Eric Harris - ceasing to exist, dead and gone forever.

I'm an atheist pretty much for the most part, and I think it really is most rational that consciousness ceases when the brain dies. That being said, I don't know if anyone else feels the same way to what I'm about to describe but whatever I read about columbine and the murder spree and the suicide I kind of just can't help but wonder are Eric and Dylan somehow somewhere or did they cease to exist the moment the bullet hit in the brain. I mean Eric is just so fucking interesting, it urks that he is dead and that is that and there is no chance for a conversation or questions. I really would just love for there to be someway for him to comeback for maybe even just a moment so I could have a conversation with him and get some insight. What's even more weird to think about how he has no idea that he has been talked about and people have been fascinated and copycatting for almost 18 years. He has been dead since the day of and has no clue. I just want a fucking time machine and go back to 99 and meet him god danmit. But sadly that will never be the case, he's dead and gone forever the moment his bullet hit the brain.

I wish they didn't kill themselves. As selfish as it sounds I wish they were in prison so we could gave those dateline/60minutes interviews with them or TV specials like they've done with Manson.

I mean how would they be 18 years after 4/20? Would they have matured and viewed the world in a different way? Would they have remorse? Would they still hold the same views they had 18 years ago?

Well if he ceased to exist completely, it's sad that he also ceased 13 innocent people that he didn't know.

I'm amused that Manson was mentioned in this thread, as the Beach Boys song "Cease To Exist" was a recording of a Manson song.

Lunkhead Mcgrath wrote:

I'm amused that Manson was mentioned in this thread, as the Beach Boys song "Cease To Exist" was a recording of a Manson song.

Exact thoughts lol

If they hadn't have killed themselves inside Columbine, I'm fairly certain they would have killed themselves in prison before now.

Jbow89 wrote:

I mean how would they be 18 years after 4/20? Would they have matured and viewed the world in a different way? Would they have remorse?

I would of thought so, there views on the world were incredibly short sighted and dumb IMO. I had similar views to them around there age and before. The way i see it they hated themselves is the reason why they hated so much other things. Using there hatred as a protective barrier. Unfortunately they didn't go to prison and took the cheap way out, 2 incredibly selfish children who thought they knew more than they actually did. Excuse me if i offend some people but these last few months after thinking about it. I've developed significant distaste towards these 2 not that i was ever a fan, but once upon a time i did have some sympathy for them.

Dead and gone yes. But imo I do not think they cease to exist. I think there is an afterlife. Heaven and Hell and that they are in one of them. Which one? I have my own opinion on that but it was for God to decide and not myself. Overall I do not believe in people contacting the dead like thru a ouija board or something but I do believe that Eric and Dylan are still "alive" thru their souls

I don't think they're "gone forever". Way I see it is in the afterlife you can still see what happens on Earth but you can't interact. So I won't say Eric and Dylan don't know about the aftershocks that they've caused. We won't know until we're gone. Someone needs to hire the best medium in the world and have them find Eric and Dylan's souls. I don't really believe in ouija boards, but maybe some people out there really do have the gift of communicating with the dead. Eh, better to be optimistic than just thinking they're dead, cremated, and gone forevermore.

Wow I thought I was the only one who felt this way. It's weird to think Eric and Dylan are just GONE and have been for such a long time. And sometimes it feels like they're not.

I guess I don't really believe in an afterlife, most of the time, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing after death scares me. So I like to convince myself that there is an afterlife, something neutral (not Heaven or Hell), and that you can see what's happening on Earth as if it's live TV. In that case, I wonder if Eric and Dylan got the chance to look back at the situation and regret what they did. Or even interact with their victims. The thought of that makes me very uncomfortable and it's unlikely anyway, but yeah.

BlackandWhite wrote:

Wow I thought I was the only one who felt this way. It's weird to think Eric and Dylan are just GONE and have been for such a long time. And sometimes it feels like they're not.

I guess I don't really believe in an afterlife, most of the time, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing after death scares me. So I like to convince myself that there is an afterlife, something neutral (not Heaven or Hell), and that you can see what's happening on Earth as if it's live TV. In that case, I wonder if Eric and Dylan got the chance to look back at the situation and regret what they did. Or even interact with their victims. The thought of that makes me very uncomfortable and it's unlikely anyway, but yeah.

Sometimes I envision Eric and Dylan laughing maniacally and continuing to hunt down their victims and other times I see them being tortured by the ones they killed.

BlackandWhite wrote:

I guess I don't really believe in an afterlife, most of the time, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing after death scares me.

Is this not why people turn to religion? Its not something i tend to think about much anymore but I've looked at death as being a similar experience to before being born. (no experience) I've learnt over the years really not to dwell on it, i did it enough as a kid to freak myself out. This is why i live by enjoying what makes me happy, as opposed to doing something i will enjoy less eg. finding a well paid job that i despise. I prefer to work at a job with minimal responsibility, paid enough to survive, and enough time off to enjoy the short time we have on this earth.

EGSandrew wrote:

BlackandWhite wrote:

Wow I thought I was the only one who felt this way. It's weird to think Eric and Dylan are just GONE and have been for such a long time. And sometimes it feels like they're not.

I guess I don't really believe in an afterlife, most of the time, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing after death scares me. So I like to convince myself that there is an afterlife, something neutral (not Heaven or Hell), and that you can see what's happening on Earth as if it's live TV. In that case, I wonder if Eric and Dylan got the chance to look back at the situation and regret what they did. Or even interact with their victims. The thought of that makes me very uncomfortable and it's unlikely anyway, but yeah.

Sometimes I envision Eric and Dylan laughing maniacally and continuing to hunt down their victims and other times I see them being tortured by the ones they killed.

At the very least I could see them being jealous of their friends and classmates who moved on and got married etc. And wishing they'd stuck around for the new technology.

VOD101 wrote:

BlackandWhite wrote:

I guess I don't really believe in an afterlife, most of the time, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing after death scares me.

Is this not why people turn to religion? Its not something i tend to think about much anymore but I've looked at death as being a similar experience to before being born. (no experience)  I've learnt over the years really not to dwell on it, i did it enough as a kid to freak myself out. This is why i live by enjoying what makes me happy, as opposed to doing something i will enjoy less eg. finding a well paid job that i despise. I prefer to work at a job with minimal responsibility, paid enough to survive, and enough time off to enjoy the short time we have on this earth.

I have the same "do what makes you happy" mindset. But the thoughts still creep up on me from time to time, and I just end up frustrated because I can't wrap my head around the idea that there's nothing after death. In a way I kind of envy religious people because of that.

Ironically we're the ones keeping them alive each day by talking about them.

ColumbineIsInterestingAF wrote:

What's even more weird to think about how he has no idea that he has been talked about and people have been fascinated and copycatting for almost 18 years. He has been dead since the day of and has no clue.

Dylan and Eric knew they'd have followers - and what a freak show of followers they had. Cho, Lanza, those mall goths who flew to Canada and had their plans foiled etc. Then barely post-pubescent teens cosplaying as them all over tumblr and photoshopping flower crowns and snapchat filters on their pics. You get one shot at life on this earth, and they killed themselves and others for that legacy?

VOD101 wrote:

BlackandWhite wrote:

I guess I don't really believe in an afterlife, most of the time, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing after death scares me.

Is this not why people turn to religion? Its not something i tend to think about much anymore but I've looked at death as being a similar experience to before being born. (no experience) I've learnt over the years really not to dwell on it, i did it enough as a kid to freak myself out. This is why i live by enjoying what makes me happy, as opposed to doing something i will enjoy less eg. finding a well paid job that i despise. I prefer to work at a job with minimal responsibility, paid enough to survive, and enough time off to enjoy the short time we have on this earth.

Wise words.

VOD101 wrote:

Jbow89 wrote:

I mean how would they be 18 years after 4/20? Would they have matured and viewed the world in a different way? Would they have remorse?

I would of thought so, there views on the world were incredibly short sighted and dumb IMO. I had similar views to them around there age and before. The way i see it they hated themselves is the reason why they hated so much other things. Using there hatred as a protective barrier. Unfortunately they didn't go to prison and took the cheap way out, 2 incredibly selfish children who thought they knew more than they actually did. Excuse me if i offend some people but these last few months after thinking about it. I've developed significant distaste towards these 2 not that i was ever a fan, but once upon a time i did have some sympathy for them.

And again, comment is on the mark. I went through the whole misanthropic, I'm-a-special-snowflake (or in Eric and Dylan's words "self aware") fuck-the-world phase as a teen. I'm now 26 and my views on life itself are considerably different as you can imagine.

BlackandWhite wrote:

I guess I don't really believe in an afterlife, most of the time, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing after death scares me.

No afterlife is good. I'm not even depressed and I'm just taking each day is it comes and trying to live a pleasant/productive life (like most beings on this earth - humans or animals), but who would want to "live" for eternity? That sounds like hell to me.

I'm going to state the obvious here..try not to be so scared of death. It's a perfectly natural part of life. We all will face it eventually, none of us are exempt. It's been this way since the beginning of time and likely will be that way forever. I mean, obviously most of us here probably don't want to have our lives ended prematurely or in a particularly horrid fashion, but death is just something that comes with life. Say if any of us found out we were terminally ill, there's not really much you can do. You just have to ride it out. You're not the first, you won't be the last. Like I said, death is something every living being has faced and will continue to face on this Earth.

I am also an atheist but I have been somehow able to connect with Dylan and the whole thing confuses me so much. I don't know how I know numbers or names but I'm just looking for someway to give him a voice I guess... I just don't know what to believe anymore.

BHDC wrote:

I am also an atheist but I have been somehow able to connect with Dylan and the whole thing confuses me so much. I don't know how I know numbers or names but I'm just looking for someway to give him a voice I guess... I just don't know what to believe anymore.

Are you claiming you're a medium who communicates with him? Please, explain further.

No idea if I am a medium but yes I can communicate with him. As I earlier explained, I lost my best friend and started to go through some emotions as you would expect but I started hearing things and just thought grief etc. Its been a year and I cannot explain how I can talk to him. I acknowledged it about a month ago and now we are super connected.

BHDC wrote:

No idea if I am a medium but yes I can communicate with him. As I earlier explained, I lost my best friend and started to go through some emotions as you would expect but I started hearing things and just thought grief etc. Its been a year and I cannot explain how I can talk to him. I acknowledged it about a month ago and now we are super connected.

.....uhhhhh yeah. You're very mentally ill. Please go to a psychiatrist and tell them exactly what you just told me.

Eric's death is the definitive proof for the absence of afterlife (not that I needed one, neuroscience speaks pretty much clearly about this subject). If he were a ghost or something right now, he would have stirred up a lot of trouble in the whole universe, he wanted to haunt everybody so bad (and he stated in his journals that he would have had so much fun doing so).

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] we all have, without any exception, been technically dead for billions of years before we were born. There's nothing to worry about

E and D didnt want to suffer in prison . They did the right thing by killing themselves .

I wish I could believe there are ghost or spirits in the world but it is hard to tell.
It is off topic but I remember having a dream about my grandfather a couple of years back after he died and to me it felt like a closure since I hadn't seem for 3 years and then he passed away. After that dream I never ever saw him.
We should remember that we shouldn't limit our life on earth just because we have an idea of the "other-world" there is no concrete evidence whatsoever.

Well I guess Eric & Dylan's spirits live on in sense that we talk about them and they are remembered by a lot of people for the infliction they have caused to others and themselves.

With all due respect, not all of us believe that Eric and the others who died are dead and gone, just lying in a grave or a few fading ashes. I do believe that all who died on 4/20 have a new life in Heaven and that is where they are this exact minute.

Others believe that they are still alive in some sort of an afterlife.Outside of the Christian belief system which is what I and some others here adhere to, the beliefs on the afterlife can and do vary.

A few here firmly believe that E &D went to Hell. or some Hellish, punishing existence.

I do not believe that you can have any contact with the dead once they have passed but I do believe strange experiences do sometimes happen when someone is on their death bed.

I don't want to put anyone else down for their beliefs however.

EGSandrew wrote:

I don't think they're "gone forever". Way I see it is in the afterlife you can still see what happens on Earth but you can't interact. So I won't say Eric and Dylan don't know about the aftershocks that they've caused. We won't know until we're gone. Someone needs to hire the best medium in the world and have them find Eric and Dylan's souls. I don't really believe in ouija boards, but maybe some people out there really do have the gift of communicating with the dead. Eh, better to be optimistic than just thinking they're dead, cremated, and gone forevermore.

Do you think this guys ghost is going to go on a ghost computer to access this site and youtube to see what ppl are saying about him

ColumbineIsInterestingAF wrote:

What's even more weird to think about how he has no idea that he has been talked about and people have been fascinated and copycatting for almost 18 years.

I vaguely remember a quote from someone related to Patrick Purdy, that friend he talked about violence with maybe? I'm just generalizing here, but it goes something like this: the great thing about murder-suicide, is that you can be whatever you want to be. You don't have to worry about how many kills you got, or court cases or anything.

FIBAgent wrote:

EGSandrew wrote:

I don't think they're "gone forever". Way I see it is in the afterlife you can still see what happens on Earth but you can't interact. So I won't say Eric and Dylan don't know about the aftershocks that they've caused. We won't know until we're gone. Someone needs to hire the best medium in the world and have them find Eric and Dylan's souls. I don't really believe in ouija boards, but maybe some people out there really do have the gift of communicating with the dead. Eh, better to be optimistic than just thinking they're dead, cremated, and gone forevermore.

Do you think this guys ghost is going to go on a ghost computer to access this site and youtube to see what ppl are saying about him

That is quite strange and creepy to think about if it were to be possible. I wonder what they would think?

I don't understand what's so interesting about Eric. In this era of 4chan edgelords and Trumpsim, angry white sociopaths who spout nonsense are a dime a dozen.

Undyne wrote:

I don't understand what's so interesting about Eric.  In this era of 4chan edgelords and Trumpsim, angry white sociopaths who spout nonsense are a dime a dozen.  

Perhaps the interest is psychological. At least I can say that is the case for me anyway. We have access to histoy about his life, journals, personal thoughts, videos...and such. A glimpse into his life... and death.

Some people feel they can relate to his emotions regarding friendships, loss of friends, moving, being picked on and bullied at school, anger, frustration, sadness... just a whole lot of everything.

I hope the victims who lost their lives are enjoying the after life if it exists. Eric and Dylan, I think it's for the best that they just cease to exist. I remember Sue Klebold saying that she hopes to see Dylan again, I wonder how that conversation would go.

edgelord wrote:

I hope the victims who lost their lives are enjoying the after life if it exists. Eric and Dylan, I think it's for the best that they just cease to exist. I remember Sue Klebold saying that she hopes to see Dylan again, I wonder how that conversation would go.

I can imagine it would go something like, "Dyl, we need to talk about the bad choices you've made." and then go from there.

I think the reason they are so interesting is the fact that there is a certain level of mystery surrounding them now that they are gone. If they had been arrested and forced to testify for their crimes, I believe there would be far less sympathy for them. They took their own lives because they had serious mental issues. Imagine them as 30-somethings. I wonder what they would look like, act like, think about 4-20-99. It's something we will never know, but so interesting to ponder.

edgelord wrote:

I hope the victims who lost their lives are enjoying the after life if it exists. Eric and Dylan, I think it's for the best that they just cease to exist. I remember Sue Klebold saying that she hopes to see Dylan again, I wonder how that conversation would go.

E&D haven't ceased to exist. The soul survives the destruction of the human body. Only God could every destroy a human soul.

Undyne wrote:

I don't understand what's so interesting about Eric.  In this era of 4chan edgelords and Trumpsim, angry white sociopaths who spout nonsense are a dime a dozen.  

Leave it to someone with an Undertale avatar/name to start shit-talking people in the middle of a discussion while blaming white people and Trump

Jbow89 wrote:

I mean how would they be 18 years after 4/20? Would they have matured and viewed the world in a different way? Would they have remorse? Would they still hold the same views they had 18 years ago?

Well some teenagers grow into adults and their misanthropy and views on society and such remains (ex: Matti Saari, Adam Lanza, Carl Panzram, Ian Brady, Richard Ramirez, just adults who hold rather what some would call "disturbing" or "extreme" beliefs)

To say hating the human race or having such views like Eric did is something a teenager would do is kinda ignorant, cause some adults can think like Eric did too (albeit sometimes more in depth and deeper). Maybe Eric wanted a lifestyle/or worldview that valued individuality, total freedom, non-conformity, maybe he was striving to be an "Übermensch". Maybe Eric did truly believe the things he did and like he said in his journal, did not want to betray his thoughts and have to conform to society, civilization, since society wants obedience, submission, etc. Eric did not want to be another member of the mindless herd where they are all just the same, he wanted to be different as much as he could. Would after years would he still hold onto his beliefs? I'd say maybe? Remorse? Considering he hated mankind and everything it stands for, I'd say no.

Eric is gone, once he pulled the trigger on himself, that was it, his brain stopped functioning, game over. Theres no evidence to suggest he's in heaven, hell, or any kind of afterlife. Unless reincarnation ends up being true somehow and he reincarnated as Vladislav Roslyakov the next year in 2000 to try to get his massacre right this time

Jbow89 wrote:

I wish they didn't kill themselves. As selfish as it sounds I wish they were in prison so we could gave those dateline/60minutes interviews with them or TV specials like they've done with Manson.

Why be imprisoned the rest of your life by a species you hate so dearly? Prison will only rot your mind out even more than it already was before. Suicide to them was (at least to me) probably a way of not only getting out of their mental pain they were in and leaving this world and life for good, but also as a final "fuck you" in some way, maybe even also humiliation for the living? Making them live with anger that they couldn't be arrested

bubbles wrote:

ColumbineIsInterestingAF wrote:

What's even more weird to think about how he has no idea that he has been talked about and people have been fascinated and copycatting for almost 18 years. He has been dead since the day of and has no clue.

Dylan and Eric knew they'd have followers - and what a freak show of followers they had. Cho, Lanza, those mall goths who flew to Canada and had their plans foiled etc. Then barely post-pubescent teens cosplaying as them all over tumblr and photoshopping flower crowns and snapchat filters on their pics. You get one shot at life on this earth, and they killed themselves and others for that legacy?

i honestly think the idea that they would have followers was based off of their assumption that their attack would best the okc bombing and kill hundreds. they both had an inflated view of the massacre and their own abilities regarding it along with very high expectations around it. their attack was supposed to mimic terrorist attacks they had been deeply interested in, which is also why it was supposed to occur on 4/19 instead of 4/20, as that's when the okc bombing happened. their idea that they would have followers, which ended up being true, seemed almost to be purely fantasies adhering to their "ideal massacre". there were a lot of other ideas that they thought would play out, or more desired to play out and fantasized about them, like them dying in a shootout with police. it's ironic how the only things that really went as planned for them, they would never really end up experiencing, like gaining notoriety and fame and changing the world. we shouldn't have even given them that, though.

and about their possible time in the afterlife... it's purely subjective to everyone, there is no wrong or right answer. it is completely reasonable to think they just ceased to continue thinking, or that they ended up going to heaven or hell or are ghosts, anything like that. we don't have a real answer for what happens after you die and any of it is possible. i'd like to say that if they did end up just ceasing to think and losing their consciousnesses though, that would be what they wanted most out of death. they were both very mentally ill and troubled and some sort of quietness for their minds would've been preferable to them over anything else. there was a reason why they killed themselves the way they did, it wasn't just to escape punishment, but it was to escape their own lives. if they just continued it in an afterlife, that suicide would prove fruitless for them. i don't think they ever expected living in any way after the massacre, whether it be living on this earth or in the afterlife, and that was what they wanted, to cease to exist. although i hope they do have some sort of punishment if there's an afterlife, it's what they would deserve.

i also agree with another poster in this thread who said that we keep the shooters alive through talking of them, and that's very true. we have immortalized both of them through our words and through our perceptions of their attack. they may have died on 4/20/1999, but they are still alive through our words. they will continue to live even though they don't even know it, and it's not just people like us who are interested in the case, just the impact they had on the world in general keeps them alive. the countless copycats keep them alive, the media misinformation and misguiding keeps them alive, the evidence being postponed keeps them alive. they had a very "unique" effect on the world, or more like the world had a very unique way of perceiving the attack. too many things also just conveniently seemed to fall into the right places to make it like that, though. we should have let them die that day, but nonetheless we keep them here through all these factors. no one individual is really at fault for that however.

i agree with the author of this thread too, that it sucks there's no way we can talk to them anymore and find answers to a ton of questions. i think a lot of this is due to just the sheer lack of information we have around harris compared to klebold, and hopefully documents and evidence we'll see in the future will help clear up more things. it's lovely seeing everyone come together and talk about these things too, by the way!

Rebdomine wrote:

edgelord wrote:

I hope the victims who lost their lives are enjoying the after life if it exists. Eric and Dylan, I think it's for the best that they just cease to exist. I remember Sue Klebold saying that she hopes to see Dylan again, I wonder how that conversation would go.

I can imagine it would go something like, "Dyl, we need to talk about the bad choices you've made." and then go from there.

I sure hope they would have more to talk about than just 4-20. He had a whole life prior to that day, with highs and lows.

bubbles wrote:

ColumbineIsInterestingAF wrote:

What's even more weird to think about how he has no idea that he has been talked about and people have been fascinated and copycatting for almost 18 years. He has been dead since the day of and has no clue.

Dylan and Eric knew they'd have followers - and what a freak show of followers they had. Cho, Lanza, those mall goths who flew to Canada and had their plans foiled etc. Then barely post-pubescent teens cosplaying as them all over tumblr and photoshopping flower crowns and snapchat filters on their pics. You get one shot at life on this earth, and they killed themselves and others for that legacy?

Very true. They sure have had a lineup of weirdos.