【Reincarnation】Will the day come when we know if there’s an afterlife?

[1] Are there people researching the afterlife?

• [2] Won’t we find out when we die?

[3] >>2 But if it’s eternal nothingness, we won’t know, right?

• [4] >>3 Oh, is that so? (lol)

[6] >>4 Yeah, it would be nice if it were a heaven lasting close to eternity.

[5] I kind of feel like there is something, like a next life. For some reason, I can learn English smoothly, my smartphone makes operation sounds and apps launch today too, sometimes just sounds occur, or an app launches itself right before I tap its logo. Also, at the funeral of my father’s sister’s husband, the CD radio turned on even though I didn’t touch the physical power button.

[7] Was it after reading Fumihiko Iida’s books? Ever since I started believing somewhat in the afterlife, strange phenomena happen often. On the day of the funeral for my mother’s brother’s wife’s older brother, an app launched itself right before I was about to launch it.

[9] I’ve used two different smartphone models, but it’s a daily occurrence for operation sounds to happen and apps to launch on their own, or for nothing to happen at all. This isn’t an Android bug, is it?

• [11] Theoretical physics will figure it out for you.

[13] >>11 Really? I hope it gets figured out while I’m still alive.

[15] They say there are about 10^500 universes, so it wouldn’t be strange if unimaginable things happened.

[19] Was it the day after my mother died? When I was crying, I clearly heard crying coming from my mother’s direction.

• [20] You lost your mother… You must be going through a tough time.

[22] >>20 Embarrassingly, I cried about 10 years’ worth of tears in a few days. I started this topic partly because I hope my mother’s consciousness continues.

• [21] Everyone faces their death anniversary; I guess that’s when we’ll know the answer.
• [23] What was it again? There was a story about a brilliant doctor somewhere, maybe America, who completely denied the afterlife, but after having a near-death experience, became convinced it exists, right?

[24] >>23 I think I might have heard that. I had an incredible experience with a designer drug called super lemon xtc 12th, so I think it wouldn’t be strange if it exists. Today’s designer drugs are apparently worse for the body than stimulants and have almost no effect, so I really hope nobody tries them.

• [25] >>24 This is it! Please watch it if you like. https://youtu.be/5YzJ9QwdLcY

[28] >>25 I’ve seen that video before. I’ve read a lot of books about that kind of stuff, but I want a bit more solid proof. I’ll rewatch it after my bath.

• [29] >>28 Well, only if you feel like it. See ya. But it was pretty interesting.
• [33] >>25 This is cut in places, isn’t it? The part about the blind patient and the brain reboot theory is missing.
• [34] >>33 Oh, is it?
• [35] >>34 Yeah. The scene where the blind patient saw the doctor during surgery, or where the Japanese doctor asks, “Could it be a brain reboot?” isn’t there.

[38] >>25 It was interesting. However, I believe consciousness isn’t solely generated by the brain, so I don’t think it’s strange to have a connection with a deceased person you didn’t know.

• [97] >>25 Since he could see the face of a sister he didn’t even know existed, the afterlife must be real, right? They probably sever the connection with the physical body when they decide to stay over there.
• [100] >>97 Who knows? I think it’s certain that a phenomenon unexplainable by science occurred, though.
• [26] It’s in your heart.
• [27] In a sense, I think that’s correct. It’s about what existence is.
• [30] If there were no afterlife, we would have to live forever.
• [31] >>30 But there’s reincarnation, isn’t there?
• [32] >>31 You’re still living on, aren’t you?
• [36] I’ve died many times, but there’s no world you experience realistically with your own ego. It’s like sorting trash for disposal; there’s the physical body, the spirit body, and the soul. The ego is attached to the physical body. There are things felt with the faint consciousness of the spirit body, but that’s close to the consciousness you have until death. At the soul level, it’s close to unconsciousness.
• [37] >>36 Spirit body? Like early Yusuke (*protagonist of the manga/anime “Yu☆Yu☆Hakusho”)?
• Yusuke is the name of the protagonist of the popular Japanese manga and anime series “Yu☆Yu☆Hakusho”. Early in the story, he dies in an accident and temporarily operates as a spirit.*
• [39] Aren’t near-death experiences and the afterlife unrelated?

[40] >>39 Now that you say it, I kind of feel that way too. The doctor in the video seemed convinced of the afterlife because his sister, whom he shouldn’t have known, appeared.

• [42] >>40 But isn’t that a common trick used by scammers or magicians? He was dying, so there could be misunderstandings or memory gaps.

[43] >>42 Because he had a mind clear enough to draw it distinctly, wasn’t there some phenomenon that current science can’t explain?

• [44] >>43 Even so, that falls under the science of the human body, not proof of the afterlife.

[46] >>44 It might not be proof of the afterlife, but like the blind person in the video (the part that was cut) accurately describing the scene, I think there’s something beyond human understanding.

• [48] >>46 If that’s true, perhaps. But I’m skeptical. I think it’s less credible than STAP cells.

[50] >>48 I don’t think a blind person would lie on purpose. Besides, the description matched perfectly.

[41] The appearance of grotesque creatures might be a projection of the cows, pigs, birds, fish, etc., that I’ve eaten throughout my life.

• [45] Besides, I think it’s close to arrogance to think that humans are special. If there is an afterlife, I think it would be a world equally fair to animals, microorganisms, etc., not just humans.

[47] >>45 If there were an afterlife, I think it would be equal, though perhaps not completely, for all living beings.

• [49] >>47 In that case, it’s probably a place far removed from human consciousness.

[51] Changing the subject, but even in quantum mechanics, they say that quanta exhibit wave properties when unobserved and particle properties when observed. So, I think it’s certain that consciousness isn’t just electrical signals in the brain.

• [52] >>51 That’s quite wrong.
• [54] “Observation” in quantum mechanics has absolutely nothing to do with human intention.
• [55] It’s about whether you hit it with measurement particles or not, which changes the behavior of light. Human intention like “looking / not looking” is completely irrelevant.
• [63] This might not matter, but where is “電源が立つ” (den gen ga tatsu – power stands up) from? Is it dialect?

[64] >>63 I deliberately chose a phrase that would be memorable and easy to visualize. I thought if I just said the normal “電源が入る” (den gen ga hairu – power turns on), it would be too commonplace and the information would just flow past without getting noticed.

• [65] >>64 Wouldn’t “立ち上がる” (tachiagaru – stands up/boots up) have been fine?

[66] >>65 That’s true too.

• [67] There is no afterlife. When you die, you become nothing.

[68] >>67 I don’t want to think that such a cute creature (see video) has only a dozen years of consciousness and then eternal nothingness. https://youtu.be/Ne3L99fjhyo

• [69] Cats are cute, but they probably become nothing when they die.

[70] >>69 When you consider that the number of universes (in the multiverse theory) is far greater than the total number of atoms in the universe we currently inhabit, I think anything could happen.

• [71] >>70 That’s just one theory.

[75] >>71 Well then, if space is finite, what lies beyond it? If space is infinite, isn’t that also strange?

• [72] Anything could happen, but conversely, nothing could happen too. You need to consider hypotheses from multiple angles, or you’ll narrow your perspective.
• [74] >>72 Trying to sound cool wrapping it up like that, but basically… it’s just whoever speaks first wins, right? (lol)
• [77] >>74 It’s not about whoever speaks first wins. It means that no matter what you say, if you can’t prove it, it’s just a hypothesis and meaningless.
• [76] You don’t remember anything before you were born, do you? If birth is the beginning, then if there’s a beginning, there must also be an end.
• [78] The comedian Matsumura (Kunihiro), who was clinically dead with no heartbeat for several weeks, said that when he was unconscious, it was “nothingness.”
• [80] If it could affect the present world, it would be worth researching, but just knowing whether it exists or not is in the realm of hobbies, and nobody would do research that doesn’t make money.
• [81] Is it this? https://www.fujitv.co.jp/unb/contents/131128_1.html
• [82] What kind of world is the afterlife, anyway?
• [85] >>82 I don’t think anyone knows.
• [83] A man clinically diagnosed as brain dead woke up 10 minutes later. The afterlife he saw was “nothingness.” https://news.nicovideo.jp/watch/nw5650217
• [84] >>83 So it’s probably like being asleep? Like, really deep sleep.
• [86] >>83 Why do people who have near-death experiences start valuing life more? It’s strange, isn’t it?
• [87] Even if there were an afterlife, if your consciousness was just there under the grave, unable to move a finger, wouldn’t that be meaningless?
• [90] >>87 Many religions and spiritual teachings have the concept of a “soul,” you know.
• [89] Even if near-death experiences could be induced at will, it would ultimately just be the subject’s impression, so it wouldn’t be 100% proof.
• [91] >>89 It might be better to think about near-death experiences and the afterlife separately.
• [93] >>91 Then it’s definitely impossible. How are you supposed to scientifically find something that’s purely imaginary?
• [95] >>93 Hmm… Fieldwork with people who remember past lives is common, but I can’t rule out the possibility that this is just something beyond human understanding at play.
• [114] >>95 No matter what you experience, people will just say, “That’s just your imagination.”
• [115] >>114 When interviewing people who remember past lives, there are many cases where the details they recount perfectly match a person who actually existed in the past.
• [92] What is a soul, anyway? If the elderly have an elderly soul and babies have a baby soul, and their thoughts are at the level of an old person or a baby, then a baby can’t think complex thoughts, and the elderly might be senile (due to dementia, etc.). If the soul has different thoughts (from the body), isn’t that no longer an extension of consciousness from this life?
• [94] >>92 Many spiritual books teach that the soul is in a state of clarity.
• [96] >>94 What is a “state of clarity”?
• [98] >>96 It’s a state where your thoughts are clear, and you grasp truths one after another.
• [99] >>98 What happens with a baby then?
• [102] >>98 (Likely reply to [99]) I think a baby’s thinking seems immature because their body is underdeveloped. There’s also the constraint of having to learn the language of the place they were born.
• [104] >>102 It’s because they lack knowledge. People develop ways of thinking and thought patterns through experience. If that baby’s (soul) became conscious and clear, crammed with knowledge, and able to think deeply, it would no longer be the same person (from this life).
• [101] I think the story about the blind person is a lie. Or a misunderstanding. A soul is supposed to be a higher-dimensional existence, yet it can only perceive things within the frequency of visible light that humans can see? That doesn’t go beyond the realm of human imagination. Even dogs and cats can see in different frequencies.
• [112] Maybe animals other than humans know what happens after death.
• [113] >>112 That’s an interesting perspective.