I ask you: What happens when we die? What do you believe and what have you experienced?
Leave your answers in the comments… I’ll weigh in during a future post!
I ask you: What happens when we die? What do you believe and what have you experienced?
Leave your answers in the comments… I’ll weigh in during a future post!
February 24, 2010 at 11:21 am
BTW, I’m gay and expect to be gay forever!
February 24, 2010 at 11:41 am
Heaven for climate,
Hell for society.
– Mark Twain
February 24, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Like you, Davey, I was raised Catholic, so that was my viewpoint for ny first 40 years. Heaven/purgatory/hell. Sin, a soul – the whole bit.
This all changed with the death of my mother 4 years ago. Her faith meant everything to her, but as my family had to watch her suffer an agonizing 3 months in hospital before she finally died, it occurred to me that no loving creator would have put her through that for any reason.
So I gave up entirely on the notion of God, a soul, the afterlife etc.
All we have is here and now.
How we choose to live our “best selves” is the only measure of our time here on earth.
February 24, 2010 at 12:08 pm
To me the most important thing about death is not to be afraid of it.
Whatever happens it’s not like we have a choice.
February 24, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Here is something that I have read.
Everything in the Univese is moveing.
Our body is a Moleculor structure, it’s a
mass of Malecule, moveing at a very high
speed of Vibration. Mind is movement.
and the body is the manifestion of that movement. Enjoy the thought =)
Ricky
February 24, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Are we ever really dead? Sure we may not be on this earth anymore and yes, our bodies may be rotting away, but as long as we are still remembered, is our spirit not still alive. If we have moved people and are remembered, then it must live on.
February 24, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I think just nothing. You don’t even figure it out and then you wake up in another random body and start a new random life.
Yeah, it’s awful. lol
February 24, 2010 at 2:23 pm
I don’t believe in god. But i would love to know what happens when we die, that’s one thing that we will never know.
The thing that boggles my mind, what happens to our thoughts, like we think now, and know whats going on. what happens to all that when were gone. Is it just gone, all black.
February 24, 2010 at 2:54 pm
I don’t believe in god. But i would love to know what happens when we die, that’s one thing that we will never know.
The thing that boggles my mind, what happens to our thoughts, like we think now, and know what’s going on. What happens to all that when were gone. Is it just gone, all black.
February 24, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Not sure what will happen when I die. Confident there is something which connects us all.
When my father passed away in the mid-west unexpectedly, I was working on a building which over looked the Pacific Ocean–out of the blue, thought, gee, wish Dad were here and then experience unusual, but short lived, chest pain. Went home for lunch, got the call my Dad had died of a heart attack — time of passing was when I thought of him and had the chest pains.
My partner was dying of terminal cancer, had been told this would be a two to three month process. 6 days later was taking an outdoor break at work, pondering what all needed to be done. In my “minds eye” appeared a brilliant ball of white light, a serenity filled me with the feeling all would be as it should. Later received a call that my partner was having touble breathing and they suggested I get to the hospital. Was exiting one freeway to another when I spontaniously tears began — got to the hospital 10 minutes later and his sister met me at the door, he had passed 10 minutes previously.
Was on a vacation several years ago, headed toward my family in the midwest, but was stopping along the way to visit a friend in New Mexico, we were having a good visit and looking forward to a big party on that Sunday which we were to attend–on Friday morning woke up and had the overwhelming feeling that I should head to my hometown that day. Thought about it and decided to follow the “hunch”, exasperating my friend to know end.
After traveling most of the day, reached a point that I either head east to visit a brother whose business I had never visited or north to visit the rest of the family first.
Got in late, got out my sleeping bag, and “camped out” alond the river where my brothers and I did as children. Next morning was overcast and on the way into town pulled over and took a pic of sunlight glimmering thru a small break in the clouds–went and had breakfast then went on up to my Mom’s house–ten minutes after arriving one of my older brothers came in and announced that the brother I had thought about visiting first had died when his plane went down about 7:00 AM that morning.
Don’t know what happens, believe we are here to accomplish our purpose here on Earth, but do believe there is a hereafter, be it heaven or rebirth, have no clue.
February 24, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Hey davey, after just escaping the clutches of religion I have only just began to think about life and death for myself, if there was ever an afterlife I think that it would have to be split between being good and evil, not like the petty things that make you “evil” in many religious texts but something that goes against moral, but then thinking about that who would draw the line for these morals? That would mean there were need to be a man who judges you? But then what makes his morals perfect? This is why I am thinking that this is the life we have been given and when we die our consciousness dies but our actions live on due to other people and the chemical energy would be used for something else. I would live there to be a perfect world as my afterlife but without something bad that world would lack reality and I wouldn’t like it! Oh I’m not sure what I think, too many possiblities, just think about today
love Lloyd
February 24, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I dont think we are supposed to know, probably BC we cant, in the sense that our minds cant comprehend it. It is something that is out of our realm.
February 24, 2010 at 5:56 pm
“What happens when we die?” is a question that is the flip side of the much more interesting question of “What are you doing when you’re alive?”
You loose interest in keeping yourself in shape, you stop talking to people, you have less to offer others in a conversation and if you do have a comment, it’s usually rude and maybe even offensive because of unresolved issues you yourself may have because you’re no longer “in the moment” and dwell on being hurt over something in the past.
When you do have the opportunity to start living again because you simply shake off the problem as something you’ve lived through, and start being active in your own life and start caring for yourself and others, you become much more interesting and people appreciate your company much more and ask you things like “How are you?”
Cheers!
February 24, 2010 at 7:57 pm
I believe that our spirit passes into another lifetime. We’re all part of the flow that makes up the universe. If everyone believed we are all connected as human beings, the world would be in pretty good shape!
February 24, 2010 at 8:01 pm
I’ve read a number of cynical comments to this question, which lends me to believe many of those reading are too young to be overly concerned with the prospect of what happens when our earthly body ceases to function. I’ve given this some thought over the years, since first attending a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat and I very much believe that we live on. I believe in reincarnation and have begun to experience memories of some of my past lives, during this lifetime. It isn’t something that happens often — but when it does it is [usually] the most peaceful and comforting thing that can possibly happen; to KNOW that we don’t just live and then die, only to become “worm food” in the ground. (Okay, the shell of our earthly body may — but our soul grows, evolves and manifests itself within the body of another, to “experience” a new life and in hopes of evolving further.) I’ve written about ONE of my past lives in a blog entry of my own at http://quipsnquills.com/wordpress/?p=3328. There is another lifetime, of which I have some memories but it was not nearly so pleasant as the glimpses of that life that I did see were taking place during the holocaust (and I wasn’t certain of who I was in this memory — the one being persecuted or the one doing the persecuting — it was very unsettling and for better or worse, I brought myself out of the trance before I could get a better understanding of what was going on that day during the war). And there are other lifetimes, as well that I have a few memories of—- In time, I hope to reawaken to what happened during those lives more and more but for now I remain content in the simple knowledge that “life doesn’t end when the body’s electrical impulses have gone dark.”
February 24, 2010 at 10:19 pm
I think that we will become like the rain so that we can touch people and look into their souls and see that hardships of their life and their beauty. So that we gain an Infinite amount of knowlage.
February 24, 2010 at 10:22 pm
I think we bcome like the rain so that we can touch people and look into their souls we will beable to se their hardships and their beauty and that is were our lost souls will lie in the place of good and bad so that we may gain a Infinite amount of knowlage
February 25, 2010 at 8:42 am
HELLOO DAAAAVEY WAAAVEY!
I believe in an afterlife.
Think of it this way..
In the bible, the first person created was Adam. At the end of Adam’s very first day on Earth, he was tired, his eyes were closing, he needed to sleep. But since it was Adam’s first day on Earth, he might have thought it was the end of him and his job was done. But he wakes up the next morning with a fresh new day, the only difference now is.. He has a yesterday to learn from and reflect on.
So I feel that after we die, we are gonna have a brand new life (AKA afterlife) and we have a yester-life to reflect on. This allow us to find out the true purpose and meaning of the life we’ve been living before and a mustard seed more about the universe.
February 25, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Oh, there is an afterlife. Take it from someone who died for 6 minutes(internal bleed from a previous operation. If you are unsure you should at least look at it like Pascal when he said “a person should wager as though God exists, because living life accordingly has everything to gain, and nothing to lose.”
February 25, 2010 at 2:30 pm
The body and soul disperse completely becoming one with all creation. Individual identity ceases.
February 25, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I’ve had past lives, and the single most important lesson is that everyone you meet from lifetime to lifetime you have met before. Think of yourself and everyone you know like bowling pins. Death is being struck by the bowling ball, the pins go flying all over. They are collected up, jumbled, and placed back on the field. The roles we take with each other always change, but the souls don’t.
Death is not simple evaporation. Your sentience continues on, the capacity of being aware of being aware, your consciousness, your feelings, the things you experienced all play into your next life.
The last lifetime I was a Catholic Priest in Ireland. I had to console a young woman who had been raped in an alley and was with child. She clung onto me and in a way, fell in love with me. When I couldn’t reciprocate her affections she ran off a cliff and fell to her death on the rocks below. In this life, she was reshuffled and ended up being my first boyfriend, it ended just as badly, although instead of dying, he’s somewhere out there… and I have no interest in him.
So from what I’ve experienced – your gender, your relationships, they are all flux. Being a pain in the ass in this life gets nobody anywhere, and in the end you discover that it’s all really what the Buddhists have claimed all along. Suffering sucks, and not in the good way.
February 25, 2010 at 3:27 pm
From dust where I came, dust is where I’ll go. I want to be unceremoniously dumped off the Huntington Beach pier. My ashes will have to go with someones fishing gear, as it is illegal. There is a service that will cost quite a bit on a private boat that goes far enough out and you can have people aboard. If you want it done cheaply and legally You give the guy the box of ashes (screw that overpriced tacky urn)and he will go out and do it by himself for you.
February 25, 2010 at 4:22 pm
I imagine. It’s like a drop of rain returning to the ocean. No judgment, just absorption. The drop still exists, but no longer has a solitary identity. Where it stops, and the rest of the ocean begins, is impossible to measure, and the idea of measuring it seems unimportant and even a little silly. The drop is now a part something much greater, something it was always a part of but never, or seldom, knew during its separation. All that the drop was is retained, but transformed. And assuredly though imperceptibly, so is the ocean. It’s coming home.
February 25, 2010 at 6:56 pm
I think that all life (not the physical body but rather what makes it alive) is part of a pool of energy When something is born, it pulls a little bit of this energy up and slowly away from the greater pool. When it dies it will fall back into the life force to be reused, losing its distinction going back down to primal and pure life. The exception comes when the life is able to cling to something other than the body, a rare occurrence.
That is as simple as I can put it. Unfortunately a full explanation requires one to experience some things. Of course this is only a hypothesis, not a true belief. A thought, idea or hypothesis may be altered may be contradicted and adapted, but true and hard belief is near impossible to change.
February 25, 2010 at 9:34 pm
This question has come at an appropriate time for me as I have been carrying out a series of meditations on death in the hope that when the day comes I will not be shocked out of my body. I am coming to terms with the idea that the person who I am today is not going to make it to the next stage. My body will one day just stop. Pointe-finale, comme on dit en francais! Your ego, the core processor of who you believe yourself to be will no longer exist. You will no longer have an identity. According to Carlos Castaneda, as the body dies, when tapped by death, the shock and fear opens a window in your solar plexus. There you will witness all the events in your life slip out of you and dissipate, and with the last memory so will you dissipate. Buddhists meditate on death so that when you find your consciousness outside of your body then you won’t be so shocked, especially as it too dissipates. The great question that is asked is what is the next step. That is a question no one can truly answer except the dead and they don’t tell tales. Whether we go on to an afterlife or get reincarnated or just dissolve into worm food, is pointless conjecture. What is more important is that once you have made peace with death then you are free to truly live each moment as if it were your last. Suck out the marrow of life and be present in the moment as much as possible. Then when death comes to tap you, you can greet her with grace and aplomb.
February 26, 2010 at 5:06 am
I honestly believe that you are alive until you are dead.
February 26, 2010 at 6:12 am
I do not really know what happens after death. I WAS technically dead for a few minutes on the operating table. I found myself talking with a spiritual being who was responsable for my well-being. I could feel the love and acceptance surrounding me, like spring sunshine. I came back(obviously!), but I have no fear of death. As Peter Pan said,”To die would be a Great Adventure!”
February 26, 2010 at 11:31 am
There are trillions upon trillions upon trillions of sub-atomic particles in a human body; and each and every one of them was created during the event of Big Bang and Cosmic Inflation, nearly 14 billion years ago.
And 14 billion years later, the inherent energy of each of these particles remains in full force exactly the same energy as when created.
While the cells that make of the human body, including DNA cells, die and new cells are generated, the atoms that make up those cell molecule, do not die and, indeed, many remain to form the regenerated cells. Ultimately, it is on the sub-atomic level that the DNA of a cell is transferred as new cells are formed. That means, somewhere along the path, the energy within sub-atomic particles, contains the history, 14 billion years worth of history, of the life of the particle.
When one dies, the building blocks of the body, the atoms and their sub-atomic particles, become building blocks of new wonders of the universe, with their memories of where they have been all bundled up. We are all made up from star dust; ultimately, those parts will return to the stars.
As for the soul/spirit, much mystery remains. Nonetheless, we know that there is electrical energy impulses that create conscientiousness; we know the energy is never consumed, it is converted. The energy that made the soul/spirit must go somewhere, as all energy does. Where, exactly, we do not know, but that energy is as active as it always has been. For me, while I am happy to wait until the time comes, it is exciting wondering where this energy will take me.
[WARNING TO HOMOPHOBIC RELIGIOUS WINGNUTS: The yang to your evil yin will not be a very comfortable experience. Love creates harmony; hate creates hell.]
February 26, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Personally, I’m a Christian. But I’m only 14. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine when your death will be or how it happens until its looking dead into your eyes. Everytime I wonder about where I’m going and whether or not God will take me brings be back to the unrevealed answers of my death. I’m afraid to die. Afraid of pain. Afraid of the pain of dieing. I’d wish I never die but everyone does sooner or later. Which scares me.
February 26, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Caitlyn,
As you can see just about everyone on list post is grappling with the fact and meaning of death. It is one of the most fundamental questions that all human beings must wrestle with. You are no different than any of us in that regard.
You can see the wide variety of response here, including mine. But even those who sound like than know for sure what death is or what happens at death, do not KNOW for sure. Everyone gets to the point where they just have to believe.
You are only 14. I assume you are gay or lesbian or are struggling to understand who you are and what orientation you have built into your very being. You are on a wonderful adventure, although it may be painful at times. I and the others here were 14 once.
You say you are Christian. I’m not sure what your experience has been. Some very conservative denominations see as as disgusting, depraved, sinful and damned. Other Christian denominations, correctly in my judgment as a Christian, read the Bible and the Christian Tradition with real compassion and love for us LGBTs.
For now at your age, try to stick with being Christian and seek out Christians who are gay, who will love and support you. Remember GOD DOES NOT MAKE JUNK!!! Neither you nor I are JUNK!!!! Nor are the others who have posted here.
As you grow and mature you will be faced with a lot of decisions. You can change your mind if you need or want to. Just be honest with yourself, be who you are, not who you aren’t. Be a little careful about whom you trust, but let your friends, and hopefully your family support you. Take care, Seb
February 26, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Hi Caitlyn, I read a book and I believe the earth is a class room.
We are here for training. And when we die. We wake up from
this class room of life and we move on =D
February 28, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I believe death is a lot like birth. For 9 months the only world the baby knows is life in the womb. It is warm, nourishing, dark, cozy, and very much alive. Then after 9 months something dramatic happens. The baby is taken from the only world he/she ever knew. It enters the birth canal, seeing light at the end of a tunnel, leaving behind the dark, moist world of the womb. I’m sure the baby must think it’s dying. But rather than dying it is born into a new, different, and better life, full of much more possibility. So too in death, people frequently describe near death experiences as going thru a tunnel towards the light (just like the baby in the birth canal leaving the womb). As we leave behind the only world we know (planet earth and the surrounding universe) we too are brought into a new, different and better life, full of even more possibility. What exactly that is, like the baby we don’t know, but it’s definitely not the end of the journey, just another new beginning.
March 1, 2010 at 12:45 am
We will meet God face to face. This will be the end of what is temporary and the continuance of what is eternal.
March 3, 2010 at 1:00 am
There are many things that we can’t explain and we wished we knew. Death is a big mystery. As one who always has to know what will happen next and when, this is probably the only event I do not wish to know about.
Like you, Davey Wavey, I am trying to live my life out as best as possible. Living every moment instead of everyday, and trying to see life in all its beauty. Because LIFE is beautiful. Maybe death is a new beginning?
Well, when I do die I hope nothing drastic changes. I simply wish not, to be alone.
March 5, 2010 at 9:10 pm
well i have to stop hating people that hate me.thats a start.honestly-most Canadians will probably going upstairs to that eternal Stanley Cup in the Sky.the Americans that were Progressive-Liberal-Democrats-they may as well.those that used the Bible as a weapon-i would do some worrying.i dont know about the others-faith i guess.
March 6, 2010 at 10:37 pm
I agree with Kevin that we sleep but go on to a place where we find ultimate peace. You know the feeling you get when you wake up after dreaming of the person you love? It’s like that and everyones dream flows into a collection of all dreams of all people that ever existed, and it’s all governed by a supreme being. It’s what I think and what I hope is true… I really also beleive in the Christian idea. That we ascend to heaven and live with the ultimate love of god.
March 8, 2010 at 11:43 pm
This may be hard to fallow for some of you, but try to bear with me because if you view things the way i do your mind goes wild with fear. I have this belife that our lives repeat. That your life has happened and has been repeating itslef forever. This is why people have daja vu’s, your body is started to catch on that this event has already happened. And eventually there is gona be an event like a dajavu, except it is when you are gona realize that your life is restarting, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. When that happens it will give you one of the scaryest feelings of your life, becuase you know the secret of life and what it actually is, but its not what you want. Then your life and memories will restart without you ever knowing. This idea is quite strange but its kinda crazy to think about.
heres another idea i have. Uk when people say your life passes before your eyes when you die.Well what if your dead right now, and what your experiencing now is your life passing before your eyes, think about that one for a little bit. Plz dont be afraid to comment on this, i would like no know what other people think about these ideas.
October 8, 2011 at 11:48 pm
I believe that whenever we die, whatever we believe will happen to us will happen. For example, if you were Christian and you believed in heaven and hell when you die you will either go to what you believe to be heaven or hell. But say if you believed in reincarnation, then when you died it would appear as if you were actually reincarnated. I believe this due to that fact when we die our minds still functions for a few minutes. And in those few minutes I believe that our subconscious will portray what you believe will happen to you when you die. Even though our brains only function for a few minutes, this can be an extremely long time in the subconscious realm. “The subconscious mind is not locked into conventional time but seems to live in a sort of “spatial” time as opposed to the “linear” time of the conscious mind. This means that time, to the subconscious, seems to be irrelevant and therefore expandable or shrinkable according to its needs.“ So say if you believed in reincarnation, when you die you could theoretically live another entire life in your own subconscious, and when you died in that life whatever you believed in your reincarnated state could be carried out in the subconscious mind of your second life.
This is not perfect. There are many more aspects of what I believe could happen when we die but I find it hard to put these into words. This is just the basic thoughts of what I believe could happen when we die.