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Yes, I know....it's a common question: what happens after we die?
Scientifically, our bodies decompose and that's it.
But beyond science, what happens? Do have a spirit that goes somewhere? Are we aware that are dead and that we are still existing?
I'll share something a bit personal. A friend of mine passed away the other day. He was in his early 60s. His wife was the landlady of the house that my wife and I lived in several years ago but we kept in touch. The people who lived in that house....we were more than just housemates. We were family and to this day, we aren't strangers towards each other. The husband was a healthy guy. He was the last person you would think to have a serious health problem. If he did have any issues, either he didn't know about it or he knew about it but didn't let anyone else know about it.
Anyways, my wife and I received a call the other day. Our closest friend who lived in the house with us was freaking out and telling us that the husband was gone. Obviously, my wife and I were both shocked and after several seconds of processing what we just heard, rushed to the hospital where we saw the body of the husband laying lifeless in a room and the wife in tears in next to him.
I won't go too deep into the details but last December, the oldest son of the husband who was very young (probably late 30s/early 40s) passed away suddenly and unexpectedly while working out in the gym. They were guessing it could have been an aneurism but again, completely unexpected because his son was also healthy, or at least everyone thought he was healthy.
As we comforted the wife in the room, we talked about how the husband was now in heaven alongside his oldest son, but in my mind, I kept thinking to myself.....I don't have a lot of friends....very few. So I felt close to the husband and if the husband had any questions about God, it came to my realization that now, he had answers to every question he had. Unfortunately, he would not be able to come back to life and explain to everyone what happens after you die. His body was laying on the hospital bed lifeless while we all were wondering what caused his death and where his spirit was.
Now back to the topic itself, some people get pronounced dead for 10 or more minutes and talk about seeing light and experiencing peace and love. Other people describe experiencing absolutely nothing. Flatlined for 45 minutes and all they remember is closing their eyes one second and waking up the next. No memory of anything. They just blanked out.
I wonder.....is that what we will experience? We will either experience an enormous feeling of love and peace or complete nothingness.....for eternity. For some people, this topic isn't very important. Live your life to the fullest and don't worry about death. When you die, you die. That's it. But it does make me wonder.
There is nothing to respond to this with but speculation and anecdote. So to me, it isn't actionable. If I end up in some sort of afterlife I will deal with it just like I am obliged to deal with this life. If not, IMO, so much the better, because I am not built for eternity. No one is.
There is Existence after the body dies. This is the Existence which enlivens the body-mind-intellect complex, the person in other words, and who then creates his world of names and forms. This Existence has no beginning and therefore no end, it is all that there is. It is what makes the person aware, and aware that he is aware. It is Pure Knowledge and pure Light. At meditation, when the mind is quietened, and at deep sleep, when body is inert and mind is quiet, pure Existence is experienced.
The biological form of the person dies, because all things that have a beginning has an end, the body goes back to the elements from which it materialized. Existence remains. When alive the person can realize, understand, that he is not his body, he is Existence. This realized understanding causes peace and joy within, because that is the nature of Existence. Because we are in Existence, and are Existence, peace and joy are also our true nature as individuals.
There is nothing to respond to this with but speculation and anecdote. So to me, it isn't actionable. If I end up in some sort of afterlife I will deal with it just like I am obliged to deal with this life. If not, IMO, so much the better, because I am not built for eternity. No one is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eddie gein
My greatest fear is that were I to go to heaven and live for eternity...
It would turn out that the heavenly harp players only knew how to play "More Than A Feeling", "Hotel California" and "Don't Stop Believin'".
So both of you are in the category of "focus on this life. no need to think about an afterlife that has zero guarantees."
This has been discussed quite a bit previously here. Maybe it's one of those topics to be merged into one main thread.
One avenue is to do research into the many temporary death experiences (misnamed "near" death experiences") that have been related in videos and books. YouTube has entire channels devoted to them. You'll get far more information that way, from people directly affected. You might notice a lot of similarities to their experiences, from people who had no previous awareness of it. And it includes people of all backgrounds (including atheist, etc.)
So both of you are in the category of "focus on this life. no need to think about an afterlife that has zero guarantees."
One thing everyone from the greatest to the least of us agree on, this life we see today is temporary. It will pass away from us, and everything we have done and those who come after us, like those who have lived before us, all will pass.
However for those who trust there is more to existence than this current life, it is what comes after this life that will remain forever. If that is the case, then the next life is in essence more important than this one. And the life we live today, we should live to prepare for the next one.
So both of you are in the category of "focus on this life. no need to think about an afterlife that has zero guarantees."
You can add me to that group.
As a Buddhist I believe is is possible that reincarnation/rebirth is real. Possible. Just possible. But, it may be just an idea. I can still take many of the principles of Buddhism to heart to improve my life, but I'm not going to chase what may be a mirage.
I prioritize the here and now, the life before me/us, and trying to treat others with respect. If not making a positive impact, at least be neutral. But what might happen afterwards is important to consider too. It doesn't have the same weight as now, but it won't be ignored either. There should be no problem in reviewing everything. And no conclusions have to be "set in stone". An open 'door' or 'window' can be a welcoming approach for insight.
The answer is... nobody knows.
I'm an atheist. I've shared several times about strange and unexplainable event that have happened in my presence around the deaths of loved ones. I don't think I can go into it all again. These events are always painful to share and to this day I don't know what to make of them.
I agree with Mordant- anything anybody says here is speculation and anecdote.
I also agree that what's important is what you do with this life. Leave a lasting legacy. Make it matter. Pass on wisdom and kindness. In cosmic terms, we are here for less than a fraction of a blink of an eye. As my status says: Life is a one time offer. Use it well.
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