I know this question has been asked before, but I'd still like to read more answers.
GOING ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT THERE IS ABSOLUTE NOTHINGNESS AFTER YOU DIE...
Many say that since life is short, you should enjoy it. Fair enough... but you don't take any of your memories with you. If you had a great life with lots of love and happiness, or if you had an awful, miserable life, it makes no difference... once your dead, it is complete nothingness... forever... the quality of your life was irrelevant.
Leaving a positive impact on others? What good does that do? All of the others too will die, also to fade into absolute nothingness.. all of their memories of you or any impact you had, gone, meaningless.
I guess the easy answer is "Don't think about it, you're going to die anyways, might as well just live life for now..." but I'm curious if any of you have actually come to personal terms with this dilemma and have a decent answer for it?
2007-07-11 18:33:54 · 32 answers · asked by Dave C 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
When you help others, you are always with that person and continue to live through the lives he touches. For example I am a bone marrow donor. If I save a man's life by donating marrow, all the children he has after that are born because I saved his life. Therefore, I am , in a small way, living on through his future generations. If one of his children born because I save his life becomes a doctor and saves another life than I am also connected to that person.
I do not help because I want a reward after this life, I help so that I may always remain in some small way.
2007-07-11 18:44:27 · answer #1 · answered by Pangloss (Ancora Imparo) AFA 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Assumptions are not absolutes. I have been there in the "what is the meaning of my life" to this humanity or to this planet or to the void of nothingness. Outcome so far is to realize that no matter how terrific or horrific or boring...this is my life. I intend to live it with the zest of honoring the sensuality of being ... and that is not about sex. It is about experiencing the not so fine tuned reality of being alive. There is so much beauty in the world. Being sentient is in existentialism ...the top of the mark.
When you assume absolute nothingness after death you also must assume absolute everything in life.
That has been my experience so far....
WHO KNOWS...
I love the word GRACE...
But I never allow myself to dwell on the void any more.
2007-07-11 19:12:10 · answer #2 · answered by zanzibar 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why does life have to have some big point? Life is for living. I myself don't believe there is nothingness after death - I've seen too many things to the contrary to believe that. And even if there is nothing, no life is irrelevant. Energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed, and each life lived releases itself back to the universe. I see the universe as our Mother - others see it as something else. But we all come from the same source and return to it again. These bodies we inhabit for a little while are just clay - I believe we're eternal.
2007-07-11 18:46:52 · answer #3 · answered by Nightlight 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If this life is all you have then it is everything. Live life to the fullest. Make sure you have your to do list in order.
Just think you have a chance to see this place. Why waste it? Find something you really like to do.
Your life will relevant at the time you lived it and to the people that loved you. That's all that really matters when you look at any system of belief.
If you feel that you need religion to help you cope with this then maybe it would be for the best.
2007-07-11 18:41:42 · answer #4 · answered by 354gr 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have dealt with it. It's a very common human desire to continue to see our loved ones after death. We can feel love, afterall. But I do the best I can while I'm alive. I will have no knowledge of anything after death, so I'm not going to waste time on grieving not seeing my loved ones forever in heaven to the exclusion of living my life with them now.
It is important to leave a positive impact because future generations of my family will know that I came before them. Nothing lasts forever (except for maybe roaches and limburger cheese) so it's natural to face your own extinction. Yes, the generations to follow will also die... but why be so morbid? That's one of the reasons I scrapbook... Not only photos, but philosophies and beliefs as well, so my future generations will have no doubts what I believed and how that shaped my son and his children and THEIR children. It may end up being irrelevant... but it might not.
2007-07-11 18:40:31 · answer #5 · answered by Rogue Scrapbooker 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The whole point is that when you are about to die and you look back on your life you realize these things. 1. You have acquired more money and material goods than Johnson next door. 2. Your wife was really hot when you married her and later after the face lift and boob job. 3. Your kid could totally kick the crap out of the valedictorian. Once a person realizes these things they can die happy and at peace even if there is no afterlife.
2007-07-11 18:49:58 · answer #6 · answered by machiavelli061 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There is no dilemma. Life is for living and for making things better for others that will come after you. The impact of your life is not in your memories, but in those of others about you.
Think about it this way. What impact on or memories do you have about the world from before you were born. Nothing. It will be the same for you after you are gone.
The idea of "my life means nothing unless I am here forever" is the peak of human self-centeredness.
2007-07-11 18:41:34 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Life is a gift. Enjoy and make the best of it as you can. No life after death? Not true. Search almost ANY religion, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, etc. They show a life after this present one. The Bible, the Christian religion, has much written about eternal life/heaven. That is the main reason that Jesus Christ came to earth. He came to die for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind and make eternal life/heaven possible. Jesus made us acceptable to inherit eternal life through His sacrifice on our behalf. PLEASE, do yourself a favor, an everlasting eternal favor, and read some Christian publications. They aren't hard to find at all. Talk to a major denomination minister. He/she WILL find time to talk to you at length, free of charge, and they can give you a great deal of insight. Read the best selling book of all time=The Bible. It will help you in more ways than one. Life has a porpoise. Rules, laws, the 10 commandments are in place for good reasons.To live as your question remarks would stand to ask why do we have any laws at all? A positive lifestyle would help your kids and others have good moral values. Would you rather see rules and laws compromised making auto theft, armed robbery, murder an acceptable thing to do? No one wants that. God Bless....
2007-07-11 19:04:32 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
If nothing lies beyond the grave. If there is truly nothing after we die. I mean zero. Total non-existence. Then life is meaningless and pointless. I can't fathom how someone could hold that as their operating assumption and feel that life has any meaning whatsoever. Imagine a life where nothing has any meaning or consequence, where your actions simply do not matter, where evil will never be held to account, and where righteous will never be rewarded. That's what we're talking about.
But I reject that completely. There is a God, and there certainly is an afterlife.
2007-07-11 18:47:30 · answer #9 · answered by Zezo Zeze Zadfrack 1 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Wanting to be a good person and raise children that think in a similar way makes this life the best my limited existence can be. To think that a great great distant great progeny of mine may be flying around the galaxy with the same goals as me is a comforting (albeit slightly ridiculous) thought.
2007-07-11 18:37:34 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋