If you don't believe in an afterlife, what is your motivation?

[BluE_MeaniE]

Originally Posted by FoJaR

regardless of your point of view, saying that there isnt much purpose to this life if there is an afterlife is just silly....

i mean heaven/hell.... duhhh

My point is that heaven or hell seem to be the important part. Life on earth would just the staging area, like I said.

[Loot You]

To make it to tier 4 by Friday. Well, actually, my motivation is seeing how far I can get before I'm eaten by a pack of lions.

[Hollywood13]

touchy subject but i dont believe in god or heaven or hell. I am still motivated to go out and live my life to the fullest tho, maybe our motivation comes from the fear of death..???

[Cj_leonine]

Personally I have no motivation. I simply am just going through the motions and could care less who dies around me or when I do die.

I mean I do have goals but at this point in life I really don't care if I accomplish them.

[slipstrike0159]

Thats a real bleak outlook on things.

[FoJaR]

Originally Posted by TheRapingDragon

I don't know what to believe in, if there IS an afterlife then you won't have your memories or anything to go by so you might as well be starting all over again.

Doesn't give me much motivation.

So why do I continue to persist with this phobia even though I technically don't believe in "my" afterlife, probably just because I can, I might as well live while I can, that and my fiancee, apart from that I don't have too much motivation.

So, in short: because I can.

why wont you have your memories in an afterlife?

forgive me if i dont make that logical leap.

[FoJaR]

Originally Posted by Maid

This is my theory, it may not be true but it sure as heck more plausible than heaven or hell.

why

[FoJaR]

Originally Posted by MagicCarpetRide

So.... this will sound retarded to most of you and you will probably find a way to prove it wrong but what if....
When you die your brain kind of goes off on its own like, Whatever you beleive will happen your brain kind of simulates for you... Like this whole life isn't real it is all simulated in your brain... And you can kind of trigger your brain and decide what will happen yourself and your brain with sort of create an artificial environment that you beleive to be heaven or something....................... I don't know it just makes me think sometimes, Why are we here? And that's one of the few almost logical explanations i can think of.

brain will be completely dead at this point.

no more workey workey.

[FoJaR]

Originally Posted by BluE_MeaniE

My point is that heaven or hell seem to be the important part. Life on earth would just the staging area, like I said.

well i guess it's all how you think about it.

like i would say that the semester that you spend in a class is the important part, and you would probably say it's the little letter you get as a final grade.

[BluE_MeaniE]

Originally Posted by FoJaR

well i guess it's all how you think about it.

like i would say that the semester that you spend in a class is the important part, and you would probably say it's the little letter you get as a final grade.

I think a better analogy is if the semester you spend in class or the time spent during the rest of your life working more important?

The fact that the afterlife would be eternally long while life isn't is enough to tilt things.

[FoJaR]

alright, your analogy is better, but you're still wrong.

HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THE JOB YOU WANT IF YOU DONT PUT IN THE EFFORT IN COLLEGE?

you gotta perform well in school, or you're gonna end up pushing a mop, for all eternity.

[windsurfer-sp]

Ok first of all I think that ppl who dont believe in an afterlife dont have motivation for life but keep on living because there instincts are to do so. Its a sort of bio-mechanical natural response of such, they are also taught to by parents and such. Thats why ppl who are suicidal have broken what they are naturally trained to do, which is to survive.

Secondly an afterlife to atheists isn't nescerally heaven/hell. It could be any form of consciousness which may not be in a heaven or hell form, these sorts of thoughts are what can cause phobias aka therapingdragon.

Thirdly I do believe in an afterlife of heaven and hell. I believe that the motivation towards life is that I need to get as many of my freinds and family and enemies and strangers and anyone I can, to go to heaven and not hell through Jesus Christ, not just being good or bad. That is my answer for the question of the meaning of life.

To answer the question directly, people who dont believe in afterlife live for worldly temporary motivations (money, power, fame). These aren't nescerally bad things but dont go with you when you die.

Other motivations can be family and relationships these motivations aren't bad motivations but aren't permanent enough to base your life upon. People die, relationships break ppl get divorced. As soon as that happens your motivation for life may dry up and then what you kill yourself?

I recommend a permanent motivation which cant be found without a belief in an afterlife which unfortunately is not part of the question.

I hope this helps A2, good luck with your essay.

In the future I'm defiantly going to ask you guys for essay advice on my next essay when school starts

[TheRapingDragon]

Originally Posted by FoJaR

why wont you have your memories in an afterlife?

forgive me if i dont make that logical leap.

Because I believe that memories are part of your brain, when you die your brain dies, if anything we are a collection of molecules, bacteria, etc. When we die all of that scatters to find another organism to inhabit, thus everything about "you" is broken up, scattered, and replaced. Thus, if anything of you "lives on" it will never be in the same original form, with the same original memories.

Apologies if some of that seems stupid, my science never was A* material.

[kylehaas]

well, yeah. i definately beleive in life after death... but all those EMO people, im sure they wouldnt agree with me... perhaps thats why they are so screwed up?

[Cj_leonine]

Dear Fojar, Quadruple post.

[Sarah1492]

there's a theory... can't remember wut religion it is but I think its cool... its that when u die u get a new life as something else. it could be a king, it could be an elephant. but it all dependds on how good u were and wut u did in your previous life. and i know that there are people, maybe monks?, i dont no but they can tell u wut u were... but then again theres heaven.... i just dont no, but i also want to live mi life to the fullest

[TheRapingDragon]

Sarah, quick bit of advice, especially seeing as how this is the critical thinking section - try to type out your words. "You" instead of "u" takes no time at all. People will tend to not pay attention to your post as much if you litter it with "text speak" such as "tell u wut u were".

Also, you are talking about reincarnation.

Also, Fojar I forgot to mention, but you tell me you won't make the leap to believe that your memories will go at death, yet you also tell another person that the brain dies at death, meaning "no workey workey".

If the brain is where your memories are stored, and it dies, then how can you keep your memories, what then do you believe to keep your memories, your "soul"? Or what?

[Angel Shiyue]

Most of my motivation is that I want to make a mark on the world before I leave. Pretty much just something that people will remember me by when I'm gone. It scares me to think that once I die, that's it. No one will really remember me, etc.

[Sarah1492]

my opinion is that we were put on this earth to make it better. i hope maybe i can find a way to do that

[itmorr]

I agree with Tsugomaru, except for the part about life being a game to get to the top.