The end of existence, or your existence.

I wouldn't consider myself a thoughtful human being if I had not contemplated death, or a possible afterlife.

Pretty much the ultimate question, in some ways.

I have always wondered why even the truly religious break down and cry at funerals. If you really, honestly believed that they were going to heaven and you would be with them again wouldn't you be happy about it? I have heard the argument that the crying stems from missing them in this world, I have been to funerals, that is an entirely different kind of grief than someone just going away for awhile.

Because funerals are not for the dead, they're for the living. They are a self-pity mechanism...for the most part. That is not to say that genuine grief for the loss of say a child isn't appropriate.

If a child dies it is a tragedy in that he/she didn't get the opportunity to live out the wonders of childhood into their adult years.

Nice reply Kronos, I was going to throw something else out there but I am content to let your explanation stand, it is a nice answer to a question with no answer.

I once went to 3 funerals within a few months of each other - one was a mid-40ish woman, one was a 90 year old woman, and one was my mid-60ish hellraiser uncle. VERY different experiences;

The first woman's was extremely sad, she was still young and had SO much left to give, and was dearly loved by everyone in her large family.

The second woman was from the same family, and was equally loved, but there was a sense of "hey, she had a good, long life, and was happy with what she did"; it was sad, but almost celebratory of her life.

My uncle died fairly young, but as I put it before the service "he had 60 years, but he crammed about 120 years of livin' into them." I wept, but exactly for the reasons above - I loved my uncle, and I sure miss the guy.

Excellent post, Kronos. My post is intended to back up your assertions.

Oh, and as to the original question - beats me what happens after I kick the bucket; I know what I'd LIKE the afterlife to be, but that and the reality may not end up having much in common - especially if the staunch Christians are correct.

I think everyone ponders these questions. Another one that I often think about is...Why am I ME? Why is My conciousness in this body, why is it the product of my parents, and not two other people?

One of the many. . . joys. . . of grad school.

Oh I wouldn't trade my family for anything. There is no regret in these questions...just that...6 billion people in the world...and I end up being born in the usa (sorry couldn't resist). I feel extremely lucky to have been born where I was and to who I was.

But I wonder could I (meaning my consciousness. . .or in more spiritual terms my soul) have been born in a different body and still have been me? Or is this flesh sack an intergral part of who I am?

I don't know if this helps anyone but if some people are right about heaven is that your knowledge of things will expand greatly. Of course knowledge is a broad term to describe many things but it is anyone's guess what that knowledge will be except there will be no grief from it.

Yeah, but here's the real question on all our minds. Will our dogs and cats be there to great us?

"Knowledge without grief"? The very definition of knowledge is knowing every singular facets of a specific thing, idea, person, etc. For me to understand the cold ice, I must have a frame of reference on something that is hot. For me to understand joy, I must experience grief. I just feel that the idea of "knowledge without grief" is actually "limiting" your knowledge.

Again I am not one to understand the parimeters of heaven.

It is our incessant nature to obtain knowledge here on earth that sidelines us many times. If it doesn't make any sense to me know I cannot believe it.

If I took that thinking I could easily reject the Trinity seeing how can three be one and on be three all at the same time all in different forms?

How can I grasp there is literally no end to the universe? Or that God would send His only Son in flesh to redeem us should we chose Him?

There is a point where you comprehend yet do not fully understand and yet you remain content with that very thing.

Practically the working definition of Belief.

Well of course.

So hypothetical question then and not meant as any kind of jab but...

if you do not believe in anything as in the faith context does that then make you believe(heh) you can comprehend everything? You can have the ablity to figure everything out?

If everything pans out right, I hope to come away with a full working knowledge of the different cheeses of the world. On a similar note I hope my knowledge of the sex life of the old couple that live next door remains as small as possible.

I have finaly com up with a response to this thread.

billylove, One of my favorite songs deals with something like this question. I find it truer and truer every day. This song is somewhat of a sarcastic take on it but it works beautifully.
And believe it or not it is by a Punk Band: Bad Religon it is called Slumber

So, you're feeling unimportant,
cuz you've got nothing to say,
and your life is just a ramble,
no one understands you anyway...
(Four snare rim-shots)
well, I've got a piece of news, son,
that might make you change your mind,
your life is historically meaningful,
and spans a significant time...
(Four snare rim-shots)
slumber will come soon,
and you are helping put it to sleep,
side by side we do our share faithfully
assuring that slumber will come soon
(long drum fill)
well, now do you feel a little better?,
lift up your head and walk away,
knowing we're all in this together,
for such a short time anyway...
(Four snare rim-shots)
there is just no time to parade around sulking,
I would rather laugh than cry,
the rich, the poor, the strong, the weak,
we share this place together,
and we pitch in to help it die
we pitch in to help it die
(guitar solo)
I'm not good at giving morals,
and I don't fear the consequence,
if life makes you scared and bitter,
at least its not for very long.

Ah Bad Religion.

I have spent some time speaking to my girlfriend about not giving in toomuch to what they speak about.

But I'm busted up if that guy can't make the most complicated lyrics.

Quote by Bad Religion from one of their songs No Direction.

"No Bad religion song can make your life complete"

More...

"You'll get no direction from me."

And so at long last CTD and otis have stumbled upon a point of comlete agreement, and the world became a better place for all.

Graffin seems to have reined in his 10-cent words a little, though. You don't hear him use as many lines like "Oh Mother Mercy, can your loins bear fruit forever? Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?" nowadays.

Shit, you barely even need a dictionary to make it through their liner notes nowadays.

I know!

Is he slipping or what's going on?

I mean that i what separated him from the pack!

E - GADS!

Maybe I jumped the gun a bit, will give it some thought and may be back with a large bag of smack to talk, and quite possibly a rabid monkey throw your way.

Catcher's mitt is in hand.

That is what teaching college will do to you.

When I was ill and had a complicated surgery, I told myself and my husband that wasn't so afraid of dying because I realized I would really live forever. . .

When my mind and soul have left my body, my body will decompose, feeding the earth and it's creatures with my flesh. When the sun goes supernova, the Earth will be destroyed, and the ashes and remanants of the Earth will be scattered throughout the universe, thus some remanant of me in some form will continue to exist.

This might be true but like you said, you would just be some dirty ash floating around, doesn't sound fun at all. The only comfort I would take in this is the slight possibility that some otisdust would make its way into an alien eye while driving causing a massive interstellar pileup, the kind of crash they will show in alien driving schools to scare the kids.

Sounds reasonable enough to me!