If you were given the option between heaven and eternal nonexistence, which one would would you choose?

[darksouls]

if I can take all the animals that exist in this universe with me
then I choose heaven

 

[Forever Sleep]

Non existence. If heaven means God and the same God that created this world then I don't believe heaven necessarily is a paradise. Non existence seems the safer bet.

 

[kapa]

I'm at a point that not even happy moments in my life gives me joy or anything, I finally achieved the number one thing I always wanted and even then nothing changed. I just don't want to exist in any kind of way

 

[Unbearable Mr. Bear]

What kind of heaven. On which religion is the heaven based on. I don't want to spend an eternity praying and worshipping the creator

Since the OP defined heaven as 100% pleasure, 0 suffering and 0 boredom, that's what I define heaven here. Anything else is our own biases talking.

 

[JesiBel]

Eternal non existence. I think that having lived once is enough.

I guess an eternal existence in "heaven" would be more of a nightmare than a blessing. What are you supposed to be able to do for so many eons, you'd be fed up in a few years. A place of complete peace and happiness seems so false to me, you'd go crazy anyway, with so much monotony.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

2) non-existence forever is what i want for me asap. eternal non-existence is the only guarantee of never suffering so badly it's a trillion times worse than you can imagine. permanent non-existence the only guarantee of never suffering, never any pain problems nor bad memories. non-existence forever is the only perfection.

1 micro-second after my brain dies i will cease to exist forever . that's better than any imaginary heaven where someone would recall many of the horrible things that happened to them in this evil world. but there is no heaven only hell and that's this world and life.

for me there are some horrible things like unending constant unbearable pain the worst pain that taint everything else and make everything else meaningless in this evil life and evil world . to me the supposedly pleasurable addictions can't be separated from the worst pain the most horrible things the most terrible evil of this world and of DNA based life and the universe too because it gave rise to DNA based life which has to torture sentient beings to get them to pass on their genes fighting everyday against the law of Entropy. luckily the universe will die in heat Death and it will be nothingness forever as the universe keeps expanding and has always expanded.

i would never want to exist under any circumstances. for one thing i'd feel i'm agreeing with evil that i'm condoning evil that has been done to me "u huh let me enjoy this stupid sandwich " like a good little slave while i wait for the worst torture . as if eating a sandwich were worth even 10 seconds of the worst pain ( it's not) much less years of it.

i'm glad i will eventually die and be non-existent forever . but i do need my suicide asap to skip over any torture that could happen while i'm still alive in this hell.

the universe will continue to expand forever . the expansion is accelerating . the next nearest solar system to the one Earth is in 25 trillion miles away.

Future of an expanding universe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Just to add to my post.

i hate existence , just one minute longer is horrible to me . i would never want to exist for billions of years in some other heaven or whatever only non-existence forever is what i want .

imo most people after 80 years in this hell are so tired of this nightmare world and nightmare thing called life they are disgusted by it and ready for it to end.
i think people have no idea how long a trillion years is. and what would you do in a supposed heaven for a trillion years.

just a trilion years is a number so large the weak human ape brain cannot fathom such a number or time period.

if you never die cease to exist then it's an unimaginable horror torture . it's not just a trillion years as unfathomable as that number is. for example take a note book and write 1 trillion multiplied by 1 trillion ,, 1 trilion x 1 trillion , that's a trillion trillion keep multiplying that number by a trilion a quadrillion quintillion times. i'm so glad at least i know i will stop existing . what will you do for a trilliion to the quintilion power years.

who came up with this idea and why do people believe it and wish for it? at least there is no evidence for such a horror as eternal life / existence/ consciousness.

think about being locked in a room with nothing to do just blank walls a bed no phone no laptop just clothes . how long would it take someone to go crazy with torture from that ? how how many days would you want out of that room proving existence is horrible and one needs stupid distractions constantly. i think most people couldn't last even a day or at most a few days in a room with nothing you do but there is water and food .

think about this most people here are imo 18-25 and they've already seen enough of this horrible life. being old is another universe to when you were young the energy the pain the feeling of misery as opposed to power and energy and zest in youuth that is a million times more powerful when young. old age is not describable by words the horror. people have no idea when older difficult to explain you get to hate life existence existing this world more and more especially as you get older and more things start to hurt , a tiredness builds of life and keeps building, trouble breathing ( see all the older people with oxygen tanks), slow walking every step an effort, copd, athritritis , demnetia, cancer , problems with every organ many more horrors . i worked in a nursing home it's an unimaginable hell.

 

[Darkover]

There is one idea in Buddhism that resonates with me more than any promise of heaven or threat of hell ever could. It is the idea that the ultimate goal of existence is not eternal bliss, not divine reunion, but extinguishment. A return to nothingness.

Buddhists call it Nibbāna — the end of craving, the end of becoming, the end of suffering. In a world where every living being is caught in a cycle of hunger, loss, fear, and decay, nothingness is not a void to be feared — it is release. A gentle erasure of all need, all pain, all identity.

We are born into a universe that demands we suffer to survive. From the moment we open our eyes, we are exposed — fragile minds trapped in vulnerable bodies, tossed into a world of sharp edges and indifferent forces. There is no safety here, only temporary shelter. No control, only the illusion of it. No permanence, only slow disintegration.

Religions often offer heaven as a reward — a place of eternal joy, of fulfillment, of reunion. But even that feels like just another form of becoming — another identity, another need to sustain, another cycle. I do not want to be anything. I want the right to stop.

Nibbāna, in this light, is not a mystical abstraction. It is the one mercy this existence might allow: the right to end. Not in violence or despair, but in the quiet extinguishment of the flame. No more clinging, no more pain, no more being forced to play the game.

Nothingness is not bleak. What is bleak is being forced to endure without escape. Nothingness is where pain ends — because nothing can be harmed when nothing remains.

I do not seek heaven. I seek the right to rest.

 

[kunikuzushi]

I can't think of anything that would cure this boredom. I can't think of anything pleasurable that could last longer than a few days. Any time I get something I want, I end up unsatisfied and bored again. The problem is me. So I can't imagine how heaven would work. I'll choose non-existence.

 

[derpyderpins]

Still would need more details on heaven, and it becomes a tough question. "Only pleasure" is contrary to the human experience. Only pleasure means no disappointment, which means no goals and striving, because if success is a foregone conclusion, then it's not so much a goal as it is a walkthrough.

You've anticipated "it would get boring," although that's not necessarily true. The idea that I could have freedom to create forever is wonderful to imagine. But, the creation would be solely for creation's sake, or cut-off from other souls, because if those other souls are able to create as well, then we've re-introduced comparison and disappointment is innevitable. How much am I aware of all of this? My neurotic soul will worry about it for eternally . . . but worry cannot be felt by definition as a form of suffering. So, then, who am I in this heaven? I can't be Derp. Maybe a lobotomized - probably more likable - version of him, but not him. He's built his personality around the concept of his own suffering.

If I'm not Derp the question then is whether or not I even have what can be considered higher conciousness. The uniqueness factor: even if my life is shit, it's mine, which I use to justify my current existence, might be argued not to exist in this heaven. Without that, I'm the biologic computer described by determinism, a receptor for the pleasure (only pleasure in this scenario) and nothing more. A switch that is flipped on and off and which processes the change in state in a way that incentivizes further similar action . . . and nothing else.

idk I'll flip a coin I guess.

 

[Raven2]

I'd rather not live for eternity so I'll take non existence thank you

 

[EvisceratedJester]

I would choose non-existence. Besides the fact that I would probably never get into heaven to begin with, because I'm the worst, I also just don't find the idea of there being an afterlife to be appealing. Rather, I find the idea of all of this just being temporary and that eventually it will come to an end to feel much more comforting, even if it does make me feel a bit more anxious every once in a while. It also makes death feel a bit less scary.

I don't like the idea of heaven nor would I like the idea of going there since I'm a horrible person. I would just end up feeling guilty for the rest of eternity if that were the case.

I'm not going to elaborate any further since the more I dwell on this topic the more I feel like my thoughts are about to spiral.

 

[bleeding_heart_show]

I can understand how heaven must have been an appealing concept in the past when the average person experienced more deprivation than fulfillment, but to me it sounds entirely unappealing.

In the 21st century we have enough sources of constant fulfillment that what would have been significant sources of deprivation fifty years ago can be put completely out of sight and out of mind.

I am not advocating for a return to simpler times. In the past anarcho primitivism appealed to me, but I realize now that it is as flawed as any other way of living,

This response is getting off topic, I will stop myself here.

 

[EchoWanderer77]

obviously heaven, but im content with non existence. Its not like i would be bothered being non existent. I dont know anyone who complained for not existing.