A Thought Train
Here's a question I started thinking about the other day: Would you rather go to hell after you die or experience absolute nothingness?
Initially, I thought I would rather go to hell (and here I guess we're assuming that hell is fiery pits of eternal pain). My logic was that even experiencing unbearable pain but still retaining identity and memory would be better than losing everything. But the more I think about it, the more I lean towards nothingness, because then I wouldn't care. By "experiencing" nothingness I would just suddenly be erased from any plane of existence, so I wouldn't be able to care. I wouldn't be able to do anything. And no matter how terrifying that sounds, once it would happen, I would no longer be conscious of how terrifying it is. Also, I feel like not being conscious of anything actually is better than being in unbearable pain forever, aware of how much you've lost and the fact that you'll never be able to get it back. So I guess I would rather have nothing. Like they say, ignorance is bliss.
I don't believe in an afterlife. I think, after death, it's just nothing. It's just absolute absence of everything for the rest of forever, which I think is one of the scariest things in the world. Forever is a very uncomfortable concept for me. I understand what it means, but I just don't have the mental capacity to imagine something expanding for an infinite amount of time or space, and to think that I'll be gone for an infinite amount of time after I die is really mind-boggling.
The idea of there being an afterlife is something I am just incapable of believing. To me, it seems ridiculous that there could be a place that everybody who has ever lived goes to to either eternally party or eternally suffer. Like, where would these places be? Are they in some sort of mental realm we each have within ourselves that are collectively shared with the rest of humanity? Are they in a very distant pocket of deep space? No option seems possible to me, but then I start wondering why some things are possible and others aren't. Everything in this universe is so weird, and the only reason we don't think it is is because we've spent our entire lives in it. And to think that all of this happened by chance! There just happened to be an explosion a while ago that suddenly made everything exist, as far as we know. But what was going on before the explosion?? What existed before all of this happened???
The most frustrating thing is that we're never going to know. I doubt any of us are going to live long enough for scientists to answer all of these questions, if they ever do at all.
Thinking about this reminds me of how lucky I am to have been born, but also how strange it is that I was. Why am I myself, why was my consciousness placed into this specific person born into this specific spot in America? I feel like it was completely random that I be me. I could have easily been born into a struggling family in Belarus, or a rich, elite one in Brazil, and I would never know. I could've not even been born in the present. I could have been born in the 17th century and died of tuberculosis. I could have been born at any point in time, and I was born now. Maybe it's just me, but that's just so strange.
But I'd better cut this off now before this gets too weird and my brain short circuits and shuts down for the rest of the day.
Initially, I thought I would rather go to hell (and here I guess we're assuming that hell is fiery pits of eternal pain). My logic was that even experiencing unbearable pain but still retaining identity and memory would be better than losing everything. But the more I think about it, the more I lean towards nothingness, because then I wouldn't care. By "experiencing" nothingness I would just suddenly be erased from any plane of existence, so I wouldn't be able to care. I wouldn't be able to do anything. And no matter how terrifying that sounds, once it would happen, I would no longer be conscious of how terrifying it is. Also, I feel like not being conscious of anything actually is better than being in unbearable pain forever, aware of how much you've lost and the fact that you'll never be able to get it back. So I guess I would rather have nothing. Like they say, ignorance is bliss.
I don't believe in an afterlife. I think, after death, it's just nothing. It's just absolute absence of everything for the rest of forever, which I think is one of the scariest things in the world. Forever is a very uncomfortable concept for me. I understand what it means, but I just don't have the mental capacity to imagine something expanding for an infinite amount of time or space, and to think that I'll be gone for an infinite amount of time after I die is really mind-boggling.
The idea of there being an afterlife is something I am just incapable of believing. To me, it seems ridiculous that there could be a place that everybody who has ever lived goes to to either eternally party or eternally suffer. Like, where would these places be? Are they in some sort of mental realm we each have within ourselves that are collectively shared with the rest of humanity? Are they in a very distant pocket of deep space? No option seems possible to me, but then I start wondering why some things are possible and others aren't. Everything in this universe is so weird, and the only reason we don't think it is is because we've spent our entire lives in it. And to think that all of this happened by chance! There just happened to be an explosion a while ago that suddenly made everything exist, as far as we know. But what was going on before the explosion?? What existed before all of this happened???
The most frustrating thing is that we're never going to know. I doubt any of us are going to live long enough for scientists to answer all of these questions, if they ever do at all.
Thinking about this reminds me of how lucky I am to have been born, but also how strange it is that I was. Why am I myself, why was my consciousness placed into this specific person born into this specific spot in America? I feel like it was completely random that I be me. I could have easily been born into a struggling family in Belarus, or a rich, elite one in Brazil, and I would never know. I could've not even been born in the present. I could have been born in the 17th century and died of tuberculosis. I could have been born at any point in time, and I was born now. Maybe it's just me, but that's just so strange.
But I'd better cut this off now before this gets too weird and my brain short circuits and shuts down for the rest of the day.
LOL this blog post reminds me of some thoughts I have when I'm really tired at night. Honestly, I'd rather experience nothing than go to Hell, because, like you said, it's just nothing and I wouldn't know about it. I'm skeptical of an afterlife, but it would be pretty cool. Guess I'll know in about 60 years ..
ReplyDeleteAs much as I enjoy your writing your perspective on this was not very comforting - even if there isn't an afterlife, I'd rather trick myself into believing there is rather than worry about living in complete darkness for eternity. You seem to be relatively calm about the topic. I try not to think about it. Sometimes I think I might come back to earth as a flamingo or something. Anyway I really like your writing style and this was fun to read.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that I'd rather there be nothing after death rather than eternally suffering. It makes the most sense to me that after we die our consciousness simply vanishes, and strangely enough I find the thought almost comforting. That's not to say I welcome death; I'm terrified by it. But it's more the ending of life that I fear. If I had a say in the matter, I'd like to experience life forever. Even when you're down in the dumps, life is... interesting, full of wonder. At the same time, a definite end to life makes it feel safer. Maybe not the best word choice, but it's the one that first popped into my head. If an eternity of nothingness is terrifying, think of all the possibilities of an eternal life. I'm happy to know that even if I royally screw up my life, at least one day it will be over. I don't want to be wallowing in all the mistakes I've made by the time the Sun comes to swallow us up.
ReplyDeleteI love thinking about this sort of thing. What happens after you die and if there is destiny? these questions are incredibly powerful and really make you question your whole existence. But I believe that after your body shuts down there isn't anything, there isn't darkness or hell but instead there is nothing because you can no longer take inputs. This could devolve into to very interesting conversation about the human soul but ill leave it for now. Great Post
ReplyDeleteI don't know how anyone who has read _Paradise Lost_ could lean toward choosing eternal torture over nothingness--Milton makes hell sound pretty unappealing, despite Satan's occasionally rousing rhetoric. But this post cuts deep when trying to fathom the alternative--we're really at the outer limits of what our consciousness can grasp. The eternity of hell is usually the hardest part for most people to wrap their heads around--not the torment but the literally *neverending* nature of it. But in many ways eternal nothingness is equally impossible to imagine.
ReplyDelete