Are we Alive?

[Don Corleone]

Funny question. I know. But you know, I have always had a stringent disavowal of the paranormal, other than the 'allowable' paranormal from my Roman Catholic upbringing.

Then, tonight, I watched a movie that got me thinking. If you're dead, wouldn't you know? Well, maybe no. There's a character like me in the movie... all sense and facts, except for religion, and there's no in-between. And what about dying in your sleep? How do "YOU" conciously know that you've died? I'm curious about this from all angles, all opinions welcome.

Do you think death is a moment of epiphany, for better or for worse? That an angel and a demon show up and throw dice over your and one takes you away? Or do you think it's more sublime than that... do you have to 'resolve' things before you go? Or is there anything? Is it a lightswitch being turned off? Maybe we live on, we think everything is as normal, yet everything changes around us, unknown to us. Again, back to the original question... Descartes proof of existence, "I think, therefore I am" doesn't exactly help you define what temporal state you believe you're in (or the one you actually are for that matter)...

Anybody else ever look around and ask "How do I know my mind's not more powerful than I give it credit for?"

[Seamus Fermanagh]

I am utterly certain that my mind is no more powerful than I credit it to be. Less than hoped for is actually a distinct possibility.

Don C, I think the answer to you question will only come upon discovery. Not sidestepping, just don't have a better answer.

[Divinus Arma]

I think I have an easy answer to this question.

Ever been black out drunk?

Remember how you have recollection of anything that took place, so it was like it never even happened?

That part of your brain was pretty much turned off for the night. Imagine when you don't even have that part of your brain.

That's death. No heaven. No hell. Just nothing at all. And that is the mercy of God.

[Don Corleone]

Aaah, but when you're black out drunk, things continue to happen around you. When you wake up, frequently you learn, like it or not, you were involved in the 'goings-on', though those moments will never be recalled. How do you know you just didn't 'switch modes' so to speak?

[Cowhead418]

I believe that after you die there is nothing. There is no God, no heaven, and no hell. You feel just like you felt a thousand years before you were born, which is absolutely nothing. You did not exist then and after you die you will cease to exist. I've tried to imagine what this is like but it is mentally impossible for me to think in this way. It is quite an unnerving thought.

[Samurai Waki]

Its not unnerving if you realize that before you were born the only thing you knew was nothing at all, and you were at peace because there was nothing to be discontented about.

[KukriKhan]

Kukri thinks (ha! then it must be wrong)

I am. Possibly, you are. I can't prove either posit. But I think, and feel that I am, and fervently hope that you are... because it (doesn't prove, but) provides comfort that maybe I am.

When I stop breathing, which seems to be what happens eventually to most other "I am's", then I am will not be. I don't know what happens after that. Smarter guys than I have proposed several scenarios, but they all seem to include losing the current "I am" to some bigger I am.

Seems kinda sad, 'cause I've gotten accustomed to being I am, and I usually (but not always) like I am.

So I can only conclude from all that, that what happens, and what I do, between sleep periods, matters somehow. And I probably shouldn't waste that time. Be well, do good, keep in touch. :)

[Big_John]

imo, the answer is that you can not know what the true nature of your perceptions are. descartes resolution to his meditation is a fallacy, imo. the 'great deciever' concept is a possiblity, and as such, one can not know what the relationship between perception and any objective reality is.

a type of epistemic faith is required; a person must at some level just believe that he is alive/awake/etc.

in order to get beyond this, i think we'd need some sort of metaphysical machinery (conceptual or otherwise). naturally, that's are hard to come by, and i haven't yet encountered a satisfying metaphysical solution. however, i haven't looked that hard.. it's not something i worry about much.



if you allow a soul to exist (i.e., a metaphysical seat of personal identity), there may be a simple solution, because death need not be an end to, nor necessarily a break in the stream of conscious experience.

[Quietus]

Funny question. I know. But you know, I have always had a stringent disavowal of the paranormal, other than the 'allowable' paranormal from my Roman Catholic upbringing.

Then, tonight, I watched a movie that got me thinking. If you're dead, wouldn't you know? Well, maybe no. There's a character like me in the movie... all sense and facts, except for religion, and there's no in-between. And what about dying in your sleep? How do "YOU" conciously know that you've died? I'm curious about this from all angles, all opinions welcome.

If you ask me, the same before you were "Alive". Does anyone know anything before they were "alive"? No. Hence, it will be the same as before.

Do you think death is a moment of epiphany, for better or for worse? That an angel and a demon show up and throw dice over your and one takes you away? Or do you think it's more sublime than that... do you have to 'resolve' things before you go? Or is there anything? Is it a lightswitch being turned off? Maybe we live on, we think everything is as normal, yet everything changes around us, unknown to us. Again, back to the original question... Descartes proof of existence, "I think, therefore I am" doesn't exactly help you define what temporal state you believe you're in (or the one you actually are for that matter)...

Death is my biggest fear, hence my screenname, Quietus (death). I'm glad I'm not alone being scared.

I've always wanted to put: Death is Forever under my screenname but I don't want to creep out other people and get them thinking about mortality as well.

Anybody else ever look around and ask "How do I know my mind's not more powerful than I give it credit for?"

Because the brain is physical and it is dependent on physical rules, hence it is fairly limited.

[Don Corleone]

If you ask me, the same before you were "Alive". Does anyone know anything before they were "alive"? No. Hence, it will be the same as before.

Aaah, but we take it for granted that things that happen while we are asleep actually happen, even those for which we have no empirical evidence. There are all sorts of states of suspended conciousness in which we do not assume ourselves to temporarily cease to exist. IMHO, awareness does not equate with existence.

And no, the movie wasn't Waking Life.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It was The Others. I saw the 'what' coming, I just couldn't see the 'how' until the very end. A very, very good movie.

You're on for that vodka, Ja'chyra. I'm not particularly obessed. I've pondered this question seriously at several points in my life and in the end, I've always taken the mentally lazy but satisfying result "Does it really matter if I'm 'truly' alive, or dead and stuck in a created existence, seems real enough and satisfying enough to me". Which, when you think you think about it, creates the same action... living to increase the joy and fulfillment one gets out of their own and others' existence.

[Quietus]

Aaah, but we take it for granted that things that happen while we are asleep actually happen, even those for which we have no empirical evidence. There are all sorts of states of suspended conciousness in which we do not assume ourselves to temporarily cease to exist.

Hmm, even while asleep, the person still lives, since "living" is linear, meaning there's a beginning and ending.

IMHO, awareness does not equate with existence.

Existence, or you mean "life"? A plant does not have a "brain" but it's still "living".

And no, the movie wasn't Waking Life.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It was The Others. I saw the 'what' coming, I just couldn't see the 'how' until the very end. A very, very good movie.

I see, I don't know Waking Life, but I've seen The Others. In that movie, there's a bridge between Natural and Supernatural. And the Supernatural beings behave like Natural beings

[Samurai Waki]

Pape Touche'...

[KafirChobee]

Was I a butterfly dreaming I was a man, or a man dreaming I was a butterfly?

So, I assume no one here has experienced a walk back? That is, that after someone they loved died ... that person came back to them in a dream (that seemed real as sh_t, like they were there in the room and you were fully awake). I have, and my conclusions is ... no there is no life after death (as we imagine it), but for a short time the dead have the energy to communicate (or atleast attempt to) with those they are either concerned about or love.

Since we all want to live forever (not me, but reincarnation would be neat ... though I ain't sure I would want to see what 2100 would be like), it is probable that those that created the religions that promote the belief of "eternity" had that in mind. Eh?

[A.Saturnus]

Few people remember much before they were 4. Are 4 year olds dead because their elder self cannot remember who they were?

Being alive is nothing special. Bacteria live too.

[Avicenna]

If you ask me, the same before you were "Alive". Does anyone know anything before they were "alive"? No. Hence, it will be the same as before.

Death is my biggest fear, hence my screenname, Quietus (death). I'm glad I'm not alone being scared.

I've always wanted to put: Death is Forever under my screenname but I don't want to creep out other people and get them thinking about mortality as well.

Because the brain is physical and it is dependent on physical rules, hence it is fairly limited.

Surely leaving the world and all it's misery, pain, suffering and bickering between nations would be the final release, maybe even something to celebrate.