Nobody knows what happens when you die

[gomaos]

this sounds like a dogma, and hence can't be true.

I'm over 50 and should at least look at the possibility of death.

But, really, there's no way of knowing what will happen...

there used to be all these reports about near-death -experiences, where the victims were getting sucked "towards the light"etc etc.

My father told me once, when i was a kid, that when he was a kid, he dive-jumped into a river, which was low on water, and he got stuck in the mud and started dying.

he said he immediately saw "a field of beautiful flowers, very nice and calming, fields upon fields, going on forever"

but then someone pulled him out and he continued livng...

today we know that near-death experiences are actually "dmt-hallucinations" for when the body thinks it's dying it releases dmt into the brain, hence the beautiful visions...

well I don't know...

you can rationalise everything away and explain everything logically, and it's still not satisfying...

yes the dmt is the rational explanation for near death-experiences, but is that all there is to it?

What does everybody else think?

[ramon]

I tend to believe that there is two parts of me.

A eternal aspect which I see as the bedrock of consciousness and

A temporal aspect which is my body.

Of course my temporal aspect dies, but my eternal aspect continues.

However if you have not familiarized and identified yourself with the eternal aspect then for all intents and purposes you DIE.

[-bijanto-]

I believe that when your soul leaves the body, its still there fully alive but becomes lack of expression. I like the analogy of a microphone and a speaker. When you take a microphone away from a speaker, he can no longer be heard by the audience. But he is still a speaker.

I believe death experience is very similar to sleeping. In fact its analogous to a near-death experience. Sleeping is a different form of death, ie the state in which the soul leaves the body. While you're sleeping your body lies in bed where the spirit experiences totally different life in totally different places. In your dreams, you may "see" yourself on a beautiful island swimming at the beach, unaware that you're in fact sleeping in bed. This life itself is perhaps nothing more than a "dream" in terms of the next-life, the real-life, the eternity or whatever you may call.

So what happens when you die? Given that analogy it would be the same as when you are sleeping. The body reduces all functions to a minimum, leading to disorientation in place and time and slower body movements. Your soul will separate from the body and you might find yourself waking up in the middle of a new place, your senses become incredibly sharp so you can see your whole life played back in front of you just like a video etc, etc.

It is God who created you in a state of (helpless) weakness, then gave (you) strength after weakness, then after strength, gave (you) weakness, and a hoary head: He creates as He wills, and it is He who has all knowledge and power

Edited November 7, 2006 by -bijanto-

[Salviador]

Simple answer, when you die, your heart stops, but the world keeps turning

If everything was blue, then there would be no colour blue. Coz there would be no other colours to compare it to. Same thing goes for consciousness, everything we know changes, nothing is permanent, but for us to know that nothing is permanent, then there must be something that is permanent. I say that the observing self is that permanence.

[Guest onemind]

I think there is no self and all religions that teach about souls, original minds, permanent anything fell short of the reality that there is nothing and these teachings are mere reflections of the human need to exist like all other animals and life forms

[-bijanto-]

I don't believe that someone doesn't really believe in the Creator. Its just that they imagine the Creator as a being present somewhere in heaven or far away "outside" of this material world we call the universe. Part of the reason for increasing interests on shamanic plants I think is because of their hallucinogenic effects that might lead them to the world of spirituality, or in another word they want to experience the world outside of this "real world".

Speaking of the visions that people experience during the release of dmt, taking drugs, dreaming experience, etc. I think they belong to the same group, ie. perceptions. I believe that this material world (including atoms and the universe) is composed only of sensations, and the real absolute being is the Creator. Since material beings are each a perception, they cannot see the Creator, but the Creator sees the matter in all its forms (plants, animals, humans etc).

When we see the blue sky its not because its an absolute reality but because what we perceive as "the external world" is only the result of the software in the brain being stimulated by the electrical signals sent to it by our sense organs. If these signals are blocked from reaching the brain, these perceptions will stop. The same situation applies to all our other senses: sound, touch, taste, and smell are all perceived as electrical signals in the brain. We may achieve that kind of stimulation by taking hallucinogenics as well, but generally I think this universe itself is a hallucination too. The fact that we cannot see the Creator is because our brain software is given only perceptions. This perception is transmitted by a source of perceptions into the brain software. Imagine that humans are the heroes in one of those virtual realistic adventure games, except that the heroes are given their own will.

So when we die, that brain software (some ppl call it the soul or spirit) is simply disconnected from those perceptions (including the body) and we enter the world of the Creator, in which we will see what eye has not seen, what ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart.

[botanika]

Many scientists say its even possible under our flimsy 'laws of quantum physics'. They tend to be quite skeptical of many things but are usually open to the idea consciousness existing after death.

Have a read of 'Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives' by Jim Tucker. Has some interesting stories and will get you thinking...

There's only one way to truly find out

Edited November 8, 2006 by botanika

[Guest onemind]

I don't believe that someone doesn't really believe in the Creator

I genuinely do not believe in a creator.

[-bijanto-]

I genuinely do not believe in a creator.

I say you're an honest person. I have as well a genuine believe in the Creator, its just that I feel I don't understand the Creator sometimes. Thats because I cannot imagine something who is totally different from us, the creature. The more I try to understand some things, the more I'm stuck in a state of confusion. But deep in my heart I feel the existence of that Being everytime I remember how fragile we are and the nature is.

I have experienced things unexplainable by the science I've been studying. I was used to believing that no one can see things through a solid barrier such as walls or from remote places. But as I posted earlier I had a girl friend who is very unique. When we played master mind (the board game with six coloured pegs) she always won the game at her first move, and it happened every time we play. She was able to read things I wrote in a different room, she always knew what I had in my pocket etc. I knew that she wasn't cheat, and I was scared at that time.

It has made me somewhat changed my orientation in viewing things. Somehow my experiences with her gives me a clear fact that some people and (maybe all of us under certain condition) might be able to see or perceive things without using the eye. My theory is that these electrical signals in the brain could be transmitted via other medium or be put directly into the brain and then we could view objects without actually having the light coming to the retina, or we could sense the feeling of having eaten delicious food without having to eat, or could hear beautiful musics without sound wave stimulating the ear drum.

So where is the creator of these electrical signals? It is a question difficult to answer since we perceive places and distances merely through our limited senses (We cannot even see an object moving at very high speed like a bullet projected from a rifle). I guess scientists should find out more on Einstein's relativity theory. If the being (that ppl call spirit) can travel or vibrate at the speed of light, then all the dimensions will be perceived differently and we might begin the spiritual journey to the unseen world?

Edited November 8, 2006 by -bijanto-

[Guest onemind]

I completely agree with what you said about unexplained pheneomena as i have experienced similar things myself. I just dont agree that because you cant explain it then god must of made it.

To each their own belief

[Fenris]

Who will ever know? Its like Schrodingers cat, you cant know until you observe, but the act of observing has influence over what is being observed.

Ruminate on this - 3 billion years ago we were all gas and dust and energy exploding in a vast nothingness.

I don't think if there is anything on the other side you will retain any memories for the penny to drop and a sudden realisation. It will probably be more a transition from one form of energy to another without memory of past form or function.

[narayan]

what happens when you die?

Whatever you've been preparing for

[Hagakure]

what happens when you die?

the same thing that was happening before you were born.

Edited April 20, 2007 by Hagakure