IAO
I had a death in my family today, and it was someone close to me. It was not completely unexpected but it was still a blow. You never believe it'll happen until it does.
I have spent a huge portion of my life contemplating life after death. I have never been 100% certain of an afterlife, and I envy people who are that certain for one reason or another. Even with memories of past and future lifetimes, I still have many doubts. For one thing, I am not totally certain of the validity of my memories. For another, it's hard to know whether or not something is without some form of personal experience.
I know people who have undergone near death experiences. One experienced a Greek goddess. I know of others who have had out of body experiences on top of past life memories.
The only things I comprehend intuitively on some level is the following, and in parts I'll do my best to describe what I feel:
1) Not everyone reincarnates.
2) The state of life after death is or can be disorienting. Some people may not even realize that they've died, and others may hang around for a while, trying to stay with the life that they knew. I almost think to the Buddhists on this one, and their attempts to retain lucidity while dying are a part of this.
3) Things get "jumbled around." No one stays the same person over the course of a lifetime, and even then I sometimes have this feeling, especially while dreaming, of this "other me". During normal waking consciousness it's the quiet observer. I often wonder how different this "me" is from the "me" that is at present, and how much of the me at present will go away or be submerged.
I don't pretend to understand everything. The above is just weird shit I've picked up via personal gnosis. Maybe this is all my way of trying to understand and cope with my loss. I just know that this is something that has been preying on my mind since I was eight, and it isn't ever going away anytime soon.
What is eternity?
I have spent a huge portion of my life contemplating life after death. I have never been 100% certain of an afterlife, and I envy people who are that certain for one reason or another. Even with memories of past and future lifetimes, I still have many doubts. For one thing, I am not totally certain of the validity of my memories. For another, it's hard to know whether or not something is without some form of personal experience.
I know people who have undergone near death experiences. One experienced a Greek goddess. I know of others who have had out of body experiences on top of past life memories.
The only things I comprehend intuitively on some level is the following, and in parts I'll do my best to describe what I feel:
1) Not everyone reincarnates.
2) The state of life after death is or can be disorienting. Some people may not even realize that they've died, and others may hang around for a while, trying to stay with the life that they knew. I almost think to the Buddhists on this one, and their attempts to retain lucidity while dying are a part of this.
3) Things get "jumbled around." No one stays the same person over the course of a lifetime, and even then I sometimes have this feeling, especially while dreaming, of this "other me". During normal waking consciousness it's the quiet observer. I often wonder how different this "me" is from the "me" that is at present, and how much of the me at present will go away or be submerged.
I don't pretend to understand everything. The above is just weird shit I've picked up via personal gnosis. Maybe this is all my way of trying to understand and cope with my loss. I just know that this is something that has been preying on my mind since I was eight, and it isn't ever going away anytime soon.
What is eternity?