Free Will and the Afterlife?

[Jelly]

This may seem ridiculous...

 

If there's an afterlife, will we have free will? And will we be able to use it?

We choose, from the moment we're born, what we do. Yes, we are restricted by what the body can do; when we're babies, we obviously cannot walk straight away. But, we can choose to move, say, an arm. As we progress throughout our life, we are able to make bigger choices, and some of us can influcence events. We are also restricted by rules/laws, though, if we chose to, we could break these.

So, when we die, if there is an afterlife; isn't there the chance that WE choose what happens to us? Or will we be limited in our choices, and be restricted by stronger forces?

Yes, I understand that this could conflict with many beliefs, but it's just an idea...

[Alys Kinch]

i rather like pratchett's philosophy.

 

then of course, there's the laws of matter. matter can neither be created nor destroyed. applied to spiritual form this would mean reincarnation, right?

[Thorum]

then of course, there's the laws of matter. matter can neither be created nor destroyed. applied to spiritual form this would mean reincarnation, right?

 

THis has been disproven by Einstein. matter can be created or destroyed (by converting it to/from energy)

[Alys Kinch]

i thought it was obvious that i was refering to the life engery since... well... spirit form would have to be energy.

[the dude]

i expect that after we die these concerns cease to be concerns.  like a sugar cube dissolving in coffee (mmmm, coffee....), the tangible whole that we once were is dispersed and diffused into the invisible suspension in which we swim every day. 

 

at that point, i don't think that most are in a position to even care what happens, since the self ceases to exist and becomes part of the intangible, um, well i never found a good word for it.  let's use ether.  i always liked that one.

 

once you join the ether, well, you're no longer yourself, and what your former self would have wanted stops being an issue, because that self no longer exists.

[Alys Kinch]

heck, i'm fine being turned to dirt.

[the dude]

dirt and ether, alys, dirt and ether.  :P

[Jelly]

I would prefer to stay whole... :D

[the dude]

heh, let me know how that one works out.  :P  ;)

[Alys Kinch]

*grins* what if i don't wanna be ether?! i'm not afraid of dying. i hope it comes before i get too old to take care of myself, but i don't wanna remember it if there is something after. not that i am supposed to discount there being something after, but i kind of do.

[the dude]

well, look at it this way; the person "alys kinch", if that is your real name, won't exist anymore, so you won't care anyway.  deal?

[Jelly]

::) Cheerful.  :D

[Leelou]

I'm not so sure how I feel about an afterlife, but I think there is probably something, I mean dirt and ether don't cause all paranormal activities and hauntings...

[Alys Kinch]

well... no, but there are some scientific explainations for just about every situation. they aren't always simple enough to make someone feel like they are an idiot, and they don't cover everything.

 

no one can explain why my husband could repeat whole conversations that happened years before he was born and included people who were long dead. repeatedly. how he knew the personalities and details. things no one ever talked about. or why it stopped when he was about 6.

 

i think there is a more likely explaination that doesn't include him talking to ghosts, but... well, i can't rule that out either.

[Ashaman Kovan]

Well since dreams can seem to last years and years and years in a matter of minutes sometimes I think that since our brain is still active some minutes after our body dies that we immediately go into a dream like state...It only lasts those mere minutes that our brains are still functioning but it seems like an eternity. So I guess since we subconsciously choose what we dream about I guess in a sense we would have a certain amount of free will we just won't be completely aware of it. :)Word

[Sirayn]

Proof that there is nothing paranormal this side of death. :P (tongue in cheek)

[Jelly]

*Gasps*

Goodness...that's a lot of money for simply seeing something paranormal...

[Ozhammer]

Sorry, Im too practicle to worry about intangibles  ;)

[loki redfern]

ether mmmmm lumineferous

[SqueeEGA]

THis has been disproven by Einstein. matter can be created or destroyed (by converting it to/from energy)

 

umm...no.  matter = energy.  yea yea, total energy is equal to the total mass of the matter times the universal constant, but constants can be ignored when you're not interested in quantity.

 

In the words of the Legendary Mr. Bill Hicks "matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration.  We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.  there is no such thing as death.  life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves...here's Tom with the weather."