terrified of an afterlife

[you cant find me]

Reading a book on children who have memories of past lives and the possibility of being reincarnated is freaking me out. I'm a skeptic so I think the most likely outcome after death is a void where I am unaware of anything, like a dreamless sleep, which is comforting to me...but the fact that nobody knows for certain terrifies me. Especially reincarnation, because all things considered I am well off in the world and I can basically only go down. Imagine killing yourself just to be reborn seconds later to an impoverished family in China, destined to work in a sweatshop from age five It's not a main reason keeping me from ctb but it's certainly scary.

 

[sundown12]

MEEEE oh my god, the thought of someone deciding for me what shitshow i'm going to be reincarnated into in my next life absolutely terrifies me. and like, what if i keep ctbing in every life? what would happen to me then? does it just get progressively worse? so many questions

 

[Darkover]

past lives memorys are a load of bull shit, you'd be able to remeber your pass name and where you lived and where you died what year ect
even assuming you get more than one life then its down to random chance

 

[Girl-shaped Wound]

Reading a book on children who have memories of past lives and the possibility of being reincarnated is freaking me out. I'm a skeptic so I think the most likely outcome after death is a void where I am unaware of anything, like a dreamless sleep, which is comforting to me...but the fact that nobody knows for certain terrifies me. Especially reincarnation, because all things considered I am well off in the world and I can basically only go down. Imagine killing yourself just to be reborn seconds later to an impoverished family in China, destined to work in a sweatshop from age five It's not a main reason keeping me from ctb but it's certainly scary.

What's the title? To be honest, I think that all of those testimonies are bullshit but I'm still curious. I remember being interested in the book that inspired the Sleeping with Ghosts song by Placebo – when I read it, it was even more stupid than I thought. The past life therapist was clearly a fraud matchmaking his patients, and not them being reborn soulmates mysteriously connected via his office.

My problem is the opposite. I am deeply afraid that there is no afterlife, though at the very least I will never realize that!

 

[you cant find me]

What's the title? To be honest, I think that all of those testimonies are bullshit but I'm still curious. I remember being interested in the book that inspired the Sleeping with Ghosts song by Placebo – when I read it, it was even more stupid than I thought. The past life therapist was clearly a fraud matchmaking his patients, and not them being reborn soulmates mysteriously connected via his office.

My problem is the opposite. I am deeply afraid that there is no afterlife, though at the very least I will never realize that!

The full title is "Before: Children's Memories of Previous Lives" and the amount of specific detail that some of the kids remember is scary to me. Admittedly I'm still reading the book so I can't judge it fairly yet but it's enough to at least keep a little candle of anxiety burning.

 

[Worndown]

It is possible your reincarnation/after life fears are brought to us by people trying to remove the finality of death or control us through after-death threats. You could put your energies to more tangible issues.

 

[Obliviate]

This is one of my fears. Reincarnation nobody in their right minds would want to be back into this fucked up world. I personally don't want an endless dark void of nothing either because all the pure hearted people deserve their heaven. The good news is most of the NDEs say that reincarnation is a choice. I think it would be really fucked up for us to be forced into it. I'm keeping my faith in heaven because there has to be. All the amazing people in this world can't just disappear into nothingness. I refuse to believe it. There has to be something out there too many insane unbelievable things happen.

There is no way I would ever pick reincarnation and I fucking want my kingdom of heaven after going through all this shit.

 

[SamTam33]

Reincarnation vs living forever (in heaven)? Aw hellll no. That could be a comedic movie with the suicidal person having to choose.

It's my belief that I will go back to wherever I was before I was born. Otherwise, I will raise holy hell.

If I come back to this bitch, I promise I'll find a way to burn it to the ground!

 

[highmaintenancebolt]

I imagine it will be exactly like before I was born. Just a void without any feelings. Calm and peaceful. No fear or pain or thoughts of any kind. I liked it that way more than how it is now. I don't fear being dead, but I do fear that my death will be painful.

Plus, the author of that book, Jim Tucker, has no idea of what he's talking about. This is from wikipedia: "Critics have argued there is no material explanation for the survival of self, but Tucker suggests that quantum mechanics may offer a mechanism by which memories and emotions could carry over from one life to another."

He's a guy with a degree in psychiatry and is talking about "quantum mechanics". Sounds to me like he just makes stuff up. MEMORIES AND EMOTIONS CARRY OVER THROUGH QUANTUM MECHANICS? LOL. Unless I get some proof of god(s) or the afterlife from a scientist (preferably with actual recorded and reproduceable evidence) I'm gonna pass on this spiritual stuff. It's all just anecdotal evidence (aka not real evidence) with he said/she said. My grandma and parents believe in this crap too plus a dozen other conspiracy theories. When I ask my grandma for evidence she just links me to some facebook post, lol.

But if reincarnation is real and I get to remember my past life, I will work very hard to get access to the nuclear codes and wipe out all life on this planet. Can't let this crap go on.

I made the mistake of reading the Amazon reviews for Tucker's book. 90% rated it 4 stars or more. This is how I know humanity is doomed. "Scientific evidence suggests consciousness survives death," says one of the reviews. I don't know how they came to that conclusion.

 

[ClownMe]

Not sure if this will help with your fear or not but the reality is that no matter who we are were going to die one day, that's guaranteed. So assuming your reincarnation theory is correct then no matter whether you committed suicide at 20 or died of a heart attack at 82, it'd be irrelevant because no matter what you'll be playing the lottery in your next life (just like you did with this one), you could end up a king/queen in your next life or a poor child living in poverty, it's all a game of chance. Ultimately, you shouldn't worry about it, what's the use in worrying about something that's totally out of your control?

I think this quote from a murderer before his execution sums it up better than I ever could:



In saying that, I don't believe in any of that Heaven/Hell/reincarnation rubbish. The most likely scenario is that we simply go back to the void from which we came from and never experience anything ever again, you won't remember anything from your life and you'll be forever in a state of nonexistence.

Make of all that what you will...

 

[FuneralCry]

Even know the thought of reincarnation sounds horrifying, I personally don't believe in it and I could never do, I think that when we die, we cease to exist and that is it for us. Death is just like how before we were born where time passed and yet we were not aware of anything.

To me the thought of any afterlife/reincarnation is a fictional concept, invented by people who find the true meaningless nature of existence hard to come to terms with, as after all, this existence is all that we know and all humans are programmed to survive so it's difficult for humans to comprehend simply not existing. But no matter what we will have to face death someday, it's inevitable for us all. I think that it's best to not read about past lives as just because people have written about it doesn't mean that it's true.

 

[you cant find me]

I imagine it will be exactly like before I was born. Just a void without any feelings. Calm and peaceful. No fear or pain or thoughts of any kind. I liked it that way more than how it is now. I don't fear being dead, but I do fear that my death will be painful.

Plus, the author of that book, Jim Tucker, has no idea of what he's talking about. This is from wikipedia: "Critics have argued there is no material explanation for the survival of self, but Tucker suggests that quantum mechanics may offer a mechanism by which memories and emotions could carry over from one life to another."

He's a guy with a degree in psychiatry and is talking about "quantum mechanics". Sounds to me like he just makes stuff up. MEMORIES AND EMOTIONS CARRY OVER THROUGH QUANTUM MECHANICS? LOL. Unless I get some proof of god(s) or the afterlife from a scientist (preferably with actual recorded and reproduceable evidence) I'm gonna pass on this spiritual stuff. It's all just anecdotal evidence (aka not real evidence) with he said/she said. My grandma and parents believe in this crap too plus a dozen other conspiracy theories. When I ask my grandma for evidence she just links me to some facebook post, lol.

But if reincarnation is real and I get to remember my past life, I will work very hard to get access to the nuclear codes and wipe out all life on this planet. Can't let this crap go on.

I made the mistake of reading the Amazon reviews for Tucker's book. 90% rated it 4 stars or more. This is how I know humanity is doomed. "Scientific evidence suggests consciousness survives death," says one of the reviews. I don't know how they came to that conclusion.

To be fair the quantum mechanics bullshit is limited to one chapter where he tries to think of some explanation for the phenomenon using what science has already discovered. It's way more speculative than the rest of the book and definitely sounds more like the shit you would read on some facebook post. He says in the intro that people that have read it seem to either love or hate that chapter (probably depends on how much you believe in lizard people lol!) Not saying the rest of the book is correct but the anecdotal evidence IS at least more convincing than most conspiracy theory crap. If that restores even a little faith in humanity haha

 

[actual_fox]

I like what @pthnrdnojvsc posted. I agree with Joscha Bach, I experienced the lack of self during meditations too and It really is like oblivion- conscious one. So when brain ceases to function It might be the real oblivion- although I would expect to see some entities or scenery before that because we have that capacity to experience different places in dreams and OBEs. I do not know how this works 100%

Although I do not agree with materialistic point of view- I think of the world as more of a sea of information that our brains interpret as physical reality. This means that our brains are also non physical also. Idk how this works 100%

 

[Molded foundation]

The reincarnated self wouldn't even be you it would be a copy. I don't even know what makes "you" you.

 

[Lifeaballache]

I imagine it will be exactly like before I was born. Just a void without any feelings. Calm and peaceful. No fear or pain or thoughts of any kind. I liked it that way more than how it is now. I don't fear being dead, but I do fear that my death will be painful.

Plus, the author of that book, Jim Tucker, has no idea of what he's talking about. This is from wikipedia: "Critics have argued there is no material explanation for the survival of self, but Tucker suggests that quantum mechanics may offer a mechanism by which memories and emotions could carry over from one life to another."

He's a guy with a degree in psychiatry and is talking about "quantum mechanics". Sounds to me like he just makes stuff up. MEMORIES AND EMOTIONS CARRY OVER THROUGH QUANTUM MECHANICS? LOL. Unless I get some proof of god(s) or the afterlife from a scientist (preferably with actual recorded and reproduceable evidence) I'm gonna pass on this spiritual stuff. It's all just anecdotal evidence (aka not real evidence) with he said/she said. My grandma and parents believe in this crap too plus a dozen other conspiracy theories. When I ask my grandma for evidence she just links me to some facebook post, lol.

But if reincarnation is real and I get to remember my past life, I will work very hard to get access to the nuclear codes and wipe out all life on this planet. Can't let this crap go on.

I made the mistake of reading the Amazon reviews for Tucker's book. 90% rated it 4 stars or more. This is how I know humanity is doomed. "Scientific evidence suggests consciousness survives death," says one of the reviews. I don't know how they came to that conclusion.

Before you were born? You remember being nothing in the womb then? Even when you're a baby you're not self aware. Silly comment

 

[makethepainstop]

Each life is supposed to be payment of karma, and learning. However each life is also dependant on the free will we are granted as souls.

 

[Lawliet]

according to a lot of reincarnation theories, people who commit suicide commit such an egregious sin that they are reincarnated as something like, a rock or a bug and aren't even worthy of a human form. to have been reincarnated as a human is a huge privilege, even if you're like a super poor person.

as for children "remembering" things from a past life, i fully believe it's bullshit just trying to sell you a book or a video or whatever. these children are coached by their parents to be moneymakers. my rule of thumb is that if it seems unbelievable, it's bullshit.

i would put down that book and stick to logic and facts that are scientifically proven. i think you're freaking yourself out.

 

[theboy]

Every human being is curious, and even afraid, about death. However, no one is sure what will happen to us until we stop breathing.
Religion, philosophies and beliefs bring us closer to this subject.