What Happens After You Die?

[M.Kirk]

I have mixed feelings about death. I used to believe that when you're dead, you're dead, they lowered your body into the cold hard ground, and that was the end of you. But lately I've been thinking about the possibility of ghosts. Not on any spiritual level or anything, I'm still an atheist, for I can't bring myself to put faith into a book written by somebody who believed that Earth was flat and rotting meat was some kind of curse from God, No, I've been thinking about it on more of a scientific level if you can believe that. When you die, the energy has to go somewhere. Basic Physics tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So what happens to the energy that we release when we die? Is it possible that our energy lives on when we have just outgrown our body? Is the energy emitted from the dead the ghosts and spiritual orbs that people have claimed to have seen, and even caught on film? I think it's possible.

[DuB]

When you die, the energy has to go somewhere. Basic Physics tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So what happens to the energy that we release when we die?[/b] Exactly what special "energy" are you referring to? Electrical activity in your brain? Your bodily warmth? Or are you assuming that there is some kind of mystical "life energy" that animates us? Kind of like a soul? An odd belief for an atheist...

[M.Kirk]

The average adult male generates somewhere around 100 watts of energy, enough to illuminate a light bulb. Now, that may not be very much, but it's still enough to wonder were it goes when you die, seeing as we know that energy isn't just destroyed when a person dies. And I'm not sure I believe in souls or not, but I know I don't believe in Heaven or Hell. I think that they were just made up to keep people in line.

[DuB]

Well in that case, that's like asking where the light goes when you switch off a light bulb. There is no light anymore once the mechanism producing the light ceases to function. It doesn't "go" anywhere. Similarly, upon death, the bodily mechanisms that produce that energy simply cease to produce that energy. The leftover energy dissipates, as energy is wont to do .

[King and God]

I personally think oneself will keep living through the soul.

[icuurd12b42]

I have mixed feelings about death. I used to believe that when you're dead, you're dead, they lowered your body into the cold hard ground, and that was the end of you. But lately I've been thinking about the possibility of ghosts. Not on any spiritual level or anything, I'm still an atheist, for I can't bring myself to put faith into a book written by somebody who believed that Earth was flat and rotting meat was some kind of curse from God, No, I've been thinking about it on more of a scientific level if you can believe that. When you die, the energy has to go somewhere. Basic Physics tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So what happens to the energy that we release when we die? Is it possible that our energy lives on when we have just outgrown our body? Is the energy emitted from the dead the ghosts and spiritual orbs that people have claimed to have seen, and even caught on film? I think it's possible. [/b] Yah, that book is about life, flat or round earth, when the book was written, they had a pretty good grasp on it (life that is). Now, death, that's an entirely different book. To me, death is like a split in the road, some go left, others go right. Death is subjectively observed at the split. After that, who died is questionable.

[godfather89]

Im the believer that believes every nite you "die" and have an OBE. Were you go is the mental plane. When u become concious however, you can go out of the realm of the introspective mental plane and goto the exospective astral plane (That Higher Plane of Exsistence). Thats why I dnt fear death because, I believe everyone "dies" every nite and comes back to life. It never ends it just changes its proven everywhere you look. Animals, Plants, Stars. Are we any different? No as a matter of fact I believe that wen we actually are dead on this plane we live on another (Heaven, Another Earth, Hell, The Astral, Reincarnate) Depending on your beliefs. I believe that because, we are aware of ourselfs constantly even at the moment before death it gives us an option.

[xcrissxcrossx]

ibelieve that once you die, you're dead. the energy that is created by humans is generated from food, water and air. but our organs that are used to turn those raw materials into energy wont work, therefor we have no evergy.

[Dangeruss]

I have this idea that as you lay dying, the ego begins to shrink until it dies, and then the mind can be one with the universe, similar to a psychedelic experience. The brain dumps all its dopamine and you're overwhelmed with a sense of piece coupled with the bliss (or, for those unfortunate egotists, terror) of an ego death. of the above part I'm fairly certain. I have personal experience and testimony from others that fits in with that theory. The following is my belief, that which cannot be proven but what seems true to me. science and math tell me that time is a dimension of space, no different in concept than height, width or depth. In life, we are eternally bound to the present, with only memory to give us perception of the past and only intellect to provide us with a glimpse of the future. Life is the experience of existing in one point in time. The events of the past, having once been, eternally are. We simply can't see them because we're stuck in this time vessel of life which anchors us in the moment. I think that upon death, it is impossible to cease to exist having once been. Having once been, the person continues to exist within his niche of time and space. Once removed from the flow of time through death, all that remains is the life that the person has lived, which now exists before the present, just "over there," just out of "sight" to the living. The ego and body now dead, the person's life becomes one moment, and that moment is part of the great moment, the great existence that is god, that is nirvana, complete and eternal bliss. So, I say, live your life as best you can so you can enjoy it once you have time.

[badassbob]

I'm an agnostic, and probably always will be. There is no way that anyone can ever proove the existance or non-existance of God. If athiests came up with a theory that prooved God to be non-existant, most religious people would just say, "God is testing our faith".

[jahwarrior]

this ego dying theory is very interesting ! i could not find better words for it i dont fear death, because i dont fear life. i travel thru life with heart and eyes wide open, and so will i do after it

[godfather89]

it never ends it just changes

[xcrissxcrossx]

I'm an agnostic, and probably always will be. There is no way that anyone can ever proove the existance or non-existance of God. If athiests came up with a theory that prooved God to be non-existant, most religious people would just say, "God is testing our faith". [/b] im an agnotsic too. but i still dont believe in heavon. im iffy on god, i think he might or might not exist.

[blade5x]

I admire your search or the truth unlike other athiests who believe existance is just some big fluke, or might as well believe that we don't exist at all. I believe in God, and an afterlife. I do believe Jesus existed, however, some of the teachings of the Church I have been questioning, on how exactly "everything" works.

[Dangeruss]

I've found that a lot of the agnostics I know were once atheists. I'm not exception. I think it only takes a little bit of life experience to get the feeling that there's something greater out there. Exactly what that bigger-something is, however, is where the debates start. I choose not to subscribe to the debate and only accept religion on a fundamental level. Sure Jesus, Mohammed, and Moses existed. So did Buddha. I never knew any of those guys, however, which to me means that they were no more than men. And as a man myself, I should have creative license to interpret the transcendent as I see fit.

[badassbob]

I've found that a lot of the agnostics I know were once atheists. I'm not exception. I think it only takes a little bit of life experience to get the feeling that there's something greater out there. Exactly what that bigger-something is, however, is where the debates start. I choose not to subscribe to the debate and only accept religion on a fundamental level. Sure Jesus, Mohammed, and Moses existed. So did Buddha. I never knew any of those guys, however, which to me means that they were no more than men. And as a man myself, I should have creative license to interpret the transcendent as I see fit. [/b] I was once an atheist. I think it was caused mainly by influence by my dad, uncles, and grandad though. It wasn't until recently that I realised how pathetically backed up their argumants were. My grandad says, "the church has always retarded progress" and "belief is irrational" every time I see him, and just because they were statements made by famous philosophers, they have be true right? There are no real good arguments to prove God to be real or not, this is a debate that I doubt will ever end.

[godfather89]

To the community the group it will never end no... To the individual it will... wen u die...

[Theotherguy]

what happens? Your body ceases to function, your ogans stop working, your brain goes unconscious and your few epithelial cells and hair will go on living for a few days, and then they will die too. After that, microbes will invade your defensless body,then eat it and turn it into organic waste. The calcified remains of your bones will remain for a while and will eithe be turned into a fossil or (in a far more likely case) turn into dust. I dont beleive in a soul, an afterlife, or any of that other bullshit. I am a materialistic realist, and for that reason a strong atheist.

[Belisarius]

I don't know what happens. If you look at it subjectively, the consciousness can't die, so as the exact moment of death approaches, time slows down. It's like the moment of death is an asymptote and as you approach it time streatches on to infinity. This is all assuming that the commonly held atheistc materialst worldview is true. If it isn't there are innumerable possibilities. Perhaps when we die we each become God of our own universe. Maybe we live in eternal bliss, maybe we live in eternal hell. Maybe we are reborn. Maybe we move to the next level of consciousness. Who knows?

[badassbob]

I just watched Waking Life all the way through a few days ago, and couple in bed had an interesting conversation. The guy said something about there being about one second of dreaming before you die, and dreams are always altering time (like a five minute nap producing what seems to be an hour long dream) right? So is it not possible that you could have a seemingly endless amount of time within that one second. I realise that this is just a movie, but I think it is an interesting theory. Also, a woman on the tv puts forward a similar point about living forever in a dreamworld once you die. Forgive me if this information is a bit (or a lot) dodgy, I've only seen the movie once.

[Theotherguy]

that simply couldn't happen. Your brain would have to be workig extremely quickly for you to perceive an eternity in one second. Seeing as you'll be dead within a second, your brain is probably starved of oxygen and wouldn't be at its peak performance level anyway. Yes, the time it takes you to perceive information can be quickened by the brain to make everything seem like it is moving in slow motion, but this is extremely limited and would amount to nothing in the seconds before death.

[Richter]

Nobody really knows if there is an afterlife. Sure, you can make theories, come to conclusions, but in all honesty, there are so many energies in the universe that science hasn't/can't measure, that I tend to believe there is a more than realistic possibility that there IS something else than this world. Science has a pretty bad track record on being correct about the big questions, however. At first everybody KNEW that the atom was the smallest atomic particle. Then it was the Electron. THEN it was the quark. What we know is limited to what we can measure. Use your common sense for everything else.

[badassbob]

that simply couldn't happen. Your brain would have to be workig extremely quickly for you to perceive an eternity in one second. [/b] Yeah, I know. I never said I believed it - just heard the idea on Waking Life. Besides, this topic was all about what happens after you die. A second of dreamtime in your brain would be before you die. I really don't know what to believe about what happens after you die. P.S. Is it a sin to not believe in God? because that would mean that all the nicest, kindest, charitable, ten commandment following atheists and agnostics would burn in hell. In my opinion that makes for a pretty shitty God.

[godfather89]

I watched Waking Life also.. that girl on the TV said that wen we die our body dies but we live on in a dream body... Basically if your catholic or believe in heaven and hell... You could according to this woman on that TV make Heaven-> Hell and Hell-> Heaven. If thats the case we'd spend eternity in our own mind. The main character continues to have false awakenings and this might then say that you cnt get out of it. There is also another woman talking to another woman in this restraught type scene and this woman is saying "I feel closer to dying and feel like I have all the time in the world. When I was younger I felt there was going to be an envitable end and had to get things done but now I dnt."

[SKA]

Where do we go when we Die? Well have Any of us here died? No. So how can you tell? You know I'll be enjoying my life: Death is inavoidable eventually, so I'll know it when my time has come. Untill that time I'll be concerned about life. I simply have no idea. And it doesn't matter for now anyway. There's a time for everything. Living and Dying. Right now I'd rather Mind how to live my life.