I know for a fact there is a spirit world and matter aka flesh and spirit are separate but not sure how it works. Had 3 out of body experience's in my life. None in last 40 years though.
I think we'll all be surprised, some in a good way, others in a bad way. None of us knows for sure what we're going to find, if anything.
They don't need to remember the "ME." If, as a teacher, or anything else, I did something good for their 'life on earth,(as teachers and others did for me), I live on. When heartbeats and brain action stops, the "ME" is no more. I have no problem with that.
You and Houdini. He said that returning from the afterlife would be his greatest feat, and for folks to light a candle for him so he could find his way back. The only flaw in that idea was he said to light those candles every Halloween. I gotta wonder how many front-porch pumpkins the poor guy found himself stuck inside of, and no one even knew that he made it.
This is great, good, satisfactory, or unimportant.... I Think with very limited view of all the facts, subject to change, that If your prayer is answered, and Hashem grants you understanding, this is great. If your prayer is not answered, but you keep praying - seeking understanding, this is good. If you're not sure but eventually decide, this is satisfactory for now - hopeful the end does not happen before you pass. If you're not really praying for understanding, this is unimportant, with no foreseeable change .
I’m sort of on board with you so far as living forever on this small ball in the universe. The search for immortality has been going on for centuries even to the point of present day research in human brain organoids in the arena of robotics. Imagine having an impervious to disease body, your own brain and still have to pay taxes for however long your brain lasts. That written, I’m in it for the long haul truly believing that this whole earth bound experience of ill-understanding is a precursor to attaining that epignosis that God has promised. As I have indicated before, I really believe that the description of the hereafter as given in the Bible is the best that can be done so mankind will have a very small modicum of understanding that there are some wonders yet to come that are unfathomable now but will be understood later. I mean, in an atmosphere whereby no one is looking for financial gain, what worth does gold and pearls have other than their beauty? The symbolism alone is indicative of something far greater.
That written, I’m in it for the long haul truly believing that this whole earth bound experience of ill-understanding is a precursor to attaining that epignosis that God has promised. As I have indicated before, I really believe that the description of the hereafter as given in the Bible is the best that can be done so mankind will have a very small modicum of understanding that there are some wonders yet to come that are unfathomable now but will be understood later. This leads me to a conundrum I've thought about all my life but have never discussed with anyone. I know myself to be a very limited person who couldn't enjoy a forever life on this earth, so to fully live an eternal life after death I'd have to be much more than I am now. Would that expanded self feel like me? I really have no wish for any god-like powers. I don't feel like I've phrased the question adequately but it's the best I can do.
Dunno. It is now said that the whole universe is conscious albeit no one can define what the word actually means the same as no one can accurately define thought or how emotions are formed. We know the difference between being unconscious versus conscious and we know that brain wave activity is a product of thinking and we know that happiness and sadness are emotions but the roots of all of that is still unknown. But conscious is not merely being aware, thought is a precursor to thinking and knowing we’re happy isn’t the same as knowing the fabric of emotions. And, just as an added attraction, when time is irrelevant, does time exist? All the scientists that have been produced in this world have not been able to fully explain those 3 basic items that we all live with on a split second to second basis and we also find that the objectivity of time can indeed be subjective. We can propose, investigate, research, reason and possibly even logically place some semblance of solidity or paradigm for something far away removed from our own understanding but conjecture is all that can possibly be offered ergo what we understand is pretty much meaningless and what we know is that we know nothing. For me, I have great knowledge about some things and truly want a little knowledge about all things but to have full knowledge of all things and be part of the universe as opposed to just looking at it would be heaven. Edit: So far as spending an eternity, what is eternity when time is nonexistent? A blinking of an eye could be a million years.
Regarding time, I can look at the material universe and see that it treats most matter/energy structures as unstable and that time can be measured by the change or combination of those material entities into more stable forms. A bright star sheds its energy and over time becomes a cold dwarf - instability to stability. The same processes happen on the microscopic and quantum level. People experience time as growth followed by deterioration and death. I suppose a body buried in a coffin is 'stable' as compared to a living, active person, so the analogy with non-living objects holds. A vital point about our human consciousness is that we experience time after the fact by it's results and don't really experience time as it happens. Watching the hands on a clock move isn't really experiencing time itself. It's all unfathomable - to me, anyway.
Isn’t it sort of ironic that we humans seem give up on the things we don’t understand and go after more things we do not understand? We know so little about our earth but have ventured into the exploration of space. We know something next to nothing about our present human existence but try to create life. We can’t totally eradicate any disease so we make more diseases that we can’t eradicate. No one truly understands this life but there are some who say they understand everything about the possibilities or impossibilities of an afterlife. Kinda like figuring out that ya don’t know how to build a house in the middle of building a house and then quitting and starting to build a bigger and more complicated house just to be more confounded. We are indeed strange creatures. It is no wonder we are told that our wisdom is foolishness to God.
We are indeed strange creatures. Speak for yourself, Bobby Cole. Just kidding. All of us are strange critters.