Why do so many religions focus on death?

L

Lunitik

Guest
Am I the only one that is pursuing spirituality for a more full experience during life? It is depressing to me that so many religious groups seem to concentrate on the afterlife while forgetting to live the current life.

Threads about reincarnation, punishment after death, whether we continue in some capacity after we die... some people may have had near death experiences, some may even recall past lives and the experience of that life ending, but we're all alive now. Why concentrate on some future event? It only distracts us from the herenow...

Of course, much of it is based on fear of death, but why fear something that is inevitable? Enjoy your time herenow, the future will come of its own accord - your beliefs do not effect it, they only claim to explain it. Allowing fear to control you is truly depressing, but even worse is allowing another to dictate what you should do with the fear... enjoy the gift you've been given, don't waste it worrying about when you have to give it back!

There are miraculous things you can encounter during life - not that life itself isn't miraculous already - which answer all your questions through experience, yet we'd rather alleviate fear by hearing another living persons words on the matter. I just don't get it...
 
lets face it a lot of people probably have a pretty miserable life's, hunger, disease war etc, maybe these people need hope hence the emphasis on the after life.

on the other hand maybe this life nothing compared to eternity.
 
NiceCupOfTea said:
lets face it a lot of people probably have a pretty miserable life's, hunger, disease war etc, maybe these people need hope hence the emphasis on the after life.

on the other hand maybe this life nothing compared to eternity.
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People live in misery because they wish things to be different, they do not accept life the way it is. It is their own doing, insisting on looking at the negative doesn't change anything - in fact it is more likely to make things worse because trying to change often result in revolts and war as well. Think of it this way: no matter how bad things get, you're alive to know they suck. When viewed this way, it becomes difficult to really get down.

I honestly don't understand why people want to live for eternity... for what? As a fun contemplation, why do you think creation exists? Do you not think perhaps that it exists because God was simply bored and wanted something to do? There are traditions that state we are not separate from God at all, thus in the merging we simply discover our true selves again and in this way live for eternity. Even then, however, we continue to participate in creation because we are one with the creator.

Even in our limited perceptions, we can see this is true: our bodies disintegrate and become fuel for plants and other vegetation. Our soul is essentially our consciousness, thus quantum consciousness research becomes quite interesting...
 
Lunitik said:
People live in misery because they wish things to be different, they do not accept life the way it is. It is their own doing, insisting on looking at the negative doesn't change anything - in fact it is more likely to make things worse because trying to change often result in revolts and war as well. Think of it this way: no matter how bad things get, you're alive to know they suck. When viewed this way, it becomes difficult to really get down.
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war, pain, starvation, oppression for many people throughout the ages this has been the reality of their lives.

I'm lucky I am healthy, I have roof over my head and food on the table, if I am miserable then its my choice.

But for many people its not a choice its the reality of their lives.

I honestly don't understand why people want to live for eternity... for what? As a fun contemplation, why do you think creation exists? Do you not think perhaps that it exists because God was simply bored and wanted something to do? There are traditions that state we are not separate from God at all, thus in the merging we simply discover our true selves again and in this way live for eternity. Even then, however, we continue to participate in creation because we are one with the creator.
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well life eternal may not be a choice, it may happen anyway whether you want it to or not.

Even in our limited perceptions, we can see this is true: our bodies disintegrate and become fuel for plants and other vegetation. Our soul is essentially our consciousness, thus quantum consciousness research becomes quite interesting...
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indeed.
 
another thing I suppose is social control.

telling people they will burn in hell and be punished for eternity if they dont do what they are told is a powerful way to control an ignorant population.
 
NiceCupOfTea said:
war, pain, starvation, oppression for many people throughout the ages this has been the reality of their lives.

I'm lucky I am healthy, I have roof over my head and food on the table, if I am miserable then its my choice.

But for many people its not a choice its the reality of their lives.
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What I'm saying is, how you perceive this IS your choice!

If you live in a country at war, you can flee. If you're in pain, you can usually get it fixed even through various natural remedies. If you're starving, you can hunt or pick various vegetation to eat. If you are oppressed, again, you can flee.

We suffer because we would rather complain than deal with our issues. It is funny though, throughout the world, the poorest nations actually report the highest levels of happiness, why? Maybe because it vastly simplifies life?

NiceCupOfTea said:
well life eternal may not be a choice, it may happen anyway whether you want it to or not.
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This is true, of course, but if I have no ability to choose whether I live for all eternity, why should I pretend I have any say in anything else related to what comes after? I didn't have a choice whether to be born, I have no choice leaving this place, and I have no choice what happens next. The illusions of control are utterly flawed and ridiculous to me.

These are really the same points... love life NOW, be grateful for NOW, and wherever NOW takes you, be grateful for that as well. It is all an awesome experience, but we are too busy swimming against the stream trying to control where we've already been to accept where we might go next.
 
NiceCupOfTea said:
another thing I suppose is social control.

telling people they will burn in hell and be punished for eternity if they dont do what they are told is a powerful way to control an ignorant population.
Click to expand...

Yes, I touched on this in the first post.
 
Lunitik said:
What I'm saying is, how you perceive this IS your choice!

If you live in a country at war, you can flee. If you're in pain, you can usually get it fixed even through various natural remedies. If you're starving, you can hunt or pick various vegetation to eat. If you are oppressed, again, you can flee.
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easier said than done.

We suffer because we would rather complain than deal with our issues.
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thats middle class neurotic suffering due to self obsession

It is funny though, throughout the world, the poorest nations actually report the highest levels of happiness, why? Maybe because it vastly simplifies life?
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yes i guess so.
 
NiceCupOfTea said:
a lot of people probably have a pretty miserable life's, hunger, disease war etc, maybe these people need hope hence the emphasis on the after life
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"Religion is the opiate of the masses"
- Karl Marx
 
Lunitik said:
..It is depressing to me that so many religious groups seem to concentrate on the afterlife while forgetting to live the current life...
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Yes, Jesus said the same thing-
"Don't worry about your life, what you'll eat or drink or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body more important than clothes.
Look at the birds, they don't sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet God feeds them. You're much more valuable than them.
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers grow, they don't labour or spin, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these."

Or as National Express coach drivers tell passengers as they pull out of the coach park-"Sit back and enjoy the ride!"
HOWEVER, we can only do that if we trust the driver completely, and in that respect I personally wouldn't get aboard any coach (or religion) that didn't have Jesus in the drivers seat..;)
 
The religious focus on death for the same reason scientists focus on astronomy:

curiosity

Who would not want to peek behind the mystery of death and suffering to discover its purpose? A mystery is meant to be unveiled. Does death have a purpose? Is it all meaningless as reductionists say? We are like the Greeks staring at the Sun, with our limited sciences and limited minds, wondering.
 
Religions focus on death because our true reality is what happens to us after death, not before death. Religions are merely trying to help us prepare for our true reality.
 
Nick the Pilot said:
our true reality is what happens to us after death
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How do you know our true reality is not this present moment? It's all we have for sure, IMHO. What is your evidence to support a "true reality" after death?
 
Deep-down we remember the indignities lived through in our past births.

We live in a world composed of 'duality' ---so:
'What ever is dead now, will later, take a living birth;
and,
What ever is alive now, will later, experience death'.
 
IowaGuy said:
How do you know our true reality is not this present moment? It's all we have for sure, IMHO?..
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Ah but how do we know whether our current reality is the only reality?
I've seen The Matrix several times but still haven't a clue what it's about despite Morpheus's explanation-

"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.
Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"


And look at this pic (not for too long or you might feel dizzy); it's a static pic but our brain wrongly tells us the wheels are revolving, so how can we trust our brains to know if anything is real?

rotsnake.jpg
 
Waymarker said:
Ah but how do we know whether our current reality is the only reality?
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We don't know for sure whether our current reality is the only reality, in my opinion. But I would rather just admit that we don't know what happens when we die rather than presume that there is a "true reality" after death. I prefer to put my energy into the present moment. Soon enough we'll find out what, if anything, happens when we die.

Waymarker said:
I've seen The Matrix several times but still haven't a clue what it's about
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I don't have a clue about a lot of things but I don't go around making up or believing stories that can't be supported by science and reason. I just admit that I don't know the answer and move on with life (agnostic). Otherwise, there are so many "faith-based" stories and fairytales to explain the unknown, which one would I believe?
 
We don't know for sure whether our current reality is the only reality
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But that can only be true if ABSOLUTE ZERO does not exist.

If ABSOLUTE ZERO exists ---then reality is what we see.

It is all temporary and transcient-- yet real.

Some are on top of the heap and others are fodder ---yet reallt transpiring in real time in a space that allows for its temporal transmutations to occur.
 
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