Where do we go after we die?

[HKCavalier]

These kinds of topics are so disheartening. So many people repeating the same empty-headed mantra "No one knows no one knows no one knows no one knows no one knows." I wanna know what kind of comfort this know-nothing attitude gives people, 'cause I find it every bit as faith-based as the most fantastical theology. It's depressing, 'cause y'all think it's based on Logic and Reason and it ain't at all. Logically, you can say, of course, that YOU don't know, but that doesn't mean that NO ONE knows. Maybe somebody does. You devotees of Scientism should know that you cannot prove a negative, and yet you project the poverty of your own experience upon the whole world.

If no one you knew had ever been to France, would you say, "No one has proof that France exists?" Would you yourself have to travel to France before you would allow yourself to "believe" in France? I hope not.

What about NDE? People have died and come back. Or so they claim. Who are you to say they're all lying or mistaken? And in general outline, they describe remarkably similar experiences, from cultures around the world. Why do you think that is? Why do so many of you dismiss such people's experiences? What do you get out of it? I wish someone would answer that question: what comfort does one get out of presuming that "no one knows?" Is it all just ego? You presume that your own ignorance is universal so you don't feel inferior?

As for me, I'm one of the "lucky" ones, I guess. I was dropped on my head when I was about 2 and a half years old, was in a coma for 3 days. While I was gone, I apparently walked down a tunnel of light, met a line of very nice folks, remember being told, "not time yet, go back," and woke up in the hospital bed. I've remembered that experience my whole life. Thought it was a dream until my teens when I started reading about NDE and what folks see on the other side. If I deny my intuition and play the Western Scientistic Game, I could still call it a dream, but it's interesting that my dream at the age of 2 and a half matches exactly with the stories from other folks who've had NDE. Where did that dream come from?

From my experience, we leave our body like a butterfly leaving a cocoon. We go into a another realm of space and time. I have see two loved ones die and they came back and visited. They didn't give details though. I think communication between the two realms is difficult. Maybe like when a dragon fly nymph crawls out of the water and cracks out of his skin and becomes a dragon fly. He can't go back into the water to see his buddies that are still nymphs. The best he can do is skim the surface of the water.

Hey DW, I like your post and my own experiences as a spiritualist suggest something similar. After my mother dyed when I was 17, she came to visit me about once a year for years after that in dreams. We'd go out to dinner and I'd fill her in on my life. Eventually I got around to asking her about herself and it seemed to pain her a great deal and she wouldn't speak. Later, I seemed to know what she was saying without words. She's since moved on.

[Atheist God]

i dont no exactly wat happens after death and no one does.

i dont think any religion on earth would be able to even comprehend the after life [if there even is one]

i have been a christian and an athiast. neither of these opposite relegions were appealing in any way. there are flaws in both of those beleifs and every other for that fact.

now i am agnostic* and although i dont know for sure bout the afterlife i think its something like this

if ur good in ur life then u will end it only seeing things that you love. in ur... wat ever it is.... u will see things that make u happy and u'll spend all of eternity being happy.

on the other hand, i think that if ur bad its just the opposite. only bad memories forever.

ghosts i think are dead beings that have chosen not to see good/slash bad things forever but have opted some other choice. like earth is where good people whove chosen bad things go or something.

maybe us ourselves are merely ghosts of some pre life we dont remember. if we were bad, our now life is bad and we are being punished for some thing we dont even no we've dun.

anyhow, i dont think life is really worth living at all. so many bad things and so little good ones.

the after life better be a hell of a ride or somebody's gonna pay. lol.

all this from a twelve year old so if its all stupid then thats why.

You don't go anywhere except in the ground to decompose... People can't just accept reality and instead choose to believe in fairy tales.

[briks hithouse]

i wudnt be so presumtious(duno how u spell it) to say that just because i dont know something no one in the world does, im just saying that until u actually die, u are never going to know for certain, its the certainty that kind of gets me, like fair enough if u have beleif, its jut the fact that people are unable or unwilling to accept the possibily that they may be wrong. and i'd say this is a far more egocentric trait that admitting u have no idea. even people who have had NDE's and stuff and say they have experienced something, maybe they have, but then again maybe they havent.

its just the absolute certainty that someone knows that i find arrogant.

but then i guess there may well be someone who does know for sure, but i dont think they wud be able to prove it either way so for me its kind of irrelevant.

personally i prefer not knowing, its adds mystery, if we knew everything there was to know life wud b pretty boring, and what wud be the point, life for me is about learning and experiencing.

i find it far more arrogant and egocentric to claim to know somethin gfor certain than to say u dont know.

but each to their own if u have a beleif in somethin good for u, personally i think there wud be far less conflict and strife in the world in people were willing to accept the idea that they could be worng about things.

im perfectly willing to accept the idea that my not knowing could be completly stupid as obviously there is or isnt life after death, but truly to the depths of my being i dont know wot happens.

[LostInThought]

OK I can tell you as much as this... The moment you die you have no recall of what you've done in this life on Earth, I mean you have no memory of this life at all, the best way I can relate to death in this world would be the analogy of sleep... Death is very much like sleep you will find many surprises along the way and sometimes even get deja vu feelings like you do on earth...

If you die your brain stops working and in order to dream your brain has to work so how do you "dream" like a deep sleep or whatever if you don't have a brain to dream with.

[Night Star]

Here is a site that has researched this subject. LOTS of information. The internation association for near death experiences.

http://www.iands.org/

Edited July 8, 2008 by Night Star

[setterma]

Hey Thug! Obviously NO ONE knows 'cause no one's done it and come back to sit down w/us and tell us about it. If you're REALLY interested, I'd check out some books on Near Death Experiences. Prefer to read about NDE's of children, because Lord knows adults will lie. Not saying they all are lying, but dying kids don't have anything to compare it to, nor do they stand to gain attention, etc. I used to brush it off, but after loosing many that I love, my dad, my granny, several dogs, etc and having some SUPER WIERD things going on around me for 2 - 3 weeks after their deaths, I have come to the conclusion that you just cannot say "coincidence" but just so many times before you look kinda silly! This isn't the end. I'm SURE of it. What is next? Who knows? But I have a feeling it's big, really big!

[BabelPlatz]

Nowhere.

Dont worry, you wont be there to care