this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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I did get messed up by some anxiety and have these thoughts rolling through my head so I'll leave it at cosmic horror warning.

spoilerI'm not religious but I have thoughts about experiencing consciousness and what it is. I say that consciousness is independent of memory because we forget, clearly dependent on our physical body, etc. generally I do say that we don't know consciousness so maybe it can be reconstructed (in the can't rule out the possibility way)

So I can see scenarios were my conscious could pop into existence without my memories after I die (as I'm writing this I realized that's nothing to fear).

I am trying to adopt healthier mindset of looking at everything in life as a quest, new things are a call to action, and that it's okay if everything I do amounts to little in x number of years (worked out okay for ozymandias, right?).

Im probably just rambling because my life has got boring and monotonous along with actual fear of American politics.

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[–] Deathgl0be@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If it was a choice why would I ever wanna come back to this hell hole ?

[–] Cattail@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I think this universe sucks, not to ignore human history. Lots of it is empty space apparently cosmic events can wipe you out with next to no warning, your made up of atoms and cells that can die and degrade, and we are stuck to this solar system because space isn't empty it's full of shit thats going to kill you

[–] sheogorath@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Which is why my headcanon for this universe is that we're basically running rogue playthrough in this life. After you die, you'll regain all your "soul" memories and will be given a choice to "replay" with another life and losing your memories "again" until you've reached a certain level of enlightenment and then you'll "graduate" from our current level of existence.

Call me crazy but it helps me sleep at night, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] twice_hatch@midwest.social 1 points 6 days ago

No, that's silly and easily disproven. I merely believe I'm a facet of a benevolent fierce deity that supervenes on behalf of humanity

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 21 points 1 week ago (7 children)

If it was real and you could retain memories of past lives, I'm confident we'd have some evidence/proof.

If it exists without memory retention and its just some sort of "soul" concept then it really doesn't matter since you won't remember anything for it to be worth worrying about.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

The fact that brain injuries can erase memories shows that memory isn't going to continue when the brain no longer functions.

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[–] Strider@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (23 children)

No.

Do you remember before being born? It's the same after.

[–] noretus@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Can you prove that memory is a reliable way to determine reality without referencing memory?

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[–] lb_o@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The fact that your particular molecules will reconstruct into something else is 100% certain

Will you keep your particular consciousness in this process - unlikely

However if you drop off the definition of You as your current limited body and mind, then reincarnation is exactly what happens.

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[–] missingno@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago (12 children)

Suppose reincarnation was real. But no one has any memory or awareness of a past life. So then what connection does said past life even have to you? How can any supposed past 'you's really be considered the same you?

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[–] MudMan@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago

Yeeeeah, all due respect to believers, but we're squishy wet computers riding squishy wet stilts and when we get turned off we just sort of fizzle out.

There's some poetry to only having one go at it, but I'm not gonna stand here and say a sense of humanism makes your hardcoded fear of death subside. I get why humans come up with coping mechanisms where they get to live forever in some form that isn't having their atoms repurposed as fertilizer and space dust.

[–] Quazatron@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

No.

Enjoy the ride.

[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not in the traditional sense, but I have a pet theory about the continuation of consciousness.

You can only experience being, not not-being, so even if your consciousness went dark for a million years before being “reincarnated,” there would be no gap from the perspective of your subjective experience. You can only go from having one experience to having another. Nothingness can’t be experienced.

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[–] pishadoot@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago

I believe in reincarnation just as much as I believe any other theory of an afterlife - that is to say, I don't.

We don't know. Nobody knows what happens when we die. That's ok, and I don't feel the need to make up a story to explain away the uncertainty.

I think it's likely that something happens when we die, but it could just as easily be nothingness, the end of existence. I only think it's likely because I definitely believe that there is SO much that we don't understand about the universe that it's more probable than not that SOMETHING happens that we can't currently fathom, perceive, or understand.

But, right now there's no real evidence. So I don't care, and I don't worry about it.

To our best understanding, everything that lives will die. I don't know what happens, it might be some form of heaven, it might be reincarnation, it might be transcendence, etc. However, I take comfort in the fact that it's a shared experience, whatever it is. It's natural. It's part of the process.

The universe doesn't owe us an explanation. Maybe we'll figure it out, but we haven't yet, and I'm fine with that.

[–] gnomesaiyan@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I do believe in reincarnation, in that we are all physical manifestations of what you could call "God". That means that everyone you meet, every dog you pet, every ant you accidentally squish, is synonymous with the divine. We are all constantly reincarnating throughout the universe, and this should be looked at no more acutely than the cells in your body constantly dying and being reborn.

I guess you could call it pantheism, though I tend to follow philosophies like Zen Buddhism and the Tao and it still seems to work.

Looking at existence in this way can form a new understanding, nay, a new reverence towards your life and the universe. Then you will understand who you really are and why you're here. The real power of God is in manifesting everywhere, all the time, all at once. After all...

And that is, of course, why the images of the Hindu gods are shown with many arms or many faces: because it is saying that all arms are the arms of the divinity, all faces are its masks.

-Alan Watts, Out Of Your Mind

[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Well, no, consciousness is not independent on brain. It's not magic or stored anywhere. Pretty simple proof: people with brain damage very often have a huge personality shift.

Anyway, even if you forget stuff, the pathways between neurons have already been made. And sometimes you remember things randomly after many, many years.

[–] Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If there is reincarnation and you don't remember a single thing from before, why bother it doesn't matter.

If there would be reincarnation where you remembered your previous life, surely someone would have spilled the beans on this by now. I surely would contact any sort of family friends that i had previously.

Since both could be possible but 2. hasnt happened and 1 doesnt matter i would give this a no.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

That's my view too. even if reincarnation existed, it wouldn't matter. If each life has no memory of the others, then each life is effectively a different person altogether, so from the POV of any one of those people, there is effectively no such thing as reincarnation.

Now suppose there's some kind of 'soul' who the lives 'belong to' and will one day remember the lives, again -- so what? They're just memories. Those lives were each a separate person who no longer exists, and never knew the others or the soul.

[–] CallMeMrFlipper@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I get that. Have you read The Egg by Andy Weir? If not, there's a Kurzgesagt video that's just that story with animation. I'd suggest it. It touches on this concept and kinda paints a more optimistic picture.

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

I don't think I'd read it, but just looked it up and did. Or maybe I read it before and forgot--I've certainly heard that concept enough times, and many variations on it. The ultimate ego trip!

[–] Vanth@reddthat.com 5 points 1 week ago

Nope. I have never seen any evidence of reincarnation, so have no reason to believe in it.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] Electricd@lemmybefree.net 4 points 1 week ago

It doesn’t make sense biologically

[–] TheGuyTM3@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

To be honest, the only answer i have to say is: "we'll see". Wheter it's nothing or not, the second option would imply that there is effectively something beyond what we know about the universe.

What even is the soul? YOU from now think very different than YOU from ten years ago. Can we say that those two people are the same? Not really. Yet you share common memories with this early you, who doesn't exist anynore. Is it technically correct in this point of view to say that you are the reincarnation of you from ten years ago?

If someone in the far future were to think like you, to remember exact memories from yours, would act the same way you would act in the same situation, it would not we wrong to say they are your reincarnation, no?

Again i'm just supposing.

[–] architectonas@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

I like the idea in Buddhism, that you are precious/valuable from the moment you are born. You already achieved plenty in your past life, which is why you were born as a human. Therefore, there is no need for self-hatred or for pressure to perform.

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[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 3 points 1 week ago
[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

No but I wonder if hell is being made an insect over and over.

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

I don't think insects have a notion of being happy or sad so it wouldn't be too bad

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