The Afterlife... How Does it Work?

[ghostestwiththemostest]

Forgive my ignorance but I am thinking of believing in the afterlife and have a few questions about the logistics....

In my mind, the afterlife consists of a nicer version of life on Earth. No death, no having to go to work, sunny with a gentle breeze, verdant, relaxing, no housework, and surrounded by loved ones. In essence, my life now only better.

However, I realise that I have oversimplified things. Assuming that I reach (fingers crossed) old age, does this mean that I will be trapped in eternity in the mind and body of an 80+ year old? Does this mean that I could potentially be sat on a sofa with my elderly mother, my elderly grandmother and my elderly children all bickering and shouting "you what??" for all of eternity. Will Heaven turn out to be akin to one of those god awful retirement communities in Florida, all golf carts and incontinent pads?

So, my biggest question is will we be the age that we die with or do you think they will let us pick our own age?
If the latter, do you think that it will be full of idiotic 15-18 year olds at a perpetual disco? If so, who is going to clean up all their shite? Will they end up irresponsibly procreating and who will be stuck dealing with it all?

What would happen if my mother decided to come back as a baby and I ended up stuck looking after her. She would deliberately be as difficult as possible by way of revenge.

Can I choose my own house and plot do you think? If pets go to Heaven (which I've always believed that they do), will I suddenly be greeted by 7 cats, 8 dogs, 11 rabbits, 4 hamsters, 100+ fish and a horse, all elderly and incontinent! That's a big commitment, particularly for an 80+ something.

Even if we are ghosts without bodies (which would be a real shame as I'd miss the cuddles), surely our spirits/personalities would remain and we would largely be fairly world weary and cantankerous. Or could we chose our spiritual age?

What if I end up with crap neighbours? What if Jeremy Beadle or Paul Daniel's live next door? There's nothing to say that you can't be both sufficiently pious to get into heaven, but also seriously annoying. In fact, most pious people I know are exactly that!

The more that I think about this, the less heavenly the dream.

Can someone please help explain the logistics of all of this. No cynics please. I want to believe. I want it to be nice and fluffy, so please don't shatter my delusions. I just need help visualising the reality of it.

It doesn't exist. HTH

I'm very much up for a Good Place type situation so I can visit all the places I'm too poor to visit while I'm alive 😂

You just come back in another body, depending on your behaviour in this life. What you have learned in this life also comes into it, so you will probably come back as a lower creature like a slug, so you can start from the beginning again, as you don't seem to have benefited much from your experiences so far.

@Isittimeformynapyet I am not remotely lonely. My user name relates to a song.

I am however stuck in bed at the moment, bored and with too much time on my hands. My thoughts are just as valid as anyone else’s on the thread, but no-one is obliged to read them.

That is a weird attitude yes @CeciledeVolangesdeNouveau . I am sure we are here for a reason, so we should live our lives as well and as long as we can. I did find the depiction of Susan problematic (and more than a little sexist) - and I state that as someone who has appreciated much of Lewis' work.

I have read and reread the Great Divorce. But Last Battle was borderline inappropriate for children in its depiction of delight of young people at being dead. And it didn't explore either how Susan coped with losing her entire family & friends.

There’s a Matt Redman (Christian worship leader and singer-songwriter) song “when we all get to heaven” about the day when we all meet Jesus and how great it’s going to be.

The song has a line “Every question will be answered on that day” and every time I hear the song I find myself thinking “it’s gonna be a lo-o-o-ng day mate”.

There are some funny premises on this thread, I like the one about do you swipe on your future soul mates like Tinder, that got me thinking 😆

I may have changed the exact location to protect my identity. But I am from up north from a similar sort of small town.

@erinaceus

The song has a line “Every question will be answered on that day” and every time I hear the song I find myself thinking “it’s gonna be a lo-o-o-ng day mate”.

🤣🤣 We'd all be groaning every time someone put their hand up to ask another question!

As no one alive has done any sort of "after-life". I'd really find something more worthwhile to concentrate on. No one can answer that question. 🙄

I am surprised that you can be so certain of this. Of course most of us cannot be sure about something we have never seen; but the more we learn about reality the more astounding it all is. So much of it though is outside our human capacity to understand imo.

On another note op I find it more comforting not to believe in an after life.
I've not been alive before and I won't be again one day and that's ok with me. There is no worry about what's waiting that way .
Hope that makes sense

The thing that gets me is if there is any after life. Where is it ? Where is the space on this earth for it ?

Bury!!

I believe that the spirit hangs around the dead body / familiar places for a while, perhaps confused, perhaps loving, depending on how they died, and occasionally entering the dreams of loved ones. I believe that a while (Buddhists think 30-60 days) after the burial/cremation the spirit loses interest in its old life and drifts until it gravitates to a growing foetus in some pregnant human or animal, and slowly immerses itself in that body to be reborn and start a new life as someone new.

Ha ha , this is very funny - many of the questions I’ve been asking myself
. I don’t know the answers but some peoples replies are interesting / amusing 😂

I’m with @Newthingsahead on this. The thought of having to float around being kind and loving and oh so grateful to be there when there’s the high likelihood that I will see several people who I loathe is , imo, the epitome of hell to me!
I don’t believe in religion any more; I think you just cease to exist, the light goes out and your molecules return to the earth to become something else.
No benevolent God, angels or anything else.
And that suits me fine!

You're not alone! Historic takers include Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Jim Carrey in the Truman Show. Your line of thinking is known as the Zhuanghzi Paradox and popular in Dzogchen Buddhist philosophy. DS did philosophy at uni and can speak without breathing on this very subject for nine hours at a time.

How do you know it will be on earth?

So how do we get there?
It just makes no logical sense to me

But you are ahead of their game with the Beadle merch and 0800 number.

How did you get to be here?

I got to be here through conception
I was made from an egg and sperm

The one interesting theory is 'The Egg'. Basically we are all every single person and creature that ever existed. After you die in 2023 you'll become a Chinese peasant girl from the 1500s, then a 2400s man, then a chicken in ancient Rome. Until you've lived every single life on earth. Then you'll become an enlightened being, carrying all that knowledge.

People like Socrates and Buddha are people who had been mostly everything already.

Jonathan Stroud's Bartaemius trilogy, book 3. The way he describes the demons returning to their place of origin - like separate entities, but all entwined, ever-changing. That is exactly how I imagine the afterlife. Before you get sent back on your next mission. For the record, hated this one.

Look up Dolores Cannon. She has many books on the subject. To me now it’s the only thing that makes any sense. Found Michael Newton hard to follow.