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Original poster

Your opinion - what happens when you die?

82 replies

TinkerSailerSoldierSpy · 17/04/2012 20:41

I'm curious. What do you lot think? I'm actually terrified that there's just nothing. I hope not, need reassurance!

OP posts:
Sittinginthesun · 17/04/2012 20:50

I think there is something there. I have had a few strange experiences over the years that have reassured me - signs, I suppose. I think that your spirit must continue, and can watch others if need be.

A friend's son talked very clearly about his "previous life", which also made me think.

jjkm · 17/04/2012 21:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hiddenhome · 18/04/2012 13:10

I like to think there's something else, but have no idea what 'it' is Smile I have had a NDE and found myself in a black tunnel and it was full of Disney characters Hmm It was whilst having gas at the dentists (in the old days). I eventually came round to find him looking rather shaken and removing an airway from my throat. I can't say I saw God or Jesus in the tunnel and I've never liked Disney, so I wasn't impressed Grin

Bucharest · 18/04/2012 13:54

I think there is something else. I don't know what though. But it's not a man with a beard sat in the clouds.

I firmly believe in the "soul" and I think it moves on.

I remember seeing my dying stepfather and then my dead stepfather, and even though there was no truly discernible difference, there was something that was gone.

juneau · 18/04/2012 13:59

I'm sorry to say I don't think there is anything after. I think you die and that's it. It's really upsetting to think that way because I'd love to feel that I was going to be reunited with my grandparents and that they're watching over me, but I'm a rational person and I know there isn't anything at all.

NDEs have been shown to be the way the brain shuts down - it's nature's way of making death easier.

CalamityKate · 18/04/2012 14:01

What Juneau said.

I'd LOVE to think that we go on somehow, but common sense and rationality says it's incredibly unlikely.

faeriefruitcake · 18/04/2012 23:06

I'm going to Tir na n Og.

ThatVikRinA22 · 18/04/2012 23:11

i didnt used to believe until i lost my sister in a car crash.

3 weeks after her funeral my then 11 year old son woke me up to tell me she had told him to give me a message....he said she had visited him in a dream and told him to tell me that i was always very special to her and that she would be there, that she loved us and that she was sorry about an argument she had had with my DH the last time they had met up before she died (DS did not know about the argument!!) he also said she looked really well and happy and told me what she was wearing!
i had chosen stargazer lillies for her funeral because we used to do daft things like ring each other at 2am to watch lunar eclipses and such like....he told me that she loved the lillies!
i cried.
but now i know there is something else after this, and i firmly believe i will see her again, which is a bloody good job because i miss her like crazy.

RedMolly · 18/04/2012 23:27

Don't want to add anything - just want to give vicarinatutu a big hug.

AGunInMyPetticoat · 19/04/2012 05:07

Nothing happens.

As others have said: it's a sad thought - but everything we know about consciousness suggests that it is linked to the human brain. No brain, no consciousness.

SofiaAmes · 19/04/2012 05:25

All your relatives squabble over your wordily possessions.

SofiaAmes · 19/04/2012 05:25

whoops...make that worldly

Ilovedaintynuts · 19/04/2012 06:53

I feel with absolute certainty that the 'soul' goes on. I just know and have lots of life experiences that have reassured me.
The problem with these kind of beliefs is that they can't be remotely proved so you end up with people on different ends of the spectrum arguing about something that nobody can 'win'.

Sittinginthesun · 19/04/2012 07:58

Vicarina - what a comforting tale. I am so sorry to hear about your sister.

I agree, that it is impossible to prove unless something actually happens to you. I am not religious, and would not have believed it in a million years, until I actually had it happen to me.

Long story, but I was at a funeral and saw what I now understand was an "orb" (ball of crackling light), which I just knew was my relative. I could actually see him. I grabbed my husband, said "look, look!!!", but it just fizzed and disappeared. I was wide awake, not expecting it or looking for any sort sign. I can think of no other explanation.

Rindercella · 19/04/2012 08:17

Vicar, what a comforting thing to happen. So sorry about your sister.

Before DH died I asked him to show himself to me and let me know he was okay. He promised that he would. Since then various things have happened to make me know, without a shadow of a doubt, that his spirit is around us. There was the light show when I was having a very upsetting phone conversation a few days after he died - the wall light above my bed went mad and was flashing on and off, faster and slower, for several minutes until I had calmed down and then the light went as bright as it could and then dimmed and turned itself off! I sat there open mouthed, with a lovely warm buzzy feeling knowing he was around and had kept his promise.

Lots of other things have happened and the above is just one example of knowing for sure DH's soul is around us still.

CailinDana · 19/04/2012 08:23

I believe that you are a person in essence mainly and that being alive in a particular body is just one stop on your way through time. I don't think there's any judgement after death, you just move on. Where, I don't know.

CailinDana · 19/04/2012 08:27

The reason I think that is that having seen a couple of people die there has always been a moment where they're not "them" any more, their body suddenly loses its essence. I find looking at someone's body after they've died very comforting - it's so obvious that they've moved on.

perceptionreality · 19/04/2012 08:43

Interesting thread. The question of what exactly there is unsettles me. But I do know that there is far more to life than what we can see physically and that there is a spiritual world - I've seen this when I wasn't even considering it.

Jessicaalbastwin · 19/04/2012 09:02

vicarinatutu I love that story, it's really sweet, sending you a big hug and cuddle, had a little tear in my eye.

GrimmaTheNome · 19/04/2012 09:16

I think the same as AGun.

But also, we 'live on' in people's memories, in the effects (for good or ill) we've had on the world - a rationalist 'karma'.

After my father died, I dreamed about him quite often. No 'messages' - just woke happy and peaceful. That's enough for me. Smile

Aftereightsaremine · 19/04/2012 09:33

Shortly after my gran passed away I had a lovely dream of her coming to me & saying don't worry about me I'm fine, she looked so young & happy. Just as she had been before Alzheimer's & Dementia had eaten away at her. I don't know if it was really her or my mind playing tricks on me but it has given me & my family a peace that cannot be described.

pillowupmyjumper · 19/04/2012 11:44

The near death experiance thing is interesting and cannot necessarily be disproved by saying it's just the a natural brain shutting down thingy

if that were the case surely everyone who came close to death and was revived would have one ...

just something to ponder

pillowupmyjumper · 19/04/2012 11:51

i also had a nice dream about my granddad after he past. all the women in my family were in the house and he greated each one of us with a massive hug and gave us a red rose (my nan got him the biggest arrangement of red roses for his coffin)

maybe it was something or maybe not and it was just that it was all on my mind, either way i will never forget how happy i was in the dream and how good it made me feel afterwards....

GreenMamba · 19/04/2012 11:56

I think that there is a soul that somehow can look over loved ones in some way after death.
There's something - but maybe not a tangible something that we could comprehend,I feel sure.

Either that or its a void,if I'm wrong.

FateLovesTheFearless · 19/04/2012 12:01

When you die, you are dead. Nothing happens. IMO.