Where do we go?

Ginger83

Hi, I've been questioning some things lately and wondered if I could get some thoughts.

I'm living with a terminal condition and although I've come to some level of acceptance 2 questions that keep popping into my mind are why are we here and where do we go?

I dont see myself as religious but I cant help thinking that there's more after we pass. I dont think that I'm afraid but more of a concern.

Windchimes

I'm sorry to hear about your illness. You must have all sorts of questions going through your mind. These are questions we all have to ask ourselves at some stage in our lives. Do you have a Bible? If you do, I would encourage you to read the new testament, starting with John's Gospel. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Jesus loves you and longs for you to turn to Him. You don't need to fear death if you know Him

NIMAN

Simple answer is, "no-one knows for sure".

Even the most devout atheist or believer cannot prove anything to back up their case, so its basically down to what you believe yourself.

Sorry to hear about your illness, I hope your enjoy every day/week/month/year you have left. None of us know when our time will be up, we just have to enjoy it while we are here.

Ginger83

Windchimes wrote: »

I'm sorry to hear about your illness. You must have all sorts of questions going through your mind. These are questions we all have to ask ourselves at some stage in our lives. Do you have a Bible? If you do, I would encourage you to read the new testament, starting with John's Gospel. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) Jesus loves you and longs for you to turn to Him. You don't need to fear death if you know Him

I've never been that religious, I don't know what I believe really.

Ginger83

NIMAN wrote: »

Simple answer is, "no-one knows for sure".

Even the most devout atheist or believer cannot prove anything to back up their case, so its basically down to what you believe yourself.

Sorry to hear about your illness, I hope your enjoy every day/week/month/year you have left. None of us know when our time will be up, we just have to enjoy it while we are here.

I try to enjoy each day as it comes, I suppose I just hope there's more after I pass on.

Edups2.0

Being terminally ill is bound to be horrible, and I'm so sorry to hear about your condition. A lot of people turn to religion in their time of fear, I wouldn't be a church goer myself, but I do like to believe there's something after we pass on. There's nothing wrong with thinking that, no one wants to sit and think of their passing as just emptiness. I don't know what I can really say but gods speed OP and just try and enjoy the rest of your time.

Big Bag of Chips

I believe there is something after we die. I believe it's obviously not like "life", but there is something. There are some people in my life who have passed who I refuse to believe are just gone. So I do believe they are somewhere! And that somewhere is still around us. But in a different state. I don't believe they are watching us wishing they could be back with us and joining in. It's hard to explain, but I do believe or at least hope there's somewhere and that they are happy in their new "world"

I'm not terribly religious, but it gives me a comfort to believe that the people we love don't really leave us.

I'm sorry for your illness. I can't imagine all that is going on in your head.

LegacyUser

well im not much of a one for deep and meaningfuls but i thought id share this. when i was younger and my cousin was 4 her grandfather was at a family gathering in her house, staying the night. She was in her room asleep. Apparently he died during that night, in the house. Next morning my 4 year old cousin said to my aunt that grandad came up to see her during the night and said he had to go away for a while but would see her again. Also, and this is a bit creepy but all of my life i have felt in the company of consiousness. my own belief is that wherever we go when we die, we are actually already there the whole time, but when our body stops working, we just wake up. I also reckon that the universe is one big conscious being, and we are all part of the same thing, but that could be the native american in me, getting a bit cheesy now.

ManOfMystery

I'm not religious at all. I'd probably describe myself loosely as an atheist in that sense, though unlike my father I don't think everything just goes black when we die. I think there's something else after this life, but not what organised religion tells us. Just my opinion, and like everyone else with an opinion on this, we have nothing concrete to back it up.

Sure, there's stories, myths, near-death experiences, people seeing visions of dead relatives and all these other little things which suggest there's an afterlife of sorts. But none of it is conclusive.

I base my opinion more on science .............. ironically. Science has shown that when you burrow down deep into the makeup of things, there is a constant buzz of activity in the universe. A dead body isn't completely static; it's cells are degrading and there are a billion processes going on at once on a molecular level. A star doesn't appear in the sky overnight, it forms from interstellar gas being compressed and leading to fusion. Einstein taught us that energy cannot be created or destroyed; only transformed. Nothing just pops into existence.

And as we are also products of this universe, I don't believe that when your body gives up, it's lights out. Our consciousness and self comes from somewhere, and I believe it will go on somewhere else after. I choose to believe that as I have absolutely nothing to lose by doing so.

muddypaws

ManOfMystery wrote: »

I'm not religious at all. I'd probably describe myself loosely as an atheist in that sense, though unlike my father I don't think everything just goes black when we die. I think there's something else after this life, but not what organised religion tells us. Just my opinion, and like everyone else with an opinion on this, we have nothing concrete to back it up.

Sure, there's stories, myths, near-death experiences, people seeing visions of dead relatives and all these other little things which suggest there's an afterlife of sorts. But none of it is conclusive.

I base my opinion more on science .............. ironically. Science has shown that when you burrow down deep into the makeup of things, there is a constant buzz of activity in the universe. A dead body isn't completely static; it's cells are degrading and there are a billion processes going on at once on a molecular level. A star doesn't appear in the sky overnight, it forms from interstellar gas being compressed and leading to fusion. Einstein taught us that energy cannot be created or destroyed; only transformed. Nothing just pops into existence.

And as we are also products of this universe, I don't believe that when your body gives up, it's lights out. Our consciousness and self comes from somewhere, and I believe it will go on somewhere else after. I choose to believe that as I have absolutely nothing to lose by doing so.

My Dad was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour this time 3 years ago, I stayed with my Dad for a few months, and on one drive back to his house from my brother's we were listening to RTE Radio 1 while there was a programme along these lines. There was a scientist on who had started investigating near death experiences with a view to disproving them, but at the end of it all, he had changed his opinion, and believed there was something after death, not heaven as such, but rather like you describe, we carry on on a different plane. He didn't want to use religious terminology, but said that could be seen as a person's soul, the body dies, but that essence, that soul, continues on. I found it really comforting, and I hope that my Dad did as well, as he died 6 months after diagnosis.

I must say, there are some beautifully articulated responses on this thread. Food for thought.

Windchimes

Hi, just wondering how you're doing now. Have you come any closer to finding the answers that you're seeking?