How do you know there's life after death
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| Tue, 01-09-2007 - 10:47pm |
Well I have started a poll so everyone can answer.
I am always trying to seek proof of everything. I have occasionally "thought" that I have felt something spirtual but I always question it. I am a little uneasy about life and death. I find myself dwelling on it, and am very afraid to die. The whole concept of it terrifies me. I'm not sure if it's because it is just unknown, or if it will be something I have to do alone and cannot avoid. I just don't understand what the spirt is. I don't know how to picture it, what it looks like and how it exists. I wonder if it is similar to what we feel now. I often feel like I am exsisting inside a machine and running it. I can look at myself in a mirror, I can see the outside of my body, but I seem to be existing inside of it, controlling everything. Thinking deeply like that, then made me believe that I MUST have a soul. There must be something other than this life form. If there isn't, then I wouldn't feel sort-of "detached" from myself.
I am just learning about different religions now, I have never been baptised and the thought bothered me. I started to question life, then I was worried that I wouldn't get into heaven. So I started researching, I know that I have a long road ahead of me, but I'm off to a good start I think. I have so many questions. Of course, the famous what is the purpose of life? How long has God exsisted? Who created him? Where is the end of the universe? Why can't I speak to my dead loved ones? If there is a wonderful life after death, and God has a plan, why can't we know? Why won't God reassure me of his presence?
All that I know is that I want to do what I have been put here to do, and I want to live my life to the fullest. I'm sick of worrying about all these things and need to find some peace! I don't know how to exactly go about it, I know it will take a lot of reading and learning. If that is going to help my well-being, then I'm more than willing to do it!
I was just wondering if any of you can share with me some of your thoughts and experiences that have assured you that there is a God. Can you feel him? How do I know if I do have a soul? Is it just my human nature asking the questions, or is it my soul? I'm so confused everyone!
Thanks for listening!
Amy

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Amy, you sound a bit frantic for the answers.
Hi everyone, thank you for your reply!
I am not quite sure where this fear of death has come from. I do have an anxiety problem wtih panic attacks and perhaps this is a factor. I am haunted still by the sight of the death of some of my animals, and my boyfriends father's death. It really disturbs me. I have a hard time letting go as well. I guess I have the "seeing is believing" idea in my head?
I have read a few books so far, on life after death and near death experiences. I really enjoyed them and they put my mind a little more at ease. I suppose I do sound like I'm freaking out, but sometimes I do. I find it hard not to dwell on something I don't understand. I wish that I could find some comfort somewhere inside of me, but nothing has really reassured me.
It's almost as if I have to be told time and time again. I never went to church as a child and was taught nothing from my parents. I don't blame this on them because they wanted me to have a choice. Now I have to learn on my own.
Thanks
Amy
Amy, when I was really young, I went thru a lot of questioning and fears because i saw autopsies, death, illness. I didn't have a spiritual side, it made me stop believeing in God. I thought we were just a body. No one I knew talked about the things we talk about here. I have always been very analytical, to my detriment. I thought it was a sign of intelligence (:- ) Now I see answers coming when I am quiet and don't expect them. The brain goes on and on if we let it, almost like something betraying us. There are no answers to what we drive ourselves crazy about. We all have a different answer and then who is right? There are the people who say, there is a hell, a heaven etc etc do it this way, do it that way.
My journey started with a family ilness, I learned to pray, I learned to listen to the universe. How can you hear anything when your mind is a twirling dervish? As I psyc nurse, I can see more of the picture, seeing the anxiety, panic. Do you drink or use drugs to quell this? If so, I am getting at the spiritual teachings of AA. I say this because many of my patients do use something. Do you have a good therapist or counselor to help you sort some things out? were you abused? Stick around here, there is a lot of stability here that can help you.
We can share our experiences, ultimately, you will need your own to believe. An example, years ago I had a disagreement with my friend, Jim. A license plate drove by that said, " I love Jim" Our spirit guides have a sense of humor. They were with me. Read my post about the cochlear implant, do you think the work harmony keeps coming up for nothing?
I agree with Bink about Brian Weiss and meditaion, just sit still for 20 minutes each day.
Love, Leila
Just my thoughts at the moment... I don't know anything for certain.
Well thanks again everyone for your replies. You all have a very interesting point of view. I also learned that energy cannot be destroyed but have forgotten it all..LOL
Well I have another question, why do you think that God would continue the human race? Do you think that we are all here to learn to move to the next level of spirtuality? I read in a book that there were 8 levels - I think. It was a while ago. What worries me about changing into a spirt form is wheter I will still feel the same. I wonder if I will still be me. Will I be aware of myself? Will I be an individual?
Do you think that God has created only a number of souls, and they just keep learning and reincarnating? Or do you think that new souls are created all the time?
Before Jesus was on the cross and died for our sins, does that mean that all people before this time, that sinned, went to hell? If there isn't a hell, then why does it really matter if I sin? What is purguratory? *sp*?
Do any of you believe that you have a soul mate? If you do, then do you believe that that soulmate is with you eternally? Do you believe if you return to earth that this soul must return with you?
I am really interested in what everyone has to say.
Thanks!!!
Amy
The strictest scientists think of life as nothing more than, well, science. If you oversimplify to the extreme, "life" is basically defined as nothing more than carbon-based organisms that have the capacity to metabolize, grow, and reproduce. Energy is required for all of these processes - animals get energy from eating food, and plants get energy by using sunlight to synthesize its own food. Some evolve and prosper, others don't. End of story.
The earth and the universe are continually undergoing processes - weather, erosion, hydrology, geology, etc. - which don't appear to be driven by any visible force, but scientists explain it using laws about energy conversion, thermodynamics, and so on and so forth. The Law of Conservation states that energy is constant - the amount of energy in the universe today is the same as it was billions of years ago - it simply changes form. These changes have the ability to change matter, both physically and chemically. Scientists explain that living carbon-based organisms simply occurred as a result of one of these changes. A few random reactions took place, a molecule here bonded with a molecule there, and Voila! life was formed. Some of these living organisms evolved and developed complex brains, giving them the ability to think, use logic, and recognize danger in order to adapt to their environment.
Enter the Human Being - an organism made up of nothing but carbon and water, but carbon and water that is designed in such a remarkable manner as to make it capable of harnessing electro-magnetic energy which can be consciously guided in order to make that carbon and water-based vehicle move, think, and even generate more life. What an incredible product of random energetic activity, don't you think?
In this sense you can compare humans to nothing more than a computer: a computer needs energy in order to run, and it even expels that energy in the form of heat. It can be programmed to play a game, recognize problems, and even reproduce (viruses are specifically programmed to reproduce and spread). A computer can even be programmed to respond to touch and motion. Some programmers argue that a computer could even be programmed to make conscious decisions, by programming it to recognize patterns and experiences similar to those that a human would be exposed to during infant, childhood, and adult cognitive development.
The only downfall to this, of course - and the reason why I absolutely believe that we are more than just carbon, water, and electro-magnetic energy - is that a computer will NEVER, EVER be able to experience pain, fear, hunger, joy, desire, or love. You may be able to program it to recognize a sound, but a computer will never be able to tell you whether or not it found the sound pleasant. A computer will never beg you not to turn it off because it knows that without an energy source it cannot function. Again, you could program it to do so, but it will only do it because it is just that - programmed - not because it is experiencing genuine fear.
No, life is something much greater than the result of a simple random chemical reaction. We are sentient, self-aware beings that are nothing short of miraculous. I believe that that difference - concsiousness - is something that transcends all known physical energy forms, and I don't think that it can simply "change", nor do I think it can vanish. And I believe that the purpose of life is to LIVE LIFE. Whoever or whatever created us gave us an innate survival instinct, the ability to adapt and evolve, the ability to make choices, and the ability to tell the difference between pleasure and pain. Whoever or whatever created this beautiful world wanted someone to share it with.
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That was a very interesting response. I completely agree with you that you cannot make a computer have feelings. That is another thing that has lead me to the seach of the "soul".
I believe that the good feelings that we have, have to be the expression of the soul. There are many people that do believe in the science theory, but how could everything be so complex and fit together so perfectly by coincedence? How could our entire existence work together as a team merely by chance?
Amy
Well... at this point I'm seeing 'God' as a nonpersonal energy, something like Jung's collective unconscious but... bigger.
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