What really happens when we die?

[Kevin Armstrong]

reincarnation may be a difficult to believe, but as we search for answers we will find them in our hearts, we believe it or not the answer is within our hearts. i read about reincarnation in a fascinating book i highly recommend. Wisdom of the Heart by Flora Rocha.

[theSeeker]

I am not sure what I think yet... but I do know that we are energy and energy can be moved.

[Lily Cantodea]

Heaven, Hell, reincarnation? Death scares me because I have no idea what to expect. What happens to us? Do we just cease to exist? Is Hell having to live life over and over again until we get it right? Are there other planes of existence where some spirits live? Is my soul, mine alone, or has it belonged to another in the past and will it belong to another in the future? I so want to know all of the answers, but I don't want to die to figure them out! ha ha

I guess I just wanted to discuss all of the alternate theories of death. Who's game?

Why would anyone want to know all the answers? There are mysteries in life - and, in this case, death - that perhaps we aren't meant to know the answer to.

Everyone has different beliefs about what happens when you die. No living person has all the answers, and most likely never will have all the answers.

[moonwind]

The possibility/probability of after-life/between-lives
has always fascinated me.

To me, it just makes sense, that I have been here before,
and will return again after I pass on from this life.

I don't think I'll return really fast once I die. It seems to me
that I'd spend some time in a 'between-lives' state...possibly
meditating and learning from what I have and have not learned
in the life I just left.

Then, when the time is 'right', I will enter a new life.

Hope that makes sense?

[Starwhisper]

I rather like the afterlife presented in "What Dreams May Come"--minus the part about suicides automatically going to hell. Don't buy that in the slightest.

I've had a few very powerful dreams that have pointed towards life after death. They don't exactly contradict my Jungian take on things, either. Carl Jung writes about a near-death experience in his autobiography, "Memories, Dreams, and Reflections." The emotional impact of what he saw and what he felt coming back is very interesting.

For myself at least, I find I'm a lot happier if I do believe in continuity afterward. But it also seems to me that specifics could be very distracting. From Star Trek IV, I submit to you the eternal wisdom of Spock and McCoy:

McCoy to Spock, re. Spock's recent demise and comeback: "You really have gone where no man has gone before. Tell me, what was it like?"

Spock: "I could not begin to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference."

McCoy: "You mean I have to be dead to discuss your insights on death?!"

Pretty much covers it, right?

[Xal]

Well the idea was that suicides created their own hell, which can be partial true. Not for eternity obvious...