what do you think happens after death?

[Goldyyup]

Only interested in perspectives if you think something happens after death not the perspectives where people think it is just the end.

But there is nothing wrong with accepting that death is the end. Because we live on anyway, in those we leave behind. The way I look at some things changed because I met my husband, and though he has now died I still look at those things in the way I do because of him. The things I do, the things I say, the things I buy are all in some way shaped by the 25 years we had together. So he lives on through his impact on me, and on many others.

A silly example - I love home made salted almonds with a glass of champagne. They remind me of Christmas with my parents, as my mum always made them. She made them because her mother made them, and her mother becuase her mother did. Every time I make them I am reminded not only of my mother, who is still alive, but my grandmother and great grandmother. For me, tangible memories of those who went before me is far more meaningful than the thought there is something beyond life. Because they are with me in this life in myriad ways

I didn't say anything was wrong with that point of view. I wanted this thread to be about people who think there is something else.

If you think being dead is the end or the memories live on that is fine, but that is not what the aim of this thread is.

It does. The brain doesn't know where death is so it flips through your memories to find something to compare it to and releases a chemical to stop you feeling frightened. That'll do me.

I don't know past that, I hope there is something. I really want to see my daughter again when I go but obviously I won't know if itll happen or not. Just a comforting thought isn't it?

I think that we are basically energy. And when our body dies our energy goes back to the universe. Not in a conscious way but in a what makes me me leaves my earthly body and the energy just dissipates back into the void. I saw some one just after (minutes) they died once and it was still ‘them’ but when I saw them again later it was just a body and they were gone. I know it’s not conventional and I can’t back it up with science or anything but I very clearly felt that they had gone.

I can't even begin to imagine the pain and suffering you went through because I don't have children. I have suffered losing people I've loved and I say cling on to that comforting thought. Much love to you.

Your story triggered a memory of a similar experience. I also attempted suicide when I was younger, and I distinctly remember a quiet moment in the hospital where someone stood near my bed with their back turned. They wouldn't turn to face me because they were annoyed with me and they kept saying "what have you done to yourself?"

When I later asked who that was, no one had been there.

I think we all ride zebras endlessly into the universe.

Seriously, what on earth do you hope to gain by asking this question? You'll have everything (and nothing) suggested by people who all have one thing in common, absolutely no basis for their beliefs whatsoever. Are you just going to pick the one you like best and hope it's that? If so, just make up your own. This is the one question on which nobody knows better than you, because nobody knows anything.

I think there is so much that we cannot explain definitely.

I think we’re absorbed back into the All from which we might or might not emerge (in whole, or part) again

Me too. And absolutely terrifying tbh.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20181125/Human-brain-may-stay-active-for-hours-after-death.aspx

I think we cease to exist and yet go on forever.

I’m sitting in my garden, listening to the birds and looking at the beautiful plants and flowers and this thread has made me realise that ‘dust to dust, ashes to ashes’ means we return to the soil and feed into the planet for all eternity. What a wonderful thought. It means our loved ones are with us and we are with them forever more.

Life's great, thanks.

Why would my life be made better if I made some fiction up to "explain" the nature of death? Death is sad, but the inevitable outcome of life.

Absolutely no basis for their beliefs whatsoever

Amen, sister.

I believe that you go to heaven with the Lord if you have believed in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he made to redeem the world and bring it back to salvation. I believe that if you didn't choose to trust God and have faith in Him then you go to hell. Hell is a place apart from God. Heaven is a paradise, where you can spend eternity living in the glory of the Lord. I can't explain it much more, but I believe that the God of the Bible is the Creator and sustainer of our universe.

Do an alpha course if you're interested.

It's fine, because we are not children. The 22nd and subsequent centuries wil be much like all those preceding the 20th - notable for their absence of having me in them. I know that the Hittite Empire rose and fell while I had no conscious existence and I rarely stay awake at night worrying about that, why should I have any issues or fears in believing that the universe will continue after my conscious existence ceases?
Why feel "something must continue" when we know our lives started and there was nothing before?

I hope we carry on, peacefully and in a wonderful version of life. With no sickness and lots of love. Who knows.

Why do you think your god created humans with the ability to not believe in him, and then punishes them eternally for doing this thing he made possible?

But there are several Gods in the Bible, very scant reference to hell, a mention of the Greek afterlife, hints at reincarnation. Different levels of heaven. Which level of heaven do you get to and why?

But you can’t ride/shouldn't ride zebras because their backs are very different to horses. We’ll have no animal abuse in the afterlife thank you very much. What about a lovely native pony, maybe a steady trot through the stars on a Welsh cob.

When you come here , you forget who you really are (pure consciousness). You're just having an experience as a human here. It would be too difficult if you knew who you really were and that would defeat the whole purpose of your life here.

I’ve thought about this a bit. Throughout a lot of history there has been a preoccupation with “the end is nigh”. One piece of research suggests 39% of Americans think the world will end in their life time - compare the difference between atheists and others. I wonder if, deep down, many can’t contemplate the world, or existence, continuing without them
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/08/about-four-in-ten-u-s-adults-believe-humanity-is-living-in-the-end-times/

If anyone is so inclined to do so, look into quantum entanglement, consciousness existing outside of the body and panpsychism for some possible existential explanations from highly qualified scientists, including physicists. People can wonder about what happens, but investigate the science and it'll blow your mind. Existence and possible continuation of the person after death isn't likely to resemble anything we've thought of before.

I'll try to find some videos on the subject and some current thinking.

Science based videos about the nature of reality, consciousness and how we fit in, above. Not religious or 'woo' before anyone is reluctant to access. All very thought provoking stuff.

I’m happy for you to believe that, but in return you’ll have to accept that I’m content knowing that there is no predefined ‘purpose’ to anything. Our purpose on this planet is what we chose and are able to make of it. And that’s life is so wonderful :)