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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132234
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 8:33am | IP Logged | 1
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Whenever someone dies, be they near to me or far, friend or celebrity, I find my mind cannot get away from contemplations of their condition. Not really "their", of course. Whatever our views might be on the Afterlife, the person we knew is GONE. What remains is leftover hamburger, to be dealt with in what is deemed an appropriate manner.Often, I find myself thinking back to the following exchange, from ELIZABETH R, starring Glenda Jackson. The subject is the recently beheaded Mary, Queen of Scots. Walsingham: She is at rest, madam. And with God's good grace, she will find eternal peace. Queen Elizabeth I: Peace. You are much mistaken, Sir Francis. There is no peace for the dead. This is a busy time for my royal cousin. Already the creatures are at work, crawling between her lips, entering her nose, burrowing beneath her eyes. Worms cluster in her belly, competing with foul maggots for the tastiest morsel. Even now she is being invaded by a legion of grey flesh-eaters. Even now the body writhes and moves with the activities of countless parasites. There is no peace for my cousin, Sir Francis, and will be none till she is consumed and rotten. Only then will her white bones be at rest. This is our common end, old Moor, picked clean by worms, flesh curdling with corruption, stinking like a blocked midden. So do not talk to me of God's good grace. Dying is a fearful process. I have known death since I was a child. I have stared long into his white, unseeing eyes. I know his dread cruelty. When you are lying on your last bed remember my words. Cry out for mercy. Bite deep into your lips, and recall how you plotted my cousin's most terrible end.
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Thomas Woods Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 09 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 1356
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 9:30am | IP Logged | 2
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That is pretty dark.
Here is something that I started thinking recently. It may or may not make sense. It started off thinking about the Star Trek transporter killing you every time you used it, but then I stated wondering if it could happen in our lives in certain situations. Maybe when the hospital puts you under out before surgery, or maybe every night when you sleep.
Then it went on another tangent when I started thinking how my sister was as a child compared to the way she is now, and I felt that child version of her is truly gone, there is no afterlife where I will get to meet that version of her again. The same goes for past versions of me and other people I know. When they were truly innocent and some cases you feel that is the version of them that should be allowed to pass on.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132234
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 9:53am | IP Logged | 3
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Everything slips into the Past and is GONE. A person dies. And is GONE. This is incomprehensible for some. That’s why we invent Heaven—and promptly turn it into a way to punish those who are not US.
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Bill Mimbu Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 April 2008 Location: United States Posts: 7359
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 10:00am | IP Logged | 4
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KRYTEN: "Don't be sad, Mr David. I am going to a far, far better place."
LISTER: "Just out of interest: Is silicon heaven the same place as human heaven?"
KRYTEN: "Human heaven? Goodness me! Humans don't go to heaven! No,someone made that up to prevent you all from going nuts!"
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Thomas Woods Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 09 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 1356
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 10:10am | IP Logged | 5
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Everything slips into the Past and is GONE. A person dies. And is GONE. This is incomprehensible for some. That’s why we invent Heaven—and promptly turn it into a way to punish those who are not US.
--
That way of thinking of my sister had me thinking you are right, that we will pass just like that little girl I knew is no longer around.
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Andrew Saxon Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 June 2016 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 337
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 11:31am | IP Logged | 6
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Wouldn't it be nice if time was like a landscape you could travel at will. Just over those mountains are my long dead grandparents, living their lives with me visiting them as a boy. Along that path my earliest ancestors climb down from the trees. In another direction I am being born, while over thataway I simultaneously take my final breath. Everything happening at once. Oh for the transportation that would allow me to travel that land in any direction I choose.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132234
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 12:23pm | IP Logged | 7
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Andrew, that’s called “memory”, and the best thing about it is that the Past keeps getting better!
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Thomas Woods Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 09 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 1356
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | 8
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On a different note. If we are in a matrix and ‘die’, what if the guys running the thing send us to ‘hell matrix’ for a week, just to mess with us.
Edited by Thomas Woods on 10 February 2019 at 12:49pm
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132234
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 12:51pm | IP Logged | 9
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God is Love. How can there possibly be a hell?Oh, right, because Jesus described it to us.
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Paul Kimball Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2006 Location: United States Posts: 2163
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 1:00pm | IP Logged | 10
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I know it's totally illogical but I do like to imagine a heaven for pets and I find it comforting.
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Michael Penn Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 April 2006 Location: United States Posts: 12429
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 5:22pm | IP Logged | 11
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Like having children, experiencing the death of a loved one is unique. You can contemplate what it might be like, but until it happens to you, you don't know. You don't know the absolute finality of death for those still here. Calling the one who died the deceased itself is too personifying. But for our memories, he or she might well be called not merely the non-existent but the never-existed. All the more reason to treasure our (also all too-mortal) memories.
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Rich Marzullo Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 January 2011 Location: United States Posts: 2696
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Posted: 10 February 2019 at 5:41pm | IP Logged | 12
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I recently read an article that said scientists believe a person is aware of the fact that they've passed away. So there's that.
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