So i was thinking... as you do

[jonjon]

And i was in my all powerful-i'm going to rule the world-self and i was thinking about death... and how people get old. And to me i dont feel like i will ever get old. I want to say to myself and i want to believe when i say that i will live forever. Death just seems... so impossible to me. Like i feel invincible. I cant ever die, i will live forever to rise up and rule the world.. yadda yadda 

But then i got thinking about life... and the feeling you get of being alive - you can see things, feel things, smell things and all the stuff that reminds you that you're still breathing, that you are part of this world - that you are ALIVE!

So... what really happens when we do die? When all ceases to stop in our bodies - we stop functioning. We cant smell, see, feel, touch anything anymore. We cant even think or even 'feel' ourselves. There's no one there to tell you what to expect, or what's actually going to happen. I really cant imagine... the end! I mean... all i can imagine is reincarnation because it has to go on... right? I mean... what else do i do if that dont happen? Sit in darkness wondering what will happen/what did happen   

I cant say it scares me... it's just the mystery that... rather disturbs my order of thinking and being. And i aint guna sleep tonight trying to think of the best possible logical explanation.

[cindianna_jones]

I'm going to be cremated and have my ashes spread under an old oak tree. There I will continue.  I'll become part of the grass, the tree, and the wildflowers. Will I be concious? No. I'll be dead!  But some of me will get recycled into living things.  I like that thought.

Cindi

[jonjon]

yeah but... I just cant seem to grasp that the human mind will just stop.... >_> and then what?

How can it be possible for there to be nothing!

I exist... i cant not exist... even through death. Something has to happen - i need answers 

[cindianna_jones]

And that is where religion comes to bear.  If you can't fathom something, religion can provide an answer. That's how it works. It may not make sense but there is a desperate need to believe there is more than "this". 

It won't matter, no matter how it really ends up will it?  If you have an afterlife, you will enjoy it. If there is no afterlife, you'll not ever know.

My mother, who is aging, wastes most of her every waking moment worried about these things. What a waste. With that time, she could call me once in a while!

Cindi

Cindi

[Jonie]

     I guess there are several possibilities of what happens to you when you die. One is that you go back to where you came from; this could mean that you cease to exist completely or that you exist in some other reality. If you cease to exist completely that probably means that you didn't exist before you were born either and if that's the case there's nothing stopping you from being reborn from nothing since you've done it previously to get to this point. In other words if you came from nothingness and once you die you go back to nothingness then there's nothing stopping you from making a reappearance to the world of the living since you've done it before at the very beginning of the life your living now.
     Another possibility is that you could also find yourself in some other reality and if that's the case, is it going to be better or worse than the land of the living. If its better then alls well, if it's not then how bad can it get and can I reincarnate. I don't know about reincarnation but as for the question is the afterlife going to be better or worse than this world we're living in now? I don't know that either, sorry. 
     

[Kate]

How can it be possible for there to be nothing!

There can't. Not exactly. But then there can't be "something" either. Both concepts are just... empty pointers.

In my view, death is no biggie. I've "died" so many times... not just physical death, THAT doesn't worry me... I mean leaving the world in... other ways.

I know it sounds nuts to say, but I wake up in other worlds at times. This one is just another world. I'm here, yet I'm in those places too, dreaming. It's not linear, not reincarnation of life -> death -> life. It's simultaneous, ongoing, a process of dreaming. Each life or existence is a different manifestation of the same energy all happening together, a sum total of existing.

And those worlds seem to shift. Waking up from one IS death, and death of the worst kind, because I can FEEL it slipping away. Everything. All the people I loved, all the things I did, all the memories I cherish... suddenly exposed as PART of that world, things that I cannot take with me, fading, slipping from me... again and again and... for a moment I'm in-between and I see it ALL. The "crossroads of infinity." I'm no one, yet everyone, a speck in this incomprehensible vastness that's Just Me.

And something will catch my attention... and I start being pulled down. Again. Deeper. Heavier. I start remembering things. Things I've never known before, yet now become my "past." More and more, like a rolling snowball until...

I wake up. Streeeeetch. And think, "wow, what a weird dream THAT was."

Rinse. Repeat as necessary.

~Kate~

[katia]

okay if it makes you feel better; you'll meet [me] when you die!  >

first of all, death does not exist. this [death] as humans call it is merely the transition from one plane of existence into another. i don't know exactly how to explain but, there is more than just what you can see. humans have only 5 senses, thus we are not able to perceive everything in this universe. for instance: radio waves are invisible to humans; it's like they're not even there...but because of our technology we are able to detect them. so just because you can't see, smell, touch ,hear or taste does not mean it's not there.

don't worry about death but remember that we will all die so make the best out of the life you have....don't worry....worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but gets you nowhere.

[Laurry]

first of all, death does not exist. this [death] as humans call it is merely the transition from one plane of existence into another.

The plain and simple truth of this is that no one knows.  We believe this or that, but nobody really knows what happens after this body dies.  We choose to believe that our existence continues.  Our society is based on this belief.

Consider what life would be like if we knew for certain that this is all there is...that there were no "eternal" consequences for our actions.  What would prevent us from behaving in a manner that is harmful to ourselves and others, (other than our fear of being locked up or executed by the government)?  Why not lie, cheat, steal, murder, covet thy neighbor's wife (or oxen)?

Also consider how frightened and depressed we would be if we knew that this is all there is.  Just thinking about it is a bummer.

It is for these reasons (and more, I'm sure) that most people believe in some sort of an after-life.  Is there one?  I sure hope so.

.....Laurie

[Kate]

The plain and simple truth of this is that no one knows.

And yet... no one really knows if anyone really knows or not, lol...

I know what I know, though not through memories or even experiences exactly. But it's there. Someone once started a thread asking what truth is, and I replied I AM. Which wasn't just a smarty-pants remark, I meant it. We ARE "it", the mystery, the magic of being. You can't take that away. The rest of it... the dramas, memories, ideas, beliefs... all just parts of the play that end when the curtain falls. If you mistake the truth for the STUFF, the props, the script... then yes, maybe you die for real, going down with the ship as it were. But if you learn to let go of those things... to PLAY, not OWN... to be the director AND producer AND scriptwriter AND actors...

Well, ya might be surprised what can happen

~Kate~

[Seshatneferw]

Consider what life would be like if we knew for certain that this is all there is...that there were no "eternal" consequences for our actions.  What would prevent us from behaving in a manner that is harmful to ourselves and others, (other than our fear of being locked up or executed by the government)?

Human nature? A general -- or at least generally learned -- tendency towards being at least vaguely decent?

Ultimately, most of the moral tenets of the major religions are very close to each other. This isn't just a chance occurrence; just what the underlying reason is is debatable. Still, from a social point of view it is not necessary that the religions are true -- their existence is sufficient for the system to work. Likewise, from a personal point of view it is not necessary that one's religion of choice is ultimately true, but instead it is sufficient to believe it is. Funnily enough, it's possible to realise this and still have faith in a more-or-less conventional sense.

  Nfr

[jonjon]

okay if it makes you feel better; you'll meet [me] when you die!  >

first of all, death does not exist. this [death] as humans call it is merely the transition from one plane of existence into another. i don't know exactly how to explain but, there is more than just what you can see. humans have only 5 senses, thus we are not able to perceive everything in this universe. for instance: radio waves are invisible to humans; it's like they're not even there...but because of our technology we are able to detect them. so just because you can't see, smell, touch ,hear or taste does not mean it's not there.

don't worry about death but remember that we will all die so make the best out of the life you have....don't worry....worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but gets you nowhere.

I like your way of thinking >_>

[Fer]

it will be just the same as before you were born. Nothing.

[J.T.]

what happens to the body?  Goes back to the earth.  Becomes dirt, becomes food for the animals/plants we eat.  Basically we're all cannibals    So yeah, nobody ever "dies".

what happens to our self, our "soul"?  No freaking clue.  Sometimes I wonder if all we experience is blackness, for eternity.

[Lisbeth]

So... what really happens when we do die?

The pain finally ends.  This is not a bad thing.

[Wendy]

... it's just the mystery that... rather disturbs my order of thinking and being. And i aint guna sleep tonight trying to think of the best possible logical explanation.

... and if you live a long life you can lose a lot of sleep thinking about it. 

...............

Wishy,
I was wondering when I die if my brain gender was changed to fit my body image or my body image was changed to fit my brain gender.  I figure your spiritual body can live on.

Here's something to ponder at night... if we have a soul that lives on to eternity then when did our soul start?

Do enjoy your sleep this evening.  We do have an existence after this life.

W

[xeno]

my philosophy on the human soul after death is: during life we are always going through a series of doors until we die, once we do, there is a final door, what is on the other side? noone knows, if you choose to stay behind the door, you'll start over again, should you go beyond the door, then you go beyond the door and find....whatever the Voyager Space Probe found.....who knows, but thats my philosophy (aside from the voyager thing)

[shiva]

Dammit, I'm listening to mp3z as I read these forums, and I have the hotkeys set in such a way that I have to close winamp in order to reply. No biggie? Except for the fact that everyone has such interesting things to say that spark me to reply. Major inconvenience! But it's my fault, and these forums, and you guys/gals are worth it. OK:

best possible logical explanation.

Logical rarely has anything to do with the deepest truths of reality. The very word logical is a construct of the limited human knowledge, so don't expect it to give you anything real or worthwhile in the way of discoveries, universal truths and awakenings.

Here's one explanation: Skailer Wave. Not many people know about it, because the science devoted to studying it is still in its infancy. There are a few things known about it though. This is all I know, and I don't have any links because I've never seen anything about it on the internet.

It is a field of energy and in it is life itself. It goes through everything, it's part of everything that exists, it's real but unfortunately not well documented yet. Everything has a 'Skailer' signature, or spirit if you will. This will never vanish; when a plant or an animal or a human dies, the signature continues without the physical form. It never vanishes. So whether you are religious or not, part of you will continue to exist, for all time. Everything exists in this field of energy, and always will. Everything is connected to everything within this field of energy. Kill something, and the signature is no longer connected directly to that physical form; it returns to the larger, conglomerate field. It may no longer have charge of a physical form but it still exists.

There are so many factors and facets of this world we live in that we will never know them all. Myself, I adore the wondering part. 

[Nero]

Wishy,
Nobody knows what happens when you die, and those who who say they know are liars. That always gets to me. How can somebody claim to know what happens after death if they have never died?

Note: this comment wasn't directed at anybody here, but I so tire of hearing about eternal infernos, an eternity of doing nothing but bowing at the feet of God, or claims that there is no afterlife.
I'm Christian, but I don't believe in hell and if there is a heaven, I hope there's more to do than bow down to a deity 24/7. I don't presume to know what happens after death. There are lots of theories, one of them is right, obviously, but I don't claim to know which one.

[Pica Pica]

I like the idea of death being nothing. I've recently lost people and it is so much more comforting thinking that people have gone and there is nothing left. I can fully embrace the memories of those people knowing that they are properly gone, that everything I have is a treasure to keep, something I have saved from the blackness. And when I am gone, that will be all, and although I won't be around to see it, people will have memories of me that will live with them until they go. Death as an end is such a thick black line through everything that it has enough authority to not be scary.

[Jeannette]

This cannot be answered as we don't fully understand life and living and what love is.  We know nothing of the nature of death. We have seen it happen to others, close or distant; we all are touched by what we see and feel but that is not death either, that is reaction.  Life is enter, death is exist.  They don't necessarily mean beginning and ending.  The body obviously becomes old and ends.  You are not just a body a mind or a thought.  There is a mystery in all this, maybe understanding life fully holds the key.