Do you believe in the afterlife?

[EmpyreanKnight]

I've always wanted to ask this, and I'm rather curious as to how you guys will respond. The question is simple really. Do you believe that when someone dies, there is still a form of existence which they assume - whether as a consciousness of sorts, as a soul facing some judgement consistent with the religion you subscribe to, a being waiting for reincarnation or revelling in the full realization of their enlightenment, etc? Or do you believe that what we have here on Earth is all there is, that in the end one only turns to so much dust and nothing more?

 

If you want you can just vote without expounding on your belief/s, but if you wish to do the latter you can post a reply below.

[AJ-ish/Sharyn]

I think at death I am completely gone, it is a very freeing place I've come to. Allowed me to let a whole sledfull of millstones slide right off.

 

Closely associated with afterlife is the idea Uncle Someone is looking down on  me. Really? People find that comforting? Looking while you go to the bathroom? Fight with anyone? Pick the nose? Surely an afterlife would have something better in mind...

[Saturn Celeste]

I voted no.  When I die, I'm gone.  Because you can't get rid of energy and I do feel we are all  beings of energy, my energy will go out into the cosmos perhaps filling someone else but they will never be me.  My conscious mind will die with my body.  Who knows what changes my energy will go through once it's free of me though.  I would like to think it passes to someone else helping them to become an old soul but I don't speculate.  I'd like to think I see my mom and dad and my pets when I die but again, I just don't go there with my thinking.  I don't want to die in the first place.

[PageOfCups]

My mother (who believes in reincarnation) reckons this is the afterlife.

[Wanderer]

I voted no, but it's all semantics, really... I suspect (believe is far too strong a word!) that when the body dies, our consciousness loses the boundaries imposed on that part of the universe that we call 'me', and joins the rest of reality. Without a brain, there will be no thoughts, no emotions and so forth, but the existence of an awareness itself will continue. It just won't be 'me'.

[DDwarks]

I voted No.

Whatever it is, its not "life".

 

[EmpyreanKnight]

I may not have made my question clear. By afterlife I meant that something from what you are right now will still exist even after you die - as I said in my original question, "a form of existence which they assume - whether as a consciousness of sorts . . ." etc. It may not have the same self-knowledge as you, but despite that something still endures, a form of life after death.

 

I've met some people who believe that after one passes away, there remains absolutely nothing. Whatever they have on Earth is all there is, everything is nil thereafter. This reminds me of what Flaubert said about the melancholy of the antique world: "“Their dreams loom and vanish against a background of immutable ebony. No crying out, no convulsions – nothing but the fixity of the pensive gaze…”"

[EmpyreanKnight]

I've had close talks with those who believe in the final nullity of death, and they have a very interesting worldview. They believe that they're here to enjoy what they can, to live more, and to get more, so they do everything to their personal gain. Beyond this they can be very charming tho, because altho they always watch out for number 1, they know that to get the things that they desire they still have to follow society's dictums however arbitrary and hypocritic they may be.

 

It's not surprising that they're all so successful too. I would never engage in any business with them because I know they'd never hesitate to screw me, but they do have the most fun lol. I ask them if they don't feel sad that as per their belief they would be nothing once they die, and they're all genuinely puzzled, thinking why they should be so. I sometimes think that it may be so much easier to rise to the top without any conscience holding you back, with a ruthless amorality that can only be borne from the absolute belief that nothing matters after death.

 

I've once suspected that all of it is mere posturing on their part to seem edgy or avant garde or whatever but sadly I fully know now that it isn't. Anyway, I guess I just have the weirdest friends.

[ToadieOdie]

I believe the essence of me will continue on to grow and learn. Ever onward and forward. No end and no beginning, only evolution. Such is the nature of eternity.

[isawhale]

Definitely definitely definitely. There is an afterlife; that I am certain. I've always felt that way...but I've just had confirmation in my life to show it is.

 

Now I'm pretty aware of spiritual energy whether in physical form or not...some I feel do cross over and move and do not operate on this plane anymore after they die...or perhaps reincarnation or a release of energy back into the universe but I am certain absolutely some souls stay on this plane to interact with the physical world without a physical body or with a more transcendent body form..I have had several spirit encounters...some scary most really nice.

 

One in particular I'll share...I was staying in this little apartment off the coast in oregon. My landlady stayed in the main house. I also happened to work for her in her restaurant so I interacted with her regularly. Anyway one morning I woke up to go to the bathroom and as my eyes opened and looked to the corner of the room I saw a full formed spirit of a little boy. He looked so real and lifelike in full detail; no one I'd met before...he was around 9 or 10 a bit chubby, looked like family of my landlord in ethnicity and physique...short dark choppy hair, a baby face...one of those faces that will stay a baby face, but at the same time he was sort of transparent. I went pee and straight back to bed...I've seen spirits before so I don't worry much; I'd just never seen one that looked so fully human. Anyway I dreamt of him he wanted me to share messages with his mother about their brother and family and that she's overworking herself and needs to take care of herself better and how she needs to share the love she had for him with his brother. He said he was staying with his family to help them through; and he wasn't bothered and didn't need help moving on because that's where he needed to be. I know she lost a son to brain cancer but I'd never seen a picture of him. I described this to my landlady hoping she wouldn't get upset and she was anything but she was just hoping I wasn't scared off...she said she never sees him but he visits the father often. She said my description of him was exactly like what he looked like right before he died. I think because she wasn't able to see him he wanted me to go to her for him. Anyway that's not something I can ever forget or pretend didn't happen so yes that's my proof (to myself) there is afterlife but I'd always known; just a gut feeling you know. Not all people have the same afterlife though...theres so many forms you can take and ways to go. I definitely believe in reincarnation because when I was little 5 or 6 I'd have reoccuring dreams of my last life...what I'd do and what happened when I died..exactly how I died and the process of leaving that body..moving up and away looking down at the scene of the death slowly losing any sort of personal connection to it and I moved upwards...then as an adult (in this life lol) I saw a symbol in flames come to my mind in the language that was native to the country I had those dreams in where I lived and died...I'd never seen it before so looked it up and it was the symbol of remembrance of the dead..it's burned into the mountainside to remember in that country...that's when it clicked for me, that I was reincarnated from that body into this body...and feel thats where I'm headed next..a new rebirth but I don't think I'll be a human. ;)

 

I know my beliefs are "out there" to most people...but everyone should stay openminded...there's alot to this universe our logical minds cannot conceptualize or understand.

[~D~]

YES...I believe...had some proof even...I just don't know for how long after you die etc...how long it goes on i mean...

My Mom use to say,"we are made up of energy...and when you die, where does that energy go"? "It doesn't just disappear"...

 

[Emilija]

Yes, because I've encountered spirits and supernatural beings. I'm also a Muslim and I've been taught that there is a place that we go. I don't think God would make people and then take their life away and that would be it. I don't think that would be just. I think there is a place of light where people go.

[Marisa Kirisame]

I've had close talks with those who believe in the final nullity of death, and they have a very interesting worldview. They believe that they're here to enjoy what they can, to live more, and to get more, so they do everything to their personal gain. Beyond this they can be very charming tho, because altho they always watch out for number 1, they know that to get the things that they desire they still have to follow society's dictums however arbitrary and hypocritic they may be.

 

It's not surprising that they're all so successful too. I would never engage in any business with them because I know they'd never hesitate to screw me, but they do have the most fun lol. I ask them if they don't feel sad that as per their belief they would be nothing once they die, and they're all genuinely puzzled, thinking why they should be so. I sometimes think that it may be so much easier to rise to the top without any conscience holding you back, with a ruthless amorality that can only be borne from the absolute belief that nothing matters after death.

 

I've once suspected that all of it is mere posturing on their part to seem edgy or avant garde or whatever but sadly I fully know now that it isn't. Anyway, I guess I just have the weirdest friends.

 

You must be joking. My boyfriend has the same view, that of the "final nullity of the death", of such an oblivion. His mind is telling him it's the most likely variant, though he really, really wants for the reality to prove that there is an afterlife of sorts, any afterlife. He's scared of such a state, a state where there is no subject and as such, a state that cannot be observed and processed because there is no observer or processor, no "him" who could actually think or feel the state, not being able to be aware of the state because there isn't a 'thing' that can be aware. So it's like a state that is not a state. He was trying to think through this "state-not-state-no-carrier" thing since he was 10, and it gave him insomnia back then, so he said to me. Up to this day, he's still scared of it when he thinks about it, so he tries to think about something else and distract himself with whatever he can to not think about it. "Nothing matters after death", if you have a lot of intellect like he does, is an idea so scary that it cannot be explained with words, feelings or whatever is associated with the word "explain" - and that's why it's a cornerstone of every religion to have a sort of afterlife. Well, that's his opinion. Maybe your friends did not think this through enough.

[DanielJUK]

I don't believe in the concept of heaven or hell and I haven't quite figured out what happens when we die but I think some people are left around us. I do believe in the afterlife and that some people are ghosts or spirits, I do believe in them but never personally have an experience or seen one. I used to be quite obsessed about them in my childhood :)

 

I think in my thinking, some spirits or consciousness or energy of people, stick around on earth, maybe for positive reasons or maybe for negative. I think everyone else goes upwards and forms the universe, maybe in a different plane or dimension. But I don't believe in the heaven and hell concept because it's a moral tale, if you are good you go here and if you are bad you go here, I just don't believe there is a judgement there. But we do exist after our bodies die I think.

[EmpyreanKnight]

I've had close talks with those who believe in the final nullity of death, and they have a very interesting worldview. They believe that they're here to enjoy what they can, to live more, and to get more, so they do everything to their personal gain. Beyond this they can be very charming tho, because altho they always watch out for number 1, they know that to get the things that they desire they still have to follow society's dictums however arbitrary and hypocritic they may be.

 

It's not surprising that they're all so successful too. I would never engage in any business with them because I know they'd never hesitate to screw me, but they do have the most fun lol. I ask them if they don't feel sad that as per their belief they would be nothing once they die, and they're all genuinely puzzled, thinking why they should be so. I sometimes think that it may be so much easier to rise to the top without any conscience holding you back, with a ruthless amorality that can only be borne from the absolute belief that nothing matters after death.

 

I've once suspected that all of it is mere posturing on their part to seem edgy or avant garde or whatever but sadly I fully know now that it isn't. Anyway, I guess I just have the weirdest friends.

 

You must be joking. My boyfriend has the same view, that of the "final nullity of the death", of such an oblivion. His mind is telling him it's the most likely variant, though he really, really wants for the reality to prove that there is an afterlife of sorts, any afterlife. He's scared of such a state, a state where there is no subject and as such, a state that cannot be observed and processed because there is no observer or processor, no "him" who could actually think or feel the state, not being able to be aware of the state because there isn't a 'thing' that can be aware. So it's like a state that is not a state. He was trying to think through this "state-not-state-no-carrier" thing since he was 10, and it gave him insomnia back then, so he said to me. Up to this day, he's still scared of it when he thinks about it, so he tries to think about something else and distract himself with whatever he can to not think about it. "Nothing matters after death", if you have a lot of intellect like he does, is an idea so scary that it cannot be explained with words, feelings or whatever is associated with the word "explain" - and that's why it's a cornerstone of every religion to have a sort of afterlife. Well, that's his opinion. Maybe your friends did not think this through enough.

 

I guess different people have different ways of dealing and processing the same belief, Marisa. My friends are a very pragmatic lot tho - they'd stoop to anything just so that things would turn out in their favor, but if something can't be changed they'd simply shrug it off and not waste one single second fretting about it. I guess they don't feel like they had to think things through - they have much better things to spend their time on than frown over existential questions. Believe me, I initially had the same reaction as you - I just can't accept the idea that someone believes that they'd end up as nothing after they die and not be the littlest bit sad about it. Tried to reason with them but they're just disinterested. To them it's not important. Bagging the junior executive position, catching the hottest new thing as their next fling, getting the best skin care regimen - this is what counts for them.

 

And honestly, I don't see anything wrong with their thinking. They've got lemons but they chose to ignore them and buy themselves some wine instead. I'm not being facile here, but may your bf have the same peace of mind whenever he contemplates these stuff, Marisa.

[Esk]

I answered yes. I believe there is something  after we die. But what? I don't know and I think I'll never really know. I'm not sure anyone can know what's going on in the afterlife. The concept of reincarnation speaks to me and is interesting. But even if I  like this concept I'm not sure I believe in it 100%.

Sometimes it's a bit scary to not be able to have a good idea of what awaits me after this life. But other times I'm just happy that I have faith there is something awaiting me, maybe a new adventure  :).

[Arch]

I'm pretty agnostic when it comes to metaphysical structures of reality outside me.

I do not believe in things I do not know about.

Hence I put it out of my mind.

 

Whatever happens after I die will happen.

From a religious perspective, most of the predictions others make,

seem to be about scaring me in a manipulative way to act as they want.

 

Again, I don't know and don't care to speculate, it will be as it will be.

[DownUnderNZer]

 

Energy lives on, so I do believe there is a so called "Afterlife" .

 

Even reincarnation.

 

Recently, I've started to believe a part of us can stay on the other side and we can still be reborn. Not sure why, but likely because of something I read.

 

Not to mention the Akashic Records.

 

Only seen mine once and the only time it happened was when I was able to go into a deep meditation (once) - that experience was mind blowing and nothing could ever capture it or the feeling.

 

Like everything happening at the same time and at different angles - past, present and future. Phenomenal experience and not just seeing my lives, but it was my first time seeing a woman that was in spirit. She saw me too! Not sure if I was doing Mediumship development then or afterwards because of it.

 

Anyways, I believe energy never dies, so we do not really die except physically.

[Elin by the Sea]

I answered "No", but I think a better answer would've been "Maybe" or perhaps "I'll find out when I get there".

 

I guess it is true that some form of energy continues to live on, but the energy that is "Elin" now (or at least the aggregate of  energies that make up "Elin"), will change form after my body ceases to function.  I will become food for worms and fertilizer, so I suppose that might be where some of my "Elin" energy goes.  From a Buddhist point of view, one could argue that a form of reincarnation is constant and ongoing; each and every cell in my body dies and is replaced, constantly, until I die.  Then those cells are consumed by other creatures and create life there.

 

Speculating about it too much will probably make me a little (more) crazy, so I just try to live my life well, take care of myself and others as best I can, and generally be good. 

 

I'm a Buddhist, and I do believe in Kamma (Karma in Sanskrit), even if the "traditional" idea of reincarnation is a bit hard to swallow.  At least I can see that with my own eyes and my own experience: the energy I put out affects the energies that surround me.

 

[Luna]

I voted "yes".  I completely believe there is an afterlife, because after all, I am a psychic-medium.  I have customers who come to me and I have been able to bring through their loved ones in spirit.  I knew nothing about my client at the time, not even their name (I worked in a new age shop for years) and they didn't even tell me whom it was they wanted me to contact.  So, how would I know their loved ones who had been deceased for many years.  In one case, the woman I was reading for in her 30s, I would guess, was less then a year old when her father was tragically killed.  He came to me and gave me messages for her, one being how happy he was for her with the birth of her first child, a daughter, and I even received the daughters name and that he watches over both his daughter and new granddaughter.

 

Yes, I most certainly KNOW for a fact that there is life after death.  I've seen it and I've met many from there.  :)

 

 

[Grandma]

Yes, I do - or to be more precise, I believe that "life" is a series of lives until enlightenment, when we don't have to do it anymore.

 

 

[devin]

I'm a yes.

 

Personally, I think the evidence is quite strong that something goes on after physical life and many people have come back from being temporarily dead and reported a conscious existence during the death (or temporary death) state.

 

I don't want to get into the details, but a number of medical researchers, psychologists and physicians have looked into this deeply and come up with some impressive and rigorous research: Dr Jeffrey Long, Dr Penny Sartori, Dr. Pim van Lommel, and psychiatrist Raymond Moody are good places to start if anyone's interested (you can find them on Google and Youtube easily).

 

Their findings seem to indicate that people do experience lucid awareness and verifiable extra-sensory perceptions during clinical brain death. (It's important to remember clinical brain death should make any form of coherent consciousness completely impossible.)

 

Debunkers have so far, imo, been unsuccessful in attempting to explain this phenomena. The only theory I've heard that might come close is that at the point of death people become incredibly psychic and have these experiences in the very short amount of time it takes the brain to shut-off during oxygen deprivation. Still, with the data taken as a whole, survival seems a more likely explanation to me.

 

All that being said, the experiences people report are very strange (if usually positive) and seem to mix the personal and trans-personal. So, it's a weird, weird world out there!

 

Anyway, that's my take.

[Tanawylfen]

I definitely believe in an afterlife, reincarnation til enlightenment, benevolent ancestors and other guides watching over us - the whole shebang basically! ^-^

[~D~]

These guys are trying to prove it !!!!

https://www.foreverfamilyfoundation.org/

[Cobweb]

Yes, I believe that death is a doorway to something new.  I don't quite know what is on the other side of the door - after all, now I see as in a glass darkly - but trust it will all make sense when I get there.