If you are afraid of non-existence, why is this so?

a belief in one sure does take the edge off death. I'll assert that a soul is something real, that it is physical but is currently unquantifiable.

it does

but my thinking is not about or based on " belief " though



agreed

fair enough, if the word belief is counter intiutive to ones sensibilities then consider exchanging it for 'having knowledge of such things'.

fair enough

...the belief is either wrong or misunderstood.

do you mean the belief of having a soul takes the edge off death is wrong or misunderstoond or the word belief itself?

Well, this was pretty much the usual suspects. I was gratified to see Questioner's honesty, but it seems that otherwise only the people who don't fear non-existence showed up. North, however, while not answering the titular question seems convinced that there will be an "afterlife." However, North doesn't explain that.

Naw, i ain't askeert. No profound philosophical reasons, it just doesn't bother me.

I mean that if any belief offends your sensibilities that belief is either misunderstood by you or it is just wrong. A third possibility might be that your sensibilities are not well adjusted. Everyone has to believe something, because there are some things that just cannot be known. I would say a good belief is one that doesn't insult your intelligence.

To know something that is true never does.

Hi,
suppose there is this best party of the world going and you only you are not allowed to go to it ever. how would you feel ? i agree to some points on this post that we will have no sensations no feelings nothing, after we die. But right now i do have feelings, sensation and thats why i fear the non-existence. Although i totally believe in existence after death. Death is not seize to exist, death is transformation and to escape time.

I surmise that u ASSUME that u did not exist
b4 your human body existed; that is questionable.





David

Siglawoo, I understand your postion: we all use BELIEF (and because we can't prove those beliefs that pertain to afterlife we rest those beliefs on what we call FAITH). Note that regarding our afterlife, OmSigDavid has faith that he says is based on experience that we do not die. My equally irrational (but I also insist true) claim is that we (our bodies) die but there is no one (ego-self) who will die. In a sense my body is born, but not a self.
It seems to me that whatever the case (i.e., the ultimate condition we face when we die) it will happen as it will no matter what we believe. We can, like Setanta, simply have no belief and not suffer any afterlife consequences for that "detachment". I too try to have no doctrine, no philosophy--but it IS fun to speculate--but my practice of meditation gives me strong subjective indication that there is no self to suffer or benefit, regardless of what I choose to believe. So we might as well choose what makes us most comfortable. I believe this is more or less the position taken by the philosopher-psychologist William James (The Will to Believe). Not sure.

I am not scared of not being. I think most people are more scared of the unknown. No way to know until you have been there.

And there is the rumor about there being a hell....hell can be interpreted in different ways. The literal way - which is a lake of fire - ouch forever. And then there is the idea of being seperated from the "Creator". If you believe in God - one that created the universe and all therein, then being seperated from him and his creation would be hell in and of itself.

If one could just be SURE there was nothingness after death....

I guess that is where faith steps in. Faith in whatever it is you believe to be true.

Mismi, as I recall in Dante's Inferno the lowest (most extreme) level of Hell is symbolized by ice, not fire. The ice stands for the coldness of one's distance from the warmth of the love of God.

this is where my occasional anxiety comes into play

I don't like not knowing. If I knew forabsolutelydanglutely that there was nothing or something I think I'd feel more at ease with it.

I hate not knowing.

I think that expresses my own feelings pretty succinctly.
But, of course, the flip-side is that now there's the curiosity factor.

That is so post-modern to end your post by claiming that you are not sure. A sign of the times perhaps?

I think people confuse concepts with the reality of the matter. The 'truth' of what happens in death is in no way a reflection of the concepts we have of death or an afterlife while we are alive. JL said that it fun to speculate and I would agree to a certain point. Being comforted by plausible notions is one thing, being deluded into thinking fanciful narratives is another.

People create their images of hell based on what they most fear in this life. Our image of a fiery hell ('hot as hell' is a common expression) is based mostly on the image presented in the Bible. That book was written by people living in a very hot climate where nothing seemed worse than perpetual heat. In Norse mythology, on the other hand, the afterlife for transgressors was seen as a place of ice and extreme cold. If you lived in Lappland, you'd understand why. I suspect that Dante's view was influenced by the myths brought with them by the Goths and others who had overthrown the Roman Empire and taken over as rulers in Italy.

Not knowing certainly sucks.

I just have to trust my instincts. They usually steer me right. ((Beth)) No sense in worrying otherwise. Waste of valuable energy. I am much too tired to waste any extra energy on things I cannot control.