I could try explaining but I'll be here forever all I know is I have faith and have always believed we are here to give something to the world,as in our children etc.I believe we should all be aware that we are not the be all and end all of everything,the world is quite sick at the moment and that is down to us,as life goes on hopefully we will learn to be more compassionate and tolerant.

not really. I'm quite ambivalent about it. When it happens, it happens.

I don't believe in any form of afterlife or that we have a 'spirit'. I also know I didn't get any of my morals from the Bible, they're just drilled inside of it. Basically whatever you'd describe a conscience as.

It would be nice to have faith but none of it is logical to me. And it's a very personal thing for people and if they have it nothing will change their minds.

Me too Turboman. Fearing death must be quite disabling.

Agree with the first part of your post. If a person wants to seek spiritual enlightenment Just quietly in your own space ask for it.I was taught by my Christian upbringing that life after death was a fact. I felt the God I was encouraged to "worship" had definitely at the very least a warped personality. I turned away from that as soon as I could and sought a real path FOR ME. We are all capable of finding that enlightenment FOR OURSELVES. What you personally need you will find.

I like to thing I believe in a after life but deep down I know it isn't real :(

i look at it two ways
one.
we are no different than the maggots and worms that slither on the earth. the only difference between humans is we think were better than any other creature and we have heaven and hell n they have nothing. but in reality there is nothing we are just destructive creatures who are born consume n die no god nothing born from germs.

or my own theory which i like is. we die and come back to re live the same life over and over without knowing it that's why we get de ja vue as we have already lived it before but each time its different. as sometimes we make different choices.
though i have seen ghosts and other things .therefore believe in them so there is something spirit wise out there that is for sure.
there is no god no devil. i think the god and devil is in all of us. thats why you get evil people they let the devil side rule. and you get really good people. most of us are both.
there is no hell or heaven. life can be hell for many ,
you would be one unlucky sob to have a life of hell die then go to hell lol yikes. no such thing.

Agree with most if your theory

I believe,not because I have been told to,I just FEEL it quite strongly.

same here kaz

No, there's probably no afterlife waiting for us out there. You live and then you die. That said, I'm not going to force that view on anyone and feel free to disagree.

I'm always astonished by peoples reactions when I tell them I'm very spiritual but don't believe in God. Western society generally is incredibly predisposed to this incredibly non spiritual, outward looking, patriarchal form of faith that is teeming with about as much wonder and joy as kneeling in a tax office. To me the mechanic of God is incredibly unnecessary to sustain a belief in there being something more. It's nice that so many people here understand that unlike a lot of people I have encountered in person.

The idea of God being female or there being both a male and female creator always applied way more to me also than God being this retarded daddy who always messes things up and knocks his children about. I don't think anything close to a man would be capable of making the more beautiful parts of our cosmos and existence.

I digress, anyway. Because my beliefs generally don't tend to involve God[s] although I'm not entirely closed to the concept. To be honest my beliefs were built on and shaped by love and [sigh] psychedelic drugs. The first time I took psilocybin mushrooms I came out of it refusing to believe it was some stupid, inane set of images and modes of madness constructed by a brain in the throes of complete chemical bastardization. The fact that a naturally occurring fungi did such powerful things to my mind that always had a revelatory, spiritual edge to them changed me and left me more open and compassionate.

That got me into researching DMT or Dimethyltryptamine. You can look it up on Google or YouTube. Most people seem to be exposed to it through Joe Rogan's stand up comedy nowadays which is fine because he gives a concise, entertaining read of it but if you really want to be amazed check out Dr. Rick Strassman's book or film on the subject entitled 'The Spirit Molecule'.

DMT is essentially a trace amine neurotransmitter which occurs in virtually all living matter. We know it occurs in trace amounts in humans but it was Strassman who put forward the concept that it is created in your pineal gland - a tiny endocrine gland center of your brain that Rene Descartes christened the third eye. Strassman believes DMT may play a role in dreaming and near death experience.

Consuming it as drug brings on an absurdly powerful out of body experience. Smoked in it's pure form it will bring about a ten minute trip to space where most users encounter highly complex geometric patterns made of various symbols and languages before encountering alien like beings who appear to be flowing with a tremendous amount of information. Taken as Ayahuasca - a brew form created with native shamanic technology - it drags the experience out of hours allowing for a more gradual, learned experience with it.

It's DMT that convinced me our brains might simply be mere receivers and opened me up to the idea of pure consciousness without physical limitations. Similar to the body as vessel theories in this thread. I'm very much convinced on the idea of the material world and the ego being highly complex constructs of a collective consciousness. I don't disregard them, mind you. I like individuality and I like PlayStations and nice looking coffee tables.

Right now the cosmos as a whole is my god. I believe in a meditative energy we can all tap into to realize fundamentally what we are. Lovely little balls of light who should show compassion to one another. To swim in humor and love. I don't know what will happen when we die. Given how open I am to all of this it may surprise you that I'm still not sold on reincarnation.

As for love? Well that's easy. Once I fell in love I refused to believe it was a highly complex, deep rooted chemical reaction in my brain. That it wasn't something that now 'grew' that I was conditioned to give strong emotional response to. Once I fell in love that was it.

Quite a change considering I was a shameless dabbler in left hand path LaVeyan Satanism. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Collect your T-Shirt on the way out the door.

I'm confused stu, did you decide that god didn't exist before or after you became a satanist? :)

Bazinga.

Either way, if there's any God at all, it's definitely not the religious one.

I would never go so far as to identify myself as a Satanist but I was interested in the LaVeyan philosophy [It's atheistic. They don't actually believe in Satan, more nick his imagery because he's a swell metaphor for the anti hero.]

My interest in that fell by the wayside when I got all spiritual. I never believed in God though. Even from a young age I can't remember ever professing or holding the view that God must exist.

You did though stu, you said you followed the left hand path as a satanist.
Now you say that satan was just used as an identifiable brand like the golden arches?...
You got all spiritual when you began to dabble in drugs?...
Cool man :)

I didn't say I followed it as a Satanist. I said I dabbled in it. Professed an interest in. Explored the inner workings of.

No I said it back then as well. Every LaVeyan Satanist will tell you they don't believe in Satan. That's called theistic Satanism and it is a different belief system altogether. LaVeyan Satanists are atheist. It's a pretty pragmatic might is right twist on humanism. They just wear silly costumes and have a system of theatrics that automatically and effortlessly convince idiots that they are honest-to-god devil worshipers.

That's some of it, yes. It also coincided with a time in my life when I was becoming more spiritual anyway, because of other stuff I have mentioned that you're not taking on board.

Because really you're only capable of a certain amount of baggage before you implode into some victimizing implosion of anti logic.

I don’t believe in any gods.

About the afterlife I don’t know, all of the stories about it conveniently can’t be proved until you die. So I’m pretty sceptical whenever someone claims they know with certainty what comes next.

On a more personal note, I would love to be wrong, it would be amazing to be met by my father and told about this fantastical eternity awaiting me. But I suspect it’s hopes like that where these religions fabricated their heavenly tales from, and maybe it’s not a bad thing, it gives comfort to millions or billions in this world.

If I was to guess, I would say after we die we will end up the same place as the plants, animals and bugs; we will cease to be. We will come to an end and be no more. So in a way nothingness.

*Resists urge to sing 'the circle of life'*
:)

I like your views, Stu.

I find that quite a depressing thought tbh. :hugesmile:

I'd prefer to come back and get the chance to live someone else's life (preferably rich) . :laugh:

Not that I believe money is the key to happiness or in anyway discontent with my own life. :whistle:

To be fair, on this topic there have been some really interesting and thought provoking ones to take on board and think about from the post made by everyone.

I am more with Ammi and kazanne on this issue myself,I agree a 'feeling' is a good way to be more open on the subject as they are.
I have, from just having 'feelings', been shown to be right as to them so many times in my life on a lot of other issues that it is feelings I get and hold that mark out the paths I eventually take a lot of the time now.

Smeagol, I really was interested in your post above, I have for instance done things or been somewhere and felt I had done it or been there before but knew for certain I hadn't.

Stu though,I found your post really fascinating to read,your post in itself is a really good talking point on the subject.Really interesting.

One thing is for sure, this thread shows it is far from being a boring subject.

When I said everyone fears death, I didn't mean to imply that I spend my whole life worrying about it. What does scare me slightly is the thought of a long, lingering death, of losing control of my body while my brain stays active or of suffering a hugely painful death. And of course, the pain that is caused to those who love you when you die.

Post of the thread.

Where's my teeshirt?