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Fear of an Eternal Afterlife

Started by Recusant, February 12, 2017, 10:48:53 PM

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Recusant

Apparently it's a thing: "apeirophobia." Maybe I missed out on it because I stopped believing in religious tall tales so young, but then again when I've thought about it, I didn't consider the possibility all that daunting. Perhaps it's a failure of imagination on my part.  :sidesmile:

"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Dragonia

I've never heard of this phobia before. But, I did used to wonder what in the hell we would do in heaven for the rest of forever (you like how I put that? ;D)  I always thought, oh my God it would get so boring just worshipping God all the time and strolling around on the streets of gold with Jesus. But everyone would assure me that it would be so wonderful that I would never get bored or tired of it. I always felt decidedly unspiritual to admit that it still sounded pretty damn boring.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato (?)

Asmodean

#2
I do not have an irrational fear of eternal life, but I have a healthy desire not to experience it. I usually demonstrate it with the following example;

Imagine that you live forever. Then imagine that for convenience, you reset your age counter every 100 years - not your age or your mind or whatever, just the clock.

Now, imagine the current age of the Universe. Let us round it down to 13mrd years (that's billion for you Brits and Yanks and other short scale supporters. I will refer to it as 10^9 hereafter)

So, 1,3*10^10. That's how old the Universe is. Now, imagine existing for this period of time. In its course, you will have celebrated your 27th birthday as near as makes no difference one hundred and thirty million times. One hundred and thirty MILLION twenty-seventh birthdays. Followed by the same number of 28th, preceded by... You get the idea. One would imagine that in such a time, you would pretty much do all you consider to be worth doing - or are ever likely to consider such - to the point of boredom. After your twenty second billionth bacon and eggs breakfast with the family... Well, I suspect even the bacon will get old.

Yes, the Universe is likely infinite, with an infinite number of things to do. However, what one individual considers worth doing, that is not necessarily quite as infinite. It may well be that I am more self-reflected than most, but I honestly can say that I don't want to even spend one million years in the company of those I love, for example. I know they will have annoyed me to the point of suicide long before that. How do I know that? It's a million fucking years! So let's say that I change the company I keep as time goes by... One lifetime of the Universe, two... Five... By now, I'm sick of everyone. Eleven lifetimes of the Universe... It's getting colder and darker and more boring and now I've basically gone feral... One hundred and fifty nine thousand billion lifetimes of the Universe... It's me and the black holes and the souls I despise...

One googolplex (Yes, it's a real number. Googol it ;-) ) years later, and my eternity is "just getting started"

I know most people, myself included, cannot comprehend the sheer vastness of the time scales involved, but having at least some conceptual understanding of it, no thank you, I do not want to exist forever. Not even a little bit.

I mean, even if like Christians were right and Jesus and what have you. Would you honestly not get sick to your spiritual equivalent of stomach of the guy over the course of a googolplex years? Would you not, now, you dishonest individual opening his mouth right now?!  :foottap: Imagine a fucking googolplex before even trying to invoke magic, then we'll talk.

...Kind of makes the notion of Hell foolish, no? I mean, after a million years of suffering, who the fuck cares any more?! That's afterlife. You're used to it. You'll get bored and go feral, but so will the asshole in heaven. Perhaps more slowly, but who the fuck cares?! Both will enjoy an eternity of... That.
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.