Is Belief In An Afterlife A Death Wish?

My father, and undiagnosed schizophrenic, had been taken advantage of all his life and could not control the people he wished to control. He told me that he was in a hurry to go see Jesus. He started eating bad generic food and smoking generic menthols. He keeled over, as many do, shoveling snow. One neighbor told me he was over exerting himself so much, it seemed he wanted to die.

A friend of mine, who is a diagnosed schizophrenic, has confessed to me his death wish. It's not that strong, because his 2 suicide attempts failed. He tells me he can't wait to go to Heaven and party with all the friends he's lost.

Is the afterlife stealing people from this life? Is it encouraging people to be soldiers who die for the cause? Is it hindering progress? Are people blowing off uniting humanity because they know Heaven will be a blissful eternity of unity?

 

In a way it is.

It's our way of dealing with the suffering we experienced/are experiencing throughout our lives. Death brings us relief from whatever we are currently experiencing. This is why most religions flourish. It's a way out. Many doctrines revolve around suffering and its ultimate end, often through death.

 

I probably wouldn't generalize people's notions and desires of the afterlife from a couple anecdotal accounts from schizophrenics.

With that being said, maybe we can glean some insight into such reports and see how people justify suicide bombings and the like.


Further, I think without exception, a belief in the afterlife inherently detracts from one's life in this world. All the depictions of afterlife that I've heard of involve people seeking to achieve a desired afterlife goal that comes with stipulations to modify behavior, thoughts, etc in various ways in this world. Admittidely, I don't know many Eastern views regarding what the afterlife entails.

 

Someone needs to clue these people in.... If you fuck up this time around, you just have to come back and do it again.

 

it doesn't have to be, but i mean, the trouble with life is that whatever one we are currently living, eventually ends, whether we wish it or not.

 

I personally don't believe in the afterlife. I know when we're dead, the body is nothing. What happens with the soul or mind, who knows. I'm not looking forward to death, but I'm not afraid of it. I probably won't care when I'm dead because I'll be gone. Or maybe floating around some stars enjoying the view. Maybe I'll be a comet or something lol

 

I agree with guerillabedlam, schizophrenics view the world far differently than we do. Some people believe they exist in another state of consciousness. Hearing voices we will never here, feeling pain we will never feel, and sensing emotions mankind was never meant to experience

 

I'm schizophrenic, but my life doesn't revolve around what I will do in the afterlife. I hope there is one to make up for this life, but it isn't the thought that is making this life unfulfilling. It's just that I don't belong. All of the love that you share...there's no share in it for me. Never has been. I get by on very little. No conversation, no touch, no affection. No one to even say "You did a really nice job" and certainly no one to admire me.

Belief in an afterlife is having a wide range of effects on different people, as is non-belief. It definitely isn't black and white/good or bad. And there's nothing to be done about it. It comes with the territory of having a human mind which is unavoidably capable of conceiving of such things. It's just a burden of being intelligent, I guess. We can't close off the power of our imagination to certain possibilities just because they might have a detrimental effect upon our lives.

"Wow," someone says, "He actually isn't ranting and raving for a schizophrenic. I would expect him not to be able to string two words together."

 

I have mixed feelings and beliefs about an afterlife. I believe in it, but don't really know what it might look like. Or feel like. Will it even matter?

 

At the risk of completely derailing this thread, I hope you don't mind some questions and well-intentioned suggestions (which may nevertheless be stupid). When you say that you don't belong, do you mean that you don't fit in to ordinary social relationships? I'm sure many of us like me have felt like strangers in a strange land. One of the ways I've dealt with that is through support groups. One of the benefits of those is that you come to recognize you're not alone. Is that something you might try? Or really any group might do--e.g., one connected with your interests, hobbies, etc. Or maybe even attend a lecture and strike up a conversation about it with one of the other attendees. If the first thing you try doesn't work out, try another. I'm thinking you seem to miss human contact--conversation, affection, touch. By becoming part of a group, you might be able to find those things (touch can be tricky these days, so you might approach that cautiously.Try not to be judgmental. You'll find, I think, that many other people are looking for a friend--someone to take an interest in them.

As you say, "He actually isn't ranting and raving for a schizophrenic." He actually seems really intelligent. You share your thoughts regularly on these forums, so I'm assuming that's something you like to do. We benefit from your posts, even when I strongly disagree with some of them. Seems to me there have been posts of yours I've admired. Maybe the internet can provide you with an outlet for conversation and positive feedback.

Anyhow, I hope life goes better for you from now on, and that I haven't said anything inappropriate. I don't know your situation or how much freedom you have, so If my comments seem ridiculous, just ignore them.

 

Yes, yes they are. They focus on the afterlife fantasy and through this they dismiss real world problems. "Only God can judge me", "Jesus forgives all my sins", "It's in God's hands", the morality loopholes and real consequence denials that religion enables is endless.

 

^that's rather simplistic

 

It's quite convoluted actually.

 

Your assessment is, yes.

 

For those of you paying attention, see how the convoluted prefer their convolutions.

 

I'm agnostic.

 

Thanks Okie. Sorry for being a jerk to you. I have just been very frustrated. Single for ten years, sorta at odds with old friends (familiarity breeds contempt)... I just feel blue and hopeless at times, though I've been feeling better since I wrote that post. I've never been one for groups. I dunno...I might go out alone tonight, see what happens.

 

oh there's afterlife alright..but it wont be mine or yours

the decomposition or ashes of our bodies will nourish the future life over and over again

same it always has ...same as it always will be

 

LOL.