Atheism a death cult?

[Medensis]

That is correct. I dislike the idea that an afterlife is absolutely, 100% impossible. We really don't know what happens. We can't even give a percentage of possibility.

However, I think it is erroneous wishful thinking that leads to the imaginative idea of an afterlife. Given that, so far, we've discovered nothing that would lend credence to any sort thoughtful manifestation in an afterlife, I find it hard not to accept that there is nothing after death. Perhaps that is nihilistic but the inverse is Solipsism.

Pain, pleasure, cognition... they are all biological factors. Why would I feel pain in a hell, when it is purely positive feedback from your vessel suggesting something needs to be done to stop whatever is hurting? Pain is not bad. It's like an alarm clock. Sight, is biological, so we can assess and survive our environment better than someone without eyes.

All conceptions of an afterlife assume these factors.

When we die, we know that our body decomposes and our energy is either recycled by bacteria chemically or an addition to entropy.

No physical law or biological trait suggests that an afterlife exists. Surely a rough percentage could be calculated but I'll leave that to you.

[minorwork]

The heaven and hell destinations aren't too bad as concepts go except they're witheld from corroborating examination while alive. Who or what withholds the experience before death? I'm afraid to say. Or is it laziness?

[ruksak]

The heaven and hell destinations aren't too bad as concepts go except they're witheld from corroborating examination while alive. Who or what withholds the experience before death? I'm afraid to say. Or is it laziness?

I've never understood why Heaven is an idea you must subscribe to in life in order to reach it in death?

[Angry Citizen]

However, I think it is erroneous wishful thinking that leads to the imaginative idea of an afterlife. Given that, so far, we've discovered nothing that would lend credence to any sort thoughtful manifestation in an afterlife, I find it hard not to accept that there is nothing after death.

Has anyone ever truly died and been able to tell us definitively? Not really. The closest experiences we have are near-death experiences, which intrinsically implies an unfulfilled death experience - and all these NDE's are conflicting and inconsistent. So how can you say we've "discovered nothing" when no one has really been there to begin with? It's like saying America didn't exist prior to the migration of the Proto-Mongols along the Bering Sea landbridge - no one had yet explored it!

[ruksak]

Has anyone ever truly died and been able to tell us definitively? Not really. The closest experiences we have are near-death experiences, which intrinsically implies an unfulfilled death experience - and all these NDE's are conflicting and inconsistent. So how can you say we've "discovered nothing" when no one has really been there to begin with? It's like saying America didn't exist prior to the migration of the Proto-Mongols along the Bering Sea landbridge - no one had yet explored it!

Likewise, I refuse to plan for a trip to a place I do not know exists.

[crimethinker]

Has anyone ever truly died and been able to tell us definitively? Not really. The closest experiences we have are near-death experiences, which intrinsically implies an unfulfilled death experience - and all these NDE's are conflicting and inconsistent. So how can you say we've "discovered nothing" when no one has really been there to begin with? It's like saying America didn't exist prior to the migration of the Proto-Mongols along the Bering Sea landbridge - no one had yet explored it!

I died (literally - I wasn't near death), and I described what I experienced in this thread.

[ruksak]

I died (literally - I wasn't near death), and I described what I experienced in this thread.

Was the cause of your death an overdose of LSD? Chinese women and blue grizzly bears......you're a pretty fucked up individual.

[crimethinker]

Was the cause of your death an overdose of LSD? Chinese women and blue grizzly bears......you're a pretty fucked up individual.

Nope. I don't care to get into it, but I found the parapsychologist's (be wary) research interesting, as it matched my own experience. Anecdotally, it gives me... I don't know, but it was different.

[xx_mortekai_xx]

Nope. I don't care to get into it, but I found the parapsychologist's (be wary) research interesting, as it matched my own experience. Anecdotally, it gives me... I don't know, but it was different.

how long were you dead?

[crimethinker]

how long were you dead?

I don't really have a clear memory of the times involved and I didn't care to ask, sorry. I'm a poor research subject. Perhaps the rest of these researched death-experiences were more controlled, like in God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian.

[Questatement]

I don't know that I'd say religion is a way of denying death, it's a way of dealing with the fear of death in a way that doesn't really deal with it. It simply dismisses the problem philosophically. Pretend death is meaningless and you don't have to handle the ramifications of it.

What are the ramifications of death and what do you suggest is the preferred way to 'handle' them?

[xx_mortekai_xx]

I don't really have a clear memory of the times involved and I didn't care to ask, sorry. I'm a poor research subject. Perhaps the rest of these researched death-experiences were more controlled, like in God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian.

unfortunately, you do make a very bad example, as the details matter quite a bit.

You claim you were dying. This must necessarily mean that your brain was dying. when one's brain dies, it begins to malfunction.

While I obviously dont have any more info on this, what you describe sounds more akin to the hallucinations of a malfunctioning brain than some kind of experience that was necessarily tied to death or any indication of an afterlife.

We can induce malfunctions in the brain that do similar things, through various drugs.

because of this, without more information, i cannot accept your claim as anything more than a hallucination.