Hello friends, it's Morian again. I've not been on Unexplained-Mysteries in a while but I'm making a comeback at least for today to have a bit of an intelligent discussion about subjective reality in the afterlife.

For those not familiar with the concept of subjective reality, think The Matrix but without the wooden acting or the crappy sequels. (If you'd like to debate how good The Matrix is with me, please PM me instead of cluttering the thread.) In this theory, the world is influenced by consciousness but a collective consciousness sets the parameters for the world we live in, in a manner of speaking. To some extent, the consciousness of one human being influences the world around. The observer affectively manipulates his or her surroundings in the simple act of observing. If you are familiar with the Schrödinger's cat scenario, please refer to that as an example. If you are not familiar, the concept is basically a cat in a box where if a certain event (radioactive decay) triggers a hammer, it will come down and smash a bottle of cyanide. While the cat is unobserved, it is both alive and dead until the observer affectively 'decides' the fate of the cat. In a subjective reality when truly your mind has created the reality around you, is there any death? When death occurs, many see it as the consciousness leaving the body. If the consciousness creates reality around it, then does the consciousness create its own afterlife after it creates its own death?

If subjective reality applies to the afterlife, it would mean that quite possibly everyone is right. If there is no objective truth, if truth is conceived only in our own minds, then all realities and all forms of afterlife do exist. If one is an Atheist during life, does one's consciousness simply disperse like energy or gather in one place as an energy signature without a continuance after the death of the body? Could killers create their own heaven simply by believing that they are going there?

I'd like to hear some friendly, intelligent thought on the subject from anyone who would like to respond.

Everything is consciousness and this consciousness is our true nature (so the mystics say). If this consciousness is our true nature and it is everything then it is only one. Therefore there is no collectivity just one infinite consciousness whoich we all are. Life and death are one and the same to infinite consciousness.

Some illuminating quotes on the topic:

You are the Self, the infinite Being, the pure, unchanging Consciousness, which pervades everything. Your nature is bliss and your glory is without stain. Because you identify yourself with the ego, you are tied to birth and death. Your bondage has no other cause.

--- Shankara

To the question "Where does the soul go, when the body dies?" Jacob Boehme answered : "There is no necessity for it to go anywhere."

The whole world is a manifestation of God in God. ----Swami Omkarananda


If you want a more elaborate explanation here is one from a chinese mystic:

Master Tung-kuo asked Chuang tzu, "This thing called the Way (God, Infinite consciousness, Brahman etc)---where does it exists?" Chuang Tzu said, "There's no place it doesn't exist." "Come," said Master Tung-kuo, "you must be more specific!"
"It is in the ant."
"As low a thing as that?"
"It is in the panic grass."
"But that is lower still!"
"It is in the tiles and shards."
"How can it be so low?"
"It is in the piss and sh**!"
Chuang Tzu said, "Sir, your questions simply don't get at the substance of the matter. When Inspector Huo asked the superintendent of the market how to test the fatness of a pig by pressing it with the foot, he was told that the lower down on the pig you press, the nearer you come to the truth. But you must not expect to find the Way(Tao) in any particular place---there is no thing that escapes its presence! Such is the Perfect Way(Tao), and so too are the truly great words. 'Complete,' 'universal,' 'all-inclusive'---these three are different words with the same meaning. All point to a single reality.

---Chuang Tzu

Very interesting question.
Observation, acceptance and deduction are all different concepts to me. To believe or accept something gives it power, because ultimately it has reign over observation and decision. In one way, I think that reality equals truth only in the physical realm, but there exist as many different realities as there are people due to perspective, yet in a way, there is a collective consciousness based on systematic thought which confines us to the boundaries of that system. I think it's highly unlikely that this extends to the afterlife as it would be a reflection of the confines of systematic thought experienced in the physical realm.

But the "physical" is just as much thought as thought is thought. The concept of a collective unconscious or consensus reality only occurs to the one observer which is the "I-consciousness". The "I-consciousness" or "mind" creates all.

Yet there is no "I-consciousness" in deep sleep without dreams so the "I-consciousness" cant be who we really are. For something to be real it must be permanent. the "mind" is transitory. But abstract consciousness as it is itself in itself and not identifying with "I-consciousness" is eternal and infinite. The physical realm is only as real as you believe it to be.

When's lunch Doctor? *sips coffee waiting for reply*

Lunch is now. I have carrot cake.

*Grabs 3 forks, hands one to Brave and one to Mandy* Sorry, I didn't think you'd mind sharing with two hot chicks!

Not at all.

I agree that for something to be real it has to be permanent. But in all honesty, this life I am living in this body sitting in this chair while my husband sits on the couch and my children sleep in their beds is influenced by this system. It is very real to me because of the choices I have made. There are consequences to the physical realm and I realize that this isn't permanent, but it is something that I have to deal with.

Of course maybe instead of saying "reality" to describe this, I should say "physical realm".

I believe that the only constant within consciousness is in the infinity of its transitions.