Question:
What is it like to not exist?
Charlotte
2015-11-04 15:00:10 UTC
What is it like to not exist? Is it possible to imagine what it's like? I can't imagine not being able to think or not "being" anymore. Not sure if this makes any sense but it it kind of freaks me out.
206 answers:
Special EPhex
2015-11-05 14:28:18 UTC
There is no such thing. To "not exist" is only an abstract thought in the mind with out any possible reality. This is because energy and matter cannot be created an destroyed, only made to change form, therefore existence is eternal and uncaused. Consciousness awareness in life wouldn't be an exception. Western societies mechanized and materialistic manner of thinking was accelerated by the advent of the clock and mechanized time keeping, thus it is supposed that the material world is subject to a "beginning" and "end". Existence is being explained in more material terms which reinforces the idea of "temporal being" and the questioning of mortality.



The Laws of Conservation ensure that the nature of existence is to always exist, as "nonexistence" has no existence anywhere in existence. You cannot image a concept that is without the concept of imagination, or anything else. The idea of nonexistence does not allow anything, as 'existent,' let alone an 'idea', or nonexistence itself. A self-negating notion cannot have inherent existence except in the mind's imagination as an abstract category of mental thought. 'Nothing', is only linguistic term for the absence of 'something'. You can have or not have 'something', but not 'nothing', because there isn't 'anything' to 'have' or 'not have'.
2015-11-05 15:08:12 UTC
I am here, there, everywhere and nowhere simultaneously in a place that does not exist. That is the motto of my religion from the life experience I had when I briefly died back in 1986. I kept waiting for my consciousness to end but instead was taken to an area of complex uncertainties.



I was up and down moving sideways simultaneously coming into and out of existence yet my mind and consciousness was fully functional during the whole ordeal. Time no longer existed, Distance and points of reference were not possible to ascertain so I never could get a bearing of where I was, when I was or why I was in this place of non existence.
rickybaugh2000
2015-11-05 18:21:54 UTC
I think what you are really asking is not about ceasing to physically exist but rather the end of consciousnesses and self awareness. Due to my age and health I have given this much thought. When a person suffers brain damage they seem to be diminished mentally, so when the brain dies are we also completely gone?

I don't really believe this is true. I've come to believe that the universe is so beautifully complex and ordered that there is meaning and structure involved.

Consider that we are each infinitesimally tiny pieces of this universe that has become self aware and looked at itself and wondered what it is.

In the end and either way I will either finally know or else it won't matter because I won't exist to care.

Personally, I think it will be amazing.
?
2015-11-05 15:40:07 UTC
You remember before birth when everything was black with no sound or visuals at all? That's what it is to not exist. Although that concept is debatable because maybe you did exist and you were just in a pool of souls without a form yet. Who knows? It's an interesting idea.
grece
2015-11-10 00:18:11 UTC
To be honest,I don't think it can truly be answered by any person in particular simply because they exist,and even while attempting to explain it the problem is that"they exist" and therefore would be just floundering in an effort in futility attempting to explain it. I would think you would probably need to determine all of the attributes and anything and everything that" existence" involves" and then subtract all of these things from what you've determined to be existence,and then you'd have your answer. But as far as experiencing this you couldn't because the fact that you're existing would undoubtedly get in the way. i agree with this thought,by the way ,i would go shopping online cheapimport.es for some goods at double11 rather than think this
Philip C
2015-11-04 18:21:45 UTC
I am here, there, everywhere and nowhere simultaneously in a place that does not exist. That is the motto of my religion from the life experience I had when I briefly died back in 1986. I kept waiting for my consciousness to end but instead was taken to an area of complex uncertainties.



I was up and down moving sideways simultaneously coming into and out of existence yet my mind and consciousness was fully functional during the whole ordeal. Time no longer existed, Distance and points of reference were not possible to ascertain so I never could get a bearing of where I was, when I was or why I was in this place of non existence.



It was a very sobering thought but it strengthened my faith and helped me look at another side of reality that is impossible to comprehend because of our limitations to understand the complexities of existence but through it all I am glad I had a chance to witness that incredible event because it opened my eyes to the infinite possibilities that are out there for us to explore if we let go of our fear.
Lothar
2015-11-04 22:31:41 UTC
Why do you care??? If you don't exist, you wouldn't mind that! But to give you an impression of how it MIGHT be like: It may be like having eyesight and ear capacity inclusive of all your regular desires but no limbs at all to ACT! Thus all the world is streaming onto you and you have no means to turn away - what a universal torture!

This condition may drive you crazy coz you will feel absolutely helpless. This is God's lesson for you then: LET IT GO! You must wait for action to be taken until you have a physical body again.
?
2015-11-05 08:18:49 UTC
I don't think there is any way to think of not existing and believing it. It's like thinking about how vast outer space is or the concept of infinity. Our minds put up boundaries at some point because we feel there must be a stopping point somewhere. We know things don't last forever but we cannot imagine not existing.
?
2015-11-07 05:39:07 UTC
To be honest,I don't think it can truly be answered by any person in particular simply because they exist,and even while attempting to explain it the problem is that"they exist" and therefore would be just floundering in an effort in futility attempting to explain it. I would think you would probably need to determine all of the attributes and anything and everything that" existence" involves" and then subtract all of these things from what you've determined to be existence,and then you'd have your answer. But as far as experiencing this you couldn't because the fact that you're existing would undoubtedly get in the way. Lol , see the dilemma?
ash
2015-11-06 18:58:27 UTC
Well,I have been a non existent being for almost a few years now. It s not as bad as it may seem. I still go through everyday life, in a very similar fashion as you would. I can still eat and communicate and get lit with fam. But eating is so much better because I can eat for the taste and not worry about getting fat because, **** it I don t exist. Another benefit to not existing is the fact that I get wifi where ever I roam. I can do whatever and who ever I want whenever I want. Name them, and I ve done them. Try not existing its pretty chill
Miracle
2015-11-08 00:43:37 UTC
Not to exist is the salvation as described in Buddhist teachings. Because according to the buddhism we always do exist. This life as human, may be next life as a bird, may be as an elephant even as a leech. And in between these sort of physical formation of lives, we also might wander around as spirit sir ghosts. How you'd be born in next life/ formation of life you get is all depend on the karma (reaction of the actions you do) of this life. So according to buddhism, this existence is sufferable. It itself is a sin. So to reach to salvation which is known as Nirvana you should try hard. That is where you won't exist.

I don't know how it feels not to exist. As I have thought, it must be a feeling that you don't feel at all. No sadness, no happiness.just the nothingness.
?
2015-11-06 08:59:19 UTC
Non existence could only take place in a situation out and away from 'TIME/SPACE'.

So since any existing 'VERSION' is conditioned and subjected by the 'PAST - FUTURE' tense, then it follows that the ' PRESENT TENSE' cannot be grasped or held stationary. Which confirms that 'CHANGE' cannot ever be 'stopped or halted'.

Upon these two statement hinges 'REALITY - TRUTH' which is held outside this cosmos of existence.

That is the reason why when we die we would be faced with the 'truth!'
JIA
2015-11-06 01:13:43 UTC
Were you existing in Nov.1915. If No, did you feel or see something Not right, or some sort of injustice to you. If you felt nothing at all between existence and non-existence. Means you were senseless and wouldn't care much.
Tony
2015-11-05 00:17:32 UTC
We have no concept of things that don't exist, because we only experience things that do exist. All else is conceived through imagination, which is but an abstract of existing experience. To imagine inexistence is to fantasize the opposite of whatever it is we know. Just think about thinking about nothing at all... You will find yourself imagining nothing, which is something... you brought nothingness into existence... Now, nothing exists... even Zero is a number. Talk aboiut making something out of nothing!
Joe
2015-11-05 12:11:14 UTC
First of all I think therefor I am and by the grace of God I am. Then to imagine what it is really like not to exist is impossible except because nature abhors a vacuum and filled it with me I can not think of anything that dose not or will not exist even the rubbish one has just wrote now exists watch this space
calmlikeatimebomb
2015-11-06 04:48:48 UTC
None of this bothered me before I was born and I can remember way back at 9 months old little bothered me too. All I know for now I am in existence and not trying to think of none existence until a week after I parish.
hillbilly
2015-11-07 17:28:51 UTC
Before you were born, you did not exist, most likely, what was that like? Where were you when Jesus walked the earth? No where, and if this is were you go when you die, you'll never be aware of it, like 2000 years ago. The problem is, IF you are wrong, and you do not cease to exist, where will you spend eternity? Ask God.
2015-11-05 17:42:18 UTC
I died once, and I still existed! In my body I was looking toward a fantastic light shining through the cracks of my flesh and sensed Both Heaven and Earth. Jesus was waiting for me on the light and my husband was in bed snoring next to me. I knew if I left my body would die, and my husband wouldn't know that I wasn't dead - just not in my body. So I focused to stay. Jesus showed me how to go back and I followed his directions. And I open my eyes. I didn't wake up, I just open my eyes and began to breathe. Not the same as a dream because I was completely conscious for the whole experience. My body was dead. But I still existed!
2015-11-05 17:45:14 UTC
It is kind of possible to get a rough idea (pls note emphasis on ROUGH IDEA) of what its like to not exist. Experience it through a feeling - which of course is not a true representation, you wouldn't have any conciousness. A simple mental trick, only works for people who recycle their memories keeping them fresh: think back to those earliest flashbacks of childhood, concentrate hard, now imagine beyond those and before. You may start to interpret false memories created later (eg warm in the womb), try thinking beyond those. During that moment of realisation that you can't imagine beyond sights, sounds or smells.. that blank moment is what it is like to not exist. Abandonment of all senses with no recollection of anything.
2015-11-05 02:55:39 UTC
Existence is just an Illusion. To not exist , would simply be the second half of existence. The virtual opposite of existence. I'd imagine it to be very dark and empty - a black void
?
2015-11-04 17:46:31 UTC
There is never a state of non-being, as awareness is one's nature. Reality and being are not separate existences, but the same whole image. An absence of being, is an absence of reality also. For reality to exist, an awareness must be present.
JORGE N
2015-11-04 21:21:22 UTC
We should know. We don't exist longer than we do exist. In fact we only exist a very finite moment compared to how long we don't exist. Seems we would understand that better considering the fact that we experience it more.
nameless
2015-11-04 17:54:43 UTC
What is it like to not exist?

What is it like to not exist? Is it possible to imagine what it's like? I can't imagine not being able to think or not "being" anymore. Not sure if this makes any sense but it it kind of freaks me out.



~~~ There is not anything that does not exist!

Everything exists!
stoned
2015-11-05 09:00:25 UTC
so i found this answer on yahoo that was relating to this question, and this was a pretty good answer. am not the source. I used to try to imagine not existing all the time when I was a child. But I also realized the first time I tried that you simply cannot imagine not existing. The act of imagening itself is proof enough of your existance. It's like trying to convince yourself that you are in the 1700's when you can hear automobiles roaring around you and you have an ipod in your hand- it simply defies logic.

SO no, you can't imagine inexistance, that is, you cannot attempt to feel how you would feel if you didn't exist, because if you didn't exist, you wouldn't be able to feel. Are you following this?

When I was younger and attempted this, I would try not to think (impossible, because, try as you mind, a thought will pop into your head: "hey i did it, i'm not thinking!"- "hey, wait a minute, did I just think? darn.") I would then try to imagine darkness, the lack of sight, the lack of feeling, hearing, taste, emotion. I would try to not be, not breath, not exist. I couldn't manage it of course, but for a couple nanoseconds it felt as though my heart had stopped. Afterwards I would feel really unsettled, cold, empty; it was an awfull feeling, accompaning the awfull thought that I would not always exist. My only comfort was that I did exist, and that if I ever stopped existing, I would not suffer because only creatures that exist have the capacity to suffer. It's one of the risks of life. :)



To answer your question, "What is it like to not exist?" :



If you don't exist, you can't feel. You have no body, no sould, no mind, no nervous system, no nerves to send electrical signals to your brains telling you whether you are cold or hot, sad or happy, or if you are holding someones hand, touching a keyboard, or floating in space. You won't be able to breath, or speak, or even articulate the thoughts that you can't formulate. You won't even be aware that you don't exist. You will have no insecurities, no desire, no pain, no dreams, no memories. You will have no self-awareness; you won't even be a "you". You will be nothing, less than a thought, less than an idea, a breeze, or a palimphest of what you once were, because all these things, however spiritual and noncorporeal, at least exist in some plane of reality. you, however, would not exist at all.

Not existing is different than being nothing, different than darkness, different than nothing or emptyness, for even emptyness is something, right? Therefore, being creatures of existance, under the illusion of space and time, we cannot comprehend inexistance. We must attach existance or being into everything we think of, or we would not be able to think about it. Our minds can only work that way, because we know nothing else; all we know is existance. If we think about darkness, we refer to it as darkness, giving it a name. If it has a name, then it exists, even if just in concept. If we think about a bunny, we have named it bunny, and accepted it's existance. If we think about God, we have accepted, if not the existance of a god, at least the existance of the belief in a god, the IDEA exists. If we think about nothing, we make nothing something, by just thinking about it, because thinking about something acknowledges it's existance, or we would not be able to think about it. Therefore, none existance exists in our plane of existance, but only as an idea. We cannot really comprehend nonexistance, we can only come close to understanding the IDEA of nonexistance, which is in itself something that exists, and is not nonexistance itself, only the idea of it. (the bunny i nyour head is not the bunny itself but the idea of the bunny, etc.)

Be carefull what you are asking, non-existance is such an incomprehensible topic, that the human mind cannot grasp it or wrap it's head around it, much less than a blind man can understand sight, if he lived in a world where all were blind.

For now, enjoy your existance, the lows and the highs, for without darkness, we would not enjoy light, and without death, we would not enjoy life. - Lo
?
2015-11-05 22:44:15 UTC
Out of all the answers you have, I'm not sure if you will listen! But it is not possible to not exist! Listen to me! I am here to not be just some freak on the Internet! Do not push me away because I claim to be a Christian but I am trying to be a friend because I care so much for people who are not saved and they need help! First of all, why do you listen to humanity? Why do you listen to thins world? Is it because it makes you look normal? If you were a Christian would you not be a normal person? This is why I ask! Do not look at this world for answers but ask God for answers! Again I'm not trying to be a freak because I'm not! If you are not a believer I encourage you to try to just call for God just by saying "God are you real"! And go to a Christian pastor or something if your are curios! But why do you care about this! It is not about that! When you die you go to either heaven or hell! If you deny this now, when you die you will find out how much I am right and you will wish that you choose to repent! I'm not here to condemn you but to help you! Because Jesus said "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whomever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life". Not only that, but if you think about it, Christianity is the one and only religion where someone died for their people. And in Christianity, that is Jesus! No other man has died for mankind. EVER! That's one reason I believe! So in other words don't focus on that but the more important things! Please I'm telling you!
Andrew
2015-11-09 01:37:12 UTC
That's an impossible question because it isn't possible to get your head around the idea of nothing.



You wouldn't exist so would have no feelings, and if you were able to experience somehow you would go insane, you'd be in 'The Void'. The empty space, where there's nothing, no atoms, no up, no down, no light, no dark. Nothing.



Can you see why it's hard to imagine?
?
2015-11-06 09:26:45 UTC
If we didn't exist we certainly wouldn't be made up of millions of tiny particles floating in space. I think nonexistence is just silence and darkness everywhere. Maybe from the universe's perspective we're like little germs crawling all over the earth.
Razu
2015-11-06 00:36:56 UTC
I died once, and I still existed! In my body I was looking toward a fantastic light shining through the cracks of my flesh and sensed Both Heaven and Earth. Jesus was waiting for me on the light and my husband was in bed snoring next to me. I knew if I left my body would die, and my husband wouldn't know that I wasn't dead - just not in my body. So I focused to stay. Jesus showed me how to go back and I followed his directions. And I open my eyes. I didn't wake up, I just open my eyes and began to breathe. Not the same as a dream because I was completely conscious for the whole experience. My body was dead. But I still existed!
thegreatone
2015-11-06 19:43:52 UTC
It seems like we would know, because there was a time when we did not exist.



Nobody would know of you, because you would have never been here for them to know. There's no way they could think you up, because there would be no reference for them to go by. They could only speculate what it would be like to have you in existence. You would never have consciousness, because you would not be here to be conscious. So, any thing and every thing that happens, you would never know about, because you would not be here to know. So, you would never be able to experience pain or happiness. You would just be in nothingness.
?
2015-11-05 01:47:18 UTC
I know what you mean. The answer? Impossible to know. You cannot know. Even during sleep or in studies done in sensory deprivation tanks, your mind must fill in the blanks. Nature abhors a vacuum. What this means is the mind cannot bear your not existing, it cannot bear simply nothing, so it will fill in that space with dreams and SOMETHING, even hallucinations. As long as there is an existence. So the answer is, impossible to know, and yes, terrifying too.
2015-11-06 09:18:12 UTC
It is just like it was before you were born and did not exist. You will get used to it again.
Quadrillian
2015-11-04 15:05:55 UTC
What about before you were born. You did not exist then, and in fact had been in a state of non-existence for fourteen billion years. How did you feel about that? If you couldn't make up your mind about it in all that time, then I think you need to realise that you never will.



Cheers!
Agent WD-40
2015-11-05 11:13:11 UTC
Close your eyes and imagine a universe with nothing in it. Then erase that thought along with every thought you've had before. This is what non-existence is like.
Sam
2015-11-05 00:47:28 UTC
If you are not exist you will feel absolutely nothing. Your brain controls everything in your body, feeling, emotions, visions, mind and others. Imagine if you don't have a brain. 'Not exist' isn't as scary as you think, because when you are not exist, you can't think.
Git
2015-11-09 03:38:07 UTC
I once had a thoughts that's almost similar to yours but mine goes like this... how is being dead feels like. So I closed my eyes and imagined I am dead. Of course, the mind wondered about the flesh decaying and worms eating it. But then it struck me that being dead, my mind should stop functioning too. So I decided to stop all thoughts. It took a while but for a period, I don't know how long it was, my mind completely has no thoughts or images. And do you know what? It was an incredible feeling of peace. I haven't been able to duplicate that instant of no thoughts and I miss it. Of course, you might ask, how can I know it felt like peace if I had no thoughts. Well, it's something you have to experience. It's like you need to taste sweetness to know what sweet taste like.
emily
2015-11-04 18:29:21 UTC
Every time I think about things like this, I picture just a black empty void.

If you were not existing, you would not be anywhere or be able to do a thing. Life would be boring but oh wait.. There would be no life.



Just imagine yourself drifting, and dead into black void.
Marek
2015-11-05 09:36:21 UTC
You can imagine to be a star. Stars exist but they are not humans, so it is some other shape of existing. When someone dies he goes in some other form of life, because we are all one, and energy cannot die.
Ashley
2015-11-08 17:19:11 UTC
Try to imagine your previous life before YOU were born. Do you remember it? No. D you feel pain from it? No. That's what it is like to not exist.
محمد - نور بروق
2015-11-09 21:03:41 UTC
Hello, I add, I think that you mean the null, where the nothing has structure, which we call the-structure-of-nothingness, it be space has cover but it empty inside it the now, and it specified for the future works, where the now we are semi-full in the current space, and in the future we will need next infinity empty space, then we will find\create that the null space, and we become to fill it gradually, thus the non-existence be that the empty space, the now it like the sleeping or the shut-down, may the philosophy science which study it be "the agnosticism"..
Curtis Edward Clark
2015-11-04 15:46:34 UTC
Trying to figure out what non-existence 'feels' like should freak you out, because it can't be done. No such thing as non-existence exists.
Donald
2015-11-04 22:31:50 UTC
Not ever existing would be like not being able to breathe the brony universe air. without bronies in would be a total mishap and a totally non existent person. to not exist is to not enjoy MLP. and I really just... couldn't...you know?
got_chillz
2015-11-09 03:19:47 UTC
"not existing" is like dreaming, for in the dream you do not exist, but it feels real, but whatever you do, will not manifest in the physical, it is all in your head.



But then again, everything that happens to you in your waking moments is all happening in your head ... everything you experience, touching, seeing, smelling, even feeling and thinking, all happens in your head as neuro-logical impulses. When you read this, the image from the screen travels to your retina, then gets inverted and translated by your neurological cortex .. in your head. Even the narrative you have of your life happens ... in your head. So what is really happening outside of you is really all .. in your head!!



So nothing really EXISTS ... except only ... in your head!!

(THE MIND .. where does it reside? that should be the question?)



What was your question again??
2015-11-05 13:36:25 UTC
When I was a kid we were given gas for teeth extraction. I always had the strangest dreams. Last time I had a tooth removed, I had to be knocked out because of an over powerful gag reflex. I nearly threw up every time the poor guy went near my mouth. I was given an injection and remember counting backwards from twenty. I remember getting to 16 then nothing. It was just as I imagined death to be. Pure black nothing. Suddenly, I became aware of a guy gently shaking my shoulder and everything began to come on again in my mind. Normally I always felt I was somewhere. One time I saw myself floating up very slowly in space. All around me were statues of mother Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms. They like me were all floating in silence in star-filled space. The stranger part was, we all had cards around our necks with numbers on. Yet the last time, I often wondered if I was brain dead.
?
2015-11-05 20:44:34 UTC
It feels non existent.
senura
2015-11-06 00:34:33 UTC
Hi while we exist on earth we know what its like

Its hard to understand like what its like not to exist

Thats why we bilieve in life after death in any religion

Athiests have no answers to your question . WhAt u do on earth creates who u are after death hav a good life bye hope i helped
2015-11-05 06:25:54 UTC
Literally not existing, having no consciousness or body - well, there'd be nothing. Like when you're really deeply asleep and you're not dreaming.
2015-11-05 09:17:16 UTC
You can not know what it feels like to not exist, because you don't feel when you don't exist.
2015-11-05 05:42:35 UTC
You can't imagine it because if you don't exist, then there is no one to imagine what it's like to not exist.
?
2015-11-05 11:50:02 UTC
Nothing, is the answer. Just look at is as though before you were born.....You didn't exist then. If you don't exist then there is nothing.
Grinning Football plinny younger
2015-11-05 01:12:47 UTC
You mean what's it like to be dead!? (not exist any more) I imagine it was like before you were born, 'you' didn't know you weren't existing, or that there was any differences.
2015-11-05 18:58:35 UTC
It's terrifying
James
2015-11-06 00:18:27 UTC
It's like an eternal dreamless sleep. Personally, I'd rather be awake.
djdundalk
2015-11-05 19:47:51 UTC
I don't know, tell me what is it like to exist. No sound, no vision, no voice, I think that typifies most of the world except those who control the working systems of the world.
2015-11-05 15:31:56 UTC
In used to think this as a kid and if you think long enough it takes you to a different place. You have this weird moment where you are the universe. I don't know how to explain it. It's amazing. You have to ask yourself the right questions and visualize nothingness. Letting go completely.
?
2015-11-04 20:59:42 UTC
Feelings
corrine
2015-11-05 09:10:03 UTC
I've thought about this before I thought i was the ony one. Whenever i think deeply about it i cry im not sure why tho. But when i ask myself that all i can see in my head is black space... miles and miles of nothing? Maybe I'm just going crazy lol
Midas The Ruler.
2015-11-05 17:16:57 UTC
Lonely
Kali
2015-11-07 01:06:29 UTC
Ask any poor person in America, for one. Oh never mind, you wouldn't be able to because they don't exist.
Groove doctor
2015-11-05 04:38:55 UTC
Of course you do! In the way that I think you mean by 'not exist', you experience it daily. Here's how.



Do you remember all of your moment-to-moment experience? No! There are gaps. EVERY time you go to sleep, between dreams, you experience chunks of non-existence. The same non-existence experience of post-death, presumably. AND of pre-life. Sure, there are dreams you remember, but even those are like an edited film, jumping from one to the other. But between the dream, in the spaces you don't remember, you experience non-existence.



Now here's the fun idea, the relaxing counterweight to non-existence anxiety. Can you IMAGINE being awake constantly? Even when you're a few hours short of sleep you crave to sleep, to switch off for a bit. When you are contiunally short of sleep it becomes unbearable. In fact, throughout history, one of the worst tortures performed on humans is to heavily deprive them of sleep. To reformulate all that, to deprive someone of their daily experience of non-existence is one of the worst tortures to perform on a person experiencing existence. Too little experience of non-existence ruins the experience of existence.



If we run with that idea, you will probably feel tired at the end of your life, and be ready to switch off. BUT, in the same way you don't spend the day dreading sleep and thus ruining an otherwise possibly fulfilling day, it makes no sense to dread sleep at the end of your life. If we lived forever, I imagine it'd feel like sleep deprivation. I look at people like the famous english broadcaster and naturalist, David Attenborough, 84 years old, and STILL fulfilling his life more than most young people. I doubt he spends his time in anxiety when he's still so mentally ripe and engaged with the many activities life has to offer.



There's one final component to realise to complete this picture, the "what happens after my death-sleep"?, to reframe fear of this, but Alan Watts says it far better than me. I felt the same freaked-out feeling about non-existence that you're feeling, so I totally sympathise! And this 10 minute talk is what finally resolved it for me. In fact, when he says it, this reassuring therapy becomes light entertainment. Enjoy...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3MA0n4jEXk
Yuri
2015-11-06 16:12:19 UTC
It is like this:









If you don't exist, you don't exist. If you are dead, I don't know if you exist but your consciousness does not exist in your body
Lauren
2015-11-07 10:40:35 UTC
Honestly I think many of us always wanted to like die for a day to see the reactions of people and see who cared. If you realy wanted to feel that I would just not use my phone for like 2 weeks or maybe just not answer anyone and it could give u a reaction. I believe people feel this way because they don't feel loved they want someone to care for them and it's sad many people feel like this.
James
2015-11-05 16:15:40 UTC
Existence is an illusion
D
2015-11-07 09:03:04 UTC
That's like asking to imagine a fourth spatial dimension. It's not possible for our minds to comprehend.
Thomas
2015-11-06 10:40:42 UTC
We can never know what it would be like to not exist. It is so far beyond our frame of reference that we cannot even begin to grasp the concept.
?
2015-11-08 15:52:24 UTC
Yes
Brianna
2015-11-04 18:41:20 UTC
I know what it feels like to feel like you don't exist
Jo
2015-11-07 05:19:34 UTC
Scary
Mercury
2015-11-07 14:29:58 UTC
We wouldn't know what it is like to not exist due to if we didn't exist, how would we know we didn't exist?
The Invisible Man
2015-11-05 20:47:25 UTC
It's like being on Y!A and getting no answers!
?
2015-11-06 07:59:34 UTC
If you did not exist you could not ask that question.
Razal
2015-11-06 06:58:05 UTC
for Not existing you wont know you not exist so its like you are never there. You wont be able to ask the question.
Nick
2015-11-05 15:20:51 UTC
think about before you were born. Do you remember it? No, and I think that's what it'll be like after death. So just don't worry about it because it's going to happen eventually. Just enjoy and live your life to fullest and be safe. Oh and taco bell. taco bell's awesome.
Kevin
2015-11-07 20:02:16 UTC
having no family or anyone who loves you is like to not exist.
?
2015-11-05 01:17:48 UTC
I would say it would be like everything that doesn't exist. The same.
2015-11-05 17:51:30 UTC
I believe some of our dreams are Our souls visiting the spiritual world, I've had visions throughout my life.
Luke
2015-11-05 18:05:33 UTC
It's fun!
Mir Quasem
2015-11-05 19:05:11 UTC
You can't turn your self 'Not Exist' so long you are alive.
?
2015-11-05 04:18:02 UTC
Your body is just a vehicle that your spirit commandeers to navigate this physical World.. You won't need it, you wont miss it, nor will you have any desire to get back into it once you cross over into it afterlife..
?
2015-11-05 02:42:48 UTC
Excellent. Thats what my imaginary friends told me and everybody knows that they dont exist!
Greciaa
2015-11-05 22:59:09 UTC
We wouldn't know because we exist!
Waltz49
2015-11-06 14:13:39 UTC
Did you exist before you were born? The idea of the after-life is no different than the idea of the before-life, yet almost no one cares about the before life.
2015-11-06 18:07:09 UTC
I feel like I don't exist sometimes I just feel like nothingness over takes me. JK. Not existing is not being and if u know what that feels like ur not here ur fake therefore we don't exist since we can see nothingness. IDK what I'm talking bout I'm drugged. JK but not rly. But rly
Gert
2015-11-04 15:01:26 UTC
I was in a comma for 3 months. When I woke up I was freaked out because so much time had passed. It was nothing.
JAMES K
2015-11-04 17:43:05 UTC
Without existence, there is no thought. You cannot imagine the total absence of something if you have it.
hi
2015-11-05 07:28:08 UTC
That's a deep question
rebecca
2015-11-05 15:13:09 UTC
It's not possible because you would not think when you are dead because your brain doesn't work after you're dead so technically you would not realise that you are dead but what happens to our life just nothing? IM SO CONFUSED AND SCARED when you're dead how TF do u know if you are 😭😅
2015-11-05 16:40:38 UTC
If you are seeking a new and different explanation of the truth that makes sense, search for TRUTH CONTEST in Google and click the 1st result, then click on THE PRESENT and read what it says. This is truth you can check.
SoldierOfTruth
2015-11-07 19:58:07 UTC
You cant imagine what it is like because to be able to imagine something, you must exist.
2015-11-05 21:35:04 UTC
It's impossible to know what it's like or to perceive it.
Happy Hiram
2015-11-04 17:57:13 UTC
What do you remember from the 14 billion years before you were born?



Exactly like that.
2015-11-04 18:19:04 UTC
Like before you were born?
?
2015-11-06 17:39:03 UTC
Like it was before you were born
2015-11-07 06:29:07 UTC
The next time you go to sleep, when you wake up tell us what it felt like when you were asleep...that is what happens when a human dies....you go to sleep and know nothing of anything until Jesus wakes you up.
Eric
2015-11-06 05:47:02 UTC
Wouldn't know
Rob
2015-11-05 15:02:17 UTC
Hold your thumb and next finger together, and feel the smallest thing, smaller than a grain of salt and smaller still..
Naguru
2015-11-04 17:25:36 UTC
To do some magic and artificially create a vacuum around our SELF.
guylancaster2007
2015-11-04 15:19:50 UTC
I believe being dead means not existing. Try imaging your dead body
?
2015-11-06 11:45:50 UTC
if no one should exist then nothing happens
2015-11-08 06:48:59 UTC
Amla tumda
Robert F
2015-11-07 16:51:02 UTC
try finding a sinsory deprevation box for a couple of days , that should get you close with the exeptoins of the thoughts and personal tough feeling
Dl A
2015-11-07 03:43:04 UTC
What a stupid question! Tell you what, when you die & don't exist any longer, let us know!
Michael
2015-11-05 20:45:38 UTC
You can't accurately imagine something without experiencing it.
?
2015-11-05 18:34:10 UTC
Remember when you were so young you couldn't remember. It would be like that.
andrew
2015-11-05 17:53:48 UTC
Why should i live such a crappy life if i'm only gonna live once! IT'S NOT FAIR. MY ONE FUKING TIME TO LIVE BECOMES HELL. Any help
?
2015-11-04 20:37:29 UTC
No such thing as non existence.
2015-11-04 18:03:22 UTC
Going to sleep is somewhat similar. Related: "The Undiscovered Country," "The Great Divorce," "The Path of the Higher Self."
That Girl.
2015-11-05 09:51:35 UTC
i was exactly thinking about that a few minutes ago.

I dont know this is really a tough question
?
2015-11-09 21:02:43 UTC
Depressing thought. I could give a more exact answer in person.
Sean K
2015-11-05 20:30:32 UTC
It's exactly the same as before you were born.
Mark
2015-11-08 02:25:37 UTC
Scary thought!
2015-11-06 01:14:41 UTC
No ones alive knows
2015-11-04 20:08:03 UTC
Interesting question. What will happen when you die? What lies beyond? It would be nice to know, even if it was a simple "nothing" it would be great.
Sean
2015-11-06 18:49:12 UTC
Nobody knows
Ryan
2015-11-05 02:12:45 UTC
These seem like thoughts of someone having an existential crisis... are you ok?
Ajax
2015-11-07 14:16:22 UTC
To feel alone and feel abandoned but, a drive to survive and rise above it.
?
2015-11-05 16:24:15 UTC
don t be freaked out. How did you feel during WW2??? that s how it feels when you dont exist!
Ava
2015-11-05 09:23:50 UTC
I think it would be like sleeping but without any dreams. It would feel like nothing ._.
nobudE
2015-11-06 21:26:01 UTC
Oh for crying out loud- hhhhhhhhhhhhh.
?
2015-11-07 08:32:54 UTC
I tried to imagine that a couple of years ago. It was weird.
Elizabeth
2015-11-05 00:29:44 UTC
I always think about this..... I just imagine not being able to move and just 'seeing' black. It's scary.....
2015-11-04 18:19:55 UTC
Therw is no experiencer and no experience and playing with words will not make you immortal.
robert43041
2015-11-05 11:55:22 UTC
One day you will find out...but you won't be able to tell anyone about it anymore.
Martin the baby
2015-11-06 00:13:21 UTC
Better question would be "what is really after death" So many experienced the sh*t, but nobody was able to tell us !
Rhiannon Red
2015-11-07 05:10:20 UTC
You feel as if the world is slipping away from you, a total disconnect.
SLJ
2015-11-05 18:34:14 UTC
Well the easiest way to understand is to go to sleep.. how does deep sleep feel?
Brian
2015-11-06 21:32:15 UTC
I think all you potheads should snuff the joints and come back too reality maaaaam !
?
2015-11-06 19:03:32 UTC
I'm American I find this offensive
?
2015-11-07 13:43:48 UTC
It would be hard to get a date
Denn
2015-11-05 08:20:05 UTC
Empty,cold,unloved and soltitude
MoonBear44
2015-11-05 23:35:07 UTC
I dont know. Ask Bigfoot. Lol
petepi3
2015-11-05 14:36:35 UTC
you will never know that feeling. to not exist means no conscious and no wanking.
rev william
2015-11-05 14:16:05 UTC
“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”



― Mark Twain
?
2015-11-05 18:55:59 UTC
I don't want to know.
Conor
2015-11-05 10:10:03 UTC
What were yu before yu were born? That answers it
?
2015-11-07 10:07:26 UTC
shuch thing doesn't not exist
It Is Always Now
2015-11-07 06:14:26 UTC
It isn't like anything.
?
2015-11-09 03:15:51 UTC
It's absolutely awesome xxx
Minetto
2015-11-08 18:56:22 UTC
like sleep without dreams ,
?
2015-11-08 10:04:01 UTC
you don't exist.
2015-11-04 18:30:47 UTC
I would assume it would be like sleeping
Karlee
2015-11-07 22:20:16 UTC
Your mom
Jack
2015-11-05 16:43:57 UTC
Your mom
Bubbles
2015-11-05 11:53:50 UTC
Like it was before you were conceived.
Nat
2015-11-05 15:46:45 UTC
We have no clue... that's impossible!
Tucker Sandin
2015-11-05 18:00:38 UTC
its like before you were born it wasn't black, not dreaming, just nothing.
Tim
2015-11-07 01:18:42 UTC
It isn't. It doesn't. It cant.
Timotheous
2015-11-05 03:01:32 UTC
A whole lot of nothing.
?
2015-11-04 23:33:59 UTC
unless there telling you about a new drug that improves your sex life i doubt if anyone that replies would have any idea
ben
2015-11-06 06:58:52 UTC
Its impossible to know
Steve B
2015-11-06 07:45:41 UTC
It is the same feeling before you born.
?
2015-11-05 13:44:16 UTC
You know how it feels when you are asleep.....Well I would think it would be just like that.
C5
2015-11-05 13:50:26 UTC
Not feel any kind of emotions
?
2015-11-08 22:45:04 UTC
To be significant
?
2015-11-05 17:36:32 UTC
If you are asking that question you need guidance
Hugo
2015-11-05 19:58:56 UTC
people living forever and time travel
2015-11-07 23:02:22 UTC
I don't knoe
?
2015-11-05 15:07:21 UTC
you remember? just like before you were born!
Cee
2015-11-06 21:43:25 UTC
A great big nothing.
come
2015-11-05 01:52:46 UTC
Gases of all kinds!
Political Onlooker
2015-11-06 03:33:54 UTC
Oblivion and the absence of consciousness.
Maisie
2015-11-09 07:49:18 UTC
It would be perfect I imagine
Kevin
2015-11-05 12:22:01 UTC
i know what you mean man but i guess you can say the only way to image that is to be dead?
?
2015-11-08 09:52:00 UTC
Stop thinking altogether. There you are!
Roger
2015-11-07 18:14:52 UTC
One can only die and find out
john
2015-11-06 18:55:35 UTC
It isn't possible
Nikolas
2015-11-05 20:43:40 UTC
im just doing this to get points
amy
2015-11-06 16:11:00 UTC
To be ignored
2015-11-05 05:45:28 UTC
What kind of a question is that?
Elda J.P.
2015-11-05 12:40:47 UTC
It isn't!
?
2015-11-05 16:04:05 UTC
Be gone
?
2015-11-06 18:17:05 UTC
That is something we will never experience.
2015-11-05 20:53:54 UTC
sleep
?
2015-11-07 04:31:37 UTC
ghost
?
2015-11-05 05:15:25 UTC
obviously none of us can answer that question because we are all still living...
Brian
2015-11-09 10:15:45 UTC
hahaha dont worry
?
2015-11-06 12:35:53 UTC
🍄🐶🐠✖️🌙
2015-11-05 18:10:43 UTC
Probably nothing.
molly
2015-11-06 22:22:49 UTC
No idea
?
2015-11-04 19:36:34 UTC
I'm the shape.
Dream Achiever
2015-11-07 20:06:25 UTC
There is no such a thing.
Jane
2015-11-05 15:34:02 UTC
No idea lol
Nathan
2015-11-07 17:09:59 UTC
who nos
?
2015-11-05 07:28:07 UTC
dont knw.. i ******* exist
Geronimo
2015-11-09 06:38:07 UTC
go ask a dead person
Kevin7
2015-11-12 08:49:24 UTC
It would be terrible
nontarzaniccaulkhead
2015-11-05 03:13:40 UTC
How would anybody know?
?
2015-11-08 09:04:12 UTC
no one will ever know
?
2015-11-05 07:49:51 UTC
you wouldnt know
Richard
2015-11-04 21:35:41 UTC
"I think therefore I am" --- I am therefore I think ! --- I think not therefore ????



Richard
Yello!
2015-11-06 01:02:53 UTC
i dont know
?
2015-11-05 17:45:35 UTC
There would be nothing. You would not be.
daniyal
2015-11-09 11:42:21 UTC
dont know
Danny
2015-11-05 05:34:03 UTC
nothingness?
2015-11-05 15:01:32 UTC
nothing
Sara W
2015-11-05 16:17:41 UTC
imagine a b
2015-11-05 05:22:56 UTC
#yawn
Jeben
2015-11-07 23:51:28 UTC
nothing
Reece
2015-11-05 11:14:52 UTC
Well, nothing...
Zigg
2015-11-05 07:14:24 UTC
I dunno. Maybe better then existing? Maybe not?
JOHN
2015-11-06 00:04:19 UTC
https://www.bing.com/search?q=Henry+Channon&filters=ufn%3a%22Henry+Channon%22+sid%3a%22bd8bb245-8b3f-54e3-9bf5-22f74cb57781%22&qs=MB&pq=chips+channon&sc=2-13&sp=1&cvid=FD1F1A9D81194FED925D90DBCCE62B60&FORM=QBLH
Bryttany
2015-11-06 13:10:48 UTC
god
heidi
2015-11-07 22:20:59 UTC
.
Pastor John
2015-11-07 10:42:45 UTC
.
RaynZ
2015-11-06 07:57:36 UTC
?
mariah
2015-11-07 16:28:12 UTC
F
2015-11-05 11:27:35 UTC
Wtf? Lol


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