1. Blank
2. Escorted by family
3. Told to take a number and have a seat
4. Embraced by the light
5. Other (Please specify)

For most people: a fairly brief "interim" (my memories of this period are: totally safe, warm, "interesting"), followed by finding yourself in another physical body, and wondering who in the heck all these "strangers" (your new relatives) surrounding you ARE.

Some kids remember “when they were big”.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some kids remember “when they were big”.

I've read of this too.

The difficulty arises when a child tries to describe something they clearly "see"/remember, but have no vocabulary for.

When I was two or three, my family (Mom, my maternal grandparents, my paternal grandparents, maybe some others--my Dad was still away, in the Navy, in the war) went to (fairly nearby) Knott's Berry Farm for an outing.

All was well until we, as a group, went to see the "jail" (a full-sized recreation of an Old West jail, complete with life-sized figures in a cell).

I was really physically small, of course (though I could walk just fine), and someone (probably my [paternal] Grandpa) lifted me up to where I could see through the barred "window" in the jail house door.

I looked inside the cell, and my stomach froze. Those people (all of them full-sized, plaster or something, recreations of unshaven and unkempt human males) were motionless and soundless, "frozen" in different postures....and I just totally freaked out.

I had no vocabulary to explain what I "knew"--that "it" (which I had no words to explain) was coming OVER HERE!!, and that my family was in danger!!!!!

Everyone was acting normal (as would any family on a lazy Sunday afternoon visit to Knott's Berry Farm), and they obviously had no idea that *I* knew what was [from my fairly recent perspective] now coming for THEM!

Lots of times, kids know things (and they really DO "know things") that they have no way to communicate--nor, as in my case, even if an adult COULD communicate on a child's basis with the child, would the child be able to comprehend.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2019 06:28PM by Tevai.

What do I think? Nothing. Your body slowly rots. You linger as a memory for a while. That's pretty much it.

The same thing that has always happened at death.

Death. End of story (and end of me-physically, mentally, spiritually, etc.)

I haven't a clue.

Lights goes out...then bupkis...then it gets really hot!

Funny you should bring this up because the other day I saw an add for burial plots and thought to myself this is the last thing I need. When my dad died when we couldn't remember his blood type. As he died, he kept insisting for us to "be positive," but it's hard without him. Recently my obese parrot died. It was a real weight off of my shoulder I'll tell you. So here's what I think will happen when I die:

1. Pee my pants
2. Kids fight over inheritance
3. Wife throws a party

Your body you received from this mortal world dies and rots ---- you will get another young one when you want to become mortal again.

However, your spirit never dies so after you realize your body is dead, you will pop out of it and you will probably be met or feel the presence of loved ones (including spirit guides) and 'escorted to the light'.

As you go on this journey, you will start to remember what you use to know including why you became mortal this last life and anticipate how your 'life review' will go. I plan on making it clear I remember by saying 'I am back', you can only get rid of me for so long!!!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2019 05:49PM by spiritist.

Seriously? You're kidding right?

Sorry to burst your bubble --- but I have asked questions and 'get answers'!!! I have had many 'spiritual experiences' in regards to 'keeping me safe' and also to get 'answers'. Mormonism and leaving Mormonism led me in the direction to 'find' answers to these 'spiritual aspects' of life.

I am also a trained remote viewer but mainly work at calling 'market movements' and some sporting events when I am interested.

I realize 'few if any' people on this board 'believe' what I say. What I have 'experienced and say' is much more 'accepted' on numerous 'reddit' boards dealing with psychics, mediums, remote viewing, dreams, predicting the future, past lives, intuition, etc. etc..

You certainly don't have to take my 'information' as serious ---- many others don't. However, I am as 'serious as a heart attack' as I believe 'everyone' should have some 'exposure' to the 'truth' even exmos.

Whatever you want to believe is just fine with me!!!

I thought you were kidding...satire. Ok, well, hey I like variety and good luck back as someone you want to be. Are you able to choose?

Ted Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I thought you were kidding...satire. Ok, well,
> hey I like variety and good luck back as someone
> you want to be. Are you able to choose?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=

I come across way too strong ---- hope that doesn't offend anyone. Hope anyone takes me as a 'total joke' rather than getting offended.

I am who I am and sure I have done things I would rather not have done or never done things I should have done, but that is all part of life and learning. I think it is important to just try to enjoy the lives we have and try to make the best of them.

I am not sure I understand your question ---- Are you able to choose? My answer, based on my experiences, is definitely 'yes' we chose who we are (to a large extent --- family, family situation, mates, challenges, good things, etc. etc.) our situations (good and bad) in life to experience them. I am sure most of us expected to have 'no problems' with the 'bad' were probably 'somewhat wrong' as many people seem to complain about their lives (which I believe they chose). I am one who believes very few things happen by 'accident' (births, deaths, achievements, tough situations, families, etc.) ---- I have been guided all my life but very 'subtly' and I still had to 'experience 'Mormonism' and still suffering with many family members still 'Mormons' but that is just one of the 'challenges' I believe most of us 'exmos' 'signed up for' ----- hopefully we can make the best of our 'exmo' experience. If that was not your question you can ask again.

Noticing the general responses there are a few of us that now believe in some form of 'reincarnation'.

Do you get to choose who you will be when you are reincarnated?

Ted Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do you get to choose who you will be when you are
> reincarnated?

This is a really good question....and I don't know if it has ever been effectively answered.

What appears to be "an" answer is that there are always a number of different factors in play, some of them possibly unexpected [this happened to me, in this present life of mine], and probably, for everyone: It "depends."

Every person has their own Long History: the cumulative "record" of that person's lives [plural], going back to all of their previous lifetimes.

Every person has their own group of people who have, amongst themselves, relationships, of one kind or another with each other (marriage relationships, parental or offspring or other family relationships, mentor relationships, any important other relationships of any kind--which could even be as a neighbor, or a co-worker, or a member of the community in some cases--or a person you either did, or did not, choose to help when they obviously needed help).

Every person has, over the course of their Long History, developed certain things they like and/or are very good at, and other things they don't like and/or are very bad at, as well as strong interests or talents of one kind or another: intellectual, musical, scientific, athletic, as a mother, as a warrior....whatever.

Every person has areas where they either need to grow, or where they want (and sometimes want very vehemently) to grow.

Every person has traits which they either want to strengthen, or they SHOULD want to strengthen (even if they don't really want to do this at all!).

And every person has (in a particular life, or in a former life or lives) places where they have messed up badly, where they need to learn how to behave, or how to be conscientious, or how to be caring (could be as part of a one-on-one relationship, could be when it comes to strangers, could be in regard to a nation full of people that person is somehow responsible for as an elected, or appointed, or a born official).

There are also far too many instances where someone has been a victim (they were a slave or something akin to a slave, or they were previously murdered, or stolen from, or abused), where there is learning needed by both the victim and also by the previous abuser.

"Mix" all of those (and undoubtedly many other) realities together with the actual available circumstances at a particular instant in time (which usually means: a baby is in utero or a baby is being born), and what generally happens to most people is that they come out of the birth canal into a family, and a community, and into circumstances, which are (for actual reasons) appropriate for them.

They won't necessarily get all of what they might want in that particular lifetime, but they will usually get a variety of opportunities, challenges, and character leanings which will (ideally) teach them what they need to learn, or to do, to mitigate their personal challenges for the present, and also for future lives, and allow them to take advantage of some of the easier, and more fulfilling, parts of life they are most suited for, on a variety of levels.

Sometimes this doesn't always work exactly like the above explanation.

I am (and my mother heartily agreed) the second person in this body (to my Mom's great relief). Evidently, the first person in to this body came in with the goal of killing my mother for something which took place between them long ago, but after being born into this body I have now, this person had "second thoughts" about the wisdom of doing this, and that person wanted out--which probably is an indication that they had learned the lesson they came in to learn.

At that "same" time (given that the concept of time itself is a bit slippery here), I (in my previous life; I was a Dutch wife and mother) was in a "personal" situation which was horrific to the point of being beyond horrific. In that situation, I did something I had to do....and, afterwards I just walked out of that building and started walking, to "nowhere," because I was, I am sure, literally out of my mind at that particular moment. I was walking where I shouldn't have been walking, and three guards came up behind me and began betting with each other who was going to kill me, and then they shot me in the head as I was walking, and I died instantly.

After that, there was the "time in between" where I found myself "floating" in this wonderful, safe, warm (I wasn't at all cold anymore!) darkness....

....and then, I "woke up" in what was now MY crib, with warm, bright sunlight streaming in through the window, and this strange woman came in to my bedroom and started talking to me in what I thought, for awhile, was really awful Dutch.

I gradually came to realize that this was now my mother, and I gradually came to realize that I was in Los Angeles....and that, for many of the really important things I most wanted to have available to me ("learning," first and foremost), I had "landed" in what I still consider to be "the" "perfect" place, and the perfect family situation, for me.

It wasn't the perfect family on a whole lot of levels, but over all, the pluses vastly outnumbered the minuses.

Most people have some kind of prior connections, of some kind or another, with at least some of the people who are in their families, and in their communities. In my case, I was a total stranger to them, and they were strangers to me, but over the years we kind of got used to each other to a large extent....and, in the end, I think my Mom came to respect me.

Looking back, my present life family of birth--for all of its many deficiencies in so many different areas--was PERFECT for me, and for the many different goals I came in to accomplish, and I am very grateful for the oftentimes unusual experiences, and the knowledge, and the many rare and unusual opportunities I gained, from these total strangers who became, as a surprise to ALL of us, my new relatives.

In the end, I got one of the all-time great lives, and I am enormously grateful to every one of my relatives who made this life I am living now possible.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2019 07:30PM by Tevai.

Tevai, thanks so much for your insight. I’d say some nice Jewish saying, but alas that was a different lifetime. No Hebrew this time around. It seems the Rabbi stuff doesn’t really leave you. Here’s to waking up to “Mazel tov!” next time around.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tevai, thanks so much for your insight. I’d say
> some nice Jewish saying, but alas that was a
> different lifetime. No Hebrew this time around. It
> seems the Rabbi stuff doesn’t really leave you.
> Here’s to waking up to “Mazel tov!” next
> time around.


Todah rabah!

[Thank you very much!]

:D

Definitely ---- yes!

However, you have some peer pressure as you reincarnate in a 'group'. Obviously, you 'think' differently with your 'total knowledge' as many don't seem to 'enjoy' who/where they are in this life based on the challenges they face. If you want to know who is in your soul group just look around you to family and friends/enemies, some you may not like.

You have to remember ----- you chose your current life, Mormonism included also many 'challenges' for your 'progression as a spirit'. So we all don't chose to be rich or famous. We chose what we 'chose' based on 'our soul group desires' and our desires to 'accomplish/experience' certain things. Most people do 'experience' a lot of what they planned but some, based on how they react to their life choices do not and will not 'experience' all of what they planned. But given 'reincarnation' it is not really a big deal to not accomplish 'everything' you planned in one incarnation. Time (eternity) is on an 'eternal being's' side.

I wish I could really explain that better but I haven't seemed to get much more information in that area to fully understand it. I would really like to know what I chose and why I chose what I am 'experiencing' and will experience ---- I think that is part of those things you just have to wait and see 'what life brings'. One needs to continually assess how am I handling the 'challenges/successes' I currently have -- will I regret any of my reactions.

I don't want to 'scare' anyone, everyone is 'loved and appreciated' for their coming here to help their 'soul group/others' and attempting to 'progress' themselves based on my 'experiences'. There is no 'hell' for failures as there are no 'failures' ---- everyone here will get some 'experience' benefit.

That would be interesting.

As much as I hate TSCC, we are spiritual beings having a mortal experience. You don’t remember your previous lives because incarnating into such a low vibration world causes you to forget. But that can be fixed. The Earth’s vibration is rising, so the post-2012 generation will retain more of their innate wisdom upon entry. There is also technology to help integrate high vibration beings into a fetus growing in this world so as to ease the transition and bring more of the “higher self” into normal consciousness. These “super babies” are very happy and easy, as babies go. It will be interesting to see how much they remember and what they contribute to society.

ask the guy with the hair

https://m.youtube.com/watch?index=1&list=PL8-dceu5OiU9Dk1yc1DsQBpJDKSeyZatV&v=MVX2NgoJwTY

Near death experiences site, with people's stories.


Go to http://www.nderf.org

¿ is OPie died now ?

Ask again in the morning

At some point, I read it on this board and it is what I have settled on:

humans are not aware of our existence pre-birth and, thus, it will be the some post-death. Just nothing. [original poster stated it far more eloquently]

I guess that's why I'm going to be cremated, don't need a plot or urn (scatter me somewhere I enjoy) and believe some loved ones will remember me. For a while.

If I win the lotto and can endow the local swimming pool, city maintenance garage or hospital wing perhaps I will remembered a little longer.

I wish I believed I'd be with loved ones after being met over the Rainbow Bridge by every dog I've ever loved. That's comforting.

I think an existence after death is likely. The recent research on quantum entanglement raises interesting questions about our perception of reality, and if time and space exist outside our measurement of them. One explanation for the Universe is that it is a a computer simulation. If it is, then we simply do not have the capacity to imagine what that existence might be.

Given how little we know, any statement pro or con regarding eternity and where we fit into it has to be an expression of faith.

I don’t know. I don’t care.
Not knowing, and being just fine not knowing, is the greatest freedom of escaping magical thinking!

It did feel so incredibly peaceful when I admitted to myself that I didn’t know.

There was a time when I thought I had all the answers. Now I realize that not only do I not have the answers to questions about eternity, there is no way I can know.

I think we survive death and are greeted by our loved ones. I think we live in an afterlife until such a time as we wish to reincarnate (which is optional.) I don't think that being "saved" has anything to do with it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2019 07:13PM by summer.

summer, I'd like to believe that you have the right of it.

I would like to see some of the people and furbabies that I have loved in this life, "on the other side." Especially my best friend. I lost her way too soon to MS. We were close friends for nearly 60 years, and it still hurts that she is gone.

However, if it turns out to be the blankness of deep sleep, I'm OK with that, too. I don't believe in Heaven or Hell.

From the many near-death witnesses on YouTube...I find it compelling to believe life never actually ends. There is another iteration, without any down time, for the soul.

Screen Name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From the many near-death witnesses on YouTube...I
> find it compelling to believe life never actually
> ends.

In my opinion: True.


> There is another iteration, without any down
> time, for the soul.

This is tricky, because (both from my own experience, and from what I have read) once the "soul" (by whatever name anyone prefers to call it) leaves the body....which may not exactly be congruent with the time of physiological death....that person is outside of "time" as we Earthlings understand it.

The "time" I was floating in that incredibly wonderful, and safe!!, darkness could have been (by standards here on Earth) a few seconds, or a few thousand years. To ME, it all would have been perceived as being "the same."

My personal feeling, based in part on other people's accounts of their experiences (either by regression, or by actual continuous memory) is that some people DO, in effect, take a "time out"--especially in situations where inner ("soul") healing is necessary. To wit:

Although most non-Jews are unaware of this, Judaism does believe in reincarnation. [For further information: Google "Gilgul."]

Historically, this goes back at least to the most respected and learned Jewish sages of the Middle Ages, though the subject itself existed within Judaism before, in a more or less cloaked form, which gradually morphed into the detailed analyses which became part of Jewish thought in the earlier centuries of the Common Era.

In post-World War II times, rabbis across the "denominational"/Jewish movement spectrum have been listening, and offering invited counsel to, random people (both Jews and non-Jews) who want, and need, to talk about their personal memories of the Holocaust, though they are now in different bodies than they inhabited during the Holocaust. By the last decades of the twentieth century, this became no longer a surprising phenomenon, and most rabbis are now prepared for this eventuality when it happens.

Although this was not mentioned during my conversion to Judaism process, I am sure that most rabbis now assume that some percentage of the students in their conversion to Judaism classes are reincarnated former Jews who want to rejoin the larger Jewish family. (The now "old," post-WWII, way of doing this was to purposely fall in love with a Jew, which usually meant that "becoming a Jew" was expected. I'm sure this still goes on, but increasingly, former Jews who died, and who were shocked to find that in their new bodies they were no longer Jewish, are seeking out conversion to Judaism on their own....and THEN they begin looking for the right Jewish mate! ;) )

In 2019, there is mostly widespread acceptance across the Jewish denominational spectrum that many former Jews who were caught up in the Holocaust, who died (either during WWII, or at sometime afterwards), and then found themselves reincarnated into non-Jewish bodies and families, are seeking to "return home" to Jewish identity and Jewish daily life.

Most rabbis now are no longer shocked when someone says to them: "I know you're going to think this is crazy, but I remember the Holocaust, and I need to talk about [the subject they are most concerned about]."

From a Jewish standpoint (as from a Hindu standpoint also), death now appears to be not necessarily the end of "the book," but, rather, the end of an individual chapter only.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2019 02:26AM by Tevai.

What’s interesting is that Mormons don’t believe in reincarnation. Aren’t they supposed to have a living prophet? If I could figure it out, why couldn’t a single one of these blow hards do it?

Jews pay attention to what’s happening and try to make sense of it. Imagine if someone went to their bishop with past life memories. They would be told they weren’t real and possibly threatened with church discipline if they don’t stop talking about them.

This is how you know it’s really a cult. There’s no striving for knowledge. Mormonism is a threadbare intellectual ghetto that gets dumber by the year. A banquet is set before them but all they want is the green Jello.

I have zero clue. No human has ever been able to show what happens.

I hope I can come back and haunt some people though. I think that could be some great fun to scare the bejeezus out of some of the bullies I've known in my life.

It would be sweet if I could come back and comfort the ones who love me.

But, I don't know. Nobody does. I will spend my energy making the best out of what I know I have right now.

I have no idea. I guess I will eventually find out.

The first significant part of leaving mormonism is to admit to yourself that you don't know what happens after death. After that, you can then again have real faith, that there might be a god and an afterlife and a purpose. It is easier to believe that there is an afterlife and a purpose. It doesn't matter whether or not you are right in such a case because if you're wrong, you'll disappear in to the nothingness at death (as everyone else then would do) never to be proven wrong. But something tells me that there is a purpose to this life and that our existence is eternal and meaningful. I don't believe that this life is a final 'make or brake' test as Mormonism sees it. It's more of a classroom and if you fail to learn the lessons, you may need to repeat one or more times to get it right.

Mormonism is far enough off of the mark to be truly trivial and flat-out wrong. Traditional Christianity tells us that you've got only one opportunity to get things right here or you go to in to the eternal flames of hell. Mormonism is more of a new and improved version of those beliefs, claiming that there is a consolation prize if you're good but don't quite make the grade. Then they also offer you goodhood if you do win the big prize, and say that there is some kind of hell after-all (outer darkness) if you ever go back on the lie that you know that the church is true after you thought you did know it was true (a big mind-fuck). I am glad to be rid of those beliefs.

After grieving the death of my brother several years ago, I fear death much less. I am in no hurry to get there. But it doesn't terrify me anymore either. We're all going to be in the company of a lot of others there who have gone before us, even if there is nowhere to go and we just disappear. In any event, it'll be our destiny from before our birth.

But I don't know how much of this I will remember when I go back. I'm sure there will be a lot of questions.

Being self aware suggests to me that I am more than just my physical body. Reincarnation makes a lot of sense to me.

May depend on what we actually are -

There is a continuous sense of "I exist; I am" - even though the body now is not the same one we woke up with

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6aeRjB2JyWY

We give it a name, it is real; it "exists" - yet from instant to instant it is never the same. And then it vanishes.

That instant of death is something that is sensed from a totality beyond mind: here is a human being you are working on, and then in one instant something is different and here now is a body, of clay. Something has left.

The novelty of object permanence in infants makes we wonder if object permanence is an anomaly in the experience of existence. Babies can’t seem to get over how freaky it is. Then they get used to the “new normal”. In the quantum realm, it’s all about possibilities, so something undergoing the formality of actually occurring would be perceived much differently than in our current awareness.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The novelty of object permanence in infants makes
> we wonder if object permanence is an anomaly in
> the experience of existence. Babies can’t seem
> to get over how freaky it is. Then they get used
> to the “new normal”. In the quantum realm,
> it’s all about possibilities, so something
> undergoing the formality of actually occurring
> would be perceived much differently than in our
> current awareness.

These are excellent points!

I think this describes the basic process of "incarnation," in the congealing (if that's the word) of the pre-existing life energy (or evolutionary tendency, cause and effect, chemicals and all that) into a semi-stable "thing" that has "consciousness" for a brief period of time (a moment to a century or more.) Sort of like an energy whirlpool that forms and then discorporates when conditions change.

You die!!!

And then you pay taxes!

Stephen Hawking said it's probably like somebody comes along and unplugs your computer.

competing and conflicting stories about what happens to individual consciousness ("souls", "spirits", "ghosts") after the bucket is kicked.

Many of them are stated and asserted with the utmost confidence by people who, for some reason or another, are convinced that they have the correct story.

Some claim that they got the information from invisible beings who reside in another dimension. Some claim that they got the information from almost dying and being outside of their physical body (but there's no explanation as to how the memories of their OOB experiences got recorded to their brains for subsequent recollection). Some claim that they got the information from glow-in-the-dark angels. These origin stories for different narratives are stories told by supernatural event experiencers ("SEEs"). And we don't know whether the SEEs were sincere, deluded, mentally ill, attention seekers, scammers or frauds.

The problem for the rest of us is we're stuck having to decide whether it makes sense for us to rely on what SEEs and other people tell us. And, make no mistake, that's all we have to go on. What other people say. And those SEEs and "other people" are usually complete strangers--often separated from us by multiple layers of hearsay repeaters. So we don't even know if their stories, as repeated to us by others, are the same stories that they originally told.

For exmos, we have the case of Joseph Smith to study. He was purportedly a SEE (supernatural event experiencer). He claimed to see glowing angels. But not only that, he claimed to see Elohim and Jehovah in full-glow hover mode in a grove near Joe's home. Unfortunately, we also know that Joe generally made crap up to get people to believe in his authority and importance, so that they would then line up to be swindled by him in various ways.

So I guess that's a long way of saying, we probably will never know for certain what happens at death, until we know...or permanently don't know, as the case may be.

“And we don't know whether the SEEs were sincere, deluded, mentally ill, attention seekers, scammers or frauds.”

We?

I’ve been intimate friends with or married to SEEs. Before that, I had no belief in the paranormal. When you experience enough probabilities with ridiculous numbers of leading zeros, you tend to get your opinion swayed.

As a result of the supernatural event, did the SEEs in question make improbably accurate predictions that were subsequently confirmed or did they have improbably accurate knowledge of something that they could not have known?

I'm just curious as to what types of things convinced you.

I've always wanted to be convinced. If I can be accused of any kind of confirmation bias in this area it would be a bias toward wanting to find evidence that reinforces the idea of an afterlife (with as much clarity and detail as possible). But I also am aware of the need to apply just as much critical thinking in this area as I have done with regard to Mormonism and the authority claims of its leaders. (I once also had a strong confirmation bias in favor of wanting to find evidence supporting Mormonism's claims.)

I'm talking about those of us who are not now and never have been SEEs and have not been intimately close with SEEs.

You may have a testimony of the SEEs you are intimately acquainted with. But for the rest of us, we're still stuck in a position of having to decide what to make of second-hand, third-hand, fourth-hand or even more distant information.

It’s a predicament, to be sure. It could have been dumb luck on my part to marry a psychic. I don’t recommend it because you can never get away with anything. But then I met “little Buddha”. Strange odds indeed. I come here to think, not to be believed. Much of what I write is unbelievable. I wouldn’t believe it. I call it as I understand it because I have an unhealthy obsession with reality.

Is it preaching if they are my original thoughts? Maybe. Mormonism leaves a lot of unanswered questions by its paradoxical nature. These questions are fair game for discussion.

Mormonism had my self esteem in the toilet. Those days are gone, minus the occasional LDS flashback. It feels good to ride the woo train, although I really do think about what I write. Flights of fancy are for guys like Joseph.

My wanting to believe in life after death (who wouldn’t?) does not make this a likely possibility. I’m open minded enough to hope there might be something but I am sceptical. I think it more likely that religious belief was invented by humans due to fear. Fear of death is a big one, understandably.
Well, if there is something, it will come as a nice surprise I guess? But trying to believe in something without evidence is too much mental gymnastics for me. I will die and there will be nothing. This is a shame but it won’t matter. I’ll be dead.

I spend a lot of time thinking about these sorts of things! Read tons of books on philosophy and thanatics and a little bit of theology, though I think theology does not have the answer for the most fundamental questions in life. I lean more toward study of ontology (basic nature of "being") and consciousness.

I.e. I think consciousness is a more important and basic (and fascinating) concept for analysis than "death" as such.

I think that when you have a concept or phenomenon of such fundamental seeming importance, and so many divergent and contradictory viewpoints about it, you have to wonder if maybe the question is not being put the right way or if the concept itself needs to be questioned.

I try to stick to what I "know" or conclude from personal experience, limited as it is, and philosophical concepts that I've studied and analyzed with a critical mind, as much as my brain can fathom.

I've learned from long experience to try not to dismiss other people's personal experiences (psychic, NDE, etc.), but I may dispute their interpretation of the experience.

Anyway, I guess I'm just trying to say that it's important to lay the groundwork for discussion about concepts like death, god, etc., define your terms, as a first step.

My basic understanding right now (which could change, who knows) is that "death" is just another concept, like "life," and that none of us that I know of has personal experience of it.

On the other hand, some Buddhists and mystics say that we "die" thousands of times a day and don't even realize it. I suspect that when "death" happens you're not aware of it, at the moment, so it is not part of your framework. Whatever comes out the other side doesn't remember the passage. (Unless you do, which I won't argue, but most people don't.)

xxMo0 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> On the other hand, some Buddhists and mystics say
> that we "die" thousands of times a day and don't
> even realize it. I suspect that when "death"
> happens you're not aware of it, at the moment, so
> it is not part of your framework. Whatever comes
> out the other side doesn't remember the passage.
> (Unless you do, which I won't argue, but most
> people don't.)


Along those lines, what if the physical body is constant during its lifespan, but is essentially a time-share for various different souls to visit and experience. The brain holds the memory of what the body has experienced. When each soul checks in for a day, a week, a year or some other prescribed time, the brains memories are all it knows during the visit. When it checks out of the time-share hotel, it goes back to its own life. The next soul checks in and due to the intensity of the experience is so distracted from its original soul life that it too "feels" like it is the body and the brain memories are all its memories and that it has been in the body the whole time? What if?

sure why not