When History repeats itself for the Nth time

Forums: Philosophy
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Like any other human, I fear death. Many think it enough to have fame for a period of time after death. But like other things, time chips away that fame eventually and once surely immortal, a human fades away. I want to live forever–not just by story, for once dead, you cannot experience life–consciously think the way you do now–and that truly is life.

Time is an interesting concept. It seems logical to me that it will never cease atleast in this universe, and will continue on forevermore. If time is infinite, the chances that one event will happen twice are infinitely good. Because of this, after this world ends, history will again repeat itself and the earth and solar system as we know it will appear the same as they do now–eventually.

If my genetic material defines consciousness, then I will surely live again. Consciousness is more than genetic material–it is also the experiences that we have lived through, for a clone of myself would not be me. Farfetched as the proposal is, if we find a way to preserve memory through the infinite generations of our universe, we will in essence live forever. If we can pass on memory to those beings with the same genetic material, will we not revive our very own consciousness?

Surely, we cannot jump trillions of years and hope to preserve our memory at this point. Simply start with recreating memory within this generation of the universe–in our world at this time, and we will have a hope of living forever.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 3 • Views: 783 • Replies: 14

No top replies

@abacusvolute,

Quote:

I fear death.

"I" dies every night during dreamless sleep, and the "I" in your dreams is a stranger.

Think about it ! Smile

0 Replies

@abacusvolute,

I do not fear death. Dying is another matter though... That is why I believe it is so important to seek to expand understanding, to have spiritual growth as a balance to the inevitable decay of our physical bodies. In the end, what good is understanding if it cannot be a "defense" against fear?

1 Reply

@abacusvolute,

interesting, i fear the interminable dreariness of day to day life way more than i fear death, i don't want to check out before my time, but i also don't want to overstay my welcome

0 Replies

@Cyracuz,

You underrate the power of the physical body to influence your thinking.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

That's right, I do. Experience hit me with that recently. But it doesn't change my belief that expanding my understanding can help me be happier as my body starts aging and failing.

1 Reply

@Cyracuz,

I agree with that part--i would just caution you that prolonged pain or debility can eventually so impinge on your "philosophy" (in the sense of seeing your world in terms of a complacent resignation to its vicisitudes), as to neutralize it. I don't know that i personally would bear up under prolonged suffering.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Agreed. But then I think experience with philosophical thinking may benefit us, not for what we have thought so far, but for teaching us the habit.

0 Replies

@abacusvolute,

Abacusvolute,
interesting and genuine post.
I tend to think that much of our problems with the notion of mortality and immortality reflects the problem of our notion of the linear structure of time.
Do you feel that the problems you--and most people have--with the idea of our "after life" situation will be significantly different from our "before birth" situation? They don't seem different to me. "Before birth" began with an eternally infinite non-beginning, and our "after life" situation (whatever it may be) will end with an eternally infinite non-ending. As "I" recall (consider Fresco's post?) my before birth situation was not a problem, so I have some grounds for assuming that my after life situation will be similar: non-problematical.
If time is not linear, if it doesn't go on forever and ever, perhaps the present is in some sense eternal. That is to say, every changing moment is timelessly eternal, but since it is constantly changing it is also impermanent--eternally impermanent, if you don't mind oxmorons.
The bottom line for me is that this problem is all in my mind--where, I suppose, everything else is

2 Replies

@JLNobody,

Every single moment is infinite. It has no end nor any beginning; a moment is a quantity without bound or end.

2 Replies

@Cyracuz,

Yes, infinite and impermanent--and boundless. That's what's in my head.

1 Reply

@JLNobody,

you're exactly right, the moment now was long ago, and it now is also ten years into the future from this point in time. Only ten years in the future will you see the truth in that statement, and long ago t was also true.

0 Replies

@JLNobody,

Your head is a wonderful thing Wink

0 Replies

@Cyracuz,

...if you are headed in that direction you might just as well take the quantity out of it once and for all...any quantity in your book is infinite, which only amounts to say its unquantifiable...see, words are a dangerous trade my friend... Wink

1 Reply

@Fil Albuquerque,

Now you're not making sense... Can you clarify?

0 Replies

When History repeats itself for the Nth time

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know