Is There Life After Death? Or Is That the Wrong Question?

[jbg]

In the book Life After Death (link) Alan F. Segal explores the age-old question of whether there is an afterlife. The Random House description best explains the book (excerpts below):

A magisterial work of social history, Life After Death illuminates the many different ways ancient civilizations grappled with the question of what exactly happens to us after we die.

In a masterful exploration of how Western civilizations have defined the afterlife, Alan F. Segal weaves together biblical and literary scholarship, sociology, history, and philosophy. A renowned scholar, Segal examines the maps of the afterlife found in Western religious texts and reveals not only what various cultures believed but how their notions reflected their societies’ realities and ideals, and why those beliefs changed over time. He maintains that the afterlife is the mirror in which a society arranges its concept of the self. The composition process for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam begins in grief and ends in the victory of the self over death.

Arguing that in every religious tradition the afterlife represents the ultimate reward for the good, Segal combines historical and anthropological data with insights gleaned from religious and philosophical writings to explain the following mysteries: why the Egyptians insisted on an afterlife in heaven, while the body was embalmed in a tomb on earth; why the Babylonians viewed the dead as living in underground prisons; why the Hebrews remained silent about life after death during the period of the First Temple, yet embraced it in the Second Temple period (534 B.C.E. –70 C.E.); and why Christianity placed the afterlife in the center of its belief system.

To my mind the question of life after death is not the right question; the question is how much one made the earth a better place while on the planet. How much one helped other people. People do live through their impact on survivors, for good and for bad.

Thoughts?

[GostHacked]

Immortality through recognition?

I can't tell you what happens after this life, but I do agree with making a good impact on this life in general to make things better. There are many versions of the afterlife as there are versions of a supernatural being. Are we so obsessed with the afterlife we lose perceptive of the here and now?

That's a good philosophical question.

[Canuckistani]

To my mind the question of life after death is not the right question; the question is how much one made the earth a better place while on the planet. How much one helped other people. People do live through their impact on survivors, for good and for bad.

Thoughts?

Much better question, and can't help but stand you in good stead if there is an afterlife.

[jbg]

Immortality through recognition?

I can't tell you what happens after this life, but I do agree with making a good impact on this life in general to make things better. There are many versions of the afterlife as there are versions of a supernatural being. Are we so obsessed with the afterlife we lose perceptive of the here and now?

That's a good philosophical question.

To my mind the question of life after death is not the right question; the question is how much one made the earth a better place while on the planet. How much one helped other people. People do live through their impact on survivors, for good and for bad.

Much better question, and can't help but stand you in good stead if there is an afterlife.

I think the three of us are pretty much on the same page. The answer as to whether there is an afterlife is unknowable as is what transpires their if there is one. Ones impact on fellow people is in a very different posture. Edited May 6, 2013 by jbg

[Canuckistani]

I think Jesus (or the myth about him) was pretty much copacetic about that - do unto others and all, which he borrowed from Rabbi Hillel who wasn't the first to say it either. It's actually the basis of any sane religious ideology. JC was very mad with his followers, because the argued about who would get to sit on his right side in heaven. They just didn't get it, that they should worry about their actions in this life, and that heaven is within - ie a state of mind, not a place. I've got to say, the Christian idea of heaven just makes no sense - an eternity of bliss. If all you have is bliss, it won't seem like bliss, just boringly normal. You need suffering to set off the bliss so you can appreciate it. Heaven just sounds like a more medicated version of hell.

[TimG]

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions".

Do good intentions matter or is one judged by the consequences of ones actions?

Many people who do what most would call evil sincerely believe they are doing good.

Whether one makes the world a 'better place' is a purely subjective judgement.

[Guest]

Seems as good a theory as any...

[Moonlight Graham]

To my mind the question of life after death is not the right question; the question is how much one made the earth a better place while on the planet. How much one helped other people. People do live through their impact on survivors, for good and for bad.

Thoughts?

That doesn't really answer the question though.

Nobody really knows if there's life after death so no need to dwell on the question IMO. Since this is the case, we should concentrate on what you said above.

[Topaz]

One could say, there is for people who have children, because our DNA, goes on within them and if they have children it keeps going. So I guess, for those who don't have children , there is no life after death?

[bush_cheney2004]

One could say, there is for people who have children, because our DNA, goes on within them and if they have children it keeps going. So I guess, for those who don't have children , there is no life after death?

What if they don't have children, but they donated organs before/after death? What if they are cloned ? What if they are cyrogenically frozen and resurrected after 10,000 years ?

[Moonlight Graham]

One could say, there is for people who have children, because our DNA, goes on within them and if they have children it keeps going. So I guess, for those who don't have children , there is no life after death?

What if your corpse is eaten by flies/maggots/worms, or organs are donated after death. Life after death?

[Topaz]

Seems to me we have to define what "life " meaning is, in life after death? Its seems easier to do physically. is there any other way?

[bush_cheney2004]

Seems to me we have to define what "life " meaning is, in life after death? Its seems easier to do physically. is there any other way?

Yes...it is rather straightforward. Life after death, for all practical purposes, is identical to life before conception/birth.

[jbg]

One could say, there is for people who have children, because our DNA, goes on within them and if they have children it keeps going. So I guess, for those who don't have children , there is no life after death?

What about their good deeds if there are any?

[Muddy]

Is there life after death? I don`t know. Just a wee story though. I consider myself a Christian. Not a very good one though.

My Brother passed away and I was never so devestated at this loss. He was a very kind man and very faith driven individual. A few days after his buriel I came home from work and for some reason I started to talk about when my brother and I were growing up. I told my wife how he used to bring me big pennys,they were bigger than a quarter. You seldom see them anymore.I thought I was rich! My wife left the room and came back and said is this one? She handed me a big penny. It had appeared that day in the garden. She had worked that garden for twenty years. Yet this Penny appeared the day I was thinking about something I had not thought about since chilhood.

A message? Coincidence? It sure gave me a something to think about!

Mean while that penny gives me great comfort.

Maybe money does buy happyness! LOL

[August1991]

.... Life After Death...

As I saw once in graffiti, the better question is to ask maybe if there is "life before death"?

Y a-t-il une vie avant la mort ?

Edited May 8, 2013 by August1991

[Muddy]

As I saw once in graffiti, the better question is to ask maybe if there is "life before death"?

Y a-t-il une vie avant la mort ?

Thats an easy question.Yes! I was born poor and struggeled without much education. I married well above my station .Had a bunch of kids and Grand kids. Life has been wonderful! I relate to that old song ,She had kisses sweeter than wine! Stop ,look,listen ! life is sweet and especially so after your best before date. I am in no rush to find out about what or if comes next but I enjoy every day of my life!