short_sells_poo 2 days ago

I sympathise with you, but I'd take a much more optimistic view on this. If death is oblivion, then you won't be able to feel sad that you don't exist since there won't be a consciousness to interpret these feelings.

If there's consciousness after death (in whatever form), then it is clearly not the end, just a part of a much longer - possibly infinite - journey. Even better!

In either case: it's better to stop worrying about what may come after and enjoy the journey to the fullest!

2
lennxa 2 days ago

Hi short_sells_poo, in Hinduism, afaict you - your soul (Ātman [1]) is stuck in a loop of birth-death-rebirth (Saṃsāra [2]). and this is not good, and you live your life in the best way (Dharma [3], Karma [4]) to attain liberation (Moksha [5]), to be one with the God (Brahman [6]), to end the cycle of rebirths.

Thought you might find it interesting.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%83s%C4%81ra [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Hinduism [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman

echelon 2 days ago

I appreciate the sympathies. Everything's okay. I'm relatively comfortable with death. Though it still feels like we're in a local optima faraway removed from true nirvana, there's not much we can do about that currently. I don't know if any "speed run" of life today could solve it for those of us presently alive.

> If death is oblivion, then you won't be able to feel sad that you don't exist since there won't be a consciousness to interpret these feelings.

I've also taken this to mean that any pleasure and pain in this life are meaningless on a geological time span. Apart from what comfort we need to keep our mental health while still alive [1], we don't need to optimize for self-gratification, pleasure, or wealth accumulation. It's my excuse for grinding so hard at the few things that bring me meaning.

We're all traversing these gradients differently. The sum of what we learn and build will feed into the next generations. I hope the future is brighter for them than the wildest of we could dream of today.

[1] Time with friends and family; enough resources to not worry about food, shelter, or bills; a fun distraction here or there