To ask what you really think happens when you die?

[Tunnocks34]

I’d describe myself as agnostic. I’d like to think God exists, and heaven exists but logically I think it’s probably unlikely.

My grandads mum died this week, she was asleep really for her final days, and in the run up to her death she’s been quiet, and not really present, however, the second before she died, she opened her eyes, smiled (her face in all honestly wall almost glowing with joy) and shouted ‘Mama, Mama’ and then she died.

I’d love to think her mum came to get her and take her to heaven or an afterlife but the logics part tells me it was probably something neurological. Might ignore my logical side though because I like the other possibility better!

The more neuroscience you familiarise yourself with the more you find that the anecdotes you hear in support of afterlife are pretty easily explained by the astounding complexity of our brains.
We are here and then we are gone. Cherish it, it doesn't last long.

What strikes me about the 'believers' on this thread, particularly the one who said 'it's like this planet is designed especially for us' is the narcissism on display. Yes we are all unique (as all animals are) and the life of each and every one of us is a random fluke (that particular egg with that particular sperm could only have occurred at that precise time between our precise two parents, etc. We are the most advanced species that has ever existed anywhere that we know about, our planet is indeed an utterly, mind-blowingly miraculous place, a 'Cinderella' planet in the right spot in space to allow life to exist, but the angst over the idea that 'we can't just cease to exist' and that 'all this suffering has to be for something' is so utterly self-centred. We all like to think that we're exceptional, I get that, but in the grand scheme of things we really aren't, other than to the handful of people who love us. Developing a love and understanding of science dispels a lot of the religious mumbo-jumbo that many of us are still, unfortunately, raised with. I'm raising two happy atheists, prepared for the reality of life, not a set of opium-for-the-masses stories.

What is a ‘Cinderella’ planet ??

I feel personally that the confusion arises because you’re either one side or the other - science or religion when in fact they are one and the same

Long ago science couldn’t be properly explained or understood so it was seen as something religious or even magical. That has stuck. It has been science all along. Whether the origins of that are heavenly bodies ie god and angels, advanced alien civilisations or something else entirely but I believe something created us and this planet. But it’s not clear cut science or religion , it seems to follow religion equals a belief in an afterlife and science a belief in no afterlife with no real acceptance that the two can be connected

@Istillgetjealous thank you!

Sorry I meant 'Goldilocks', not Cinderella

You know - not too hot, not too cold, just right.

I believe something created us and this planet. But it’s not clear cut science or religion

Er, it's science. It's called evolution

And if you want to know how this planet was created, watch 'The Planets', an absolutely fascinating series that was BBC last year, hosted by Brian Cox. It was the best factual programme I saw in 2019.

People say "nothing before, nothing after" but I can remember before I was born. I have a memory (and it is a memory because I've had it as long as I remember) of sitting on a gravestone in a cemetery and being asked to choose which family I wanted... I'm not sure I believe in reincarnation or a traditional heaven afterlife but I know this happened

Also my Dad died when I was very young. He has made his presence known a lot on anniversaries. First anniversary all the plates flew off the shelf. On the 12th, he did a similar thing. The broken nightlight he got me often turns on despite being broken and having to be wound up. There hasn't been anything in recent years though.

Yes @caramellasagne. When you study theories on the solar system over the centuries, you realise that many wise men(they were mainly male) thought our planet was flat or another shape. Some thought the planets orbited around Earth, not the sun. Those theories seem ridiculous now that we know better. Why are people still believing nonsense from the same period? It’s a comfort blanket but I also think it’s harmful to create false hope.

Science and religion are perfectly compatible. I’m a scientifically trained doctor and also a Christian.
Jesus promised us that there would be a place for us in His father’s house, and that we should have eternal life.
Coming back from the dead was pretty startling proof that He meant what He said!
His disciples had been cowering in a locked room, planning to escape back to Galilee and pretend they never knew Him - until their encounter with the risen Lord gave them the strength and courage to proclaim their faith to the world and even accept their own martyrdom on crosses.
I was, however, a rabid and scornful atheist until my DH died, and I had a personal encounter with God that was very literally life changing.
For me, as for Doubting Thomas, it’s not a matter of faith or belief - it’s a matter of proven fact.
Science cannot explain why or how matter or energy exist at all - logically, there should just be a void of non existence. For Christians, the Big Bang is that wonderful moment in Genesis when God said “Let there be light”.
I do not fear death - I look forward to being reunited with my much loved and mourned DH, in the loving presence of God.

Where’s the proof he came back to life?

I don’t know about you all, but when I go to the other side the first thing I’m going to do is smoke a packet of Marlboro lights.

I've always believed we live on after death. I'm of the pagan faith. I hope to be reunited with the the people and animals I love.
But even if that didn't happen I'd be part of the living planet and what is left of me would be part of the earth, the trees the water and would contribute to the ongoing life around us. The circle of life and the death which feeds the new life is one of the most beautiful things there is.

You can't smoke in heaven - you have to leave behind all your worldly goods. So you're stuck with the tedious, but non-evil people you did your best to avoid in life, but you can't blow smoke at them! Sounds like hell to me.

I’m pretty sure if there is a heaven baby Jesus will light up Marlboro lights for me

The same as happens to the bugs we crush, the mice we trap, the chickens we farm, the billions of fish in the sea, the countless creatures that inhabit the planet.

We live and then we die. And what remains decomposes into the soil as it has done for billions of years before humans came along, and will continue after we're gone.

@zafferana how cool are you 🙄

In all seriousness - Restawhile thank you for those fantastic videos.
I’ve read and watched some Peter Fenwick which is fascinating but had never seen those videos before. Really loved them

I’m not sure what to think but what I do believe is that there is no way that all our energy and personality and things we have done in our lives just a cease to exist, I like to think that our energy or soul always lives on in some form or other

I was raised in a catholic home as a child, and it was drilled into me that the whole point of life was to earn your place in heaven
The whole religious side of my upbringing was miserable. I hated every second of being sat in church, did everything I could to be kicked out of Sunday School every week etc. As a teenager, I figured that if denying myself everything I enjoyed in life because it was “sinful” was the only way to get into heaven, then I didn’t really want to go there.
I told my parents that I wouldn’t be going to church anymore - and luckily for me, they accepted my choice and have never held it over my head.
I honestly believe that we die, and that’s that. Lights out. Adios. Goodbye.
And I’m comfortable with that. I’ll enjoy my life while I have it

Those of you who believe we choose our families, why do some people ‘choose’ abusive families?

I really want to be convinced that there is an afterlife. I’m terrified of blackness?

I don't know what there is out there but it's not the end. My belief started 5 years ago. Firstly windows knocking, then one night my then 2 year old woke me up and said 'lady lady' I swear I don't care who doesn't believe me but I saw a figure. Next day my perfume that went missing was wedged between my bed. It had been gone for weeks. I checked all the time. I would have seen it. I asked downstairs flat and she said a lady died in exactly same spot as I told her it was in my room and the corner we saw her! We would often hear knocking and pictures going off walls until then I would have said nothing at all but now I think the physical dies but we are more than physical. Plus so many people with logic and intelligence, not attention seeker have also experienced strange things.

Its hard to explain unless you have experienced it.

Those of you who believe we choose our families, why do some people ‘choose’ abusive families?

For reincarnationists, it's for the same reason that some might appear to "choose" a life of poverty, disablement, etc; awful as it is during one particular existence, it's just another learning opportunity which can help the soul - the real, enduring "us" - to progress

We naturally feel sad about those in terrible circumstances and want to help (and how we do it can also benefit our own growth), but the key point is that the person we pity may actually house a soul much older, wiser and more advanced than our own - a soul which we may know again in a future existence, when it's enjoying the rewards of what it's learned in this one

*@Mulledwineinajug

Yeah, I think it would be seen as beneficial to ones “growth” rather than pick a wealthy privileged family.