Do our souls know when we're going to pass away?

[SwiftieGrainger]

Please, please do not read on if you find themes of loss or bereavement triggering. This is hopefully intended to be light hearted as a thread. I'm just wondering if anyone believes we subconsciously know when we or people close to us are going to pass away?

I am not hugely superstitious and I have no real view or opinion on the afterlife that makes me more susceptible to taking on such beliefs but I think I do. I was at work and for absolutely no reason at all as I heated up my pasta, I felt the need to call my dad's uncle. We rarely speak- he's an absolutely wonderful old man, but I have never called him in my life. I just did it without any real thought and I could not tell you why. It was lovely, just a light hearted chat that I found time for in my day but hugely unlike me. He peacefully passed away in his sleep the next day and I'm so glad I called. I'm also really glad that somehow the phone call happened when I'm usually so busy at work I don't even respond to texts. It's made me really happy tbh to know he knew I was thinking of him before he went, has anyone else had similar experiences?

Yabu - death is random and we can't know it on a cellular level
Yanbu - this is a common phenomenon

I think it's just confirmation bias.

I agree. I don't believe in souls, guardian angels or sixth senses etc. I have no problem believing that a very ill person might get a physical feeling that they are slipping away, but I personally don't believe there's anything other-wordly or spiritual about that.

Over 30 years ago I had a sense something was wrong with my DGM. Seen her earlier in the day, she was fine.
I phoned her, no reply. My DM went round and found her collapsed from a stroke.
Never had it since, but just knew something wasn't right, can't explain it

@SproutLady I had similar - although its not resulted in death...yet

One day a couple of months ago I woke feeling incredibly sad. I couldn't put my finger on why, I had an upset stomach and just this incredible sense of impending doom. Later that day I found out my best friend had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

I didn't even know he was having tests, he had kept everything quiet.

Hare Krishna’, like gnostics; christian and non-christian; believe in the “universal mind” of which our souls are a part, that we are all connected creatures of spirit, trapped in reincarnating physical bodies.

For example, from a Jungian psychological perspective our physical bodies can be represented as a circle, at the centre of the circle is our real identity, our personal divinity, which the gnostics called the spirit, the pneuma or the nous. This is the nucleus of our atomic self if you will allow a more scientific analogy.

Between the physical body and the spirit is the soul, the psyche.

The soul/psyche can be thought of as our complex personality, a representation of the consciousness that contains our memories, feelings, wishes, habits and thoughts; these are our personal angels and demons.

If all of our souls are connected then this explains how our “angels” or “demons” (both words have the same etymological origin and mean the same thing - a demon is an angel is a demon) are able to communicate with each other.

Much like a weed is simply a flower or plant you don’t want (I love dandelions but many see them as a weed). Let’s say you have a habit that is not good for you or you don’t like then you should not feed that angel/demon, e.g. the demon drink or angel forgiveness. Both demon and angel are interchangeable as they are names for the same thing, like weeds/flowers it’s just a matter of personal choice if you want to feed that “spirit” or not.

I don’t know the answer to your question, but I do know this is a beautiful story. May your dad’s uncle rest in peace x

Generally, I'm sceptical about most 'woo' things. However, one of the known symptoms of sepsis is having a strong sense that you are dying. I do believe sometimes people are aware that their body is failing.

I think I beleive it.

My great grandad had spoken of seeing his late wife 2 weeks before he died and came down to dinner in a smart suit, where he died at the table.

My grandma died of a brain haemorrhage two days after my grandad was rushed into hospital with a major heart attack. He survived for another 6 years, but my grandma had always said she hoped she'd be the first to leave as she wouldn't cope without my grandad. That makes me beleive she died of a broken heart.

Days before my grandad passed away, he wrote a letter to my mum to say goodbye and detailing how he wanted his funeral so I beleive he knew. His was a sudden second heart attack and there'd been no outward indications beforehand.

My mum was diagnosed with cancer in June, they gave her 4 to 6 months, I knew she was going to die on the 15th August, don't know how, I just did. And she did indeed pass away on the 15th August

I read an interview with a paramedic once who said they thought it was very important to be honest with people who were dying. He had held the hand of people who had been hurt in road accidents and he knew they could not be saved. At first they would ask him if they were going to die and he would say you're ok, we'll move you soon or something else that avoided the question and they would continue to be in distress. Once he started to tell them yes, they were dying, they were calmer and died more peacefully and were less afraid.

I don't believe in souls but I do think that as animals we can recognise death is near and that we benefit from being able to be truthful about it.

I 'feel' / 'see' / 'hear' lost relatives about 3 months before they return for their loved ones. Then their/my loved ones pass a few months later.

It's happened a few times now and it unsettles me but it's been the case each time.

I can only assume they are there to welcome their loved ones to the next phase. The departed loved ones do indeed seem know when mortals are close to passing.

😂😂😂

I never believed so until DP's brother died. There were 2 things, which on their own are quite normal but

1 - the last time DP and me saw him was 3 days before he died. When we said goodbye to him after a night out he gave me a hug and said "make sure he's ok won't you"....DP's brother was very much against mine and DP's relationship and tolerated me for DP's sake so this was very out of character. Plus it was such an odd thing to say.

2- On the morning he died he gave his wife her birthday present before he left for work.... They had been together for 10 years and this was the 1st time that had happened as he always waited until he got home and would cook her a meal and give her his gifts then.

He died in a workplace accident 6 hours later.

Why must our consciousness transfer somewhere? I've no idea why anyone would think that. Do all animals consciousness transfer somewhere? Does an octopus conscious transfer somewhere else when they die? I can't imagine any other animal apart from a human thinking they're so important that they must go on after death.

And saying no one can prove you don't have a soul is something you could say about literally anything. You can't prove that you're not just a figment of something else's imagination. It's just a ridiculous rabbit hole to go down.

I knew there was something wrong the day my granny died.

We had gone to see my mum two days before, she’d just been two weeks diagnosed terminally ill with bloody dementia. My granny was devastated and didn’t want to outlive my mum. I had made a last minute choice to spend three nights at my granny’s and we had a wonderful time despite the sadness and shock of my mum’s illness. I remember emailing my friend telling her what a laugh we’d ended up having together.

I remember the day I got out of my uncle’s car to get the train home, after seeing mum, and I turned back and gave my granny a kiss through the window. That was the Sunday.

Monday night I rang her and I told her I was getting a McDonald’s for tea and I’d ring in the morning, which she was fine with, she told me to enjoy and she’d ring me on Tuesday. She was going to post something for me and said she’d tucked a surprise in it (I thought probably cash!).

Tuesday lunch came and I remember feeling physically sick, shaky and just off. My granny wasn’t answering the phone and she always rang me in the morning.

I stupidly went onto local Facebook groups to check roads - and very quickly realised there had been a crash 1 mile from her home - and I just knew, I remember saying, ‘oh no, no, no’ - by the time my cousin rang me 20 minutes later I was pacing the floor in a panic, and when I answered her, she said instantly, ‘it’s not mum’ and I said, ‘no, you’re calling to tell me about my granny, is she dead?’

I just knew.

The surprise was a card for my mum and one for my sister and I. My granny died of natural causes so far as she was unwell - sudden arrest I think - but I believe on some level she knew and so did I. Something made me go up that weekend and something made her write those cards.

However, that’s brought me very little comfort at all; I’m an incredibly anxious person, I was already but that day just ramped it up by a thousand … have flashbacks to that day and live in terror of the same thing happening again.

I don't believe we know. I've had three very close bereavements recently: One person I sat with until they passed. I did call that person a bit out of the blue and had a really lovely chat before their condition rapidly deteriorated, but I don't think it was a sign. They were terminally ill, so fairly inevitable that they might die sometime soon after I spoke to them or had been think about them. The others were sudden and unexpected, no sign or feelings at all.

That said, I think it's lovely when people with a different viewpoint can take comfort in their beliefs about souls and the afterlife. I sometimes wish I shared them.

Possibly just confirmation bias, but then there's so much we simply can't know

The day before my (outwardly perfectly healthy) mum died, I cancelled work and took her out to lunch because I felt I just had to see her
We'd often have a meal together but would usually plan it, and the drive to do this on the spur of the moment was something completely new

A massive, ruptured aortic aneurysm caused her completely unexpected death, and I guess I'll never really know why I did what I did

At age 24, I had my first teaching post teaching a wonderful Year 6 class.
I sometimes did extra tutoring with some of the pupils.
One of them was a funny, lovely boy in my class. I remember him always being tired during the lessons and thought it was likely due to a full day of school, then extra tutoring work. One day he was so tired, he asked for a lift back along the road he normally walked on, it wasn’t far at all and I remember thinking that I must mention to my mum he was tired all the time and maybe he should leave tutoring for a bit.
A while passed (not sure how long as it was 22 years ago)
One Friday at the end of school, I remember this quite vividly, which seems odd. He came to me to say goodbye, I remember smiling and saying to have a good weekend etc-the normal stuff…I just remember him really looking at me telling me he was going now as if something else was expected, he was fine, smiling etc, it just really sticks in my memory now. I thought nothing more about it.
That week I wasn’t in school as I was really ill with a kidney infection & kidney stones for the first time. I remember being in and out of it and his mum calling me saying he was in hospital and was asking for me, I didn’t understand at all and said I hadn’t been in school as was ill. I didn’t go to see him, he died shortly afterwards of lukemia (spelling)
I went to his funeral which was the most heartbreaking thing, it was abroad and very different to the U.K., people wailed and we walked through the streets. The parents gave me a letter saying he said I wasn’t only a teacher to him, but was a friend to him, they said he asked for me when he was in hospital.
I wish I had understood how ill he was and been to visit him, the guilt is overwhelming if I think about it too long.
Remembering his face and him telling me so seriously that he was going now makes me believe in something..,I’m not sure what though.

*To HIS mum

Yes. My mum wasn't ill but having tests for parkinsons. I was trying to sort out poa for her and wasn't being helped by my sibling or husband I had what felt like silent breakdown one weekend. A feeling like I couldn't cope any more as it was such a massive burden suddenly I absolutely had to do. But no one close to me noticed. I was at a mental health crisis hub that night. I didn't know at the time but my mum had suddenly passed away unexpectedly.

When my mum died I knew she was dying. She had cancer. A few hours beforehand we'd been told she could remain like she was for days. Had fallen into a "coma" the day before.

I took ds to his usual club. Couldn't settle down as he trained. I'd usually sit and chat to parents/ watch but I kept getting up and even went for a walk around the car park as I just felt unsettled. At the end of his session I looked at the clock and noted the time which I don't usually do. Usually as they are packing up I go down to wait for him.

5 minutes after leaving dad rang to say she'd passed away at the exact time I'd been looking at the clock and had been dying the hour previously when I couldn't settle.

So yes I believe you can feel it and souls are involved and intertwined.

My dad had an MI ( heart attack), he was in hospital and had a cardiac arrest and was resuscitated. When he regained consciousness, he said he saw a light tunnel, it felt lovely and welcoming, and then he woke up with doctors and nurses around him. He said he wasn’t scared of death now. He passed shortly after. I found it quite comforting at a traumatic time.

My Grandma passed away last year. She went in to the hospital for a few chest pains, but she was stable and happy and chatty, and I spoke to my Grandad the evening she was in hospital and he said she was fine and hopefully will be home tomorrow. Doctors were not overly worried. I left the phone call happy and reassured and went about my evening. Then I fell asleep on the couch and woke up suddenly at around 11pm.

When I woke up I just had this overwhelming feeling that my grandma was not ok. And a video came on YouTube showing videos of the era when she would have been little and it just all gave me a sense of dread. Anyway, I told myself to stop being silly and to ring my Grandad in the morning. So I went up to bed and went to sleep. The next morning I got my children to school and was about to ring my Grandad when my mum rang me. As soon as I saw her name pop up on my phone, I knew. I answered the phone and she told me my Grandma passed away at around 1am from a heart attack and that she had a fall in hospital at around 11pm. 11pm is when I woke up and had that rush of dread come over me.

I’m a big believer that coincidences happen, but I think something told me that night at 11pm that I was about to lose my Grandma soon. I miss her so much 💔.

How do you cope with this as it happens me too and has since I was a young child. I wish it wouldn't, it's as if my soul is preparing me but it's awful..

So glad you got the opportunity to have a long conversation with your Dad before he passed @SproutLady

Yes it is a weird phenomenon. Happened with Grandad 2 and my Nana, but both of those were less unexpected.

I know when I developed sepsis suddenly after an asymptomatic uti I had the strangest feelings. When I started vomiting and my legs had turned a deep blue tartan and my DH was told the ambulance would arrive within an hour he bundled me into the car and it saved my life. I was in A/E in 20mins and commenced IV antibiotics immediately. I was discharged from hospital after 3 days with no lasting effects.

The feeling I had before arriving at the hospital was I'm dying. I was flooded with a sense of calm & peace with no worries. The experience has left me with no fear of whats to come at the end of life. It was like I became part of another realm outwith this world.