What happens when we die?

[Miss Amy]

I am not sure if this is the right place to put this thread.

Recently, yesterday, I lost someone dear to me. This is the first time I have experienced this... and the first time that I have ever really wished that I believed in life after death. This got me thinking and I am curious to know what people here think happens when we die.

[niranjan]

According to the dharmic scriptures, your loved one , like anyone else, will be reborn again.

[lunamoth]

Hi Miss Amy,

Condolences for your loss. I believe there is an afterlife and although I don't know much at all about it, I believe that in some way we are able to maintain our love relationships after death. Christianity teaches resurrection, which means that we will have a new body, a transformed body. I still don't know exactly what that means, but to love and have relationship requires that we be individuals capable of interacting, which also means we retain some kind of distinction, or borders or 'body.' I like the metaphor used by Paul in 1 Corinthians. Our material body here is like the seed which perishes but at the same time transforms into the wheat plant. The potential of the seed is fully manifested in the plant; the plant retains identity with the seed, but it is not the same as the seed.

luna

[wil]

When our loved ones make their transition it always spurs thought and contemplation. Thoughts about the here after, thoughts about the here and now.

I think these contemplations lead to the focus on here after in most religions, answering that question in a way which leads one to a better life here seems to be the norm.

I do know that through losing grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends and many other aquaintances of one variety or the other...has encouraged me to live this life more fully, to make more of those out there aware of how appreciative I am of them. We never can predict the last time we'll see anyone, so I try to live so life is left on good notes.

I am comforted in not knowing, I know some claim knowledge, but I cannot do that.

[Nick the Pilot]

Miss Amy,

My condolences for your loss.

I believe in both Heaven and Reincarnation, so I believe your good friend will time spend time in Heaven, then probably return for another reincarnation. (I believe that all good people spend time in Heaven, no matter what religion they believed in.) I imagine your friend was a good person, so there is nothing to worry about.

By the way, I find the ideas of Heaven and Reincarnation totally compatible. I see no conflict between the two ideas whatsoever.

[niranjan]

Paramahamsa Yogananda's 'Autobiography of a yogi' , contains an incredible detailed information about heaven and hell, which are really planets in a subtle universe.

If possible read it. He says it in a very scientific and logical manner, that is stunning and breathtaking.

[Postmaster]

I'd like to think they are going to heaven, a place where they are close to God and also somewhere you can rejoin them one day.

[AndrewX]

As a believer in Heaven, Rebirth, and beings we call `angels,' as well as an afterlife full of people at all stages of the transition ... I believe your loved one is "in good hands."

Almost regardless of the circumstances of death (suicides are unfortunate, but they, too, are a fact of life) ... there are those on the other side who know quite well what to expect (for they were greeted similarly, and warmly). So I believe your loved one has plenty of guidance.

The movie `What Dreams May Come,' is a good exploration of this, and I encourage you to watch it (it also treats suicides, which are extreme circumstances).

Even prior to the Journey which we all begin following physical death, it is an almost universal testimony of the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS (millions?) of people who have had Near-Death-Experiences ... that there is a "Life Review." This, I believe we may safely say, is one of the greatest things that can possibly happen to us.

Our review is conducted in the full Light, and Loving Presence, of what some people call the Soul (or simply, "God," the being of blinding, White Light which is also reported at most NDE's). We are thus given a chance to see all the progress we just made in the life we are leaving, we can observe where we might have done better - and we are told why, and I think there is also shown to us something of the greater purpose for which our Soul(s) are taking incarnation, so that we may KNOW the reason for our own existence.

I can't prove any of this to you; but I would - stake my life on it.

I have known people who did even commit suicide, and though unfortunate, even so, they are looked after on the other side, and while their way is hard, they ARE provided for.

"Not a sparrow falls ..." - and I feel certain, that we matter to God every bit as much as the sparrows.

In Love and Light,

~andrew

[Sunny C.]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I honestly don't know what happens after death.

Sunny

[17th Angel]

Originally Posted by Miss Amy

I am not sure if this is the right place to put this thread.

Recently, yesterday, I lost someone dear to me. This is the first time I have experienced this... and the first time that I have ever really wished that I believed in life after death. This got me thinking and I am curious to know what people here think happens when we die.

You want the glazed happy ending version?

We float off and live hand in hand with god.... Well that is if you been good.. Else you are eternally punished... Hmm not that glazed......

Or come back as something else.....


My version... Nothing happens... You have gone back to what you were, nothing...... Just darkness... No pain, no stress no nothing just rest forevermore. I look forward to that day, I just hope I go out with honour, courage and something to be remembered.....

[Francis king]

for me, what we think of as the soul is really the consciousness, and the consciousness of a person does not die when their body does, and can remain after death...

to my way of thinking, most ppl die and go onto their Gods and heavens, but before they go onto this bliss, they first have to know what this bliss is, and that might take several lifetimes... I do not believe that ppl have knowledge of their past lives, unless they are-dvijati, or twice born, but to be twice born like this means that u have chosen such, consciously, willfully, deliberately, and most ppl do not...

some ppl when they die, have a very well developed consciousness, and these ppl can choose to be reborn retaining their consciousness stream from the previous lifetime, but it takes years of practise to get urself into the right frame of mind not to be frightened by death and dying and to manage the transition from ghost to human again, and the majority of ppl are never able to do this, even if they wanted to...

so, maybe it sounds like hocus pocus, but...

my da always said he would come back as a blackbird... of course, it could just be a coincidence, but when my brother is in trouble, the blackbird comes to my house... uncanny that he appears when he does, but appear he does... I like to think that this blackbird is my Da, reborn, but yes, of course, I live in england, and yes, there's lots of blackbirds about, but...

I have also seen quite a few ghosts in my time, too...

once, I lived in this old building that used to house "fallen women" (blue plaque outside the door, the works), and it had also been a nursing home and a hospital for the poor...

a lot of ppl had died there, over time, and I saw quite a few ghosts...initially I didn't bother telling anyone about it, as I did not want ppl think I was wierd, but eventually somebody told me about things they too had seen which made me think on...

the weirdest of them were two old ppl who used to show me a strange scene wherein one would fall over and the other would pick them up, over and over again, I eventually told them they were dead and sent them on to look for heaven, and they didnt come back to me... nobody could verify this, yet...

some nights, I would see a little boy, yet only from the waist up, and he would stand behind a chair in the bedroom and he and I would play peek-a-boo together... a security guard and I were talking, late one night, and he was telling me about how haunted the place was, and he told me that some ppl had seen half a little boy running about in the conservatory.. I hadn't mentioned the little boy to anyone, of course, and it was strange that somebody else had seen him too...

I also would see a white figure downstairs going into this room which had its entrance bricked up- the room had once been a mortuary room, and many other ppl had also seen this ghostly figure in the hall too...

to be honest, I think ghosts are a lot rarer than ppl think they are, and not many ppl get stuck between the worlds like this.. most of them go to heaven, or a place much like heaven, get refreshed, and then they come back for another go, maybe as a sheep, or a bird, or if u are really lucky, as a dvijati...

...sometimes ppl rage against the dying of the light, they have bonds with ppl they feel unable to break, they have a traumatic death, they get lost crossing over, and they remain, on earth, as displaced consciousnesses, until they go off looking for god... most of them don't hang around long, and when they do it is just like an energy trace, like they have left a little bit of themselves behind, and usually u can send them on to where they need to be...

in the main though, ppl are lucky and know when their time is drawing to a close, they come to peace, and they journey onto bliss...

that's just my thoughts...

[earl]

Miss Amy, I'd mentioned and discussed a book by David Fontana in the "what is Theosophy?" thread on belief & spirituality board, "Is there An Afterlife?" you might find interesting. Also you might find some interesting stuff in a thread on the same board I started entitled "messages from beyond death." take care, earl

[Miss Amy]

Thanks Everyone.

And 17th... I am not usually big on lying to myself so the glazed over version is not waht I would usually want.

However... I have never so badly wanted to lie to myself...

[Dondi]

Why do people lose hope in an afterlife? Is it because they don't like what's offered in scripture? If you had an afterlife of your choice, would you still want it? Or would you rather this be it?

[Miss Amy]

My own frusteration right now tells me that a 31 year old man doesn't belong in any afterlife. He still belongs in this one.