What do you think happens when we die?

[Frosty6611]

Just had this discussion with my DP and mum and we all had a completely different answers.

I believe in reincarnation.

My DP is an atheist and believes nothing happens.

My mum believes in heaven/hell.

[LlamaPyjamas]

You die and that’s it. Like every other animal. Heaven was invented by humans because they couldn’t cope with the idea of their own mortality. If everything that died went to heaven there’d be an awful lot of flies buzzing around.

[SunnySkiesSleepsintheMorning]

I used to hope there was an afterlife. Then, I nearly died as in being in intensive care, ventilated and having family called as they didn’t express me to live. I didn’t have a near death experience and I felt short changed which I know sounds weird but hey, it was a traumatic time. I believe in nothing now.

[Awwlookatmybabyspider]

No one disputes that the body decomposes. The body is finite (has an ending). The body is just a shell, really. That is a biological fact
The conscious and subconscious mind are infinite. I believe

[LlamaPyjamas]

If you think of the universe and the sheer miracle that we exist at all there's no doubt. The perfect alignment of the sun and the moon, a fraction out either way and we couldn't exist.
It’s called the anthropic principle. If everything was slightly different and thus unsuitable for us to exist, then we wouldn’t be here to notice! Statistically out of billions of planets there had to be at least one that was the correct size, distance from sun, etc.

[noego]

You wake up and realise it was all a dream.

Or if you are spiritually awakened you can do that now before the body ceases to exist!!

[Vitalogy]

If everything that died went to heaven there’d be an awful lot of flies buzzing around. The physical bodies of anything wouldn't be in heaven though would they. We aren't talking about the material world in this idea. It's beyond the material.

[Scabetty]

What happens if the loved ones waiting for me hate each other? Will my dad and my mum who were divorced be standing together? Or my first husband and my second husband? This intriques me.

[happymummy12345]

No one actually knows. As a catholic I should believe in heaven. However I believe when we die that's it. Nothing more.
Personally I want to be buried because I believe it's nicer to have a grave to visit and to know that the person is actually there, rather than have a pile of ashes. But that's just my personal opinion.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

If atheists can say categorically that "there is no God" which they do in such a way as to leave no benefit of the doubt, then i will say catagorically that there is a God. I have no doubt whatsoever.

By that logic we also have to give equal weight to animism, druids, witches, Valhalla, Scientology and Jains. And every other belief. Pyramids? God kings? Don't we? Because they are all just as likely. Or, and this is where atheists sit, unlikely.

[yolofish]

I dont think you are truly dead until everyone who knew/loved you has also gone. and some people leave a kind of legacy that carries on further than that.
I also think (personally) that heaven is kind of like a venn diagram, so you get to see everyone you ever wanted to see again, but not the ones you dont. And OF COURSE! your beloved pets are waiting for you on the other side of rainbow bridge (OK, a bit sentimental, but I lost my adored dog 2 weeks ago)

[SurvivedTheirTeens]

We live on in our descendents as our forebears live on in us. That is our connection with the past and the future. I have often felt watched over.

I once had my fortune told. The lady said she couldn't tell if my mother was divorced or a widow. She also said I would marry a fair man and she wasn't sure if he was a lawyer or a politician. I did - he did both. Evidently I may marry again.

[RainySeptember]

73kittycat, those links are interesting, it really is fascinating isn't it.

The two studies I was reading about most recently was this onee* in Denmark, which suggests a medical reason for the sensation.

I remember another one too, where striking images were displayed above the operating table, facing upwards so that they could only be seen from above. IIRC it was conducted over several years but not a single person claiming to have watched their own death/resuscitation identified the unusual image suspended above their body.

Fascinating stuff and so much we don't understand. I guess some people think that the unanswered questions will eventually be answered by science while some believe in something more spiritual.

[PaintBySticker]

Nothing. Just like there was nothing before I was born. Have you ever had a general anaesthetic - it’s like no time has passed at all and I think being dead is like that with no waking up.

[haribosmarties]

I reckon you cant actually experience death. In terms of perception its always the present moment so why is it 'now' and not any other time? It cant not be now and death is certainly not now... so we can never experience death.
So I think other people could see you die but you will always be experiencing some random point in your life.

[AdelaideK]

You live on in people's memories and you're only really dead when the last person to remember you dies.

[PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks]

I believe in reincarnation.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

Another believer in reincarnation here; I can't prove it, which is why it's a belief rather than a fact, but for me it's the only one which makes sense

[PickAChew]

Our bodies rot, unless they're incinerated, first.

[Genderwitched]

I believe that we are eternal beings.

[Aintnothingbutaheartache]

Come on pick! We’re not talking about the organic bit. Yes, we all know what happens when something dies fgs!
We’ve all seen a banana.
We’re talking about emotion, spirit, memory, love and energy

[Cheerymom]

I believe we are spiritual and physical beings. We are not given insight to death because it is no business of ours. I think all humans have a deep sense of home\love, happens when we fall in love, witness birth and death, we all are resurrected in a way as we are loved, we are beloved. id o not adhere to any religion and read a lot of theology but there is something, and I am not saying that as a comfort, I know with a knowing that is not physical or religious.

[PickAChew]

We’re talking about emotion, spirit, memory, love and energy

Well that stops. And I find that fact far more comforting than any notion of lingering. I wouldn't want to remember the dying bit, for a start.

And I don't believe in fairies.

[GoddamnCars]

mrsterrypratchett that quote made me emotional, I love it; thank you.

[lazyhazysummer]

And I don't believe in fairies
Nor me, but i believe in God.

[Aintnothingbutaheartache]

Aw pick !
Did you have a bad experience?
First off, whatever you find comforting is totally fine with me, loss is very personal.
I certainly don’t dwell on the actual dying bit.
I just choose to remember with great happiness the love that we shared and frequently laugh and smile at very special memories.
That for me, is the ‘living on’ bit