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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...to ask what happens when you die?

433 replies

TeaAndAMarmiteSandwhich · 11/12/2017 22:58

... or more accurately, what you think happens?

I really really don't want to die (a good thing I guess! As I wasn't too bothered either way as a moody teen, but now I love life most of the time and want to hang around).

It's comforting to think there's a heaven, but I don't believe there is (and I'd probably get bored if I had to stay there for EVER). But when u die - is that it? Game over ? I'm not too keen on that idea either.

What do you think happens? and what would you like to think happens? Hmm

OP posts:
buttercupmeadow · 12/12/2017 17:44

This is an interesting article,. I think it's very short sighted to just believe what we see around us and not question our existence. One things certain to me, we aren't here by chance. But that's my opinion, i respect the right of others to disagree.

www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html

Eolian · 12/12/2017 18:04

If there were 'other realms', don't you think thete would be some evidence of that? By 'other realms', do you mean heaven? Or something else?

Eolian · 12/12/2017 18:06

One things certain to me, we aren't here by chance

Surely each of us absolutely is here by chance. If not for the chance factor of our particular mother meeting our particular mother, we wouldn't be here.

Frustrationqueen · 12/12/2017 18:08

Where is there evidence that there are no other realms?

Other people have spoke of experiences.
There is nothing that disproves it

lookingforthecorkscrew · 12/12/2017 18:10

I don't think it's fair to suggest that people that don't believe in 'other realms' (as some call them) are short-sighted or ignorant. Generally people that prefer evidence-based data are the exact opposite of ignorant!

It's absolutely fine to be spiritual, and to believe strongly in your own interpretation of what happens after death, but not to question or insult those with differing views. This goes both ways, too.

lookingforthecorkscrew · 12/12/2017 18:11

There's nothing that disproves I'm actually a tangerine, but it's pretty obvious that I'm not.

IrkThePurist · 12/12/2017 18:14

Eternal life is my idea of hell.

Eolian · 12/12/2017 18:19

The onus is on the need for proof that something does exist, not that it doesn't. It is logical to assume things don't exist unless there is some proof that they do. That's why if you asked most people if unicorns were real, they would say no. Is there absolute proof that they don't exist? Nope.

buttercupmeadow · 12/12/2017 18:25

Surely each of us absolutely is here by chance. If not for the chance factor of our particular mother meeting our particular mother, we wouldn't be here.
But that's open to debate too. Yes there's the chance encounter of our parents meeting but, because i believe we keep coming back and we always have the same soul, God gives us new life each time through being born to the parents he wants us to be born to. Apologies if that sounds crazy, it's hard to explain, but i believe we learn new experiences and lessons through the parents he wanted for us at the time, itms. I think most of it all is beyond our understanding as mortals.

Frustrationqueen · 12/12/2017 18:25

Im a question everything type of person. Always have been.
Ive never came across anyone claiming to have a personal encounter with a unicorn, but there are many accounts of people having encounters with other realms. Enough to make me keep it up there in my thoughts for questioning the reality of it.
Doesnt mean to say i am right in my thoughts, it also doesnt mean i am wrong.

Its entertainment of the mind for me either way.
As lookingforthecorkscrew said, its fine to believe what you like just as long as you dont question or insult others beliefs. I 100% agree with that.
Every different thought and opinion on life after death fascinates me as its just something we are unlikely to know for certain until it happens to us.

KidLorneRoll · 12/12/2017 18:26

No heaven.

No hell.

The same thing happens as what happened for the countless years that occurred before you were born.

doctorcuntybollocks · 12/12/2017 18:29

You stop moving and start to decompose.

Eolian · 12/12/2017 18:32

i believe we keep coming back and we always have the same soul, God gives us new life each time through being born to the parents he wants us to be born to. Apologies if that sounds crazy, it's hard to explain, but i believe we learn new experiences and lessons through the parents he wanted for us at the time, itms

Yes it certainly does sound crazy. Among other things, if our souls have multiple lives (I don't believe in souls btw) and we all learn new things each time, why do humans make the same mistakes and get things wrong time and time again?

yourhavingagiraffee · 12/12/2017 18:34

I think reincarnation, Who knows though. It's scary!!

HorseItIntoMe · 12/12/2017 18:43

I think I believe in some form of afterlife. Most probably a form f reincarnation. Past life experiences fascinate me and freak me out. I’ve also felt a presence of people who have passed away.

I’m not scared of dying. I’m scared of knowing I’m going to imminently die (ie if I get a terminal illness) ..if that makes sense. I want to just die suddenly, quickly and not painfully (ideally in my sleep when I’m old ! )

Liskee · 12/12/2017 18:48

My grandma always said if there was no heaven, then she thought the alternative would be a nice big sleep. I like that :)

Vitalogy · 12/12/2017 18:50

If there were 'other realms', don't you think thete would be some evidence of that?

If you use yourself as the tool/measure/instrument in the correct way you can know.

buttercupmeadow · 12/12/2017 18:55

Eolian i'd never be so arrogant to think i knew all the answers. If we decide we don't believe in God there are millions of "but why this" and "why not that", and then so easily decide then that there can't be a God.....but that logic can equally be applied to say that there must be a God, itms. Nobody knows the answers, we all have our own beliefs.

Vitalogy · 12/12/2017 18:57

As PP have mentioned, living an eternity as ourselves as we are now would be a living hell, but it wouldn't be like that. As other posters have also mentioned, we only know how we ourselves as humans measure time now, thinking of a different way to measure time or not as the case may be is a difficult thing for us to even imagine.

Viviennemary · 12/12/2017 18:58

I don't think it's impossible for their to be other realms. Medieval people and later wouldn't have grasped the concept of bacteria say or sound waves because they weren't advanced enough.

buttercupmeadow · 12/12/2017 18:59

and we all learn new things each time, why do humans make the same mistakes and get things wrong time and time again?
Yes but how do we know we are making the same mistakes. I presume in the majority of cases we have no memory of our previous lives, so we could easily have improved on our past ones.

lookingforthecorkscrew · 12/12/2017 19:03

I just want my kids to remember me as somebody that loved them unconditionally and always did my best by them. That is all I hope for after I'm gone. It's all I have left of my mum and it's enough, I don't need to imagine a 'This is Your Life' style reunion in another realm.

ItsInTheDogsMouth · 12/12/2017 19:04

@mrsterrypratchett thank you for posting that. It's what i believe, but beautifully put.

lookingforthecorkscrew · 12/12/2017 19:04

buttercup - you're pretty much describing the plot of Groundhog Day Grin

Vitalogy · 12/12/2017 19:06

I think a lot of what puts people off considering something other than this so called material world is when words like "god", "he" and religion are used, well, it does/did me anyway.