Life After Death

After losing my mom a few months ago and my dad many years ago, there are times i think about what happens when it's time to go. I'd like to believe that i will see everyone when it's my turn.

Wondering and curious what others think and believe.

I've also had many dreams where my mom was in them. I was told this is a gift. I cherish every dream i have of her and still remember some of these dreams !
 
Nobody really knows "what's on the other side."

I like to believe that there is life after death. I'm not sure how, or in what form that would be. But, having a positive outlook is a lot better than not having one at all.
 

Jagger69

Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
This is the ultimate question upon which all religion is based (the corollary to "what is the meaning of life?) and for which there can be no definitive (scientifically verified) answer.

The closest evidence I have found to provide an answer is based on both the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Buddhism) and on the development of the pineal gland in a human fetus. According to the TBOD, the journey of the human soul from death to rebirth (reincarnation) takes 49 days (7 weeks). It is also generally agreed in the scientific community that a fertilized human embryo develops its "identity" around 49 days after conception (the sex is determined, EEG tests reveal the first signs of brain-wave activity and the pineal gland is formed). The pineal gland is sometimes called the "third eye" and it has been speculated that it is the doorway by which the human essence (or soul if you prefer) enters and leaves the body before birth and after death. It is also speculated that the pineal gland may produce dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an extremely powerful psychotropic drug that may be responsible for everything from dreams to near-death experiences. DMT may act as a natural defense mechanism during the pre-death process, being released and putting the human mind into another state of consciousness until actual death occurs and the soul leaves the body. The soul then spends the 49 days between death and rebirth in a new human form in "bar do" (limbo, purgatory, whatever you want to call it) before it enters a new body.

Think of how many things in nature are circular....cyclical....the "yin and the yan". If you give it some consideration, you realize that almost everything is. Why would life and death not follow that same pattern? It makes sense to me (unlike Christianity, Judaism or Islam) so I'd like to believe that our individual spirit lives on in the form of a continuous and infinite cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Beside the TBOD, a really good book to read on this subject is DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Dr. Rick Strassman.
 

Philbert

Banned
Unlike many others, I think it matters not at all.
You die, you're dead.
Residual effects from a being's life are there but fade over time. Memories and such change and become less real and more fantasy; someone's impact is more real from someone's being in the world for as long as they are. Like ripples, most impact has a short time span of effectiveness. We determine the level of impact, not the person.
There could easily be more than one way after death, but humans want a reassuring concept to grasp and hold close. In the end, it is what we make of it.

And the reality has nothing to do with what we want.
 
My father died when I was 22. a Couple of days after his funeral, I had the most wicked dream. I was coming home from somewhere and as I was walking through the door, my father was sitting on a couch and was cannulating himself with dialysis needles. I say needles cause he had already stuck 5 of them in his right arm and on his left arm, he was on his third needle. He looked up at me and told me to tell my little brother that he was sorry. You see, our father was angry that his youngest son was born with kidney disease. When my little brother was 15, his kidneys finally shut down and was put on dialysis. Our father was mean to him for whatever reason. Most of the time I had to intervene to keep him from belittling my little brother. Now, do I believe in life after death? I do not. Once you are dead, you're dead. Theres no coming back, whether in a ghost, phantom, spirit form or even in a dream, in no way do we come back. I have told this story many times to people and they say it was my father trying to communicate to me. I tell them no, cause I know my father and he died to the very end being a fucking asshole, he wouldn't say that, even in death. I tell them it was just my consciousness in sleep mode telling me what I had wished my father would have told my little brother before he died. When I told my baby brother about the dream, he simply said, "fuck him, I'm so glad he died before I did." There is no Heaven or Hell and I take comfort in that.
 

ApolloBalboa

Was King of the Board for a Day
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Jagger69 again.
 

Deepcover

Closed Account
I believe there is an after life. There has to be otherwise I don't see what was the point while living on earth. I honestly believe we will all join and reunite as one big family above the heavens. It just so happens people are different.
 
I certainly believe in a spirit world consisting of good spirits and bad spirits, the reason is because my aunt has seen an evil or bad spirit herself. She is a high school principal, but at the time she saw the spirit she was a vince principal at the same school. She was living in a small apartment and one day shortly after she moved in, she was watching TV, and a black misty/smoky mass in the shape of a person floated thru the kitchen in her peripheral vision. She pretended like it was just her imagination, but then she started seeing it all the time, and this spirit would always talk to her telling her things like "your daughter is lazy and irresponsible, you should kill her", or, " your mother is old, senile and a drain on your finances, you should put her out of her misery". It got to the point to where she would see this spirit day and night in her bedroom, bathroom and all over, and always the spirit would come to her with negativity in thoughts and words.

Well it got so bad, that my aunt finally decided she had to move, so she called one of her brothers, my uncle, to come spend the weekend with her and help her move to a new location. He agreed and got there on friday morning before she went to work, when she got back friday evening, my uncle said, "well i can see why you are moving , this place is haunted !", my aunt, who never told anybody of her experiences before then, asked him whey he would say that. My uncle responded that he had been sitting watching TV during that day, and a black cloudy mist floated up to him and began whispering in his ear to kill his sister, and then kill himself. My uncle, being from the hood, told the ghost to "fuck off", but nonetheless, the experience left quite an impression on him. My aunt moved that same day and has never experienced anything supernatural since that time.

The reason I especially believe this story is because my aunt and uncle, as well as everyone else on my mother's side of the family is EXTREMELY religious. But they are baptists, and baptists don't believe in spirits, so speaking of any type of supernatural occurrences is strictly forbidden. So for my aunt, who is a career proffesional educator, and who has never lied to me in life, to tell me this story, corroborated by my uncle, makes the story absolutely true to me.

So if there are bad spirits such as the one that haunted my aunt, there must also be good spirits and a whole spirit realm. I think what happens and where you go after you die has a lot to do with the kind of life you lived. But I do believe strongly that there is a spirit realm, and I do believe that it is very possible that you could see your loved ones again someday.
 

feller469

Moving to a trailer in Fife, AL.
Steve Martin recently tweeted that the ghost of Christopher Hitchens visited him and informed him there was no afterlife.
 

Mr. Daystar

In a bell tower, watching you through cross hairs.
"IS there life, is there life?
Is there life after death?
Do you believe?
Ohhhh yes."


I sure fucking hope so....because what we have on this Earthly plain, sure as hell isn't what I would call a picnic.

On a side note, I have dodged death and carnage on enough occasions to seriously question whether or not my devoutly religious. deceased family members are up there looking out for me.
 

Philbert

Banned
"IS there life, is there life?
Is there life after death?
Do you believe?
Ohhhh yes."


I sure fucking hope so....because what we have on this Earthly plain, sure as hell isn't what I would call a picnic.

On a side note, I have dodged death and carnage on enough occasions to seriously question whether or not my devoutly religious. deceased family members are up there looking out for me.



Maybe they just miss you so much they want you to come on home.

Jeez...I hope not, but ya never know. :)

I figure all those many times I just missed the getting the answer to the Big Question shows there is some kinda plan, of sorts, which depends on my daughter becoming the first President of the Whole World, or something like that.
Otherwise, luck sure is weird; all those 1-3 second almost kill'd ya misses and not 1 fuckin' million Dollar MegaMillions pick.

I think I'll stick with Crom...He put you here, now you're on your own. RUN!
 

Rattrap

Doesn't feed trolls and would appreciate it if you
Now, do I believe in life after death? I do not. Once you are dead, you're dead. Theres no coming back, whether in a ghost, phantom, spirit form or even in a dream, in no way do we come back. I have told this story many times to people and they say it was my father trying to communicate to me. I tell them no, cause I know my father and he died to the very end being a fucking asshole, he wouldn't say that, even in death. I tell them it was just my consciousness in sleep mode telling me what I had wished my father would have told my little brother before he died. When I told my baby brother about the dream, he simply said, "fuck him, I'm so glad he died before I did." There is no Heaven or Hell and I take comfort in that.
This is the only conclusion I've ever been able to come do. While we don't understand the intricacies of our brain or our consciousness, all evidence points to it being solely tied up in that hunk of grey matter and electrical impulses. When they go, the show's over, folks. There are of course thousands of 'stories' to the otherwise, but I've yet to hear one that wasn't fairly simply explained with a little human psychology (there's a fair bit of this idea discussed in Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World). Our brain is very, very capable of self-deception.

Steve Martin recently tweeted that the ghost of Christopher Hitchens visited him and informed him there was no afterlife.
:1orglaugh

I sure fucking hope so....because what we have on this Earthly plain, sure as hell isn't what I would call a picnic.
One of the more influential books I've read regarding this sentiment was The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. At one point he remarks on how many people like to think that when animals are being eaten by other animals, they don't necessarily feel the brunt of the pain, or even any at all - to which he counters that unless there was an evolutionary reason for it, they likely feel absolutely everything while being torn apart. I don't recommend it for any sort of mood uplifting.

But hey, just keep this in mind:
"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."
― Mark Twain
 

Patrick_S

persona non grata
I don´t believe in any kind of life after death. When you die you simply cease to exist.
 
The concept to me that death is the complete obliteration of the individual is terrible to me. Quite frankly, I would find it difficult to live a just and moral life if that were the case. Just screw people over, make all the money you can, do what is good for you, and everyone else be damned. That would be an acceptable way to live if death brought complete destruction.

I'll hold to my own faith, and take comfort in what I believe comes after death. Moreover, I'll be mighty thankful that I'm free to choose that which I believe.

All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences;
 
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