[Ruuka]

I think our spirits will still be roaming around (maybe just some)...?
I heard of stories from my parents' friends, my classmates/friends and other people about their own personal stories related to spirits/ghosts. I think it's possible they exist in the world (not ghosts as in horror stories, but yeah :x). I've experienced a few personally (my brother passed away, sometimes I could feel a presence behind me when I'm sad/lonely, etc).

Rumors I heard also say that: When you wear any slight hint of red (as in clothes) when you die, you will become a ghost that will never rest in peace. ;__;

Though who knows, really. The answer to this question "What happens when you die" can never be answered, since you can't talk/say anything to the world about your experience when you die anyways. I guess we just all disappear, or maybe our spirits will be around, but that's pretty much it. It's sad a thing to think about. :< But why should we think about death at such an early age? Cherish life!

[triumph14]

Originally Posted by Ruuka

Rumors I heard also say that: When you wear any slight hint of red (as in clothes) when you die, you will become a ghost that will never rest in peace. ;__;

Now that sounds logical (sarcastically)

[brewerb11]

Unfortunately no one living knows, but everyone will find out eventually.

[Peppermoth]

I personally think that perhaps our minds may live on after we die (i.e. purgatory). I believe that just because our physical bodies are no longer living does not mean that our minds die as well.

Of course, we wouldn't be able to feel any physical sensations such as pain either. But, think of it as dreaming, I believe that when we die our minds will continue to wonder as if we are in a dream. That dream may take us to 'heaven', 'hell', or even just everyday life (variations of different dreams).

[TristramS]

As a Buddhist I believe in reincarnation, though not the way you might be thinking. My beliefs are a bit different than most peoples though. I believe that everything has a spirit. The spirit isn't simply the metaphysical underlinings of the living being, it's the power gained from all the experiences that something has been through, be the object animate or inanimate. Everything around us is not now as it was always. Example: My guitar was not always a guitar, it used to be a Black Limba tree, and a Rosewood tree, and various other plants and minerals. All those combined have given it many experiences, and as a guitar it has had more experiences from being luthiered to being played in my apartment and on stage. Though it used to be, for the most part, living things, it's spirit will always live on. It may not always be whole, but it will still be part of something. I believe the same concept applies to humans as well, we are not the body that we occupy, but rather the collection of everything that brought us to this point. When I die I believe my body will be broken down and consumed by all that is around it, and in turn I will become part of that, be it plants or animals. My spirit may not pass to the next as a whole, but I find comfort in the idea that it will also not completely disappear, and who knows, maybe in time chance will bring me back as a whole again and I will find new life in another time. I suppose if you really think about it, bodily functions will cease, but there is eternal life, just not the way most religions see it.

[sandhwale456]

Well, being pagan myself, I hold the idea of the Summerlands very close to my heart. The Summerlands are a place you go when you die, often depicted as endless fields of flowers and trees and meadows... this is where you go in between your last life and your next. It is a place of rest, you take your time and reflect on your actions and the course your life took and decide wether you learned a lesson or not. When you're ready, you move onto your next life ready to recieve another lesson.

[EndlessDreams]

Well, normally I hate to bump up an old thread like this, but this is a rather interesting and funny thread. (To me, at least)

To answer what happens when we die, absolutely nothing.
Maybe except the people who know and/or loved you will mourn for you, but that is about it.

Why did I say absolutely nothing? Have any one of you go to sleep before?
The dream seems like it last for a short time and yet when you wait up, many hours passed right? Dreams happen at the end of a sleep cycle sequence, and it happens because of functions in your brain.

However, when you are asleep, you are no longer aware of your surroundings because most of your senses are not active. Humans have five senses, which are taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. (Of course you know this right?)

ALL of the senses depends on your brain. Guess what happens after death? Your brain is gone because it no longer has energy to keep it alive. The brain ALWAYS requires energy, and it can NOT regenerate (after a small period at the beginning of childhood) If you have no brain, then you have no senses.

If you have no senses, then you will not feel anything at all. Even if another place afterlife exists (which it doesn't), you won't know because you don't feel it at all.

Now for everything that everyone mention that can't be shown by evidence that it exist or not exist (Spirits, deities, souls, whatever), there are infinite amount of things that can't be shown to be exist or not. Do any of you believe in a invisible-pink unicorn with eight heads in the skies eatting you when you die? Probably not.

Why would you believe that doesn't exist with there is no evidence for its existence or nonexistence? Probably because it doesn't make much sense. Same applies to those (Spirits, deities, souls, whatever) If you believe in those spirits, deities, souls, or whatever, you must accept the possibility that a invisible-pink unicorn with eight heads in the skies eatting you as well.

That also applies to those people who goes "noone knows for sure" or some variation. The evidence is already there that nothing exist after death.

Also, if anyone know is a lobatomy, then it is further evidence that without certain parts of the brain, a person's personality/memories/"self" can be changed. Death takes away ALL parts of the brain, which means the person's personality/memories/"self" is COMPLETELY removed.

[doctorwhoa]

when you die you "hopefully" are embalmed and have a proper burial the embalming helps but within 10 years the decomposing takes place and maggots eat your fleash

or some people choose to be cremated and your remains could be put on a mantle or now a days sent into space (for a million dollars)

as for the whole god thing i cant say one thing or another without offending someone so i gave the whole fact thing of what happens to you body

[Axzem]

It's all well and good to come up with "theories" (guesses) about what happens when we die, but in the end, as humans, we really don't have any reason to suppose that anything happens at all but simply... death.

When we say that a fire "dies", we mean that it has ceased existing. We don't believe it has "gone to a better place". The same goes for when a conflict dies... or when hope dies... or any number of things I could name. "Dying", to us humans, seems generally to mean a simple cease of existence. But why are we unable to apply the word in that sense to ourselves? Why are we the exception? The answer, frankly, is easy to find, simply by trying to think about one's own death. True oblivion is not something that the human mind can wrap itself around. The mind cannot imagine an end to thought itself. It's easy to accept that a fire has gone out and no longer exists... but it's much harder... and MUCH scarier... to try and imagine life itself snuffed out, brief candle that it is.

Life is the only frame of reference for thinking about things that we have. Robbed of that, we have nothing left to understand. That, I think, is why the idea of an afterlife, of eternal life, is comforting to some.

It isn't to me. Why? Maybe I'll explain briefly.

Let's take the Christian idea of heaven. Assume for the sake of argument that, when you died, you made it in. What then? What do you find there?

A lot of people would expect to find their loved ones there. But back up. There's another half to the Christian afterlife. What if your loved ones... all, or even just a couple of them... just didn't make it in? What if some of the people you loved so dearly are now in hell, to stay there for all eternity?

Can paradise really be paradise for you, knowing that? If it were me... it would eat away at me. It would be comparable to hell, knowing that someone I loved would be suffering for all eternity.

Can God make you forget? Possibly. But is that a good thing? Hardly. It would mean you'd... well, forgotten about them. How horrible is that? If there is one thing worse than death, it is being forgotten.

And if you were the type of person who just didn't care... well... would you even deserve to be in heaven in the first place?