Is an afterlife belief a mirage or a feasible expectation?

[Thomas123]

John 14:2 King James Version (KJV)
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you

This version of an afterlife appears on the surface of things to be quite appealing.There is a variety of accomodation types mentioned and there are human-like activities such as, preparing for visitors,to be done. It sounds like just the place for busy ,upwardly mobile humans.
Is this stereotypical version of an afterlife a complete fallacy or are there real considerations contained within it.

I personally believe it to be a mirage.

I welcome all considerations on this topic.

[Purple Knight]

It's absolutely ridiculous to me even if I let myself assume there is a God.

It's precisely because the reward poisons the test - people pursue the reward regardless of whether it is right or not - that an afterlife as a reward/punishment is the most ridiculous thing in any spiritual cosmology.

It's self-defeating if your whole point was to test whether people are good and then reward them if they are.

I actually agree with your take on Osteng's post about the Milgram experiment. Reward and punishment is how we think. We're built that way. Whether by evolution, or by God, we're simply built that way. So when you present an authority, and have them tell you it's an experiment and you've got to do this for the experiment, you sort of set people up to fail.

I have natural inclinations about what's right and wrong but I never listen to them because most of them are wrong. I listen to society because I know it is right.

I ignore my inner ick reaction that anal sex is gross, because society has taught me that homosexuality is not wrong.

I ignore my inner bias that prefers to be around people who are like me rather than unlike me because society has taught me that this is racist and wrong, and diversity is right. (I also extend it to seeking people who are ideologically different than me and ignoring people who are ideologically similar, even though no one told me I had to do that specifically; I am simply extending the rule naturally.)

I would of course fail the Milgram experiment because my entire life is built on ignoring that little bug on my shoulder because I only have the devil. I don't have the angel. And now the experiment wants me to reverse that and listen to some inner demon that I know for a fact is faulty?

It's a lot like the dilemma here, and I see the connecting thread.

To me, when you tell people about the reward, at least some of them will stop listening to their inner angel (most people seem to have the angel and not the devil; they confuse their own selfishness for the devil) and they will pursue the reward.

If the idea is to get people to be good - to ignore everything but that inner angel - then there shouldn't be religion at all.

It sucks for people like me who only have the devil, but we're up the creek no matter what, since we can never really be good anyway - we can only ever hope to imitate it.

[bluegreenearth]

John 14:2 King James Version (KJV)
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you

This version of an afterlife appears on the surface of things to be quite appealing.There is a variety of accomodation types mentioned and there are human-like activities such as, preparing for visitors,to be done. It sounds like just the place for busy ,upwardly mobile humans.
Is this stereotypical version of an afterlife a complete fallacy or are there real considerations contained within it.

I personally believe it to be a mirage.

I welcome all considerations on this topic.

It is logically fallacious because it doesn't necessarily follow that, if there were not many mansions in his father's house, the person making the claim would have indicated as such. It is also logically fallacious in assuming everyone would desire the described afterlife or any afterlife.

An after-life belief is obviously not a literal mirage because it is not an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions. However, even in a metaphorical sense, no one ever perceives the identical version of an afterlife outside their imagination or a brain being deprived of oxygen unlike an actual mirage which everyone with the capability of sight is able to observe in the same way.

Finally, it cannot be categorized as a feasible expectation either because feasibility requires possibility which cannot be demonstrated for the after-life claim. This isn't to assert the after-life is impossible, but there is insufficient evidence to confirm the possibility of life after death at this time. As such, there is no known mechanism for calculating the feasibility of an after-life expectation.

So, this leaves us with only unfalsifiable metaphysical claims about the existence of an after-life. They can be neither proved nor disproved. As such, they have essentially no pragmatic value in informing any decision a critical thinker could make.

[William]

[Replying to post 1]

The Script: In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you

Thomas Mc Donald: This version of an afterlife appears on the surface of things to be quite appealing.There is a variety of accomodation types mentioned and there are human-like activities such as, preparing for visitors,to be done. It sounds like just the place for busy ,upwardly mobile humans.
Is this stereotypical version of an afterlife a complete fallacy or are there real considerations contained within it.

William: "The Fathers House" is analogous to "The Mind of The Creator" which acts as a mirror to the individuals experiencing it.

How do "Many Mansions" fit into a House? Why is "The Fathers House" not referred to as "The Mansion of Mansions"?

The answer to metaphysical questions are also metaphysical and the nature of our physical reality reflects this in the Galaxies as being the "Mansions" while The Fathers House is that which contains the Mansions.

This is not a 'version' of an afterlife, but a somewhat veiled explanation of the process one can expect to go through in transitioning from this experience to the next.

[Thomas123]

[Replying to post 3 by bluegreenearth]

I agree with your conclusions, bluegreenearth, with the following proviso.
A mirage is a last fatal occurrence in the death of a thirsty man/woman.
The need for a drink completes the illusion of the far away lake and the person relentlessly walks to their doom

What are the aspects of this afterlife that are appealing?.
What are the needs within people that it calls to?
What unique behaviours is 'afterlife expectation'manifesting amongst its advocates.

I am in Lockdown at the moment.
I am advised to pursue pleasurable activities, learn the guitar, etc.
One day lobs into the next.
I am missing my family, my friends, and my regular activities.
Today I thought that I had missed Easter.
The whole thing feels like an eternity.
I am not dealing well with this enforced 'paradise'.
I cant even begin to understand eternity. What's that!

[William]

[Replying to post 3 ]

bluegreenearth: So, this leaves us with only unfalsifiable metaphysical claims about the existence of an after-life. They can be neither proved nor disproved. As such, they have essentially no pragmatic value in informing any decision a critical thinker could make.

William: I could agree with this if not for the fact that we are all even now, going through the process of dying while we go through this process of living.
Thus, while the subject is non-falsifiable, this in itself does not mean there is no pragmatic value in studying it through examining the data available about it, and through that study, formulating the most likely expectation of experience one will have should it prove to be the case.

For me, that is the way to critically think in regard to this particular subject.

[bluegreenearth]

[Replying to post 3 ]

bluegreenearth: So, this leaves us with only unfalsifiable metaphysical claims about the existence of an after-life. They can be neither proved nor disproved. As such, they have essentially no pragmatic value in informing any decision a critical thinker could make.

William: I could agree with this if not for the fact that we are all even now, going through the process of dying while we go through this process of living.
Thus, while the subject is non-falsifiable, this in itself does not mean there is no pragmatic value in studying it through examining the data available about it, and through that study, formulating the most likely expectation of experience one will have should it prove to be the case.

For me, that is the way to critically think in regard to this particular subject.

If by "data" you mean philosophical musings, then it is not clear to me how the value obtained from that exercise would be pragmatic. Would you mind explaining that further?

[William]

[Replying to post 7 by ]

bluegreenearth: If by "data" you mean philosophical musings, then it is not clear to me how the value obtained from that exercise would be pragmatic. Would you mind explaining that further?

William: Any philosophical musings etc, always come after the fact of personal experiences people have and then share. Personal and/or shared experience is what I am referring to as 'The Data'.

As well as that, I also consider data to being cultural mythology where experience which is for the most part, extremely hard to express with language, is expressed in metaphor.

Apart from this, I have already explained why it is pragmatic to apply critical thinking in relation to the subject.

If we lived in a world where death was absent, then yes - you would be correct that there would be essentially no pragmatic value in pondering on the subject.

[Thomas123]

[Replying to post 4 by William]

William:This is not a 'version' of an afterlife, but a somewhat veiled explanation of the process one can expect to go through in transitioning from this experience to the next.

Is this small piece of scripture really an explanation of any kind, William?
Have you any idea why there would be a need to prepare a place for the disciples?

[bluegreenearth]

[Replying to post 7 by ]

bluegreenearth: If by "data" you mean philosophical musings, then it is not clear to me how the value obtained from that exercise would be pragmatic. Would you mind explaining that further?

William: Any philosophical musings etc, always come after the fact of personal experiences people have and then share. Personal and/or shared experience is what I am referring to as 'The Data'.

As well as that, I also consider data to being cultural mythology where experience which is for the most part, extremely hard to express with language, is expressed in metaphor.

Apart from this, I have already explained why it is pragmatic to apply critical thinking in relation to the subject.

If we lived in a world where death was absent, then yes - you would be correct that there would be essentially no pragmatic value in pondering on the subject.

Perhaps I wasn't sufficiently clear in what I meant by pragmatic. When the goal is to evaluate the philosophical concept of an after-life, then I will agree that thinking critically has a pragmatic value in that context. However, if the goal is to acquire knowledge that serves to inform the practical decisions I have to make in my daily life, pondering unfalsifiable claims about the after-life will have to pragmatic value to me.