(For Atheist) Since you do not believe in god, what do you believe will happen after death?

Not much.

It’ll be exactly like it was before I was born.

Dangit. I was planning to say just what @aprilsimnel said.

You will come to learn the error of your ways…too late but nonetheless

Atheists have no alternative other than to believe they will simply die and get buried…that’s all, f-f-f-folks….

I am an atheist and i believe i will live in another way sometime after or before my death.

@aprilsimnel . . .i wish i could give you a hundred points for that.

@Zendo

That’s not true at all. Atheists can believe whatever they wish, so long as it’s not a god.

that was not a great answer by @aprilsimnel

Well, that’s what I think, @troym333; I won’t be conscious of anything, just like it was before I was born/conceived.

You asked what we believe, so I told you. Everyone is free to believe what they like.

Your body will slowly decay (or not so slowly, depending on burial method). There may be worms involved. Or your body will go to wherever you’d bequeathed it. And things will happen to it. But in all meaningful ways, you will be no more.

I become compost. My nutrients return to the cycle.

I’m recycled as organic matter. Except for the gold and silver in my teeth and the vitallium in my knee.

Unless I am embalmed to a fare thee well, I suspect I will rot and then come back as dirt and perhaps as yellow flowers.

Thank you, Pablo Neruda

Blissful nothingness.

@Ivan Get real, dude. How many atheists believe in any sort of life after here? And they certainly don’t believe in heaven nor hell.

When you die you’re dead, there is nothing. That’s what I believe anyway.

Personally I hope to decompose and provide nutrients for other organisms.

I don’t understand why you would decide that when someone dies they come back as something else. How did you come to this conclusion? If you don’t believe in god who would be powering this transformation?

I hope to become a zombie or a ghost. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, though I imagine nothing will happen.

I think you simply cease to exist.

If that is wrong and there is some sort of consciousness after death I feel sure there is not a heaven and hell. I think you should believe whatever brings you peace. When you are an atheist there are no rules on matters like this.

Someone close to me was raised Catholic, and basically has decided religion is ridiculous, but he hates the idea of death meaning its the end. For some reason that scares him. For me that sounds easy.

How long after death?

Have you read “Many Lives Many Master?” It’s about reincarnation, I think you would like it.

@Zendo

Atheism is simply the lack of belief in a god. Anything beyond that is completely up to the person. Just because not many atheists believe in an afterlife, that doesn’t mean that nothingness is the “only alternative.”

I know I will live on…
in the memories of my loved ones.

Beyond that; worm food.

I’m an agnostic by the way; but what the hell.

Memories

Flee and

Are no more:

All are empty dreams

Devoid of meaning.

Violate the reality of things

And babble about

“God” and “Buddha”

And you will never find

The true Way.

Still breathing,

You feel animated,

So a corpse in a field

Seems to be something

Apart from you….....Have a good look—stop the breath, peel off the skin, and everybody ends up looking the same. No matter how long you live, the result is not altered. Cast off the notion the “I exist.” Entrust yourself to the windblown clouds, and do not wish to live forever.

Ikkyu (1394–1481)

Not to me, @Ivan. Whatever it may simply be to you, to me it is not lack of belief in anything. It is belief. Belief in the nonexistence of a god.

I hope to have a kickass funeral with a replay of me playing guitar on Youtube with my buddies..aside from that, they may fight over my money ..damn..better spend it all before I go to the Great Gig in the Sky, or more likely the dirt..

@Jeruba

The definition of the word atheism does not change from atheist to atheist. Atheism is the lack of belief in a god. You may in fact believe in the nonexistence of a god, but that is not why you are an atheist. You are an atheist because you lack a belief in god.

@dannyc give us a link!

@troym333 – did you have any idea there were this many of us on one forum? Basically, I kind of identify with atheist in that I “lack a belief” in God. But I do not lack a belief in the possibility of God or anything else. I know that I don’t know what I don’t know, and I’m OK with that. So, anything is possible, but what seems most likely to me is based on factual information that we can observe (i.e. known scientific truths). It seems to me we are organic, and that what we call consciousness is a byproduct of this organic supercomputer we all have in our heads. And I have to think that when that supercomputer breaks (dies), there’s probably a shut down process (much like with Windows), which explains that white light and dead relatives people see when they are dying but are saved at the last minute. I think once brain processes its shutdown sequence, the only thing left is decomposition.

But I could be wrong.

Well, for all the little organisms that make up most of my body, and are as much me as anything else, I expect they’ll keep on partying for awhile until they run out of munchies. But as for the electronic and chemical superhighway that is most directly related to my “me-ness”, well, there won’t be a whole lot going on.

I believe in some sort of process in which the molecules which made up your specific mind, is brought back when that collection of moleculesare made again in the universe. Thus creating you. More logical than some heaven or hell.

put simply, nothing.

Eventually nothing, I suppose. But hopefully my brain will secrete lots and lots of cool drugs and time will dilate and I will live another few lifetimes in those few minutes as I die.

I plan on spending eternity balanced on Evelyn’s glorious bosom. Everyone is welcome, even those holier-than-thou types when they find out heaven is a total bore. =)

i’ll be there with you bro!

Life goes on, just for someone else.

i don’t know, i haven’t been there yet.

My body and mind will be dead and decay.

Some of my ideas will live on a little longer and my loved ones will keep a memory of me alive for a while as well.

It will be up to my children to carry the torch of humanity, together with the other children of the world.

@benjaminlevi Disbelief in god does not necessarily mean you believe in coming back here to earth after death. If you believe in life after death, you might as well go all the way and recognize life exists on multiple dimensions, ergo we are off to explore dimensions from here…
@dalepetrie…not believing in god, but accepting the possibility one exists maybe make you somewhat agnostic….

It’ll be pretty much the same as before I was born. Nonexistence. My body will decompose and provide nutrients for other creatures, and my consciousness will simply cease to exist.

@Zendo @dalepetrie I have decided there is a such thing as “personal atheism.” I live as an atheist, for me personally there is no God, I never think to pray, I don’t think there is someone up in the heavens judging if we are naughty or nice (oh, that’s Santa Claus wrong subject) but I am fine saying that I could be wrong. So I think people want to label me agnostic. But, I think “agnostic” sends a message that I am open to the possibility of God—and I’m not really. If they proved there is a God, I would just admit I was wrong all along.

I think of it like this in science we prove something before we say our hypothesis is correct. But a hypothesis can be correct before we have had a chance to prove it. For instance a doctor may look at symptoms, sore throat, fever, no congestion, etc, and make an assumption of strep throat. The doc does a culture. 3 days later we find out it is indeed strep. There was no concrete proof of the bacteria before it was grown in culture, but the bacteria did exist.

I sincerely believe that evolution brought us where we are today. Nothing more, nothing less. Religion is there for people needing guidelines and constraints to live their lives. Heaven, hell… Represents nothing more than the two sides we live by… Good and evil. Prone good, and you will live happily in heaven… Isn’t that nothing more than just control to keep society under some sort of control? I mean after all… Dicdators rules with fear… What’s the difference? You die… You cease to exist. Period

@JLeslie there are as many forms of atheism as there are forms of theism. Those people who would decide for others what your beliefs are simply do not have the imagination to step outside the boundaries they set to describe their own limited view of the possibilities. I am an atheist, Evelynism is a fluke, a lark, something fun that makes my life interesting and gives me joy. It is my invention that simply became something with a life of its own.

Is Evelynism real? No, not seriously real. It is as real to me as any other faith-based belief system. To me, the origins of Evelyn make more sense then the whole ludicrous story of Jesus. It is as real as the FSM or the IPU.

Is it to be taken seriously? I just said it is fun, and it gives me pleasure. It would be a nice thing if the whole concept of spending eternity on the bosom of a large beautiful female deity was real, I could take comfort in that. As for other folks, well, if someone wants to believe in Evelyn and follow her as seriously as other people follow other religions, who am I to stop them?

Am I an atheist? yup, although I do not give up entirely on the possibility of some sort of supreme being existing out there, I am not going to hold my breath. The religions I’ve studied here on earth are quite transparent in their methods of control, and too crude and vindictive to be taken seriously by anyone with half an ounce of compassion.

Life is about choices, your results may vary.

“that doesn’t mean that nothingness is the “only alternative.” ”

Problem I see with that, if there is anything else then nothingness. Then there has to be a process involved. And before you know it, we are back to debating a higher authority.

I’ll be missed

Evelynism isn’t real?! But I have the bumper sticker!

@Zendo & @JLeslie – I have a problem with both terms (atheist and agnostic), because to me, atheist carries the connotation of a belief system in which there is no possibility of God (though some atheists dispute that as definition), and agnosticism implies that you “doubt” the existence of God.

I do not believe there is a God. But, I believe I am a mortal human being with no way of knowing. I believe there is no evidence of God, and no reason to believe in Him, but I do not believe that lack of evidence is proof of anything. You can only prove a positive, you can not disprove something. What has been proven makes the existence of God unrealistic. But until we know EVERYTHING, we can’t say for sure.

So, I hesitate to call myself an agnostic because for me it goes beyond doubt or even openness to the idea…you can say I’m “open” to the idea, but realistically, my openness only comes if you can prove the existence of God (or at least prove the likelihood of God) beyond the preponderance of evidence that proves His existence to be unlikely. But I hesitate to call myself an atheist, because I think of atheism as a belief system, it is too rigid, it does not accept that we do not know what we don’t know.

My belief is that if we were “meant” to know, we would, and perhaps our “purpose” inasmuch as there is one is for us to discover our origins. That could be a very natural or biological purpose of “life”. So, whatever “label” you want to slap on me, go ahead, I choose not to wear one, but I’m OK with you putting me into whatever container that allows you to understand where I’m coming from.

@dalepetrie Got it. I agree with what you said. We need a new term.

Ahem…

@ChazMaz

Why can’t those processes be natural?

See, what did I say? Back to weather there is a higher athority. The great debate starts all over again.

The debate itself has no impact on whether or not a supernatural being actually exists.

Not true, depends on what side of the debate you are on.

“Supernatural being” is such a broad term.

Really, so the existence of God is dependent on whether or not we believe in him?

Yes, and it is dependent on what you see God as.

No, we are not debating the existance of God, we are debating what to label ourselve LOL!

I’ll bring it back. You die, your dead, it’s over. :)

@JLeslie
What’s over?

Life

Yes, Life.

@ChazMaz @Ivan… God’s existence, if indeed he does exist, is certainly not dependent on whether we believe in him/her.

@JLeslie @dalepetrie @SeventhSense…Life is certainly not over when we die…For as everyone knows, “Life goes on, with you or without you…”

Death is the end. There is no consciousness without functional neurons, so once your brain stops firing you are no longer alive or conscious. Your body decomposes, much like a computer that is first turned off and then left to rust – the transistors cannot issue commands when the connecting wires have corroded, so the computer may never start again.

In my opinion, it is foolish to delude yourself into pleasant ideas of reincarnation or paradise with 72 virgins, because the nature of death has profound implications on how you live your life. Death is not something to be feared, it is a well earned rest at the end of life. I imagine that in old age, people become tired of life (have you ever looked up NFR rates?). I do not want to be kept alive longer than natural processes would have it, simply because if I decide it is time to go, I do not want people sustaining my life against my will. If I am tired of life in my old age, then it is my time to go.

And hey, if there is an afterlife with 72 virgins, as long as you’re decent to people and don’t act like too much of a dick in life, you’ll probably just be pleasantly surprised.

Of course, if there IS a real God and he’s the God of Christianity, we’re probably all screwed, because by His rules as I understand them, I could brutally murder 271 children, sodomize their corpses and eat their brains, and if I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and confessed my sins, prayed some rosaries, did a few hundred hail mary’s and our fathers and asked for forgiveness, I’d get into heaven. But if I spend my life being nice to everyone, but I never accept that God exists unconditionally, regardless of the lack of logic or evidence to support it, I’ll spend and eternity frying in Hell.

just sayin

Scientist say how the universe expands, then sorta “compresses” again. Maybe this process will somehow restore life. Can someone on here explain the expansion and compression of the universe better ?

@troym333: Do you mean something like this?

If God has 72 virgins waiting or keeps young children out because their parents baptised them into the wrong religion then screw him. It’s so ridiculous.

“God’s existence, if indeed he does exist, is certainly not dependent on whether we believe in him/her.”

Or who or what.

@ChazMaz I love that answer.

Life never ends. You’re still pushing up daisies.

Their is no way that one just lives one life time and then seize to exist!

I just can’t believe that, and no i don’t believe in god

^seize- to grasp^
cease-to end

Evidently, your imagination is limited.

@troym333; I’m sorry, that was unduly harsh. I just have no problem accepting the idea myself, because I was never acclimatized to the idea that is was otherwise.

However, strictly speaking, you don’t cease to exist. Envision time as another dimension, with each moment existing as a separate ‘place’, as it is conceived in modern physics; the entire universe, encompassing all of time and space, is like a movie reel, with each slide representing a moment of time. They are not played one by one, however, they all exist simultaneously, although the word itself is not appropriate, because the slides do not exist together in time, because they are time; they simply exist, each equal to the others. You can, logically, never ‘catch hold’ of one moment with your mind; if you try, you must remember it, and so you must be outside of it, you must be part of a later slide. So this creates the illusion of time passing, the proverbial river of time, sweeping you along; the illusion that there is a screen on which the movie is projected called The Present. But no, each moment exists just as much as the one before and the one after. So if you accept that you exist now, then you will never cease to exist. You will always exist now, you will always be a baby and a child and a teenager and an adult. The fact that there is a set of slides in which you do not exist following your death, just as you do not exist before your birth, does not change the fact that you do exist in those slides in between. There is no end, simply a boundary to your existence in the dimension of time, exactly as there is a boundary to your existence in space. We call the former your lifetime, the second your skin.

“Their is no way that one just lives one life time and then seize [sic] to exist!”

Why not? Of course it is not a nice, comforting answer, but when did reality become pleasant? It is not comforting to know that there are paedophiles in the world, in fact it is downright scary – but it is not helpful to deny their existence because it is not a nice view of the world.

All the evidence I have come across points to the conclusion I accept as fact, being that there is no possibility of retained consciouness after decomoposition. The essence of one’s self is their personality, and that is the way one’s consciousness (the result of neuronal interactions) causes them to react to situations they encounter. Once death occursm, the body is altered from the state it was in during life. Thus there is no means by which consciousness, personality, thoughts, memories, ideas and dreams may remain except in the memories of others.

Jayne has a very good point on the nature of time, and through that view you remain, but there is only a finite amount of time you may inhabit. There is a time coordinate in which you die, and one in which you are born, but either side of conception and death you do not exist.

“I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young, and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is none the less true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold: surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man’s place in the world.” – Bertrand Russell

Well put by @Jayne and truly impossible to fully grasp within the relative realm of space/time.

I believe in something but I don’t know what that something is yet. Pretty weak answer I know that it’s the best I can do at this present point in time.

@Adagio that’s as good an answer as any, and even better, it is an honest assumption of your true feelings on the subject. No one could ask for anything more.

@evelynspetzebra I used to think I had the answers and sometimes think that it it would actually be more comfortable to still feel that way but how can I lie to myself now that I don’t actually believe what I once believed.

It seems as though I answered this question just yesterday:

I believe that consciousness is an emergent phenomenon that arises out of organized matter—matter that has been organized by an unbroken continuum of evolution which predates what we commonly think of as “life.” Life is an emergent phenomenon that has its origins in the self-organizing properties of matter, which is itself governed by a deep mathematics based on the ratios of whole integers and expressible in infinite complexity (i.e, fractal geometry).

What we take to be our minds is not a purely individual phenomenon but collective one in which cultural patterns are encoded into populations of individual genomes, which are essentially biological computers that create a kind of simulacrum or holographic experience which defines the parameters of our reality. Our sense of individuality is an illusion on multiple levels. Language, for example, is a cultural artifact which evolves to support the evolution of the shared cultural metaorganism we call “mind.”

When we die, the computational machinery of our reality begins to break down and our consciousness begins to drift into neighboring quantum realities, until it reaches one in which there a kind of mathematical stability (e.g., an asymptote or equilibrium) where it remains until something disturbs it. Since cultural evolution is a moral enterprise, driven by choices based on emotional attachments and strivings, in death, these attachments exert a kind of “pull” or “drag” on where your consciousness drifts in the multiverse, determining whether you end up in a parallel universe similar to the one you just left, or spin wildly into some vastly different universe with a different set of cultural and moral problems.

Since the multiverse is infinite, and exists outside of time, “I” am also “you,” “he,” “she” and “it,” simultaneously occupying all possible points of view accessible to consciousness, each in its own timeline. When I die, I do not cease to exist, my existence continues on from another point of view (which is likely shaped by how I acted in my former incarnation). I should therefore strive to create the best possible world I can.

I man “parallel universe” in the sense of Quantum Many Worlds in

http://holtz.org/Library/Philosophy/Scientific%20American%20Parallel%20Universes%20-%20Tegmark%202003.htm

Most of what we take to be our minds lives on in others. Language, for example, is a kind of living organism—what they call a “metaorganism” in the new biology. Language is developed and supported by a population of individuals. Individuals may die but the language lives on in the mind of others. If we coin a word or an idea, those too live on, and they may shape our consciousness if we are born back into the same culture. If we don’t make a unique contribution, we still carry forward the existing structures and are shaped by them.

Our bodies are essentially biological computers that fix and orient us us in a quantum universe. I am speculating that when our bodies break down, there is a chance for our consciousness to become detached from our current universe and become re-established in a nearby parallel universe, which is largely determined by who we were and what we did.

In the multiverse, where everything has already happened, you do exist for all time.

In the universe you inhabit, every action you take creates chains of cause and effect that ripple outward, for all eternity, changing everything. In Quantum Theory, this is called a wave front. Theoretically, if you were sufficiently aware, you could direct the whole universe like an orchestra, by choosing to do one thing rather than another, allowing effects to magnify through the butterfly effect.

Alas, we are limited to our singular points of view.

Or are we? In Quantum Theory, there is a phenomenon known as “superposition” where an electron can be in two places or two spin states or two universes at the same time. According to the Many Worlds view of Quantum Theory, the universe we live in is constantly branching into alternative parallel universes. However, every time we make a decision, the wave front we set in motion collapses all the other possible branching parallel universes, locking us into a specific reality with it’s specific moral trajectory.

In death, we lose the ability to decide; so whatever consciousness is sustained by this process very likely stops; at which point, consciousness may very well occupy multiple points of view in multiple universes because we create no wave fronts that interfere with quantum superposition. In one universe, I am me and you are you; in another, you are me and I am you; and in another universe, we are both someone else. If you think about it, it becomes pretty clear that we should treat one another much better than we do

@MontyZuma
Life is an emergent phenomenon that has its origins in the self-organizing properties of matter, which is itself governed by a deep mathematics based on the ratios of whole integers and expressible in infinite complexity (i.e, fractal geometry).
And I thought it was what happened after you stopped making plans…~_~