Discussion Afraid of what happens after we kill ourselves?

[BridgesFallingDown]

I have a working plan in mind, but what's holding me back is WHAT happens to my consciousness. Where do I go? Being influenced by religion growing up, I was afraid I'd go to hell and be burning miserably forever. Now I believe in reincarnation, as if I'd come back a new body. The fear is still in there, questions plaguing me as if: "What if I go to hell?" "What if there's nothing?" "What if I never come back?". These fears hold me back strongly for the fear of the unknown. What do you guys think?

 

[LighthouseHermit]

If I kill myself, and I will be judged for it and punished, after all the endless suffering I went through, than so be it. If there is no mercy for me, there is mercy for nobody.

I'm rid of this physically and mentally sick body, and that's all that matters to me.

Where my consciousness goes? Who knows. Nobody knows until the moment.

I have a strange feeling all this is just a dream, and when we die we go into a new dream, or we wake up somewhere. I've had dreams that were so intensely real, that I think that is possible.

 

[TBONTB]

I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have fear of "what comes after". I'm more concerned about what comes during.

 

[LastNite]

You didnt worry about that before hatching the egg and being born why should you after death.

 

[ReturnToVega]

It's my belief that consciousness continues after death. And life after death is an evolution of sorts. We break free from our bodies and become capable of understanding the universe through a completely different lens. As Carl Sagan put it, "we are a way for the universe to know itself".

 

[vanillamilkshakes]

My personal belief is that there's nothing after death, no consciousness. To me, you don't remember life before you were born, so why would there be anything after? Honestly, when I'm not in a suicidal mindset, I only feel anxious over how I will die.

 

[Off_Switch]

Religion is such a scam to me. I have a theory that it was created to help prevent ancient slaves and indentured servants from killing themselves and humanity just kept going with it.

We have no recollection of any existence before we were born and won't have any after we die. The science that rely on so much in our daily lives can't be ignored when it comes to this.

 

[darksouls]

I am afraid that my consciousness exists forever and that everything will be even worse for me if I kill myself, that is the reason I am stuck here and cannot end my suffering

 

[Cristian]

The fear is still in there, questions plaguing me as if: "What if I go to hell?"

I feel that. I'd say I no longer *believe* I'll go to hell if I CTB, but the idea still haunts me.

 

[never.more]

i grew up religious (and kinda still am tbh) so i've been worried about this too. still, i'd like to think that whatever come's after death is something peaceful/happier. it's horrible to think that people can be through so much and go to somewhere worse-- it wouldn't make any sense.

everyone dies at some point tho, so i guess we'll all find out one day?

 

[liquid jen]

Same, I grew up catholic so the fear of hell definitely looms even if I don't really buy into it. And as for your worries, you'll have to die eventually. Whatever happens after will always happen after, no matter what.

 

[PI3.14]

I also grew up religious but now I'm an atheist.

My personal belief is that consciousness is an emergent property, it's gone when we're dead.

However, whether "you" will experience life again as if it was your first time, is another question. It really depends of the reality of the world and matter and how it behaves. We unfortunately don't have all the answers yet.

Like suppose the universe go into a heat death and matter as we know it emerges again due to some unknown mechanism, and by chance, humans emerge on a new planet, and you, the physical you, come into being again, will you be the same current you? Will your current consciousness be part of that version of you?

I don't know what could help with your fear, since fearing the unknown is kinda normal. However, perhaps you can read into the theory of knowledge and jump into different religions' arguments and debates.

 

[claracatchingthebus]

I have a working plan in mind, but what's holding me back is WHAT happens to my consciousness. Where do I go? Being influenced by religion growing up, I was afraid I'd go to hell and be burning miserably forever. Now I believe in reincarnation, as if I'd come back a new body. The fear is still in there, questions plaguing me as if: "What if I go to hell?" "What if there's nothing?" "What if I never come back?". These fears hold me back strongly for the fear of the unknown. What do you guys think?

I worry about it, but also think most likely it's somewhat random, life, and after death it's just nothing.


I really just want to sleep forever sometimes. I also realize I could be wrong.

It's hard for me to believe an all-knowing entity, capable of perceiving the future, would envision how painful and awful my life would be and set that ball in motion, i don't see how once fate occurs somehow people can choose differently, and so the idea that someone would create me just to send me to hell seems counterintuitive. Either that all-knowing entity would be a saddist or nothing like that will happen.

I think it's probably that life is all there is, and death ends life, life being the conscious perception and integration of different brain functions and perceptions. I wish I were a happier person, but I'm just not.

 

[Michelstaedter]

My only fear is not what comes after death, but if I try to die and survive... That will be my greatest fear.

 

[SarahThrowsGin]

I sometimes do worry whether there may be such a thing as "you quit too early, so your next life won't be full of glory either". Like I need to exhaust my chances with this one, or do some kind of preparation, before 'rerolling' if I want to realize my destiny next time. But this is just guessing what the rules are without any evidence, so there is little point to believe the choice of quitting (or its timing) influences the odds one way or the other. Being stuck after a failed attempt, or even incarcerated (for reason unrelated to CTB attempt but rather because the government went nuts with its ideology, and I am a vulnerable minority), is a much more real horror.

So in the end what may happen after death is not something I am afraid of compared to what can happen if I stay alive for long, even if I do not attempt to CTB.

 

[ManOfTheYear]

I have a fear that comes and goes, but the fear is driven around the total non-existence. I will never see my body again, never feel that I am again, never exist again. I won't be able to sense my essence anymore when my eyes are closed. And the pitch-black nothingness is guaranteed, but thats the fear; which stims from a pov that's existing in that pitch-black nothingness. But I will not, as I will not be anymore. It will not be as my essence will no longer be. And that's peaceful.

 

[FuneralCry]

No, I only fear suffering for way longer in this dreadful, torturous existence just to die in agony from old age, existence to me is an abomination and I find it terrifying how a human can suffer for decades longer with no limit as to how much they can be tortured in this existence I just always saw as the most terrible mistake, all I want is to be gone, I believe death to be nothing more than an eternal dreamless sleep where all is gone and forgotten and there is no more suffering which is all I hope for, all I see as desirable is the peace of non-existence.