Ever thought about that before? How long is eternity. It just wracks the brain. It's kinda fun to think about though. What will eternity be like. Do you know?

If eternity makes me wait... then I'm so gonna go insane.

Well I never think about eternity because I figured that if it's gonna be longer than me then I shouldn't need to worry.

Why shouldn't you need to worry about it?

he just said. he thinks eternity will outlast him. now on the other hand, if you didn't think it would, that might be something to consider...

Ya Loz Understands. I just never bother to think much of the interesting things won't outlast me.

Well, it could outlast you. Where will you be after you die? Are you going to live with eternity, or will you just sease to exist for eternity? Either way, eternity will affect you.

Me being gone is nothing I find special... I beileve in reincarnation

What do you mean by reincarnation?

He means being born into another body simply put.
Personally i belive there is no heaven or hell so you stay as a spirt (or eintety) (or how ever its spelled) for all eternity intill you get reincarnated.

By reincarnation he means coming back to life in some other form after he dies. I unno about eternity, every once in a while I'll find myself thinking about it. Personally, this usually leads me to wonder about the start of time. Sure, I believe in God, but sometimes you gotta wonder where he came from, and where everything that exists came from. Just a curious subject.

Fenix, How do you know?

Kaden, I understand what you mean. I've wondered that too. But then I ran across a verse in Collossians. It says that God was before time and space. That means that God was always there. If God had a beginning that would mean time had already started. So God has always been there. He has no beginning.

The idea frightens me. But even more than that is when I try to think about what will happen after death if eternity doesn't exist. o.o''

I'm with Eves, I believe in reincarnation as well.

As far as "eternity," though... it's like thinking about the Universe, for me. In physics, one day, we had to imagine a trampoline as large as the universe. Then imagine someone sitting (or standing) in a random place. After that, imagine a ball rolling near that person and their dent in the trampoline - yada yada yada, it had something to do with orbits and force of gravity (not important in this discussion, really). Anyways, imagine the universe? I couldn't do it, and I tried for a good week or two - it made me dizzy. Seriously.

Now, to think about eternity? Feels like I'm going to pass out... but to counter that feeling, methinks of something simple, such as: "Eternity and forever are only as long as you make them."

that's cute as a saying, but pretty close to useless when attempting to take it literally. unless we're assuming we are all all-powerful beings who dictate boundless spans of time. then it would make a small bit of sense, but as I'm quite sure that is not the case, the phrase is moot

Ahaha. No, no. I didn't mean it like that - meant it in a different definition (kinda-like). Here's something along how I kind of meant it:

You probably know that there's all those couples out there that say they'll "love eachother forever," ne? Well, say something happens, and they break up (doesn't matter how long the relationship was - a few days to a few years, make up what you want). Do they still love eachother? Maybe, maybe not. But in that... period of time, that was their "forever."

Get it?

Sorry guys. I know I always use this kind of stuff as examples... it's easy-er. :blink:

ok, I see. but methinks this topic was more along the lines of the objective definition of eternity, rather than a colloquialism.

Kurai- I've thought of that before. But then you have to ask, "would I rather believe in the God who made us, die and find out he's not real or not believe in the God who made us, die and find out he is real." I think you're more screwed when you do the second choice than the first.

The thing is Puff, that's exactly what LoZ was saying. The "couple" was dictating what forever was, therefore being the "all powerful being." The thing is though, we're not "all powerful beings." We're just mere humans. Who controls us? Who made us? Do they know what eternity is?

I just want to stress that the ideas I express belong to other people. The interpretations are mine, but I don't have any well-set beliefs of my own.

If it exists.

:P

Let's not jump to conclusions here.
(EDIT-"It was a "Jump to Conclusions" mat. You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor... and would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO.")

If you're basing your belief on pragmatic reasoning, is it really belief?

An example I have deals w/ Christianity, particularly Catholicism. I haven't read the christian bible yet, though I mean to. But it comes to Dante's Inferno (among other christian works), however, a major lesson which can be taken is that a leap of faith, an uncertainty, is a core aspect of the belief necessary for heaven. Otherwise, you're the same as, say, the greek or roman philosophers, some of whom came to believe in an absolute power through reason and logic. And they're in hell, albeit a pretty nice version (it's basically the elysian fields).

I wouldn't agree with that completely (in fact, I'd say that in the case of greek and roman philosophers such as socrates, there's definitely an amount of faith and emotion-based logic) but I see where it's going; being a good person because it's going to benefit you directly isn't going to get you a ticket into the "good" eternity.

Also, you're still putting most of your money in one bank. What if there's a different god, and while he accepts people who believe in no god (because they're not against him, and can be persuaded) he looks upon true believers of other religions as enemies and kills/condemns/whatevers them? Just one of many little quirks which could screw things over.

I don't mean to jump on ya, but Mile's comments were not very directed. Ever heard of anagogic allegory? The point of some colloquialisms, analogies, etc is precisely that we can't fully define eternity, god, etc. Feel free to challenge the logic of simpler definitions, but don't dismiss them simply because they are, or at least appear to be, simple. Especially because they tend to deal with 'little' details we might not think about sometimes.

A truncated version of a definition of eternity. I think the book ends by "that is eternity", though to me "that is not the first second of eternity" is a better ending. Mainly, this deals with our ability to understand eternity, and our constant attempts to put a length of time on eternity when we can't.

If we're talking about an objective definition of eternity, a simple simile (forever) does the job pretty well. Most other definitions (what it will be like, what else will be there, whether there will actually be an end, whether we will last for eternity, etc) are subjective.

I mean, your own words as an example, this is a pretty clear leap to humans in eternity, not eternity in and of itself.

It's not bad to definite it subjectively, but don't critique others for doing it.

Go Bucket! I personally do believe in God and I do think there's an afterlife, but my beef is with religion. I don't want people telling me HOW to believe in God.

If this "God" is as merciful and perfect as people say he is, which is extremely subjective because merciful and perfect are both very subjective terms, and if he's omniscient(all-knowing, for those who don't know) do I really have to front all this bullshit like I'm a follower of a certain religion? I don't have to be a Catholic to express my belief in God. Nor do I have to be a Seventh Day Adventist, a Baptist, a Scientologist, a Muslim, a Jew, or any of that shit for that matter.

Anyway, back to eternity, I agree with Eves. I think it'd be pretentious of us to think we could possibly outlast eternity. In the whole scope of things, we're pretty damn insignificant. If someone were to look down upon the universe from outside, we wouldn't be visble, we wouldn't even be fathomable. So we're just particles in the grand scheme of things. Particles made of even smaller particles.

But those small particles have potential for crazy shit. Ok, I know it's cliche BS, but I totally buy into it.

I'm really pretty ambivalent when it comes to religion and faith. The time I spend on thinking about them is more because I find it interesting than because I find it important. I don't think I hold any real views. If I did, it'd probably be something like discordianism, neoism, or something like that (my favorite brand is actually WGLF, some high school or college debate team which uses BS theories to win debates. Supposedly).

When it comes to religion as groups of people and stuff...Iunno. I feel like they're good sometimes, bad other times. Do I think the bad that christianity or islam or even the typically venerated religions like buddhism have done outweighs the good? Well, it might, not too sure. Do I think that humanity's bad outweighs the good in general? Well, it might, not too sure. I feel like my beef is more w/ humanity than with religion, and even then

If there's anything I've taken from christianity, it's the whole forgiveness thing from Catholicism. I feel like killing, ya, necessary sometimes, but in terms of anger and wrath....I forgive people. Even the terrorists. Ya, we will at least have to kill some, and I hope we can bridge gaps and shit before everyone kills each other, but I see where they're coming from.

And I don't believe that evil or good make you happy or sad (necessarily). I can totally handle the idea that someone is cruel and selfish as can be, dies feeling good about themselves without any guilt, and not be punished in the afterlife. It just so happens that I feel happy when I make others happy, and 'evil' people make it harder for people to be happy. More than anything else, I hate murder because it deprives ME of the chance to ever meet that person, and it can change the people around that person in bad ways, and make my meetings with them less happy should they ever happen.

I think that eternity is a concept - one that exists more as an all encompassing cocoon for all things that have been or ever will be. A sort of boundary, outside of the boundary, if you will. What is it in reality? I think that our minds are too constrained by the reality of life to ever really get a firm grasp of eternity. That's the best that I can come up with, at least. (The cocoon theory... something beyond all our boundaries and measures.)

It's frustrating, cause it is such a cool concept too. So many storylines hidden within it.... But I still can't get my mind around more than the barest hints of its complexity.

Eternity.


My thoughts? In all honesty, I use to think about tihs quite a bit when I was younger. Over the years, I've come up with this conclusion for myself. It is incomprehensible, indecipherable, and quite mind-boggling. I avoid the subject.

+ 1

Quoted for great truth and justice!

Random Bitch Ranting:
Damn, topics like this used to go on a lot longer in LUE, what the hell happened?

Ya, I know that "rants" are supposed to go on for a page or two instead of one line, but that's about all I had to say.

We all stated what we wanted and left it to be.

I didn't know we had a quota to make when someone posts rants.

I'm deeply sorry, I'll try harder next time. :"(

Most of the time, the topics are longer because there's a debate involved, and that wasn't even a rant really.

I dunno, there was a certain amount of debate going on if you look at the topic, it just didn't continue for very long.

You shouldn't feel obliged to make a quota :P It's not like I put a lot of effort into my "rant."

maybe time and space. is just a figment of human nature. human imagination.

man is scared of what he cannot understand.

that is why we have came up with the big bang theory.


evolution.

our year. is judged by how fast we move around the sun.

day and night is judged by how fast we rotate.


how fast we rotate and how fast we move is judged by time...

rpm= rotations per MINUTE

mph = miles per HOUR

speed and time are used to make one another...


so that kinda goes with which came first?

the chicken or the egg.


which came first. speed or time?




this might not make sense to anyone else, but it makes sense to me.

Question one: Chicken or egg?

The egg came first. Want to know why? It doesn't ask "Which came first, the chicken or the CHICKEN egg." It just says egg... and eggs were around LOOOOONG before chickens.


Question two: Speed or time?

(I just broke out my honors biology II notes for this.)
Remember a time when:
There was no time
There was no space
There was no matter
In the begining there was only energy. The explosion of the Big Bang created matter (e=mc squared - energy = massXspeed of light squared)
As matter moved through the newly created space - time began.
Matter began to rotate and gravitational forces pulled matter together forming solar systems and planets.
And here's a little physics: Movement needs speed and velocity, but it does not need acceleration - because if there's a constant velocity, then acceleration equals zero.
As for "which came first, speed or time?" They happened at the same time.

:o Brilliant! :o

For the speed or time thingy... speed is a measure of how much distance your travel over the course of a set amount of time; so, there's no speed without time. With that in mind, I'd have to say time came first.

*Waits to get own'd because of his lack of knowledge*

Yes, speed is x/t (Distance over time, on a graph); however, TIME only started when things began to move (movement needs SPEED - and speed needs movement) through space. Time cannot actually happen without movement (and don't dare say "But I'm staying completely still - time still going!" <_< You aren't the only one in the universe. You don't count. Neither do I. Nobody counts).

Okay. You know how people say "I wish I could freeze time"? They'd be freezing movement - everything would stop. For there to be time, there needs to be movement (distance... speed).

Speed is indirectly proportional to distance over time; time is directly proportional to speed times distance.

and i think i just got owned.


even though i do not believe your energy deal -.-

without space were could the energy be?



and about the chicken or the egg.

they assume your not that big of a smartass to say it could be any egg. they mean chicken egg.


and its not necessarily asking which came first the "chicken" or the "egg"

its asking which came first. the creator. or the created.

and no the awnser simply isent the creator.

the creator had to come from somewhere.



i also find it hard to believe that non living matter. could turn into germs. bacteria. then turn into something as complicated as to try and discuss where we came from =P


puff can we truly understand time though? equations can be wrong.


a year is a measurement of time correct?

a year on pluto is alot different then a year on earth.

a day is a form of time measurement. so is a month. week. there all different on different planets.


year-month-week-day-hour-minute-second- and so forth.

that is just what we have made up. in order to try and understand seasons. changes in weather and such.

we associate july to be hot for example.

but in January it is hot on venus.


hell, even on the bottem of the earth seasons are reversed. (to some extent i think)

And that's why we made religions :)

Well a "year" by normal definition is an Earth Year, not whatever planet you want to randomly name's year.

When you say in January it's hot in Venus, Venus is hot year-round, I'm not sure about all planets, but I only know Earth of actually being tilted, and that's what causes seasons.

I'd say in the bottom of the earth, seasons don't matter, it's always a giant vat of molten lava :P

thats the middle/center of the earth =P


and well, we originally made years and such for seasons.


the aztecs and what not with the seasons for crops.and moon cycles.

they never made it originally for time i dont think.

You said bottom of the earth though, the only "bottoms" would be the bottom from your location, which would be "The other side of the planet" or the bottom being the exact middle of the planet :P

Well, before we made years, we had sundials and things like that to tell time, after that, they needed a way to not only show the difference in the lunar cycle, but the solar cycle aswell

At least, that's what I would think :P

i thought the aztecs came first?


and the bottem of myself is my feet.

not my heart.


the center of me would be my heart.

Sundails have been around for around 5000 years now, the Aztecs came along in like the 15th century, only 500 years ago.

Yeah, but you're not a sphere, so it's not that easy to pick up what someone's trying to say :P

ok what ever.


you win the sundial debate.

there still a top and bottem to a sphere though.


and then there a center.


think of it as a tootsie pop =P

Yay me 4 winz.

Yeah, but when you say bottom of the earth, it could mean both <_<

the bottem of the earth from were i live is china.

in the middle of me and china is the inner core of earth.


slightly off from the middle, on the way there and leaving the middle is the mantle, and outer core.