# Why can't the people who are alive right now know if there's an afterlife?
**URL:** https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216
**Category:** Religion and Spirituality
**Created:** [September 13, 2026, 8:27am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216 "2026-09-13T08:27:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/21 "2026-09-15T23:01:20Z")
> [@MrAuthoritarian](#):
>
> Death is the great mystery of life and nobody knows with absolute certainty what happens because once you die there’s no coming back to tell the tale.
But I do know.
Why do some of you people claim that you can know, with absolute certainty, what can or cannot be known ‘by others’?
“Death” is NOT a mystery anymore at all.
> [@MrAuthoritarian](#):
>
> Even decomposing dying biological matter is transferred into energy which continues on elsewhere. Does it all really end into nothingness?
you just answered this question in your prior sentence.
> [@MrAuthoritarian](#):
>
> Nonetheless there is no proof or evidence for anything which is why there is so much speculation around the subject.
But, the proof is HERE, if anyone would like to discuss it and see it.
> [@MrAuthoritarian](#):
>
> Nobody truly knows with the unknown and the unknown is a water fountain of mysticism, religion, spirituality, debate, or theoretical speculation.
Considering human history, it makes me wonder why some people still believe and insist that there are some things that can never be known.
Absolutely everything that human beings have come to know, as well as have created, was ONCE also completely impossible to be known, and done/created. But yet here ‘we’ still are learning and creating more and new/er things.
> [@MrAuthoritarian](#):
>
> Nobody truly knows with the unknown and the unknown is a water fountain of mysticism, religion, spirituality, debate, or theoretical speculation.
I KNOW. And, I HAVE THE PROOF.
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:04pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/22 "2026-09-15T23:04:41Z")
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> Having a consciousness surviving for eternity seems more cruel to me.
WHY?
And cruel to whom and/or what, exactly?
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> - The Christian/Muslim scenario of the soul going to paradise seems as eternal damnation, where you “live” with only scope to worship God. Any memories incompatible to “happiness” are eliminated, people you knew that went to hell should not bother you, there is nothing new to learn or do in paradise. To me, this looks quite cruel.
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> - The scenario of reincarnation to another form eliminates past memories and whatever happened in the past life. If the goal of reincarnation is to atone or correct past mistakes, it cannot happen consciously, because you do not know what you did wrong in the past life. So it is a new thing all together, which practically extinguishes the previous consciousness. You just enter in a purposeless cycle.
But your interpretations of both of these are misinterpretations and misunderstandings.
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:08pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/23 "2026-09-15T23:08:43Z")
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> > [@Ichthus77](#):
> >
> > you basically made it up so you can just unmake it up … problem solved
>
> Can you give a version of paradise where souls have something interesting to do for eternity?
Yes, and it is the version depicted in the stories, but which have been misinterpreted and mistranslated.
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> Apart from worshiping God, what other activities does paradise provide for souls?
Making ‘Life’ better for children, the next generation.
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> Religious texts frequently offer elaborate and terrifying portrayals of hell, while their accounts of paradise tend to be either remarkably vague or quite unconvincing.
That is one of the uncountable ways to ‘look at’ and ‘see’ things here.
---
### Author:  [@ghatzige](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/ghatzige)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:13pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/24 "2026-09-15T23:13:44Z")
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> …would you rather’ve heard that there’s absolutely zero point to all existence?
In religion, there is zero point to God, His existence serves no purpose. How can a purposeless God provide purpose to nature? Religion simply shifts the problem of purpose from nature to God.
The point of existence for humans is subjective, not objective. Nature does not introduce a special meaning of life for us, we introduce the meaning ourselves.
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:16pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/25 "2026-09-15T23:16:33Z")
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> Well, first you have to figure out what worship means.
Great point.
Obviously what ‘that word’ means, or is referring to, exactly, could be very, very different from what one first perceives or imagines.
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> The first thing that pops in my head is a passage that talks about “daily act of worship“. It’s not just one passage, and it’s not those exact words — it’s embedded in the culture because it’s “biblical” — a theme repeated throughout the Bible.
It could be said and noted that within every theological religion there might be a ‘worship’ of something else, instead of one’s own narrowed or limited thoughts and conclusions.
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> This verse about being a living sacrifice… emphasizing the importance of the body AND reason… makes hypocrites of so many of us…
>
> [Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.](https://biblehub.com/romans/12-1.htm)
Could ‘offering of human bodies as living sacrifices’ mean or refer to just doing what is Right by every one/thing?
After all, what we do through our human bodies is either good and Right, or bad and Wrong, behavior in Life.
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> Which is why grace is …_priceless_.
Just doing what is Right, in Life, only, gracefully, is what creates a Peaceful world.
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:17pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/26 "2026-09-15T23:17:34Z")
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> Since you have nothing else to offer as an activity, thanks for confirming that the only purpose of humans in paradise is worshiping.
What do you mean, or envision, when you say and use the ‘worship’ word, exactly?
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2026, 11:20pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/27 "2026-09-15T23:20:20Z")
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> It is the purpose at every point in time, actually.
What do you mean by ‘worshipping’, exactly? And, what is ‘the purpose’ for doing ‘that thing’, exactly?
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> And the second is like it… because we are all made in God’s image.
What does “made in God’s image” even mean, exactly?
The answer, by the way, is extremely simple and easy to know, exactly, ‘I’ am just curious to see if ‘you’ are even close.
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> …would you rather’ve heard that there’s absolutely zero point to all existence?
Is there zero point to all existence?
If no, then what point is there to all existence, exactly?
---
### Author:  [@Ichthus77](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Ichthus77)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 12:15am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/28 "2026-09-16T00:15:58Z")
I’m just gonna sum this up because I don’t wanna repeat what I said previously…
The point/purpose is love. Love is … when you recognize the “value of every person” in a person (see truth)… agreeing with (valuing) the value (beauty) you recognize, and reflecting that value in your behavior (good).
This value didn’t start with the first person _emerged_ from (informed into) physical matter/energy. This value did not have a beginning, but has always existed as original personhood, and we are made/formed in their image.
…and that image is not going to return to them defaced without a lot of blacksmithing to refine it. …but it is your choice to return (mentally/spiritually, as physically you never actually left). (the slow learners … like “the rich man“ still expecting Lazarus to serve him, rather than recognizing his personhood … lose their names, get laughed at because their self-contradiction is so ironic, and turned into parables)
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 1:33am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/29 "2026-09-16T01:33:02Z")
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> > [@Ichthus77](#):
> >
> > …would you rather’ve heard that there’s absolutely zero point to all existence?
>
> In religion, there is zero point to God, His existence serves no purpose.
1. God is NOT a “he”.
2. Without what the word God refers to, ‘you’ would NOT exist.
So, it could be said and argued a point to God is that ‘you’ came to exist, and a purpose to God is that Existence and the Univese, Itself, exists.
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> How can a purposeless God provide purpose to nature?
Have you got the irrefutable proof that God is purposeless?
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> Religion simply shifts the problem of purpose from nature to God.
But there is NO 'problem
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> The point of existence for humans is subjective, not objective.
Is the claim that God or Nature has no purpose a subjective viewpoint or an objective view and claim?
If the former, then could your own personal subjective view and claim here be Wrong in any way?
> [@ghatzige](#):
>
> Nature does not introduce a special meaning of life for us, we introduce the meaning ourselves.
No one could refute that human beings introduce and provide their own means, correct?
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 1:36am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/30 "2026-09-16T01:36:38Z")
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> I’m just gonna sum this up because I don’t wanna repeat what I said previously…
>
> The point is love. Love is … when you recognize the “value of every person” in a person (see truth)… agreeing with (valuing) the value (beauty) you recognize, and reflecting that value in your behavior (good).
How can there be ‘a person’ within ‘a person’, exactly?
Also, what is the ‘value of every person’ that ‘you’ are aware of, exactly?
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> This value didn’t start with the first person _emerged_ from (informed into) physical matter/energy. This value did not have a beginning, but has always existed as original personhood, and we are made/formed in their image.
What ‘value’ is that, exactly?
> [@Ichthus77](#):
>
> …and that image is not going to return to them defaced without a lot of blacksmithing to refine it. …but it is your choice to return (mentally/spiritually, as physically you never actually left). (the slow learners … like “the rich man“ still expecting Lazarus to serve him, rather than recognizing his personhood … lose their names, get laughed at because their self-contradiction is so ironic, and turned into parables)
Are ‘you’ a so-called “rich man”?
If no, then ‘you’ have no ‘value’, correct?
But, if yes, then ‘you’ have ‘value’, right?
Do ‘you’ have ‘value’? Is ‘your value’ less, more, or equal to every other ‘person’?
---
### Author:  [@anew1](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/anew1)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 1:38am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/31 "2026-09-16T01:38:23Z")
For those who are curious and interested, the word ‘afterlife’ is NOT about individual human beings what is called “dying”.
Although the “greedy and selfish” human beings started believing that the ‘afterlife’ was all about ‘them’.
---
### Author:  [@MrAuthoritarian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MrAuthoritarian)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/32 "2026-09-16T01:49:50Z")
@anew1
What is it you claim to know?
🤡
---
### Author:  [@MrAuthoritarian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MrAuthoritarian)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/33 "2026-09-16T01:51:08Z")
@ghatzige
Nature is in more control of human activity than we modern human beings care to admit ourselves.
🤡
---
### Author:  [@MrAuthoritarian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MrAuthoritarian)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 1:59am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/34 "2026-09-16T01:59:33Z")
@Ichthus77
What’s wrong with Maitreya exactly?
🤡
---
### Author:  [@MrAuthoritarian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MrAuthoritarian)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 2:11am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/35 "2026-09-16T02:11:55Z")
@ghatzige
Eternal oblivion and annihilationism seems to me is the most cruel fate which materialists or atheists believe in.
You spend your entire life cultivating your mental consciousness only to have it all ripped away from you into nothingness. At that point any kind of existence seems better than nothingness.
The materialists or atheists will say that nihil is the most basic simplest of answers upon the subject of death therefore it must be the most obvious correct one but I refuse to believe that is the ultimate answer to everything simply because from experience I find that what a majority of people believe in often enough is the incorrect position.
I think consciousness carries on somehow but how is the mystery of death itself.
Some say the entire universe or cosmos is a cosmic sea of pure consciousness, perhaps there is some truth to that. Perhaps when we die our own individual consciousness joins with that cosmic sea.
If everything really does end in nothingness as the great finality to everything including ourselves I don’t think atheists or materialists fully understand the negative ramifications of all that in terms of lingering overall consequences.
🤡
---
### Author:  [@The\_Emotion](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Emotion)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 3:20am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/36 "2026-09-16T03:20:54Z")
From what I’ve heard when the heart dies you can bring that back to life that’s possible but when the brain dies it’s completely over for a human.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Emotion](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Emotion)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 3:24am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/37 "2026-09-16T03:24:00Z")
You are wrong there’s things that humans will never know.
---
### Author:  [@MrAuthoritarian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MrAuthoritarian)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 3:25am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/38 "2026-09-16T03:25:45Z")
@The_Emotion
Despite what modern science or neurology says we still don’t have an adequate explanation for human consciousness entirely where many things on the subject eludes us even in the material empirical sense.
I like to think there is more mysteries and unknowns to this existence even with things beyond the scope of organized science.
🤡
---
### Author:  [@The\_Emotion](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/The_Emotion)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 3:26am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/39 "2026-09-16T03:26:00Z")
Wouldn’t survival itself be meaningful ?
---
### Author:  [@MrAuthoritarian](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/MrAuthoritarian)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2026, 3:31am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216/40 "2026-09-16T03:31:12Z")
@ghatzige
Hell is for the living here on earth, not the dead.
🤡
[Previous page](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-cant-the-people-who-are-alive-right-now-know-if-theres-an-afterlife/86216.md?page=3)