what do you think happens after death?

As we're living in a simulation, it'll be a return to real life.

I just hope I've got a decent score and not played like a twonk.

As a practicing Christian, I believe there is a funeral, followed by probate.

However, I do think some souls remain temporarily or permanently. I am convinced a loved cat came and kneaded on me after he died and I have sensed a benign presence in my house. The fjrst wife of the former owner who died young and leaving behind three infant children. I cannot begin to describe how I know but I did and I sensed before I knew what had happened.

All my animals have visited me shortly after their passing, usually within 3 weeks. They come once and I never see them again, even though I long to. I think they come to tell me they are fine and they live on. So I believe that we too live on.

I believe you’ll be reunited one day xx

Some times I believe we go to heaven. And reunite with our loved ones and everything is perfect..

Other times I feel like we are reborn/start again. And I think that's where the Déjà vu feeling comes from.

First question is how you define death. Personally I am very sceptical of people who claim to have had experiences when they "died" and were "brought back" with CPR or other methods. To me death doesn't occur when the heart stops, it takes several minutes at least, during which time the brain and organs are shutting down. If treatment is given soon enough death can be avoided. Thus any experiences people who survive this period have are not truly "life after death" experiences, they are the experiences of someone who survived the beginnings of the body shutting down.

A lot of this type of experience is conditioned - the brain is aware it is dying and creates visions of the type that the person expects and that will possibly ease their death. A lot of "light at the end of the corridor" is probably akin to the tunnel vision effect some people get, the eyes are losing oxygen and are no longer functioning correctly. People interpret this as a "gateway to heaven" or something like that.

It's more complicated to know what happens after true death, by which I mean the point where the brain has been starved of oxygen and organs have shut down for long enough that they cannot be restarted. "Nothing" is the obvious answer but since there's no way of proving it saying "nothing" is just as much speculation as anything else.

There's an argument that since matter can't be destroyed, the "soul" (or whatever you what to call it) must survive. This may be true, however I don't believe it automatically follows that the soul remains a conscious entity. Matter can't be destroyed but it can change form.

It was a great answer.

Most people who didn’t experience that will think we were affected in some way by “ hysteria” or dreaming. My son has since come up with a “scientific” explanation. But we know what we saw.

Yeah, that's what people who hallucinate always say. That's literally the nature of a hallucination. But we can study the brains of people who hallucinate, see the activity there and understand scientifically what's occurred.

It is so appropriate that these woo threads always appear in AIBU because it is unreasonable to believe that we have been witnesses to the rules of reality being bent in front of us rather than think our brains have made a faux pas. Our brains misinterpret stuff all the time. You're not that special.

You seem to have a very close-minded idea of what "it is the end" might mean.

It's perfectly possible to have a perspective on your legacy and physical form after death, without believing you have some kind of ongoing conscious existence, for which there is no good evidence at all.

I think a better question is "why do you believe what you think happens to you after death?" There are plenty of fanciful answers on this thread but I wonder why anyone puts any store in any of them. I guess if you read it in some Holy Book, it's all part of the lore you swallowed, but I think there's an incredible arrogance to think your musings have any relation to the truth.

How come you know? Or think you know?

As a carer I've been beside many, many people when they die, which is a privilege and an honour.

Some people wait to be alone. Some people like to be surrounded by friends and family. Some people have waited for the arrival of a new baby in their family. Some people just like to have a close carer with them.

You can tell immediately when someone has gone, it's like their soul has left (that's why we always open a window).

I can't count the number of people who reach out to someone above them and I believe a loved one comes to take them to the next place, whatever or wherever that may be. People who haven't said a word for days wil have a conversation with loved ones who have already passed away.

So, for me I believe there is something else and I think it is (partly) an overwhelming sense of peace.

I do believe in an afterlife where you're reunited with your loved ones.
I've lost many family members over recent years and have had lots of signs they are around.

I get this but on a deeper level, it could be that once you take on a physical life you just don’t remember what came before. Equally when we die we don’t know if there is a spiritual existence after life. No one knows.
I did used to think it’s the end until one night shift at work several years ago, my colleague and I witnessed a “ ghost” who just disappeared into a wall.
Am I crazy ? Was she crazy ? The thing is most people who didn’t experience that will think we were affected in some way by “ hysteria” or dreaming. My son has since come up with a “scientific” explanation. But we know what we saw.
So the point I’m making is no matter what people say or think, we just don’t know. But I think there is “ something” but don’t know what.

I think your body disintegrates and returns to the earth.

I wish I knew. Sometimes I think totally nothing and complete oblivion. That's the most logical thing.

I think our energy dissipates and we are returned to the universal state of just energy. Without the body and without consciousness. But persisting as universal energy.

In my opinion you just cease to exist. Oblivion. Like having a general anaesthetic but not waking from it. It’s either sudden like an accident or a medical episode or more gradual as your body shuts down and you have your thoughts.
Near death experiences must retain a level of subconscious but once you’re really gone ….. you’re gone!

When my husband died the McMillan nurse opened the window to let his soul out. Id never heard of this before but it was a nice thought.

Also, you'll see I'm judging the organised religion, not the person - you have judged me and made personal comments to me specifically which is a brilliant example of how toxic organised religion is.

It's really important in this day and age to be kind to people, not make negative personal comments but - you do you if it makes you feel better.

What do you think@Goldyyup ? You haven't said.

I know I've done nothing 'bad' or 'sinned' as I've not been told what to think by an organised religion. Sadly, many people who are religious are shamed and spend their lives feeling they are less than (I know, I grew up in a Catholic community). Not for me. I do feel sad for many people as, unsurprising, the vast majority of religious followers are from incredibly poor countries converted by missionaries and don't know any different.

Good luck to you, it sounds like you have strong beliefs.

https://creatingceremony.com/blog/loss/eulogy-from-a-physicist-aaron-freeman/

My mum died yesterday. What happens is exactly what she wanted to happen: God called her home to heaven. When I die I’ll be restored to my purest form; energy. We’re at the command of our own beliefs about what happens and that, to me, is the greatest comfort.

That’s a lovely way of reconciling the real world with the imaginary, and I’m happy that it gives you comfort. But the leap from what we know about how life is created, how the world works and what death is, regardless of whether we understood it when we were younger, and which are all things that take place in the known universe, to an imaginary world based on events that took place millennia after human life on earth first existed is a leap too far for me :)