whats life..

[Duke]

Think of your life as a reel of film. The whole reel, the whole film, your whole life exists in the time-space continuum known as the Universe. When you are watching the middle of the film, you know the beginning of it still exists and you know the end exists. When the film ends you still know it exists.

In fact, it's showing in 1000 theatres across the country and it's at all different points in the film. The point at which your life is at now just happens to be the frame that is passing through the aperture where the light can reflect it onto the screen in this particular theatre (timeframe). All you are aware of is this particular point. But the whole film always exists, and your life always exists, whether it's beginning or ending. Hence, the ending of the movie, your life, is a kind of illusion. It ended but it's always playing. It's always there.

Yes, I understand. I understood it when kman was saying it. I just don't agree with it because I think it's silly to reason from said abstract perspective.


And no. Everything before this point we'd be aware of too. Everything after not (yet).

And kman, would you not agree that death is not "a point in our timeline" but the end point in our timeline? We still cease to exist when we die. I'm not saying it means we never existed, but we stop to exist upon death. Even when you stretch your timeline so you can pick points and frames in life where we still exist, if you want, time is still a linear concept in everyday life. You can say we still exist after death, but in factual reality, it doesn't matter. You're dead.

 

[Jokerman]

^You clearly don't understand this at all, Duke. Next time grown folks talk, nig shut yo mouf.

 

[Duke]

Bah, I do understand. I just don't get it why one would want to think of it like that. It leads nowhere.

 

[XIAN]

Just because someone thought of a great philsophy about it does not make it so. Time is still no illusion and neither is death.

What I'm actually trying to see is that death is just death. One can concoct a 100 spirtual or rational philosophies about it, but in the end the act of dying will be the same as without all those philosophies.

So it's all very kewl and very intelligent-looking to post such theories, but sadly they are utterly useless.

They are not useless. They improve our lives. Looking at it this way can improve your life if you want it to. That's the goal of religion.

And kman, would you not agree that death is not "a point in our timeline" but the end point in our timeline? We still cease to exist when we die. I'm not saying it means we never existed, but we stop to exist upon death. Even when you stretch your timeline so you can pick points and frames in life where we still exist, if you want, time is still a linear concept in everyday life. You can say we still exist after death, but in factual reality, it doesn't matter. You're dead.

Yeah, that's all it seems, but the belief is that it's an illusion. Since you don't think that way, there's no use in arguing against it.

 

[Duke]

They are not useless. They improve our lives. Looking at it this way can improve your life if you want it to. That's the goal of religion.



Yeah, that's all it seems, but the belief is that it's an illusion. Since you don't think that way, there's no use in arguing against it.

1.) I have no affinity with religion of any type.
2.) I know it has little use, but those whipped curs insist I didn't understand when I got it perfectly. I just don't agree with it.

 

[Jokerman]

:horny:

 

[Duke]

Duke, what we're saying, or I am, is that if all this is true, then we shouldn't regard our dying in this timeline as the end of what's important about us. You seem to be doing that.

"You can say we still exist after death, but in factual reality, it doesn't matter. You're dead."

See, but what we're trying to get across is that our view is really factual reality, and you're not dead. And what you are talking about, the popular view of death, is what is actually the unrealistic abstract perspective you attribute to our views.

People need to have a paradigm shift about this so they see it the correct way. And the importance of it should be obvious. Less grieving, less worrying about death. And truth for truth's sake. If this is the way things really are, we need to know that.

And the point is that this isn't just some cool, abstract thought experiment that has no basis in reality. Nay, these are the conclusions one comes to when one studies the mathematical findings and experiments of quantum physics. In fact, quantum reality is so strange and complicated we haven't even touched on the implications of it to our way of thinking.

Aye, I understand. And I know theres tons of stuff that we simply don't know (you've watched my fun debate with teck on science etc etc).

I think it's the literal wording of "death is an illusion" that I have a problem with. It's definitely an interesting theory and worth thinking about, but until I'm getting post cards from the 7th dimension I will not regard our death here as an illusion. Death here is the end of our existence here as we know it.

See, but what we're trying to get across is that our view is really factual reality, and you're not dead. And what you are talking about, the popular view of death, is what is actually the unrealistic abstract perspective you attribute to our views.

Elaborate. We're not dead after we die? Why not? Do we still exist because we once existed? Is that what you're saying?

 

[KAMIKAZI]

Carmi didn't want an intelligent discussion, she expected someone to summarize the meaning of life in a small paragraph for her.

 

[Jokerman]

:horny:

 

[Duke]

No. We still exist because we still exist. I tried to show you that with the film metaphor. Does the film exist when it ends because it once existed? No, that doesn't apply. It exists because it exists and whether it's beginning, in the middle, or ended, the film still exists. So too with life.

Think of life as the showing of a film. You're focusing on which part of the film is currently showing. And when it ends, it over to you. But I'm focusing on the very existence of the film reel itself, and I'm saying that's the essential part of the film's existence, not the part playing at any given moment. So too with life.

Replace "illusion" with "not important." Life, like a film, ends at a certain time, but that time is always present. The beginning of it is always present. Every point of that life is always present. The reel always exists. And each frame of the film is always playing in the present moment.

Yeah i got what you were saying with the film analogy. I just don't think of it that way.

Also, the analogy seems a tad shaky. If my life is the film, what the hell is the reel?

 

[Glockmatic]

also if life is like film, why can't we go back in rewind?!! dun dun dunnnn

 

[Jokerman]

Yeah i got what you were saying with the film analogy. I just don't think of it that way.

I know you don't because you don't understand it. Please don't understand me too quickly.

If my life is the film, what the hell is the reel?

The more important part of your existence. You are so not getting this.

 

[Duke]

Oh c'mon, there's only so many times you can say i'm not getting this. Face it, your reel and "bigger part of my existance" is vague as fuck. Go on and define "the bigger part of my existance" for me, please. What is it? The reel is the timeline? The bigger part of my existance is my existance throughout the timeline? Existance is eternal because time is not a linear concept?

 

[Jokerman]

 

[S O F I]

Jokerman, you don't understand Duke. It's not that Duke doesn't neccesarily understand what you're saying - I mean, I understand it - but he just doesn't choose to believe it because what you're trying to convey is a concept, a theory, and not fact.

 

[Jokerman]

 

[Duke]

Jokerman, you don't understand Duke. It's not that Duke doesn't neccesarily understand what you're saying - I mean, I understand it - but he just doesn't choose to believe it because what you're trying to convey is a concept, a theory, and not fact.

Aye. I understand the concept that time is not a linear thingy as it appears to us. But currently, for us, in this world, it is linear. And I choose to reason from this perspective, rather than an abstract perspective where time is a cube and has no direction. I'm not even necessarily disagreeing with it. It's a scientific theory as any other and deserves respect.

But until we understand every little intricacy about it, I'm not going to view time as a non-linear dimension. I'm going to view it as we know it. Linear.

And yes, i know it's existence /slap self

 

[Jokerman]

Now see, if you really got it, you would abandon how things seem to you "in this life." Why? Because it would make more sense to you.

 

[Duke]

It doesn't. At least your recap doesn't sway me. And I doubt 6 tonnes of literature is going to.

It's not helping me by reasoning from your perspective. Maybe I'd like to focus on the here and now instead of on the can and could-be's. I'm not going to relinquish this life because it's all I know. Hoping it isn't is like religion.

 

[Jokerman]

Ok, but the here-and-now is not even a could-be. It's just an ilu...(u know the rest).