Doesn't rebirth make more sense than nonexistence?

[darkwater]

Doesn't rebirth make more sense than nonexistence?
I live in an atheist country and everyone is convinced that there is only this one life. But still my consciousness has arisen from nothing(?). The infinity is ahead of us who can say that it will not happen again?

 

[BeansOfRequirement]

Memories are stored in the brain, game over.

 

[WornOutLife]

I've come to a point in which nothing makes sense anymore.

 

[ExhaustedExistence]

I think there is no sense of anything. Like why I should live if I die anyway. But even if we were immortal there wouldn't be any point. Life is just suffering in unknown.

 

[Fragile]

Reincarnation makes sense from a non-religious point of view.

We are made out of energy and matter, at some point after we are dead this will be used by other being and maybe we'll be conscious again, obviously without our memories and experiences, but I simply can't accept the eternal void/nonexistence theory, energy can't be created or destroyed, it simply changes and I believe that it's the same with life.

Still, it's completely impossible to know for sure.

 

[UseItOrLoseIt]

At the risk of sounding insensitive, I just can't understand how anyone doesn't get that consciousness comes from the body. Think about it. Consciousness doesn't just fly around the room. It's very localized. Do you really think it's a coincidence that the place where you feel it is exactly in your head? You know, where the brain is.

but​

 

[motel rooms]

Reincarnation makes sense from a non-religious point of view.

We are made out of energy and matter, at some point after we are dead this will be used by other being and maybe we'll be conscious again, obviously without our memories and experiences

Of course we will be used by other living beings as we decompose, but that's just recycling. Reincarnation is a religious concept closely linked with the belief in karma, it makes no sense from a non-religious point of view

 

[Life sucks]

Rebirth is just one of the ideas humans made to give themselves more value than it is. Humans are arrogant

 

[All Things Must Pass]

No, it does not.

 

[Fragile]

Of course we will be used by other living beings as we decompose, but that's just recycling. Reincarnation is a religious concept closely linked with the belief in karma, it makes no sense from a non-religious point of view

I'm just saying that the matter that once made our neurons will probably get recycled into the neurons of other being, therefore making it sentient once more. We still don't know how consciousness work exactly, is it linked to the matter or to the energy that the neurons use to communicate? It's still a philosophical question since there is no clear scientific answer.


Reincarnation is just an observation made by people thousands of years ago about the cycle of decay and life, maybe there is some truth to it in the fact that we'll get re-used and transformed into something else.

At the risk of sounding insensitive, I just can't understand how anyone doesn't get that consciousness comes from the body. Think about it. Consciousness doesn't just fly around the room. It's very localized. Do you really think it's a coincidence that the place where you feel it is exactly in your head? You know, where the brain is.

That doesn't really have anything to do with the thread, no one is arguing that the consciousness is in any other place other than the brain, but ok.

 

[motel rooms]

I'm just saying that the matter that once made our neurons will probably get recycled into the neurons of other being, therefore making it sentient once more.

Why would "our neurons probably get recycled into the neurons of another being"? That's not how decomposition of organic matter works... Decomposed neurons cease to be neurons...

 

[PlushieLover]

I think that every afterlife theory is just made to make you feel less scared of death. In the end we will never know if there is something else or if there is nothing afterlife. I wouldn't be worry about the non-existence, you won't even realize because well... You will be dead.

 

[Fragile]

Why would "our neurons probably get recycled into the neurons of another being"? That's not how decomposition of organic matter works... Decomposed neurons cease to be neurons...

I never said that it works that way, or failed to express myself, as usual.

then, maybe the proteins that once were our neurons will be eaten, digested, and then used to create new neurons in other beings once they finished the entire process.

 

[DeadButDreaming]

When there is a population decrease "souls" would have to cease anyway, because there would be no spare humans for them to inhabit.

 

[motel rooms]

then, maybe the proteins that once were our neurons will be eaten, digested, and then used to create new neurons in other beings once they finished the entire process.

That's a gigantic maybe... What was once somebody's neurons can get reused to become a part of just about anything. And, again, what we're talking about is just ordinary recycling, reincarnation is something else entirely.

 

[StarLight]

I find it to be a comforting thought since it would mean one bad life isn't all you get; there could be a chance for something better. Realistically though, even if reincarnation is real in some capacity it doesn't seem like it really matters since it's not like we (or at least the vast majority of people) remember anything before birth into our current lives. There is no sense of "I" that I can trace back to before my birth, so if some part of me goes in to live again it's not going to help me since I (or they) will have no memory of now.

But maybe there is some continuation of "I" that transcends death but then is forgotten upon rebirth and re remembered after death? Probably not. But my earliest memory that is oddly very clear in this life comes from long before I shoukd have had memories. I was a baby, not sure exactly how old, but I was laying in my crib and didn't have any language yet, so pretty young. I remember thinking very strongly about the realization of my existence (in feelings not words) essentially the equivalent of "oh god not this crap again". Emphasis on the again part. I remember feeling so strongly that I had done something like this before and didn't want any more. And when I was small I always had a strong feeling that I had come from somewhere that I couldn't quite put my finger on, and that I wanted to go back there.

 

[motel rooms]

But my earliest memory that is oddly very clear in this life comes from long before I shoukd have had memories. I was a baby, not sure exactly how old, but I was laying in my crib and didn't have any language yet, so pretty young. I remember thinking very strongly about the realization of my existence (in feelings not words) essentially the equivalent of "oh god not this crap again". Emphasis on the again part. I remember feeling so strongly that I had done something like this before and didn't want any more.

Sounds like you should've contacted the Dalai Lama

 

[UseItOrLoseIt]

That doesn't really have anything to do with the thread, no one is arguing that the consciousness is in any other place other than the brain, but ok.

Yes it does. It has everything to do with it. Once the body shuts down, so does your consciousness.

then, maybe the proteins that once were our neurons will be eaten, digested, and then used to create new neurons in other beings once they finished the entire process.

Then I guess I have the mind of a chicken cause I love to eat them so much.
Btw, now you're straying off topic.

 

[motel rooms]

Then I guess I have the mind of a chicken cause I love to eat them so much.

You were a cannibalistic chicken in your last life?

 

[UseItOrLoseIt]

You were a cannibalistic chicken in your last life?

No wonder I didn't reach enlightment with all that...fowl play.

 

[motel rooms]

No wonder I didn't reach enlightment with all that...fowl play.

I guess being a cannibal is good for your karma if you're a chicken - you were reborn as a human, a higher being, despite all your unspeakable chicken crimes

 

[Fragile]

That's a gigantic maybe... What was once somebody's neurons can get reused to become a part of just about anything. And, again, what we're talking about is just ordinary recycling, reincarnation is something else entirely.

Indeed, it's a gigantic maybe, none of this is possible to prove and I'm just theorizing. Might as well think about these concepts since I have nothing else to occupy my mind.

Btw, now you're straying off topic.

Oh, that's rich coming from the one who completely deviated this thread with jokes and passive aggressive gifs. I was just trying to clarify what I tried to say in a previous reply.

Whatever, yet another derailed thread, have fun I guess.

 

[UseItOrLoseIt]

Oh, that's rich coming from the one who completely deviated this thread with jokes and passive aggressive gifs. I was just trying to clarify what I tried to say in a previous reply.

Actually they were passive apologetic gifs. Didn't want to offend anybody, and humor tends to be a good way to soften the blow. Sorry anyway. My intentions weren't bad. I just don't believe in that sort of thing, as I've clearly implied. That's all.
P.s. The fact that I derailed (which I didn't) the thread should not stop you from getting back on track.

I guess being a cannibal is good for your karma if you're a chicken - you were reborn as a human, a higher being, despite all your unspeakable chicken crimes

Jeffrey Dahmer approves this message. This logic is just...

 

[Forgetting5]

To me it does, but I don't see it any different than just dying given you lose all of your memories of this life

 

[demuic]

I've never heard any scientific accounts of anyone being reborn, but we have plenty evidence of non-existence.

 

[death137]

I wouldn't say it makes more or less sense but 50/50. If the first thing to ever exist came out of absolute nothingness then I wouldn't be surprised if we (something) go to some kind of reality after we die (something). But nonexistence is also possible. I think the best you can do is be open minded to most if not all theories.

 

[FuneralCry]

I personally believe in non existence, that before we were born we existed in this empty void which we return to after we die. I guess if rebirth did happen, then you wont be you and at least you will take nothing from this life with you. We could just ctb in the next life as well.

 

[motel rooms]

You know what I'd like to learn? How do bacteria, sponges or fish improve their karma by doing good deeds? (so they can be reborn as humans & achieve enlightenment/nirvana)

 

[nex]

I don't see how it would make more sense tbh. What it looks like is: they're dead, they're gone. Now things aren't always what they look like, I get that. But there's no evidence whatsoever of rebirth, aside from people claiming to have been reborn without providing any evidence.

I believe it's a psychological thing, born of the unwillingness to accept both the end of a close person and the end of oneself. A beloved person who died "lives on in our minds" and it is comforting to think they somehow actually live on. It is also comforting to most that they don't just end when they die themselves.

Well yes, on a molecular basis decomposed parts of our brains might end up in a future person's brain, but why would that somehow make our personality/consciousness reappear in them? Also, it's impossible that all of our brain matter is recycled in just one other person's brain. It'd be just a few molecules randomly ending up in a few different people, and that would hardly cause our personality/consciousness to reappear.

The crux is that it implies that our consciousness is not created by the brain. That there's some sort of soul or essence or whatever to our personality/consciousness that is independent of the physical brain. If we're talking about rebirth, something has to be restored. But what is that something? Personality?

There are many accounts of people losing their previous personality after suffering brain damage. Loving, caring people suddenly become apathetic and almost sociopaths. This not only strongly supports the notion that our personality is a product of the physical brain -- if we're assuming that there's some sort of immortalised personality after death, it raises the question: which of these persons is preserved? The earlier or the later one?

 

[motel rooms]

There are many accounts of people losing their previous personality after suffering brain damage. Loving, caring people suddenly become apathetic and almost sociopaths. This not only strongly supports the notion that our personality is a product of the physical brain -- if we're assuming that there's some sort of immortalised personality after death, it raises the question: which of these persons is preserved? The earlier or the later one?

Both of them, of course. The same principle applies to people suffering from multiple personality disorder. There are gazillions of microorganisms they can be reborn as