Hell or

[Firebird]

I think I get the idea of people being forced to experience their own misdeeds as a replacement for hell, but I have some questions about it. I have known people who are totally immune to things like guilt and regret, some of them were sociopaths and others were just convinced that they were doing the right thing. Do people who die change so that they can actually feel sympathy? Do psychopaths just get a different kind of "judgement" when the time comes?

Maybe those people simply lack souls?

[VioletRose]

I don't think there are any people that don't have souls. The problems some people have with empathy or remorse are probably no more ingrained than other mental illnesses-- I really doubt that there are any schitzophrenic people in the afterlife! It is kind of interesting to think about, though. If someone was simply incapable of seeing what was wrong with their actions, how much responsibility can they really bear?

[Cromulent]

I'd have to imagine that a formerly-insane person observing a record of his old self doing terrible things would feel fairly detached about it. If somebody stole your car and drove it onto a sidewalk, fatally crushing the pedestrians there, you would be a fool to consider yourself a murderer.

[Roberta Grimes]

Hi folks - You are raising some very interesting questions! Here are my thoughts:

1) A soul is a mind, so anyone who can think has a "soul." There are no soul-less people. There is evidence, too, that animals and perhaps even plants are able to communicate with us telepathically, and both exist in the afterlife levels... so it may very well be that they have some form of "soul" as well. Check out The Secret Life of Plants (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060915870?ie=UTF8&tag=thfuofdy-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060915870) for some truly freaky experimental results!

2) To lack a conscience while on earth - or to have a defective one - is probably another life-handicap chosen by the participant as an aid to his spiritual development. Many people choose to be handicapped in one way or another while here as an aid to learning love and forgiveness, and to choose a spiritual handicap is to give oneself a particularly tough lesson, wouldn't you say?

3) To die and transition to the post-death levels is to leave all handicaps behind. All of us have done cruel and thoughtless things, so people who were cruel while here because they were mentally ill have the same sort of self-forgiveness work that all of us must do... they simply have more of it. The post-death life review seems not to be intended as a punishment, but you're right: for nobody is it pleasant, apparently, and for many of us it is pretty rough.

[Firebird]

Okayyy... so how can I tell what parts of me are really me, and which are just earthly flaws? :confused:

[Roberta Grimes]

You know, that is an interesting question. Does anyone else have an opinion? For now, here are my thoughts:

1) If you are talking about physical and mental flaws, then none of them is a part of who you are. Once you die and realize that you are not handicapped or mentally challenged or in any other way imperfect, then you will have no body-related flaws at all. What we think of as mental impairments are generally related to imperfections in your material brain, so to lose that brain is to lose Alzheimer's disease, brain injuries, and even lifelong mental retardation.

2) If you are talking about what we might call attitudinal or spiritual flaws like a propensity to anger, hatred or dishonesty, or difficulties with loving and forgiving, then those do remain with you after death. That is a big reason why you should be working now to try to learn and make progress spiritually. People who have just died are often shocked to find that they remain the same people that they were in life. And since we are told that it is much easier to improve ourselves spiritually here than it is there, you should seize this earthly opportunity to learn and grow as much as possible!

[OldManRobot]

Okayyy... so how can I tell what parts of me are really me, and which are just earthly flaws? :confused:

Yeah, this is a puzzler. Anybody here ever seen A Beautiful Mind? The main character's greatest strengths came directly out of his greatest flaw. Would that mean that none of that was actually, intrinsically his? We won't even go into the philosophical argument that some of the most profound personal strengths come about through an attempt to compensate for some terrible handicap or flaw...