A big part of my losing Mormonism was the thought of living forever. We are all so very different and I accept that others think 180 degrees from me and cherish this notion.

I, on the other hand, have always since I was a child thought this was a nightmare. Many nights I lay in my bed trying to comprehend what forever was. And currently I'm reading a piece of fiction in a future world where human have achieved living forever well as least as long as the earth.

The ancient Greeks and other peoples and cultures have found death absurd. To them the continuance of an individual seemed very logical. I admit it does. How do you mix ceasing into the mix of logic? All men over the age of 2,000 named Socrates are dead? So I understand that along with our big brain comes some conceptualizations apparently in direct contrast to experiences which compel us.

I've never found living forever compelling. As a child I looked for things in nature that last forever. I thought long lasting as an attribute was something morally "good" because longevity appears to be a hallmark of blessed of God. But I never can square this circle in myself. Many people can. They have a hard time imagining not existing whereas I have a hard time seeing that I would never not be. I didn't exist when Kennedy was POTUS and I might not be alive when a Kardashian or Mormon Prophet becomes POTUS.

So I think I represent in a large Mormon family a tiny minority of people for whom the Mormon narrative is less appealing from their nature. I literally have never been able to find solace or even much understanding in the concept of its "Together Forever."

This guy apparently had no problem thinking about living forever...

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59xqgn/the-elixir-of-immortality-was-found-next-to-a-dead-guy-in-china

Hey Elder B.!! Think how it would feel to live forever in the C.K. producing offspring eternally!!!!!! Yikes! As a woman I thought they had to be kidding. That never made the Celestial Kingdom sound like much of a reward...more like endless torture. I just figured that if I didn't want the Celestial Kingdom and eternal baby making they might let me slip down to a more appealing level of heaven.

Pooped Wrote:
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> I just figured that if I didn't
> want the Celestial Kingdom and eternal baby making
> they might let me slip down to a more appealing
> level of heaven.

I agree. When I was a believer I hoped for "slipping down" to the recreational sex degree of glory.

I preferred whichever kingdom would have all the interesting and fun people. I sensed that wouldn't be the celestial kingdom.

I have two thoughts about it, EB. The first is that "eternity" does not mean endless time but the complete absence of time. So perhaps living forever is something that has a completely different meaning on the other side.

The other is reincarnation. If you can come back and live another life with a completely different point of view, perhaps that makes living forever tolerable.

If everything goes away when I die, so be it. I've had a good life. I've enjoyed the love and support of family members and friends. I know that my family will move forward into the future. If it's lights out, I hope that nature will be kind and give me a vision of a family reunion before the final switch is hit.

What will be, will be.

summer Wrote:
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> I have two thoughts about it, EB. The first is
> that "eternity" does not mean endless time but the
> complete absence of time. So perhaps living
> forever is something that has a completely
> different meaning on the other side.

Got it. So when you die and receive your degree of glory it is in some timeless dimension? Makes more sense than what I comprehended.

> The other is reincarnation. If you can come back
> and live another life with a completely different
> point of view, perhaps that makes living forever
> tolerable.

Makes sense with no memories of your past lives.

> If everything goes away when I die, so be it. I've
> had a good life. I've enjoyed the love and support
> of family members and friends. I know that my
> family will move forward into the future. If it's
> lights out, I hope that nature will be kind and
> give me a vision of a family reunion before the
> final switch is hit.

I think it will probably give you a vision. I've read near death experiences and I believe many people experience something close to comfort unless their death is violent?

> What will be, will be.

Que sera, sera.

summer Wrote:
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> If everything goes away when I die, so be it.


If everything goes away when I die, then I won't exist to be upset that I no longer exist.

I can't deal with it. Can I imagine never seeing my parents again? My grandmother, who was like a second mother? My dogs? My dogs? My dogs?

Thing is, I don't know. I choose mostly not to think about it. What if? What if I die and my dogs aren't there? Just rip my heart out. My parents aren't there? I can't imagine that my kids won't be always somewhere I can associate with them.

My daughter and I have had our issues and after her bailing on her first marriage, we were at war. I was left to pick up the pieces and I had her fiance to deal with. I didn't like what she put him through. So I wasn't going to see her when she came here from Tennessee on her way to Alaska. I walked in the house as I KNEW I should see her to tell her good-bye or I might live to regret it and I took one look at her and I KNEW that that girl is a PART OF ME. She isn't just another person. You can't separate the 2--she and I. My son and I. My mom and I and my dad and I. My dogs. The loves of my life. So tell me that they all just cease to exist? I can't deal with that.

But then I don't feel I had any choice in LIVING IN THIS LIFE, so whatever is to come I don't have any choice in either. I just have to accept?????

And I don't want reincarnation. No way in hell. END IT NOW.

cl2 (not logged in) Wrote:
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> I just have to accept?????

I think you get to choose your own reaction to your own life. It seems like you have chosen a good reaction. You help and are loved.

Even people who don't react well to life don't have to accept life as it is. Religion is a huge industry in using the authority of a group to grant people the right to react to their own life in a predetermined way and accept other people's plans for how they react. Religion gives people license to consider their lives and their future deaths in a myriad of ways.

I can't wrap my mind around living forever but you probably can with your loved ones and pets.

My personal belief is that you can reincarnate if you choose to do so, but you don't have to.

How come in order to live forever I have to die first ?

The transformation process is deadly. Jesus tried to help us understand this.

Elder Berry Wrote:
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> To them the continuance
> of an individual seemed very logical.


It's not logical, it's just the ego speaking.

The ego lives in an echo chamber logically.

Humans are logical beings.

Logical beings have egos.

It's logical when the ego speaking.

I'm not as afraid of dying, now that I know Mormonism and its idiotic after-life is all a hoax. That cult had me doomed to be married forever to the wife beater who almost killed me, and sealed to his other two temple wife-victims, and perpetually pregnant and giving birth to more little victims--and that was if I was very faithful and paid my tithing. That alone was a reason to leave.

I'm not brave enough to believe in reincarnation!

All that scares me is the process of dying. I know old people who have deliberately moved away from Utah, to a "death with dignity" state. Let's be as kind to our old, sick humans as we are to our old, sick pets.

My only solution is to live in the "NOW." This is one of the many gifts I got, after leaving the Mormon cult and it's sick, death-oriented philosophy. Today is a gift; that's why it's called "the present".

I’m with you. It’s not being dead that worries me. It’s getting dead that does.

I figure it is like many things. The anticipation is worse than the act?

Because most states disallow assisted suicide, many people suffer before and during the process of death. Our culture still predominantly supports the idea that the time and cause of death is “ in God’s hands”. Because of this unprovable assumption many people suffer needlessly. We treat our pets more humanely.

So God wants to make people suffer?

That’s the logical conclusion for those who make the assumption that time and cause of death is “in God’s hands”. You know, the “everything happens for a reason” line of thinking.

I have experience a great deal of peace in my life in the past 15-20 years (benefit of not being married or having kids etc). I'd rather hang with the animals than humans any day

If forever is living with that kind of peace, forever, I am so up with that!! :-D

angela Wrote:
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> If forever is living with that kind of peace,
> forever, I am so up with that!! :-D

It might be for the first couple of thousand years.

Elder Berry Wrote:
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> angela Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If forever is living with that kind of peace,
> > forever, I am so up with that!! :-D
>
> It might be for the first couple of thousand
> years.

I think "time" as we experience it, is not what the afterlife, if it's there, is like.

Or at least that is what my understanding of "time" is by experts??

Maybe this is my problem. I can't conceive of existing without time.

I personally have always been horrified by the thought of being stuck with my TBM GrandMa Billy for ever and ever.... what a train wreck of pure mormon jabber wocky! It's one of those ideas that seem good on the surface, but who in their right minds would want to eat a piece of red velvet cake or read the same book for eternity. I'd imagine spending almost all it wishing I was dead!

Will living forever be like the movie "Groundhog Day" ?

Yeah. Imagine hearing about how Jesus had a bad weekend for you that one time on Earth zillions of years ago OVER and OVER.

Even 72 virgins would get old after billions of years. Get back in your burka, #63!

Except in the movie , everything got better each “ day”.
Love that movie, by the way