So, what would change in your lives if you just gave up thinking about the afterlife? You just didn't worry about it: whether there is one, what we'd look like, whether we'd have bodies or not, whether Hitler and serial murders would show up in heaven with us, or whether we all just become one with the universe.
What's at stake here? I'd say that our beliefs inform our burial practices, but let's set that aside for now. What, if anything, would change in your daily lives? How you live your lives?
ReplyDeleteI beleive that if people were to forget about the after life they would stop fearing death. Since death is a part of nature you cant avoid it. The fear of death is a problem we fabricate ourselves. If you forget about death all together you would enjoy life more. People kill, steal and do other negative things based on fear. People steal bc they fear poverty/hunger. And people commit suicide because they fear the painful path to death or just by lifes end result. Even if we just change our perspective on death we could solve our own problems.
People will focus on doing good on earth, because of the rewards in this life, rather than the fear of a less-than-mediocre afterlife.
I love this answer because I agree. Without death, life becomes the focus of our actions and the world would most likely be a better place to live. Fear is the most elegant weapon and death is its source. To live without fear is to truly live fully. I think that brave people really live like that. I can only aspire to live without fear.
DeleteI agree with Rob in the respect that not having a constant focus on death would lead to a more full life. The place in which I disagree is that I don;t think that we should out-and-out deny death and the fear we have. The fear of death is instinctual and people are absolutely incapapble of ridding it from themselves completely. Nobody wants to die and though some may not refer to how they feel about death as "fear" persay, bu there is always some aprehension of it. Why, if we have the capability to not fear death, do people do things in avoidance of death? Because people don't want to die and the uncertainty (maybe not so much the actual act of dying) scares them.
DeleteI agree with Rob. I also think that if people were to give up thinking about the afterlife then they would stop fearing death. However, if people lived their lives without thinking about an afterlife, I don't think they would live their lives to the fullest. Everyone knows that one day we are all going to die and go "somewhere", which is why we all try to live a good life now so that we can continue a good life after we die. If we were to forget about the afterlife then I don't think we would be as likely to live a "good" life because there would be no reason behind it.
ReplyDeleteI know for me it is hard to give up thinking about the afterlife and what would possibly change in my life if I didn't think about the afterlife. The only thing that comes to mind is that I don't think I would be living life to the fullest like I am now (and unfortunately I had to learn the hard way that living life to the fullest everyday is very important).
I can honestly say I would not change a thing. If I feared the afterlife, I certainly would not choose a profession that death is closely a part of. I do not think that people are motivated to commit suicide or do bad things to others because they fear certain aspects of death. I believe they are too afraid of living and pains that can come with life, and as a result they take the easy way out. Society today has a weaker work ethic than in the past and it affects the way people think about living. I believe people look for the way out, do not want to work hard and live life to fullest, and eventually take their life or engage in life threatening situations (a.k.a violence and drugs).
ReplyDeleteI would like to think people do good things because it makes people happy and it is the right thing to do, but sadly it is not the world we live in today. Without the thought of an afterlife, I do not know if everyone who does good things would keep doing so. I do believe people are inherently good, but without an incentive the number of people would certainly drop. This reminds me of the saying "do the right thing even if no one is looking," having integrity. I agree with the comments above that people would not live the right way because there would be no end reward.
I really like your comment about people doing bad things not because they fear the end result, but because they want to take the easy way out. I agree completely on people having less work ethic today compared to the past as well. It always seems like our parents brag about how hard their lives were and we have it so easy. I do think that people are spoiled today and don't know what it means to work hard anymore because some (keyword being some) people have been raised knowing if they complain, cheat, or steal (along with several others) nothing is really going to happen. Thus always taking the easy way out. That is an interesting perspective and I think you are exactly right. Also towards the end I like how you used the word "integrity" because integrity is one of my biggest values I cherish in people. I would hope that all people could have integrity in everything they do, but unfortunately that would be an unreal expectation. Combine this with the thought of death or lack their of and it only gets worse.
DeleteI really like Jeramie's answer. I agree, I would love it if people always did good things because they care about other people and because they know it is the right thing to do. Maybe I am wrong, but in today's society it seems like people do good things sometimes because they think they will get into heaven. Now, doing good things does not necessarily exclusively deal with Christianity or religion in general. However, in my church I have always been taught that doing good things is not what gets you into heaven, but it is your relationship with God and accepting Jesus as your Savior, etc. I kind of feel like that clarification would not have to be made if some people did not believe that they would get into heaven, or some other sort of positive afterlife, unless they were under the impression that if they did good things that they would be rewarded due to that factor ONLY.
ReplyDeleteSo, anyway, I feel like I am getting off-topic.
If I were to forget about the afterlife, I feel like some things in my life would change, while others would stay the same. I would like to think that I would still try to live my life to the fullest and always try to do the right thing. However, I feel like I would not be as hopeful of a person if I did not think about the afterlife. The afterlife, to me, is the Christian view of heaven. It is something to look forward to. If I had nothing to look forward to, I feel like I could not avoid feeling hopeless and scared and confused about death.
I don't live my life in relation to whether there is an afterlife or not. I also don't live in fear of death as it relates to me but as it relates to who will take care of my family and how it would affect them. I try to live as a good person and do good things in my life because the alternative is evil and it is unbecoming and wrong as I know it. I believe that God gave me the ability to be a good and faithful person and I try to live up to that on a daily basis. If I succeed then if there is an afterlife, hopefully I will be rewarded. With no one truly knowing then the best I can do is be the best I can be.
ReplyDeleteWhat if we lived as if every day was borrowed time? Borrowed back from God, if you have such a framework, or perhaps just from Fate. Would that framework make you approach life differently?
ReplyDeleteI look at life as being the only life a person gets. So with that said, I live my life like I am not going to get another. I can still wonder what happens after death, however I try to not let it depress me since there is no way to find out until I actually die. Regardless of what happens after death try to enjoy my life the best I can. Just in case there is nothing after death I want to live my life that I do have to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteBefore this class, I did not think much about an after life. My family has never been extremely religious, and I think that might be why I hadn't really thought about it. Like Mary Kay said, I also try to live as a good person because I know what is right from wrong and what is moral and unmoral. I do not live this way because I have considered what will happen to me after I die. I live the way I do because I just believe that the way you act reflects to others who you are as a person. There is no reason for me to behave inappropriately so what would be my motivation to do so? I could end up in prison or have other bad consequences by making poor choices. Having a religion or some other purpose that makes you believe in an afterlife could definitely motivate people to live a certain way, but for others, living as a moral human being is a personal goal in itself. It's kind of being good for the sake of being good. If there ends up being some kind of afterlife then there won't be anything to worry about if you have been a good person anyway.
ReplyDeleteI honestly would like to say that I hope I would live my life no differently than I do now. I agree with Jeremie in that I do not walk around thinking about when I am going to die, but I have thought about death before. It would change peoples views on religios beliefs and practices for many people. In a way I think that it would be nice not to have to worry about what would happen after you died, but it also reassures ones faith. The after life gives us something to look forward to after this life on Earth.
ReplyDeleteI think if we look at it from the stand point of living on borrowed time, then we are hopefully motivated to make the most of that time. That being said, I look around at my life today and see a lot of time spent on meaningless things. Why do we kill time by watching so many movies, or playing video games when there is only a finite amount of time one has on this earth? I think people have the noblest intentions, but that does not necessarily relate to practice. I think that if people learned that they were living on borrowed time, they would start strong but then most likely go back to the routine of their old existence, much like a New Year's resolution.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Andy. I think I would take it further to say that this "living on borrowed time" is realizing that we will all die (whether or not that feeling is fear) and we must all then make the most of our time. The problem with this "New Year's resolution" idea is that most New Year's resolution only last a few days to maybe a month.
DeleteThe best part about these questions is that some facets of the answers are empirical! I set off on a Google quest to see compare secular lifestyles to those of religion. It turns out that religious groups are more likely to donate time and money than secular individuals.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hoover.org/publications/policy-review/article/6577
"Religious people are 25 percentage points more likely than secularists to donate money (91 percent to 66 percent) and 23 points more likely to volunteer time (67 percent to 44 percent)."
"Note that neither political ideology nor income is responsible for much of the charitable differences between secular and religious people. For example, religious liberals are 19 points more likely than secular liberals to give to charity"
It seems like an active belief in the afterlife has a measurable effect on generosity. Does this imply that the only reason we donate is the belief that we will get rewarded for it one day? Not necessarily. I would argue that this behavior is a result on a religious emphasis on charity and that religious groups are constantly reminding their followers to give their time in money to worthy causes. Religious groups do it for the betterment of society. Secular people want a better society as well, they are just not yet in the habit of doing so, and their isn't a uniform secular structure that encourages that sort of thing.
I don't believe I would change anything in my everyday life. I live in the here and now most of the time, not based on where I may end up. Yes, I do look at the future and make plans and wonder where I will be and what I will be doing, and I do look in the past and learn from any and all the mistakes I've made. But I still speed on the highways; I go parasailing and four wheeling, and many other activities that can increase the risk of death. I don't do it to be suicidal nor do I not do it because of the fear of death. I try to embrace life. Yes, there is school and work and other not so interesting things that must be done, but in the time in between, I try to do something fun. No one gets out of this world alive, so I embrace the life that I have currently and try not to fear of what could be.
ReplyDeleteI fully believe that I wouldn't change a thing in my life as Jess said embracing life is what we need to do... My aunt always told me we were given a blank book and it was our job to write in our chapters. It's our responsibility to make it a good read.
DeleteI don't think about the afterlife. I never really have. The afterlife holds nothing important to me. I don't live my life with regards to the afterlife. Therefore, living my life according to an afterlife would be silly. I don't do good things in hopes of a good afterlife, and I don't not do bad things for fear of a bad afterlife. I don't know what I would do if I was living on borrowed time. Who knows, I may already be living on borrowed time. I don't think I would change anything, but there is a chance that I would actually live differently.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that I would change anything about my everyday either. Upon thinking deeply about it, I suppose that the possibility of thinking about changing things about my everyday life still reamins - without a doubt. I, however, embrace the afterlife openly. In fact, one might even go so far as to say that I am excited to see what the afterlife consists of and what sort of form we take. Of course, I have no desire to leave our current world anytime soon. But overall, I would at least like to leave as a very memorable person and get my name out across the world if at all possible.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would change any aspect of my life in anyway except by making life a little more boring. I mean the thoughts of the afterlife and the possibilities are so intriguing and are very interesting to me. I mean I believe just cause there is no empirical evidence of there being an afterlife doesn't mean there isn't one. We didn't think there were planets similar to ours and we are recently finding some even though they maybe millennia's away we still have found some with the possibility of life on them. So maybe in years to come we will find evidence of there actually being an afterlife instead of relying upon our faith.
ReplyDeleteA few people have hit on this already but if the fear of whats next is eliminated then people can begin to focus more on living life. Too many people focus on the end instead of focusing on the hear and now.
ReplyDeleteOne question that comes up for me when I read this question is what happens to religion in this senario? Everything we know about the afterlife comes from religion, so if people started to not believe in the afterlife would that to people to lose faith in religion as well?