If you knew for sure that there was no life after death, would you live your life differently?

[Pale Blue Dot]

Poll question: If you knew for sure that there was no life after death, would you live your life differently?

Assume, for the poll, that you know with 100% certainty that there is no heaven, no hell, and no reincarnation. When you die you just stop being. As John Lennon said, imagine.

Feel free to explain your answer below.

[mikita]

1. I voted no,

because I truly believe there is nothing beyond this life. So maybe I can't say it with 100% certainty, but even if I'm wrong, I'me leading the best life I know how anyway.

Do I make sense here?

Mikita

ED to add:

PS My mom died a week ago, and it has been amazing trying to honor all the feelings of those who DO believe in the hereafter....

[LynzM]

9. Hugs for you, mikita

I'm sorry for your loss of your mom, and for the stress that it must cause you to honor those feelings of others. :hug:

[RFKHumphreyObama]

11. My deepest, sincerest and most heartfelt condolences on the loss of your mother

My thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to you and your family

[no name no slogan]

2. Nah. I'd keep doing whatever it is I'm doing now.

or whatever it was I did yesterday. For some reason, I can't seem to remember...

[Deja Q]

3. Nobody knows the truth, but consider this:

For to be around for such a small point in space in time... seems a waste of time, doesn't it?

Somewhere, some way, some how, there is a bigger scheme in things.

Well, possibly...

[mikita]

4. you might have a point but

look at how much we've been able to destroy in that small space in time!!

[rockymountaindem]

10. Did you just post something positive?

You must be feeling pretty good then, eh?

[Deja Q]

27. Did you just post something impudent?

Or are you merely excelling beyond your usual expectations today, eh?

To coin a phrase people love to say these days, "I'm Jus' sayin'." Just like how you were. :)


Incidentally, I am an atypical philosopher. A doubter. An intellectual galvanizer, so to speak. "Positive" or "Negative" do not cross my mind at all.


Edited: Typo

[rockymountaindem]

30. No offense intended n/t

[LeftyMom]

5. It's saturday night and your new wife is good looking. Get the hell off the internet.

:crazy:

[Capn Sunshine]

7. A-Men

Mine is at work or I wouldn't be here either

[Pale Blue Dot]

8. She's at work.

I'm alone. The football game started off well, but it's turning into a blowout. Naturally, I'm thinking about death (that's just a joke, BTW). :cry:

[huskerlaw]

6. Nope

I don't live my life based on a need to avoid or attain something in the afterlife.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

12. My dear Finnfan...

I said yes, I'd change...

But I'm not entirely sure of that...

There are some things I want to do yet...

I would almost certainly want to explore different options for living if I knew there was nothing beyond this life...

I might not act on them...

But I'd certainly want to explore ...

[SarahB]

13. You know how I feel.

I don't need a magic anyone up in the sky to tell me what's right or wrong. I try to life life with a nice balance of compassion for others and passion for my own dreams and needs. I don't do everything perfectly, but I do a pretty good job (I hope).

I love you and I'm sleepy, so I'm now going to snuggle next to my snoring guy. :loveya:

[LucyParsons]

14. I do know for sure there is no life after death

that's why it's called "death".

we don't all assume animals have a "life after death" - why are we an exception?

I find this a much more liberating, life-positive outlook than superstitous afterlife beliefs - although how it makes me "feel" has no bearing whatsoever on whether it is scientifically correct or not.

[Skittles]

15. I think some people, they just have to have such beliefs to live

almost like they cannot contemplate the alternative. I'm with you though.

[Duer 157099]

16. No "life" after death just doesn't make sense to me

I can't imagine how energy/awareness/consciousness can ever "end", it just does not compute in my brain.

And this isn't from any religious perspective, either, it's just logical imho.

Besides, on the minute infinitessimal chance that all *does* cease with bodily death ... then really who cares? I mean, really, it's not like we'd ever know :shrug:

For me, I'm going on the assumption that death changes very little.

[YankeyMCC]

17. That's pretty much how I see things now

so I guess I would not change.

[Guava Jelly]

18. I would live the same

I actually am 100% convinced that there is no life after death.
We are just arrogant animals and no more divine than a bug or a virus.
I believe that the brain in times of sorrow and certain death needs us to believe that there is something else
and we will see our loved ones again or get a second chance in a magical world on a different plane.
I also believe if the belief in an afterlife didn't exist there wouldn't be such things as suicide bombers.
Oh and there is no god or devil(besides Dubya)

[Perry Logan]

19. When I think about it, I'm boggled at how little it would affect my behavior.

[lizziegrace]

20. I'm with you

I hit this world hard-wired to be the way I am. The thought of an afterlife has given me hope when I needed it, but I doubt it would have changed much if there wasn't one. I am who I am...

[MedleyMisty]

21. Considering that I live my life that way now

No, I wouldn't change.

[ThomCat]

22. I assume that there is no life after death.

If I'm proven wrong then so be it.

But given that all faith in life after death is unsupported conjecture, if there is something after death I think everyone will end up being equally surprised at what we find there. I doubt any religion would have managed to get it right.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

23. I would be more cautious. n/t

[easttexaslefty]

24. No, thats what I have believed for some time now...

After losing my son, though, I fervently hope there is an afterlife. I want nothing more than to see him again. "Whatever gets you through the night is alright, is alright"

[elaineb]

25. I think there IS life after death, but if I was convinced otherwise

...I know I'd live my life very differently. Probably be a lot more hedonistic, and dare I say it, probably be a lot less concerned with the problems of others (less of a people-pleaser, anyway). I'm not a very good advertisement for the spiritual type, am I? :blush:

Thanks a lot for posing this question, bub. You just made me realize how entirely screwed up my life is! :cry:

[elaineb]

28. P.S. I'd better add

lest anyone think my caring about humanity and the state of the world is mutable, that I'd always be the bleeding-heart liberal I was born (or raised), but I'm a loner by nature. So if I didn't think it was somehow my spiritual responsibility to be a "social being", I'd probably spend a lot more time alone than I do even now (which is a lot already).

[hippywife]

26. No, because

even if there is no afterlife for us, there is life after death for the ones we love. They carry whatever memories we leave them with in a sort of afterlife.

[SocratesInSpirit]

29. I'd probably feel freer, oddly enough

A strict religious upbringing has left me with a lot of "Catholic guilt" I'm still trying to overcome (I'm not trying to bash others who follow this faith, but I have a lot of issues with the Church and organized religion in general). Oblivion could be a relief. :)

[Seashell Eyes]

31. no

but I don't believe in an afterlife to begin with. I think eternal bliss would get pretty boring after a while.

[Left Is Write]

32. No.

My actions and moral decisions are not based upon any afterlife contingency.

[astral]

33. Well, on the OTHER hand,

if I realized there **IS** life after death, would I live my life differently?

[SPKrazy]

34. no, why would i

i would still be me

and although the question is not possible to answer in a vacuum, unless it was newly discovered to be an impossibility, there would not be the folklore surrounding the life after death idea and the social mores that have developed due to those beliefs.

is this like a deep moment... 'cause I am not too deep tonight.

[demodonkey]

35. I don't know but I think I am going to find out soon...

...my whole life is falling apart; people who said they would help me aren't and somehow I don't think I am going to be around much longer.

Something is going to happen to me; I just feel it. I just don't see me being around much longer so in that case I guess I will find out if there is life after death, or if there isn't I guess I won't. lol