Why are humans obsessed with the afterlife?, Max Tobin

General Discussion
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I stumbled upon a fun little video.

Why are humans obsessed with the afterlife?

Humanity has always struggled to get its collective head around the concept of death.

As a result, our fascination with some kind of afterlife - an immortal realm where our souls will live on forever - has taken many forms throughout history.

But why does coming to our natural end feel so very unnatural? What is the science of ageing? And could new technologies offer any hope of keeping some form of ourselves alive forever?

Max Tobin goes in search of what ‘afterlife’ really means.

Presented by Max Tobin
Written, filmed & edited by Dillon Steele

Here again is an example of where I think an explicit recognition that we are evolved biological creature, product of Earth’s processes, would clear away quite of bit of the cob webs of confusion and angst.

as in a filament in Evolution’s Pageant, a creature like all others, if at an altogether different level. Still, as with all animals, our consciousness (awareness…) is the inside reflect of our body/brain getting on with living.

Same as it ever was,
same as it is with all other creatures.
Our biological bodies in the act of living produce consciousness.
Neuroscientists are recording the action with ever increasing detail.

Just like a spinning magnet through a copper coil produces electricity, so long as the magnet keeps spinning, but as soon it comes to a halt production of electricity ceases. So too our consciousness ceases with our death

I grew up fascinated by, and weirded out by the use of “expired” to describe death. Until the morning, my death watch with my Dad ended in a final raspy expulsion of air, that reverberated in the room like the slamming shut of a massive book. Utter finality. “Expired” came to my mind, and I realized it was the most perfect word for what I’d witnessed. The expiration of my dad’s life.

His personal story came to an end.

Of course, he has lived on in all those he touched, and who remember him with a plethora of emotions that always end in knowing smiles.

All that stuff leads me to believing, Life is to be lived, do the best you can, with what you have, and enjoy the ride for all it’s worth. Besides, there’s always consolation, you could have been born a cow, or slug, or . . .

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I am out from my pond with this question, but my reflex is to say that men are fascinated by the after life because they are afraid of death and oblivion.

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IMO, I think people, especially when they know they are nearing death, they cling to the idea of an afterlife. Why I don’t know. I also know, because I now work as a pharmacy tech, many people in long term care facilities, mostly assisted living and nursing homes, are prescribed antianxiety and antidepressants. Humm… I wonder why? Could it be they are scared of dying? It’s my guess at least.

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Being “uploaded” is such a silly idea. It’s like brain transplants. You can’t replace your brain. Even if an exact replica of your brain was used to replace your brain that wouldn’t be you.

Or would it? It always comes back to who/what are you? I think “you” is an illusion. You will never know you are gone. So why dwell on it?

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Exquisitely understated.
Indeed Mriana.

That’s why I think there’s a need for a deeper appreciation for our connection with evolution, and so on and so forth.

I know that experience of angst, I mean that love of Jesus and a heavenly ever after that’s some powerful stuff - until you actually starting thinking about it seriousIy, I took my first steps of divorce in my teens and by my 30s I pretty well worked past all of that insecurity. So I’ve had plenty of time to adjust my expectations.

Since the benefits of living in the here ad now, so outweighs the weirdness that faith in religions demand.

Then that Evolution connection, to have an in your guts feeling of being an element in the Pageant of Evolution, that’s like a lifetime season’s pass. I find comfort in the long prehistory of my body carrying me along on the tide of time.

Oh and this is way off topic, but I’ve been under a release embargo.

You know that I’ve written about my experience caretaking my infant grandson who’s turning four in a few months and his 16 month younger brother. Well now we have three with the birth about a week ago with birth of the granddaughter the maternal grandma had been pinning for. But that’s not what the info. embargo was on.

That makes 5 grandkids, two from my eldest daughter who I met around her fifth birthday, these next three grandkids are from my wife’s (of 13 years) son. He’s in his mid-thirties and about two years older than my second daughter who carries my blood in her veins and whom I’ve known since her conception.

Given my bleak view of the future, I’ve always taken comfort that she never wanted kids. But then, she was sure she’d never want to get married either. Then met her man and they go back well over a decade now and have the kind of solid relationship that makes a father proud, and reassured. I was also happy they didn’t want kids.
Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans.
When I helped them move back east, the topic came up once, and he took me aside and told me: Just cause they didn’t want to have kids, doesn’t mean they never wanted kids. The old man got the message.

Then last month she flew in for a visit and had a little gift for me and another for her mother. My veil of distance has been shattered, it get’s scary and thrilling. (I don’t care, boy or girl, healthy is what I care about)
What a shame their Earth is getting battered so relentlessly.

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The promise of an afterlife pales to what we have within our reach right here during our four score and whatever years we get, on this miraculous planet. What a sin that so many have lost sight of that simple truth.

:cowboy_hat_face:
:dog:
:baby:

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Good punchline!

That’s why I believe it’s so important to appreciate consciousness as an interaction of the moment between your biological body and the world. Live it, pay attention, enjoy the moment and living it within your skin.

To be cognizant of your body and knowing its deep history is part of understanding your insides. Heck, having a respectful relationship with your own body, improves one’s chances of living healthy, living healthy is better than gold. And then we die. And it is good.

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Many old people i have known were hoping to die even not really depressive.

They feel that the kife cannot bring them anything any more, they are lonely and bored.

And when you lose you body and mind to aging, it is not fun.

In people aged over 65, the prevalence of depression is around 15%. However, in somatic care services dedicated to them, depressive symptoms are present in up to 37% of patients. Thirty percent of them have major depression. Hypochondriasis is common, affecting 65% of depressed elderly people. Today, we can estimate that 60 to 70% of depressive states in the elderly are neglected, unrecognized or poorly treated, particularly among the very elderly. In the first pan-European study of depression, DEPRES (Depression Patient Research in European Society), admittedly covering a general non-geriatric population, only 57% of patients requested medical care. Depression in the elderly has a guarded prognosis, since nearly two thirds of patients remain depressed one year later despite treatment. These may be endogenous forms and the notion of bipolar disorder may be found in the history.

[https://www.cairn.info/revue-gerontologie-et-societe-2008-3-page-141.htm#:~:text=DÉPRESSION%20ET%20TROUBLES%20SOMATIQUES,'atteinte%20de%20l’anticipation.]

Sorry if the link leads to a text in French. It should be easier for you to find links in Englsh.

[Depression and Older Adults | National Institute on Aging]

[https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/depression-in-older-people]

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Those are generally the ones, from my observations, who believe in an afterlife where they will go to heaven to be with God/Jesus and their families. It’s is a different from of depression, but they still have depression, they just use their fantasy world to cover up the depression and they don’t get treated for it because it is a God delusion, which is more acceptable then obvious depression.

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“If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the world is a cruel jest.”

Arthur C. Doyle

“The world is so nicely confused; it is the dream of a wine-drunken god" Heine