h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There are many different views on the afterlife, or lack of the afterlife.....What is your view and why do you believe that<?>

A bit young to be getting concerned about an after life, aren`t you?

Try this one for a while longer, you might even get to like it!

Thanks.....I'm trying!

I like to expand my horizons, and I like hearing other people's veiws....what is *your* view<?>

Pretty deep subject we`re entering here, but, since you ask..

I have never felt comfortable with the *Heaven and Hell* concept,ie do good and live forever, do evil and suffer eternal anguish. What is good and evil? Seems to me, it can be difficult to differentiate clearly. We can talk of standards of behaviour, but consider what is happening in the world today. Who is right and who is wrong?
It always depends on a viewpoint, which can be completely different, yet still valid.

This concept also requires some form of judgemental process, which in turn requires a judge.
Hence the many religions, all of which regard their "God" as being the only judge
The agnostic view, the "don`t know", is logically sound, but can`t really give any satisfaction, by definition.

I like to think of natural law and harmony, rather than a Supreme being. It`s natural for matter to be recycled, but whether a consciousness of self would survive a *Cosmic make-over*, I wouldn`t know.
It would be tragic, though, if lessons learned, and progress made throughout a lifetime were to be lost, and count for nothing.

An afterlife might well be a reality, but maybe in a form we cannot begin to imagine.

I`ll try to let you know

I've never really felt comfortable with the Heaven/ Hell veiw either. Far too judgemental for me. But I really can't feel to sure about rebirth either....

I think perhaps a life-death viewpoint is more of a function of where a person is in his or her life. Personally, I'm at a stage where I can't bear the thought that a particular person who has left me won't be around for me to go looking for when I die. Outside of that I care very little, adding only that there is no such place as hell because most fire-and-brimstone-religion inspired gods would have sent him there for the manner in which he died. In 50 years, however, when I have lost parents, perhaps children, and certainly many who were close to me, I imagine that my outlook will reflect my soul's core, which is one of happy, ironic resignation; less easily consumed by my passions and freer from fear..

Hello everybody!
Glad I stumbled across this one

Whether there is life after death can depend on how you see the human 'form' in life. This isn't clear I know, but I'll try to make it clearer!
What I mean is what makes up 'you'? For example, is there a body and a soul? Is there just a body, or perhaps most intriguingly [spelt wrong I know ] just a soul?

FwT

Just a soul.....How would that work....<?>

*is confused*

Is a body a soul and a soul a body<?> I can't think of how that works...

It's called Idealism by....I cant remember the guys name . I've just got to find my coursework essay to see what he actually said ..........

.......do you want me to take it straight from my essay: it might not make lots of sense

Give it your best shot...

OK...but you asked for it!

It may not make a lot of sense, because it might refer to other parts of the essay...

Idealism however, concerns itself with the mind, rejecting the body completely, and was supported by both Bishop Berkeley and Hegel. Berkeley agreed with Kant&#8217;s assertion that we cannot know whether bodies exist except when we perceive them. Therefore, it&#8217;s possible that only the mind exists, and the physical is merely in the mind. Minds perceive the world as a single, unified and whole because God co-ordinates the various perceptions that minds have. The major problems with this are that it reduces the whole of nature to one material entity- you, what about encounters with other people; are they merely imaginary friends? If everything is in the mind then how come it is not possible for me to imagine a tomato and for it to then appear beside me?
Hegel believed that we never experience the world directly through our senses, as the human mind acts as an intermediary imposing order on our experiences. We don&#8217;t know with any certainty the source of our experiences, and therefore, we can&#8217;t be certain of anything material.
Hegel took this a step further by suggesting that our minds are also not ultimately real. Instead, he suggested a rational soul of the universe, which he named the underlying &#8216;Absolute Spirit&#8217;. From this Spirit comes both our minds and material things, thus creating a unity in the universe, though it goes unnoticed in humanity.
Hegel supposes that historical events are the thought processes of the Spirit. Eventually, the Absolute Spirit will reach a satisfactory conclusion, as self and self-knowledge comes to pass. As history progresses, the rational meanings behind past events as harmony develops, it will become more apparent. At this time, the universe will cease to exist.
The major objection with the Absolute Spirit is that it again reduces the differences between people, aren&#8217;t we more than the rational spirit of the universe? How does a rational being create such irrationality such as emotion or rage? What happens after the Absolute Spirit reaches self-awareness and self-knowledge, shouldn&#8217;t this have happened after this realisation by Mr. Hegel?
Having said this, there seems to be some merit in Idealism, as it highlights the oneness of the universe. We are all made up of particles, so in this way everything does share a common bond. Could it be suggested that this is a metaphor for the oneness of the mental universe?
Berkeley misses one vital point about the Bible; it&#8217;s built upon the premise of the veracity of physical existence. Therefore, if this is false, doesn&#8217;t that mean that all the rules etc. contained within have any bearing on our unlife? Doesn&#8217;t that make morals extinct?
Yet, where does this leave the physical universe? Is it plausible that the world we inhabit is mere illusion; if so, why did our Collective Mind create it in the first place? Why do we go to the trouble of living this life in the first place?


It's a bit long!

I totally understand it....Spookily enough, it was something that I was wondering about a few years back....What is real and what isn't.

Glad to you get it! My essays aren't exactly for being user friendly: I have long complicated sentences and go off on strange tangents!

I do too....

Although, I haven't written that many

Lucky you!

Anyways, I think that in some ways, Idealism makes a lot of sense. But in others it's totally ludicrous, because if the material world doesn't exist, then all this energy, time and money [well money doesnt exist either!] is all wasted, and connections between people don't really exist either, because the only thing that reliably exists is the self..quite a lonely existence...

Very lonely....Still, I suppose it's something for someone to believe in..

And what about the material world not existing? All that effort taken with the material world is wasted

The material world is based mainly in fiction anyway

Explain