What happens after you die?

[felixcruzer]

i think life goes on but we can not imagine how, maybe it will continue in a completly different way that we cant understand in this life with that primitive sort of brain.

 

[Jakeremix]

I don't believe that you simply black out and fall into a dreamless sleep when you die. Your spirit has to leave your body after your heart stops, and if all you did was black out, where would your spirit go?

I believe we have some understanding of what happens when you die. There are those, both dead and alive, that have proven that there is an afterlife. At this point in time, there's obviously no way for us to see Heaven (if that is indeed the place you go), so we have no clue what it looks like or where it is. Just that it exists.

I also believe that some (but most likely very few) are reincarnated. I recently read something that suggested that everyone in the world is the same person due to reincarnation, but we lose our memories from our past life after being put into a new body. So really, there are only two people who exist in the world- me (who is also you) and God. It's really crazily interesting if you read it.

By the way, I'm not a Christian. I'm a theist- one who believes in God, but doesn't believe in religion.

 

[Yukimura Tenshin]

As a tantric Buddhist, I am going to offer my input on this so please don't be offended if I say something wrong but after when you die you enter a state called Bardo where you stay in a strange world for 49 days before a underworld judge passes judgement on you for your good deeds and your bad deeds. Soon after that based on that judgment you are reborn any where as a result of your good/bad deeds such as god in heaven or a hell being suffering in hell and between the 49 days you r spirit has the ability to go anywhere.

Or to put it simply my view is that after when you die, within 49 days you will be reborn any where based on your actions in life whether good or bad, with the exception of sages which in that case is very rare in this world.

 

[Palkia]

I think we are reborn somehow; there have been reports on children being born with memories from a past life, and that's really the only actual clue for me. Everything else I find hard to believe.

I do have this theory where we are all in a crazy computer program, but this post would be about 2 1080p screen lengths for me to describe.

 

[Monophobia]

I do have this theory where we are all in a crazy computer program, but this post would be about 2 1080p screen lengths for me to describe.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 

[PokemonLeagueChamp]

Well, I've been looking over this issue for some time myself, and I think, based on all my searching, I have reached a very accurate conclusion.

Spoiler:

Nobody who's still breathing has any real idea.
Yeah.

This is in no way a comforting notion to ANYONE, whether you be atheist or religious. Personally, I currently fall in the realm of uncertainty, the only position that seems to make sense given that nobody has any answers.

Near-death experiences are the closest to an explanation we have, but these are no more confirmed 100% true any more than they have been proven 100% hallucinatory. Claims have been made that these basically occur as the brain recognizes that it's dying and/or is running out of oxygen, and is therefore releasing a compound that causes you to see things. Well, that's all fine and good, except for the instances where some who have been having these NDEs were witnessing resuscitation, surgery, and such being performed upon them from outside their bodies in detail as it is occurring. NDEs are currently riddled with all sorts of things that remain uncertain, and as such we can't really rely on them for an answer one way or the other.

A simple answer is that we cease to be. The best ways I have of explaining this to us existing folk are a: when you're asleep, except you aren't dreaming, or b: your personal recollections of years before you were born. This is quite literally the most disconcerting idea I can possibly conceive of. However, it is a concept somewhat easier to wrap one's head around and understand. It holds that the concept of a "soul" does not exist except maybe as the mind's perception of itself. This is the view more commonly held by materialists and atheists. You know, those people who think discarding any possibilities of existence after death(as well as religion and spirituality, and anything else judged to be "magical thinking")will yield us a world that would be brighter and better. Except such a world is horrifying, because it implies all our experiences become for naught, and regardless of how much progress we make, the inevitability of the universe's burning out or collapsing in on itself will render it all irrelevant. I can see regarding this idea as possible or even true, but I would seriously have to question the emotional capacity of anyone completely okay with such a concept.

The other commonly held answer is that there is SOMETHING after we die. What it is can be highly variable, including(but not limited to)things like the common ideas of heaven and hell, some higher state of being, reincarnation, simply restarting in an endless loop with having no memory of doing so, and rejoining a greater whole. There is various anecdotal evidence of this, but given that a lot of it is based off of personal experiences, the legitimacy of them can be, and often is, called into question, on the grounds of people making it up, hallucinating, etc. Believing in some state of being after death will, therefore, require some degree of taking things on faith. Faith may not be the most logical course of things, but when you get right down to it, if you use logic, it isn't easy to explain why anything should even exist. Absence of evidence may not necessarily be evidence of absence, but that doesn't help us any.


My view on the matter is that we will likely rejoin a greater whole. Whether that greater whole is some larger consciousness or higher state of being, or just some greater hole in the ground full of other decomposing remnants of living beings, well, that's the part I don't have an answer for.

 

[zakisrage]

You go to heaven and get 72 virgins. (LOL jk!)

 

[Meksal]

I don't believe that you simply black out and fall into a dreamless sleep when you die. Your spirit has to leave your body after your heart stops, and if all you did was black out, where would your spirit go?
Some believe that there is no such thing as 'your spirit', and that your spirit is simply a creation of your brain, and when your brain dies, so does it.

I believe we have some understanding of what happens when you die. There are those, both dead and alive, that have proven that there is an afterlife. At this point in time, there's obviously no way for us to see Heaven (if that is indeed the place you go), so we have no clue what it looks like or where it is. Just that it exists.
Proof that it exists? Where? Sorry if that sounded snooty, I just don't think we've ever found solid evidence (meaning everyone agrees on it) that there is an afterlife.

I also believe that some (but most likely very few) are reincarnated. I recently read something that suggested that everyone in the world is the same person due to reincarnation, but we lose our memories from our past life after being put into a new body. So really, there are only two people who exist in the world- me (who is also you) and God. It's really crazily interesting if you read it.
I'll read it, linky?

By the way, I'm not a Christian. I'm a theist- one who believes in God, but doesn't believe in religion.

So there's my input, I don't believe in reincarnation, it just doesn't make sense.

 

[dydd90]

Life never ends i believe in reincarnation :)

 

[An abnormal Cybran]

I like to think that we are reborn. Maybe not as a person at first (unless you were a really good boy/ girl). I also like the idea of karma, as in that it has an impact on to what we are reborn as.

 

[Blastin'Tyruntz]

I like to think that we are reborn. Maybe not as a person at first (unless you were a really good boy/ girl). I also like the idea of karma, as in that it has an impact on to what we are reborn as.

Exactly my point of view. I believe that there you are made of a body and a mind, and when you die your mind reincarnates into a new body. Doesn't have to be a human, maybe an animal. But you are reincarnated.

 

[Jakeremix]

So there's my input, I don't believe in reincarnation, it just doesn't make sense.

It's called "The Egg" by Andy Weir. I suggest everyone reads it because it really gave me a new perspective.

 

[twocows]

I think there's nothing, which is why my drive to enjoy my current life as much as I can is so great, and why I have an unhealthy obsession with immortality. Cryonics seems promising. Brain uploading... maybe.

 

[PokemonLeagueChamp]

I think there's nothing, which is why my drive to enjoy my current life as much as I can is so great, and why I have an unhealthy obsession with immortality. Cryonics seems promising. Brain uploading... maybe.

Well, frankly, if there's nothing, you won't be around to regret doing or not doing anything anyway.
And, to be fair, people have been seeking immortality throughout history, whether they believed in god(s) or not.

 

[twocows]

Well, frankly, if there's nothing, you won't be around to regret doing or not doing anything anyway.
And, to be fair, people have been seeking immortality throughout history, whether they believed in god(s) or not.

I would regret it now and later, and that's enough. It's not as though I live in a destructive way that will make me suffer later. But my interest in immortality specifically comes from my belief that nothing comes after. I want to live as long as possible because I like living and I like who I am. I don't want that to end, and I believe it will someday, so I'm hoping to put that off as long as possible.

 

[Tek]

I would regret it now and later, and that's enough. It's not as though I live in a destructive way that will make me suffer later. But my interest in immortality specifically comes from my belief that nothing comes after. I want to live as long as possible because I like living and I like who I am. I don't want that to end, and I believe it will someday, so I'm hoping to put that off as long as possible.

Immortality, a.k.a. eternal life. It would seem you've defined eternal as everlasting duration, a horror I hope I'm never subjected to. There is another definition, though.

That which is eternal is that which exists outside of time, that which is utterly unaffected by temporal succession. And thou, "Thou art that." Immortality, in this regard, is the status quo.

 

[twocows]

Immortality, a.k.a. eternal life. It would seem you've defined eternal as everlasting duration, a horror I hope I'm never subjected to. There is another definition, though.

That which is eternal is that which exists outside of time, that which is utterly unaffected by temporal succession. And thou, "Thou art that." Immortality, in this regard, is the status quo.

There are several definitions of immortality; one you missed is eternal youth. To be honest, I'd be fine with any of them, provided I can at least interface with my surroundings in some way. Being incapacitated for the rest of time and then some wouldn't be my idea of fun, but provided I can at least get out of the solar system before the sun goes nova and make my way throughout the universe, I think I'd be fine. Eventually, it'd probably end up something like this; there's more than enough matter for me to invent machines after humanity dies out, and with nothing else to do (other than bask in the insanity), I'd end up inventing AI eventually (or going completely bonkers, in which case I won't much care), which would be more than good enough. This is all assuming humanity itself doesn't survive and do all this first.

Obviously, other forms of immortality might be better, but I think I'd cope just fine.