In Mark Twains story, the mysterious stranger, one of the stories characters learns that for sure there is no life after life, and although he thought he would be upset by this, he actually felt a sense of relief and thankfulness. if you could know for sure that there were no life after life or conversely that there were life after life, how do you suppose you would feel?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
11 responses to “how would you feel if you could know beyond a doubt if there were life after life or none?”
By the way, if you have never read the mysterious stranger it can be found free on the web, and it is some terrific writing by Twain. he never had it published while alive, but it was found upon his death!
If I found out 100% for sure there was an afterlife, I’d be both disappointed and angry at whatever forces are at play beyond the grave couldn’t make things better on this side of death, because it’d be their (or its, if singular) job to do so.
If I found out 100% for sure this was it, when I’m dead, that’s all there is, I would feel vindicated.
@Jear77 yea- it would be more like an evil demon than a god
I HAVE TROUBLE GETTING PAST THE IDEA OF ‘KNOWING FOR SURE’, THATS IMPOSSIBLE.
IF THERE IS, WE WOULD KNOW
IF THERE ISN’T, HOW WOULD WE KNOW?
AND SAYING LIFE AFTER LIFE IS REDUNDANT, NO? LIFE KEEPS GOING…………………
I would be very happy if I found out there wasn’t one. If I found out there was one, I’d live this life with so much more fear than I already have. To take a chance to live again. To take a chance to live forever. Two things I would never take. It’s too risky for me.
@yin at one time Nietzsche believed we do live the exact same life again and again. At the end of the mysterious stranger Twain suggest we are all thoughts, that it is all just a dream, not real. Who would dream up such a thing as a god and such? Us humans have the challenge to think if we are a thought then we must be a thought of someone but that isn’t necessarily so.
WORSE: What if ghosts are real, and your dead relatives or anyone passed can be watching you at any moment?
I would be so happy to see the dead people I liked.
Valhalla-World, God’s Buffet, & It’s One Hell Of A Band-band.
@luftballooneyegouge hmmm not sure, people can’t stay married for fifty years- would we tire of even those we loved the most in an eternity? I think the answer to long lasting love is that the recipient of our love and us keep growing!
@Scarlett2
To me, that sounds like our consumer-cancer-culture talking.
All we need is endless growth…..
If I only had more……
I think love is slow.
…sorta like spooning, cuddling, & eye gazing.
…sorta like water making canyons.
“We’ve grown apart” is the common cliche’ mantra of every dying & dead relationship.
Like I have felt since I survived drowning by not having to breathe at 4.
INCREDIBLE.
I left my body during a long operation, a hysterectomy. I was able to see that death is easy and that there is an essence that is me and it left my body. I am not afraid to die. I know there is something more. I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I will live as if there will be more and that I must answer for what I do and how I live. A God??? Well, I will live as if there is a God. When I die I will find out. If I am wrong and there is not a God, or more after death, then at least, I will have lived my life as a good person and doing good deeds.