[sadpeanut]

This is not meant to be a suicide post!

Does anyone else constantly think about what happens when you die? I know it's morbid but it's something that's been bugging me. I want to believe that our spirits are released in to nature and that we become part of the beauty around us... But I also wonder about Heaven and Hell (I was brought up Catholic and have since discovered Buddhism and am currently studying it). Does anyone else think about this or am I just over analyzing life and death?

It is something I often think about and I truly believe that there is life after death.
I am not a religious but I do believe that something happens to us after we die.

[Open Eyes]

Pretty much everyone has this question, so you are not being morbid or strange.

I personally believe that our essance never dies, energy is never distroyed it just reverts to something else, so I would assume our own energy that we create does the same. I do think it is important to "value life' and realize that the reason we are here is to learn and share with others for as long as we can.

I don't know about hell, but I believe that if someone is a selfish bad person and never learns to share and love, their selfishness lasts for eternity and their energy is negetive and dark. Cheating, selfishness, lying, stealing and harming others IMO, is something that the person has to answer to here and forever after. One doesn't have to be "great" to be a "great person".

Open Eyes

[lynn P.]

Yes I think about it and have questioned it several times. I think the belief gives us some hope and perhaps some guidelines to be a good person. I wonder how the belief got started since no one can prove it for sure. I was raised Catholic but as a child some things didn't make logical sense TBH. I feel it would be scary to admit there's nothing. If there is, I have an express entrance because I've lead an honorable life, carried my share of burdens and deserve some Heaven lol.

I have been clinically dead and had no experience of some other place that we go once we're no longer 'alive.' I wasn't raised religious and i don't currently hold those sorts of beliefs but its certainly not unusual to think about what happens once we die - after all there are countless unknowns. Im not trying to open up a debate and i completely respect your beliefs but the way i look at it is; if nothing does happen we can liken it to going to sleep and not waking up - we don't know we're asleep and so we won't know we've died. That probably isn't helpful but i just thought id share my experience/opinion. Hope you get the answers you're looking for. All the best.

[sadpeanut]

Originally Posted by bb2023

I have been clinically dead and had no experience of some other place that we go once we're no longer 'alive.' I wasn't raised religious and i don't currently hold those sorts of beliefs but its certainly not unusual to think about what happens once we die - after all there are countless unknowns. Im not trying to open up a debate and i completely respect your beliefs but the way i look at it is; if nothing does happen we can liken it to going to sleep and not waking up - we don't know we're asleep and so we won't know we've died. That probably isn't helpful but i just thought id share my experience/opinion. Hope you get the answers you're looking for. All the best.

It's just weird. I would like to think that we come back as something and that "something" depends on the actions we took while alive. It's just something unexplainable that's really interesting to me because no one will ever be able to answer it.

[seeker1950]

I like Socrates' Apology, in which he expressed his views on death.
He knew he was going to be sentenced to die:
Two Possible Outcomes of Death - Eternal Sleep or Transmigration

How can anyone fear something that they have no idea about? To Socrates it would seem foolish to be afraid of the unknown. To him death does not seem evil because it is one of the following two options.
One outcome involves the idea of eternal sleep. Death could be seen as sleeping without dreams, without thought or consciousness. Socrates says that it would be the best kind of sleep as one would attain complete and absolute relaxation and tranquility. It would be a form of deep sleep that would continually refresh the person who would remain carefree and without worries for all time.


The second option would be that the soul transmigrated to another place, known as metempsychosis. Socrates would love that to happen, as he could get together with all the previous great souls, such as Homer and get to know those past masters. They would converse and share knowledge about their sufferings on earth. If that were the case, Socrates would actually be ready to die several times over to meet those great minds.
As can be seen, Socrates is a proud and fearless person who would rather die for his principles and ideas rather than refute them. Death to him was not to be feared and he fully accepted the final judgment of the jury, the death sentence that was later imposed upon him.

Read more at Suite101: Plato´s Apology and Socrates' View on Death: Overcoming Fear of the Unknown and Accepting the Great Beyond | Suite101.com http://suite101.com/article/platos-a...#ixzz24PrnGcEi

[seeker1950]

I also like how Peter referred to death as "shortly, I must put off my tent."
What a creative metaphor. Paul also used the "tent" as an example of the earthly body. Yes, they were both using it in a Christian context, and I am not proselytizing here, as I have no idea what happens when we die.
But, I do think we are more than our earthly bodies. As others have stated in this thread, I believe we have an essence that is more than chemistry, cells and nerves. Our bodies, "tents" will return to dust, but I believe there is more to us than that.

I think it's a very good question. I have thought about it. Especially after someone close to me has passed...I envision something similar to "Defending your Life"

Seriously, though, I just don't know.

I live my life the best I can and try to treat people with respect and dignity not because it will get me anywhere...later...but because it feels like the right thing to do. In my heart. I think really that is all any of us can do.

[seeker1950]

Originally Posted by Rose Panachée

I think it's a very good question. I have thought about it. Especially after someone close to me has passed...I envision something similar to "Defending your Life"

Seriously, though, I just don't know.

I live my life the best I can and try to treat people with respect and dignity not because it will get me anywhere...later...but because it feels like the right thing to do. In my heart. I think really that is all any of us can do.

Very good, Rose! I do that also.

[sadpeanut]

It's such a strange concept. I wish we could tell what happened to us when we die. Have any of you read the Golden Compass and the other books in that series? I know the movie had a really bad reputation but the books said that when we die, we turn in to Dust, and the Dust goes back in to nature. I just feel like it'd be beautiful to know that when I die, part of my spirit will be part of a garden of beautiful flowers or something. I must sound so silly haha

((((Peanut))))I dont think that sounds silly at all. It sounds beautiful.

[sadpeanut]

I hope that's what happens. It's better than the alternative; that we're just buried and forgotten.

I think it's just like before you were born.

I don't mind being forgotten, in fact I have told members of my family that I don't want to be buried or have a monument. I would prefer to be cremated and have my ashes kept or spread.

I also don't want any religious involvement in my funeral.

I also think about this a lot. I have read a few books on this topic that were very interesting and enlightening to me. I guess we can only know for sure the moment after our bodies die, but the wonder of the unknown does fill my mind and heart with hope and sometimes fear. I choose to believe that there is life after death, and that life is good. Helps me to cope with the truth that one day I will probably be faced with that reality of death. If there is negativity after death, or something I do not expect, I can at least live on in this life with the peace that my faith in a good life after death brings me. Simple and true. Hope you feel better about this subject my friend!

[layla11]

I do believe in live after death, and that Ihave a purpose in my life. I have had spiritual experiences in my life.

[whimsygirl]

It's interesting that I just saw this post, because I was just thinking about this yesterday ~last night. Actually I've thought about it a million times, but maybe for different reasons than some. I'm agnostic. I "kind of" believe in God, and am really on the fence about the idea of Heaven. (I don't really think about Hell, or if there is one.) But I have always really WANTED to believe in God and the concept of a "sweet afterlife". And I once experienced.....without one bit of doubt.....my spirit leaving my physical body, and looking at it from above. And it had nothing to do with a "near death" experience, which made it all the more amazing. To be honest, one of the main reasons I think about all this is that, having suffered from depression for pretty much all my life, sometimes pretty severe (I'm in my 50's now).....I often think about how much easier it might be to take if I could believe in some kind of peace coming if I could just hold out until death.....unstead of just passing on into nothingness. For all of our sakes, I hope something wonderful is out there...... ~whimsy

[whimsygirl]

Originally Posted by sadpeanut

This is not meant to be a suicide post!

Does anyone else constantly think about what happens when you die? I know it's morbid but it's something that's been bugging me.

sadpeanut.....It's not morbid at all. It's one of the most profound questions of all time, and something we all yearn to know......

[jelly-bean]

I have been clinically dead and I DID have a Near Death Experience. Yes there is something on the "other side". You have no need to fear death even as an unknown.

[likewater]

I have had visions and out of body experiences. My T attributes them to trauma and mental illness, but my other abd sister had
similar experiences. Not the same as we are all unique, but I have a lot of faith.

[flowergal]

Well,

We are all energy, correct? Something has to happen to that energy when the physical being ceases to exist. I believe that the spirit, or energy that is "us" leaves us and is born again in another new being. That belief is not popular with most of the people I know, but you know that? I don't care, and it makes more sense to me than any other teachings I learned in church while growing up.

It seems to calm my soul to know that I will go on... rather I know it or not, and not to some mystical "heaven, or hell," but into another being, for another chance to live life to the fullest. That, my friend makes me really happy!!

[jteague]

Originally Posted by sadpeanut

This is not meant to be a suicide post!

Does anyone else constantly think about what happens when you die? I know it's morbid but it's something that's been bugging me. I want to believe that our spirits are released in to nature and that we become part of the beauty around us... But I also wonder about Heaven and Hell (I was brought up Catholic and have since discovered Buddhism and am currently studying it). Does anyone else think about this or am I just over analyzing life and death?

Yes it started for me a few months ago its constant every day I'm not going to go into more detail but I wanted you to know I'm going through the same thing your not the only one who feels this way

[jteague]

I've think about this all the time. not afraid of my death as much but more what if the ppl I love pass or have passed away what if they no longer exist? if I die its not like I'm going to know the difference. these thoughts coupled with doubt about my faith really has knocked the wind out of me. This all started for me a few months

[Leed]

I know of 2 people who "died" but were brought back, and they both said that there IS life after death. They both said, that there IS a "heaven" and that loved ones are there. I have to believe it only because that is what Jesus promised us. He said that if we follow His teachings and obey the word of God, that we WILL be with Him in heaven. How can I argue that?? Not me!

[Dreamy01]

I think about this everyday.

I've had experiences myself and seen a couple of brilliant psychics amongst the obvious frauds and I do believe there is life after death.