There is no good reason to believe afterlife exists. Of course afterlife could exist, but I don't recommend anyone live their life with even a minor belief that there is something after death.

Let me know what you mean by "good" ;)

If by "mystical" you mean something like "transcends human understanding" - I think there are now good theories that explain these experiences fully. One might feel being aware of the scientific explanation detracts from the experience, but that doesn't make the experience any less beautiful or less amazing.

I am lucky to have had experiences that can easily be called mystical (I hope we have similar definitions). They are wonderful.

I have not watched television since high school. Occasionally I'll see some show while at a friend's house. Once in a while I'll watch a part of Colbert Report or Daily Show with Jon Stewart online.

I usually have a glass or two of wine with dinner once every few weeks. I don't like beer or hard alcohol; sometimes I'll have a sweet mixed drink. I don't need alcohol to enjoy myself and now never go above the (fun but brief) state of tipsy; I've been drunk very few times in my life, I prefer against doing that again (the minor fun had is outweighed by the steep detriments to health).

In the past I've enjoyed psychedelic drugs, I've tried many substances; my favorites are magic mushrooms, LSD, MDMA, DMT, 2C-E, and marijuana. It is a shame that under current law people who use such substances can be locked up in jail.

There are already excellent charities out there that simply need more funding. Starting a charity would put more competition and could thus decrease funding for the best charities already in existence.

If I _had_ to start a charity, it would be one that simply tried to raise money for the best charities. But such a thing already exists: GiveWell.org - they do research to find what the best charities a donor could give her money to are.

Best charities are ones that do the most good for the least amount of money; the biggest bang for the buck happens when you help those who are the worst off - and that's currently in the developing countries of the world, not America.

While there are real issues that concern millions in the US, issues that need to be addressed, as a donor who wants to do good - there's just nothing of big value you can do even with a $1,000 in the US. In Africa, for example, you can expect to save 2 lives (give 2 people about 30 more years of life).

Over a billion people in the world DREAM of having the sort of problems Americans have to deal with. It's great to be concerned with dying of cancer - because in the majority of cases, that means you've lived to about 67.

I put 10% of my income into retirement investment (LendingClub - earning about 14% per year), I give 10% of my income to VillageReach (highest recommended by GiveWell.org), spend as little as possible, and use all that's left to pay off my student loans (once paid I plan to give a higher % to charity).

Hard to say, I'm gravitating towards these:

The Woman in the Dunes
Memoirs of a Geisha
Catch 22

Surprise bonus:
Flatland

1. Sure, though it's a curious type of love: you may be intensely attracted to the person, but you know nothing about them; at best you fall in love with an idealization. The feeling may be as intense as for anyone ever, but I suspect we mean something more by "love" than just a strong feeling. It's excellent when this feeling grows over time in response to the actual person and not a fantasy.

2. "Soul mate" presupposes that there exists someone out there and that there is only one. I reject both. There are numerous people out there, any one of whom I'd be happy to spend my life with: each one would make my life go differently; I accept any of the possibilities. Life in some ways is very unpredictable: I could meet a life-partner whenever, it may have happened and I don't even know it yet. Funny thing, life :)

It would be a great honor.

Decriminalize possession of all drugs.

Collect the winnings over the years rather than a lump sum (so as to be taxed less) and donate at least 90% of it to effective charities like VillageReach and Deworm the World (as per recommendations of GiveWell.org and GivingWhatWeCan.org).

I constantly give to VillageReach (highest rated charity on GiveWell.org) and for my birthday I decided to raise money for Deworm the World (which eliminates infectious worms from a person for every multiple of $3.50 of your donated money; this is one of the world's most effective interventions for improving health and increasing school attendance for those receiving treatment).

I consent.

I will not likely spend time learning a new language because it would be too time-consuming. Doing that would detract from learning something else. Nevertheless, I already know a bit of French, and I like the language very much; if I had to choose I'd learn French first.

There is certainly some biological component (research shows it's maybe about 50% of one's disposition). There was certainly a happy (in the right way - whatever that means) childhood and upbringing that made me this way. But there are also things that influence my attitude.

I was depressed during much of high school; not throughout - or consistently through the day, but there were nights when I'd cry before sleep and at times contemplate suicide (though never seriously enough to make even plans for an attempt). It began to change when I was realizing high school would soon be over and I had a life to live, and that I could just think about different things than those that made me unhappy.

Basically I began to concentrate on what made me happy (friends, computer, etc). One of the best moments was when I realized how to deal with problems:

Problems fall into two categories:
(1) you can't do anything about them
(2) you can do something about them

When you have something in category (1) it's irrational to think or worry about it; I think I simply learned to not spend time thinking about this type of problems. (2) is where you either (a) do something immediately and stop worrying or (b) decide what you will do about it in the future and stop worrying about it.

From the research I've read (I'll be sharing here: http://happinessbooks.net/ in 2011), appreciating things makes one much happier. Simply writing 3 things that they appreciated about the day improved depressed patients' moods significantly in psychological studies. When I read that - I realized I've been appreciating things for a long time; this habit is surely one of many that makes me happier.

Please ask more if you'd like me to say more.

Your question is not clear. Please re-ask.

I suppose you think killing is wrong. Could God have made it such that killing was right? And I don't of course mean in some specific cases, I mean outright - all instances of killing were morally permitted.

What better reason it is to act with benevolence towards other human beings out of love and respect - rather than because you think God is watching and will punish you if you don't.

1. It is impossible to be 100% certain of facts of the world but with careful observation we are able to achieve near certainty of many things. The world consists of numerous types of dissimilar (in some respect) things, we choose to call those 'subatomic particles' though what exactly they are is I think near-impossible to know. We are quite certain about some of the ways in which they interact and compose larger things. In the end - the universe is just about that - a collection of many of these particles/forces that all intertwined with the dimension of time (spacetime as I understand can't exactly be untangled into distinct dimensions).

2. I think we can have higher credence in science than just about anything (mathematics might win); while science has gotten things wrong, it is able to change views when enough good evidence and time has passed. Even if it is wrong on some things, on the whole it's the single most successful human pursuit of knowledge to date. None of us is able to do all scientific experiments him/herself and so there is a large component of trust we bestow on science, but the sort of establishment it is (peer-review, heated debates, etc) are a good sign they keep themselves at least often in check.

3. Philosopher had much to say over the years, and I think it's worth considering what someone who spent a lifetime of thinking about such issues has to say. I'm often moved by Peter Singer's views. I can elaborate more if this is unsatisfactory.

If you feel I've made some errors worth correcting - send me a Facebook message :)

Humans seem to prefer some things over others; one that is quite universally liked is symmetry. Harmless nature is also rather liked. It is also entirely silly to think that everything an organism does or prefers must be to some evolutionary advantage; such an action or preference might be a spandrel.