it exists it has to be very different to what we experience as life. In afterlife you could not have your body, because it rots when you die. You can not communicate with those that are still alive. So whatever if left of you after you die would have to be quite different than what you are used to.

Now, since there is no information coming to us from anyone's afterlife, we can not make any assumptions with regards to how it is to be there. In fact, since we have zero information it is the perfect subject for 'belief'. You can believe that it is anything you want.

Similarly, we keep discovering more and more about how the world works, what are the rules that govern the behavior of energy and matter. With this knowledge we can explain why many things happen in this world. We even have the uncertainty principle that leaves an opening for free-will. All this is great. What we need to learn from it is that we do not need to use God to explain things that happen in this world.

Even stronger, I would argue that if you believe in God, then you should not believe that God interferes directly or intervenes in our lives through specific actions. You would have to believe that God created the world in such a way that the "right" things happen in it.

Therefore my conclusion is that whether you believe in God or the afterlife is irrelevant to how you live your life - God's influence is either already there or doesn't exist, in either case there is nothing to do about it.

So go out and live your life, enjoy it, do good, be good.

Answer 6

Here is something that is as enlightening as it is terrifying. To give balance and to keep with that there is an inherrant duality in nature the statement "There is a life" includes that there is a non-life. This could mean that there is nothing to go to after this life and there is no afterlife just nothingness. But then, where does that 3/4oz of our mortal body weight go at the exact moment of passing? Science is at least out of the dark ages by finally, albeit begrudgingly beginning to consider that there just may be some reality to this whole creation thingy... Well, they can't explain the weight loss or the 'energy' that seems to be leaving our bodies at that very same moment. Could it be our 'Soul'? Or that little piece of God that he loaned us when we we're created which individually is small but collectively the most powerful force in the entire universe and whatever may lie beyond that.
Now having a part of God in us could help to explain why God sees everything and why Christ could be there knocking.
Now I ain't trying to push anything on you. I'd be beside myself to have anyone be doomed for eternity because they believed what I believe in the event that I should be wrong. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still apt to change some of my views should a better point be made. Never close your mind to possibilities or be so ignorant as to lend a deaf ear to other opinions.
Strange as it may seem I received my first physical proof at 20 while visiting with Alice 'D' in a physical plane that exists here in our own yet goes unnoticed with the limits of our day to day 10% brain. There are so many things that are just passing by. I shudder to think what we would become as a race if we could get another 20% usage of our brain.
So your reference to 'get it out of your head' is more on than you think.
What a long strange trip it's been??? Heck, we're not even at the station yet.
Now if it's a matter of believing in God or not believing in God, I would like to tell you what I tell any others who may ponder that question:
Even a gambler would believe in God. It may be even odds but 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!!

Answer 7

Buddha compared religion to a raft. The "yana" part of Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism means "vehicle." A person who needs to cross a river builds a raft. Once he's crossed over, he leaves the raft behind and continues his journey without it. Only a very foolish traveller would keep carrying the raft. Well, some of the folks travelling through life without the raft of religion haven't yet reached the river, and some have already crossed it. Nothing contradictory about it. What will help you most is to look closely at what religious faith and belief DO for people, what "the river" is that they're trying to cross. Then look at the people who don't seem burdened by religion. You'll find some who haven't asked the crucial questions yet and some who have found answers. It's often hard to tell the difference between them.

Answer 8

I have a really good book to recommend to you.

"Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda. I do not subscribe to any one religious belief and my concept of "God" is way off the beaten path.

But as a starting point, if you prefer to believe in a benevolent creative omniscient intelligence in the Universe, you might find this book gives you some useful ways to think about things and see them in another way. It delves into the whole idea of physical reality as the manifestation of energy and basically this idea coincides with what quantum physicists are telling us our reality is too.

Really, if this is eating at you, and you can't let it go (as I never could), seriously read this book. Then make your own decisions. Do not blindly believe this book or any other book or any other person. You have to believe what makes sense to you in your heart of hearts and only you can decide that.

The truth is within you. You will find "your" truth that works for you, eventually. Don't expect a fully formed belief system that you're comfortable with to just "form" itself in your head overnight! The fun is in the journey. The journey is to discover. There are many paths that all lead to the top of the same mountain....

.

Answer 9

As humans we are all born with an empty vacumme inside of us a loneliness which only God can fill!
At some point in life we become God conscious and question "is there a God? which is where you are at.
some go on their merry way and it is forgotten.
The other really want to know and this is where you find Him.
He who finds Me finds life. Proverbs 8:35.
And obtains favor from the Lord.
Take care!

Answer 10

You are fourtunate to be considering this issue. Most people go through life asleep. You can decrease the obsession by meditating and reading on the subject. Don't go to A!Yahoo for the answer because most of the respondents are no closer to the answer than are you. "The Cloud of Unknowing" is a great source of peace for someone who has the questions you express.

I love the book "Autobiography of a Yogi" and have it in two languages.

Everything is unfolding as it should.

Answer 11

You don't know me, do you?

Do I exist in your thought or in your mind?

The answer is no. isn't it?

What you know is your record or memory.
It is in your head.

What you think is your interpretation of the objective world.

You are the one making your story happy or lonely, colorful or black and white.

All your knowledge about the world and yourself is you.

I think you have to understand oneself before you discover the mystery of life.

To believe is to be dependent, it is a hindrance to see what is true.

Only a free mind can discover what is true and belief is a shackle
that makes the mind dumb.