# Scared of Oblivion and Scared of Eternity



## blc1

The more I think I about it the deeper my conviction becomes that neither possibility, oblivion or ceaselessness, is the least bit appealing. Annihilation is not a particularly comforting thought, dwelling on it too much starts to deprive things of meaning. Conversely, I don't desire an eternity of bliss and most definitely not an eternity of torment, an eternity of anything is a hell in itself. Endlessness seems as horrifying to me as the nihilist's abyss. I think of Herman Melville's quote " what is man that he should live out the lifetime of his God?" Heaven- the frightening monotony of eternal worship, but frankly, I rarely think of heaven; but my mind, heart, soul, and everything in me revolts against the possibility of an eternal hell. It seems immensely unfair, the most obvious injustice of it being, as many have noted, infinite punishment for finite crimes. Also, for many people this life is a hell. Hundreds of millions of people in this world must their whole lives suffer the dehumanizing conditions of dire poverty, and to think that there are people who have endured so much misfortune and misery in this life will have an eternity of horror awaiting them in next life is monstrous. For some, first an earthly hell, then an eternal one? I don't want to sound pessimistic, but this is a dreary subject for me. I prefer the idea of reincarnation where existence is cyclical, multiple lives and multiple bodies rather than one life in a linear eternity. Unfortunately, I don't believe in reincarnation, I just prefer it as a theory. Sorry if this is messy.


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## erasercrumbs

I don't have much in the way of helpful advice. I just wanted to pop in and say this is a fantastic slice of internet. Great post.

I like to think that in the afterlife, monotony (and implied boredom) is an impossibility. Boredom, after all, is an emotional response to a negative situation, and emotions are fundamentally physiological sensations. Boredom is an evolutionary response to stagnation, a defense mechanism that causes us to create, build, and adapt to new situations. In the afterlife, if we exist in a 'higher' state free from biological needs, there would be no evolutionary need for boredom, so it's likely that boredom simply doesn't exist. 

Sorry if this comes across as gibberish. It's late and I'm sleepy...good things rarely come from the combination of a keyboard and sleepiness.


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## Solomon's Tomb

Don't be frightened. It happened to billions before us, and will happen to billions after us. Death is nothing to fear.


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## Scrumpilump2000

One great thing about "being" dead is that you won't be around to care! There is no guarantee of anything. We just don't know whether it is oblivion, reincarnation, recurrence, etc.


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## nomoreants

What is oblivion but a concept. a label. The meaning of life is to not get attached to meaningless labels and give them importance. Live from moment to moment and enjoy little things that comes your way...


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## Royals

I kind of agree. The only thing wich I am sometimes afraid of is living for eternity. Eternity? The only reason why this is, is because we cannot *grasp* the concept of eternity since we live a temporary life. But I am not afraid of death because I know I live on. How can you even be, when you believe in God and His promises? It´s comforting to know there is a place wich rewards you for being a good and faithful person on earth


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## Droidsteel

One has to assume that heaven if infinite in every way possible, that way their would be not monotony or repetition.


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## The Sorrow

Eternity does not mean infinitive long time, it mean there is no time.


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## Desolate Outcast

I've thought a lot about this stuff too. Glad I'm not the only one.

I think heaven will not be monotonous or boring because we'll be "changed" (or "brainwashed" if you prefer) by God to enjoy eternal worship and to want nothing else. As much as it's natural for mortal humans to be restless, striving, and never satisfied, the souls in heaven will naturally be happy and content for all eternity. When I think about that, it makes life on Earth seem even more special. In cosmic time, each of us is here only for the blink of an eye and then gone. And yet this short time may be the only chance we ever have to be truly free beings, to exercise our will and determine our own destiny. For in heaven, you may be like the angels, desiring nothing but what you have, being perfectly happy and faithful simply because there is no alternative. Don't worry about it being dull or boring. You won't be free enough to even choose those feelings.

Religious people like to say no one really deserves heaven, it is only God's mercy that allows anyone to go there. But when you think about it, no one truly deserves hell either. Even if we thought Hitler deserved a hundred trillion years of torture for each and every person he killed in the holocaust, whatever that period of time was would still be less than a millisecond compared to eternity.

Your third alternative, oblivion, seems perhaps scarier than it really is. Remember how you felt all those eons into the past up until you were born? That is how oblivion would feel. It is nonexistence. If that's what awaits us, we will never even realize when we have arrived there. We will never even know we have died. While oblivion is infinitely worse than eternal happiness, it is still infinitely better than eternal suffering in hell. People with very unhappy lives would see oblivion as desirable, as a final end to suffering. I think if God were as fair and merciful as people say, good people would go to heaven, while bad people would simply cease to exist (oblivion). But apparently that's not how it works.

It can be dangerous to believe in oblivion. If everyone who died before us is simply gone forever, and the same thing will soon happen to us and to everyone who comes after us, and in time the entire human race will disappear as though it were never here... then suddenly nothing matters. Whether you are good or evil makes no difference. Any good works you do, anything you build, any people you teach or help or love, will all be wiped out by time, as though they never existed. The same would apply to any evil as well. So if you want to shoot up a theatre full of Batman fans, there's nothing to stop you, because in the grand scheme of things it won't make any difference. I don't believe in oblivion because of all the troubling implications. I can't accept that everything is fleeting, random and meaningless. I realize there are atheists who believe in goodness and in helping people, but they are not truly living their "faith", just like some religious people aren't living theirs.

Thanks for raising such a deep topic. Most people prefer to deal with these questions by ignoring them. :b


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## Todd99

blc1 said:


> The more I think I about it the deeper my conviction becomes that neither possibility, oblivion or ceaselessness, is the least bit appealing. Annihilation is not a particularly comforting thought, dwelling on it too much starts to deprive things of meaning. Conversely, I don't desire an eternity of bliss and most definitely not an eternity of torment, an eternity of anything is a hell in itself. Endlessness seems as horrifying to me as the nihilist's abyss. I think of Herman Melville's quote " what is man that he should live out the lifetime of his God?" Heaven- the frightening monotony of eternal worship, but frankly, I rarely think of heaven; but my mind, heart, soul, and everything in me revolts against the possibility of an eternal hell. It seems immensely unfair, the most obvious injustice of it being, as many have noted, infinite punishment for finite crimes. Also, for many people this life is a hell. Hundreds of millions of people in this world must their whole lives suffer the dehumanizing conditions of dire poverty, and to think that there are people who have endured so much misfortune and misery in this life will have an eternity of horror awaiting them in next life is monstrous. For some, first an earthly hell, then an eternal one? I don't want to sound pessimistic, but this is a dreary subject for me. I prefer the idea of reincarnation where existence is cyclical, multiple lives and multiple bodies rather than one life in a linear eternity. Unfortunately, I don't believe in reincarnation, I just prefer it as a theory. Sorry if this is messy.


Not all Christians believe in an eternal Hell(Adventists believe they will be destroyed after their just punishment is served)
I just felt like I needed to point that out.


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## Kbaby123

Oblivion is inevitable at one point in your life animals are going to die plants are going to die and you are going to die if life were to be here for eternity then the world would over populate leading to many problems in life so if you are scared of oblivion think of it as being like you are going to be asleep forever


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## Bluzz

My way to handling this issue is reincarnation, you will never remember to have lived for a eternity, you might have lived 1000000 years already.


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