414 Comments

1. Sue on December 19, 2014 at 12:22 am

   When I was a child and first learned about “death” it was really terrifying. The thought of becoming “nothing” was impossible. Then I thought about the Universe. It has no end, right? What would the end look like?
   I took physics and realized there is more in the universe that we cannot see than what we can see.
   I had a near-death experience that put the final period on the paragraph. I watched a medical team work to bring me back. It was like watching a t.v. show that did not concern me. I heard the doctor outside in the hallway telling my husband not to tell me about it. So the first thing I said when I woke up and hubby was there was “you don’t have to tell me about it, I watched the whole thing.” He was flabbergasted.
   For years it bugged me that I saw/heard this conversation that happened AFTER they brought me back. Then I studied quantum physics and realized time doesn’t really exist….
   I have always wondered about people who say they have great faith, but cry when they lose a loved one, or fear dying themselves. I don’t think their faith can be as great as they say when they break down completely.
   I have no particular “faith” (as in religion) but am not one bit afraid of dying. I’m getting pretty old, and I figure I’ll be better off out of this body after awhile, and what an adventure is ahead!

2. Caldera on December 10, 2014 at 10:56 am

   My mother died the day before I graduated high school from a virus. We did not know that she had a virus until the autopsy, so we all watched her slip away without a clue as to why. In the ICU, I held her leg for 2 hours while she died. She had less than 60% of oxygen in her body, so my mom was pretty vacant. She would have been dead already if it wasn’t for the doctors. Despite all this, I only looked at her. I didn’t think of anything but the moment. Of course it was sad, but there was something intense going on behind the scenes, and I think the only reason I got a glimpse of it is because I engaged myself with her process of dying. I let myself be vicarious with my mom without even realizing it, and the main reason I was able to do so was because I was touching her body while she died, looking right at her face, into her eyes, that were open but staring at nothing. I wasn’t afraid of it. I accepted everything that was happening as it unfolded, especially the feeling I got while my mother was dying. It was like a dream, where you get get clear information from emotions about what is happening around you. The information I was getting from my dying mom wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t agony; it was almost… like… staring into the sun, but I know that’s not entirely right… Two years later I still can’t put it into words, and I am always trying to. In any case, I felt that way because my mom felt that way. I say that with utmost confidence. It made me wonder what was happening to her beyond the body. Did I feel like I was staring into the sun because she was becoming something like a star? Sometimes I think she became a part of something greater, kind of like the Akashic records but less gaudy, more humbling, simple. Kind of like the existence of the solar system with its magnificence to us but with also with its simplicity; planets and gravity are so powerful but they are not self-aware, and they exist by coincidence.
   Yeah, I think that’s what death is like: magnificent like gravity and simple like a beautiful stone but also a powerful coincidence.

3. K on December 6, 2014 at 9:52 am

   My Father passed away from a heart attack when I was two years old. I often recall the story my Mother told me of that time. Months after his death I am with my Mother and the local Vicar outside the church, I see a dead shrew on the ground I proceed to calmly explain to them both that the animal is gone, like Daddy, but it’s ok because they are both in heaven. Evidently My Mother gave me an explanation at the time which must of made sense to me. As an adult and becoming a Mother myself, my daughter at five years old she asks me about death whilst walking home through the park on a winters afternoon. I tell her what I had said to my Mother and the Vicar as a young child. Explaining how when people die there body (the glove on your hand) stays on earth, whereas their soul, the person they are (the hand if you will) goes to heaven. It’s a nice place, calm, and everyone who has passed before are all reunited. Good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. That was when my notion on death and what happens afterwards. However now its somewhat altered. Years later many family members passed away, some got very ill and lived. I read a book during that tough time, in the book the notion on humans is that we are made at one with the earth, we are but energy sources, with the body being just a vessel. And that when people die they leave the vessel yet remain around us. On another frequency level. For example when you watch telly and change the channel, does that channel disappear I.e. stop transmitting? No it doesn’t. The people we lost, the energy sources are here, but on another frequency. That same frequency that some people are aware of, some are not. As to why this is, well that’s another topic. So the loved ones are still so-to-speak, are still around us just on another level. And that idea helped to validate what I had always kind of believed. So for now that is the notion I hold on death. That is of course till something else comes along enlighten me, or to add to my beliefs. But at this stage in life I believe I will always have this point of view on death and what happen afterwards.

4. Anonymous on December 1, 2014 at 9:46 am

   I think we return to the energy source of the Universe what ever that is.

5. Gayle G on November 20, 2014 at 7:17 am

   I’ve always believed in heaven and hell, but if I look at my beliefs closely, I’m not sure. Recently, I have been questioning the logic behind heaven and hell and I can’t get it to add up. I’m not sure where I’ll go when I die. I hope there is a heaven and I hope I can meet up with loved ones who have died before me but I won’t really know until the time comes.

6. Nina on November 19, 2014 at 7:35 pm

   I lost my faith in a supposed god long ago. I don’t know if there’s a heaven. My theory is, we have three choices. We can choose to just not exist anywhere, we could choose to leave a piece of our energy behind, or we can choose to hold onto a memory or thought of somewhere we’d like to be; and stay there until our memory banks in our brains die and there’s nothing left. It’s been said that our brains are like a computer. We have so much memory. If you keep that computer updated and clean, it’ll last for a very long time. But if you choose to ignore that funny clicking noise it’s been making for a month, it’ll have less than a year left of worth. I think that no matter what we choose, we’ll all eventually fade out.

7. Debra on November 19, 2014 at 6:29 pm

   When you die your spirit goes directly to heaven or hell. I have a strong faith in Jesus Christ and what he teaches us in the bible. If you are afraid of death ( which I was for most of my life) you are hell bound. Christians are not afraid of dying because heaven awaits us.

8. pn on November 19, 2014 at 2:07 am

   I have absolute faith that if you believe in Jesus the Christ you will go immediately to heaven. To be abscent from the body is to be in the presence of the Lord.

9. Anonymous on November 16, 2014 at 10:54 pm

   I have faced Death myself, more than once. I felt at peace & okay with crossing over. This is directly related to my faith.
   I have also studied Death shamanically. I have experience with helping souls prepare for death & helping them after death.
   I feel at peace with Death. Living is far more of a challenge!!

10. Mark on November 15, 2014 at 3:17 am

    Death has always intrigued me.I don’t believe in God or any organized religion,but Ido believe that there is more than this life.

11. cornelius on November 14, 2014 at 6:41 pm

    As the song goes ” just dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind”.

12. LLW on November 14, 2014 at 12:13 pm

    Today, I consider myself an agnostic. I don’t know when, where or why that came about. But, I have had two near death experiences, one in which someone died, and, both times, seconds before it happened, I said, “Please God don’t let me die.” And, here I am.

13. SDM on November 14, 2014 at 1:54 am

    As for an after life, yes, I believe we have an after life. There are so many books written about the subject , I feel my beliefs are being validated. We may not have the afterlife we think we will have, but we will have some form of it. I don’t believe we can possibly imagine what it will really be like, although, I do think about it.

    Because of my faith, I don’t fear death as many people seem to. I actually am looking forward to it. I am in good health, so it’s not that I want to escape this body for that reason. I just feel the time to move on is drawing near. One thing I have learned in this life is not to fear, just go with the flow and usually things are going to be just fine.

14. Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain on November 13, 2014 at 3:42 pm

    Death is not the end. We are made of “energy” or soul, if you will. Death is an opportunity. An opportunity of choice. Your energy may decide to stick around for a while…..a looooooooong while. Your energy may just want to sit back and watch, or just float away into the cosmic unconsciousness.
    How much fun is that? I think are able to choose what we want to do after death. To all the world, we are gone, unseen (mostly) unless we choose to be seen. Then, we may be just an apparition of our still thriving energy. A shadow on the wall. One thing I know for sure, I am not afraid of death. Nobody gets out of this world alive. When I die, I’m going to come back and haunt the fuck out of everyone I knew, and some that I didn’t. Death might be fun.

15. Robyn H on November 13, 2014 at 9:03 am

    I speculate about the death process but I have no doubt of life after death. Once, I was in a store and a woman approached me and said she had a message for me from my dad (he had died 2 years earlier). She said my dad wanted to say hi. He told her where to find me. He was with my butterscotch dog. Yes I had a butterscotch colored dog who was dead too. Another time I sought a medium and waited for my turn to speak to him. I thought my dad would come again or maybe my cousin who I also would like to hear from, but it was my grandmother. She told me through the medium that I was so upset it would affect my health and if I don’t start speaking more earnestly to others instead of letting anger build up- I’ll be sick. I kid you not friends, the very day before this incident I had a huge argument /confrontation with my sister -terrible and painful in scope about a long standing issue –How could any medium know about that? This solidifies my belief that we are around and observing after we die.

16. Anonymous on November 13, 2014 at 1:23 am

    “Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
    Ecclesiastes 3:19 Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is vanity.
    Job 7:9 As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return.”
    I was raised Christian but am now a pragmatic agnostic. I dont know if God exists or what is in store for us after we die, but if we are all going to a better place, then why the pit stop in this Hell of a life?
    My interest currently lies in quantam physics theories of infinite parallel universes and the new theory of colliding universes by Dr Wiseman.
    But, as someone in the medical field who has witnessed dying and death, the fact that so many people as death nears claim to see loved ones who have passed on and hold conversations with them, and even lucid people who were at first afraid of approaching death, then state they have been visited by a deceased loved one and have lost their fear and are visibly at peace with the inevitable does give me pause…….

17. Peg on November 12, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    I faced the reality of death at a very young age. My mother passed away when I was six years old. She died at home. Me and my siblings were all there. Basically,we watched her die. Watched my father dissolve into tears as he had already called an ambulance and there was nothing more he could do. She had a heart condition we didn’t know about. This was in the early `70`s. CPR was almost nonexistent….. My father died six years later. Also at home. He passed in his sleep. I found him that morning. He had died in his sleep from a stroke. I was twelve. So yes I saw the reality of death at a very young age. As a result I fear nothing. I was the kid who walked up to the growing, snarling dog but I’ve never been bitten. I was the one who crawled under the car with a bees nest in the fender to retrieve a ball but I didn’t get stung. As an adult,I stood face to face with a man intent on hitting my older sister,he tried to hurt me but I took him down. He won’t try that again, ever. I stood up to a thousand pound bull who broke through our fence and hurded him into the barn, alone. The list goes on. I fear nothing for I had learned this, when death comes for you, it matters not when or where, you must go. So why fear anything,when it happens,and it will, a person has no control. When and where is not our choice. So bring it on. I fear nothing.

18. majic.6 on November 12, 2014 at 3:29 pm

    Other than the sad thought of leaving my sons motherless, I am not afraid of death at all. It’s a part of life. I don’t get overly emotional when my loved ones die. I heard once that we grieve because we are selfish and want that person here, alive. Especially in the instance of my father, death was a blessing. I could never selfishly want him back, to wallow in the pain and humiliation of his illness. I believe we go somewhere when we die, but I don’t know where. My home has a presence my sons call “Casper” and it occasionally entertains us with rattling lampshades or knocking framed photos off the hallway wall. None of us have an idea as to who or what it really is, but it exists, is invisible, and can affect material objects. Our energy, our light, our whatever you want to call it that makes each of us unique, it definitely goes somewhere. I don’t liken death to the blowing out of a candle.

19. Anonymous on November 12, 2014 at 12:18 pm

    I believe in life after life (death). I think the line in Casper is perfect, death is like being born in reverse. We were somewhere before we were born and will be somewhere after we die. Somewhere can be part of the cosmos or maybe as Kahlil Gibran said in the Profit, a little while, a moments rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me–or something like that. I think Paradise will be the option to choose how we wish to continue. I was with my mother when she took her last breath, it was as if a light went out…but, the odd thing was for several minutes, my cell would not work in her room….an interference…my mother’s energy? That is what I want to believe.

20. Anonymous on November 11, 2014 at 7:46 pm

    I believe in death and eternal life after death.

21. John T on November 11, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    “What Happens When You Die? Is There Life After Death?”
    What happens when you die most people know. The blood/oxygen flow to your brain ends for whatever reason and you can’t be helped. Total system shutdown. We ALL die. No new news here. We also all think about it. SK’s success as a horror writer is somewhat (not at all totally, lots of hope in certain novels/stories) contingent on his exploration of death (spiritual, physical, or both. Jack Torrance comes to mind, though he beat it in the end! Polar opposite would be any given character in Pet Semetary) or even apocalyptic scenarios, most famously The Stand, but also seen in Under the Dome, Cell, The Crimson Kings basic goal in the dark tower series… Etc. Point is the mystery of death intrigues us all. What sets it apart from other mysteries is. We’re all going to find out in the end. Or not! Every culture seems to react to “fear of death” by creating an afterlife. So it’s a total non start. Either there is or there isn’t. Either religion is based on “fear of death” or there really is something on the other side of all this. I personally just don’t know. I believe the only truly honest reasonable answer to this is “I don’t fucking know and I can’t tell ya about it when I find out either way! So Bool! The end!

22. Anonymous on November 11, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    As I get older I notice that there are more atheists and humanists around. I don’t know if the numbers are growing or if people are just talking about it more. All the atheists and humanists I know are kind people and a lot of them are involved in activism to make the world a better place. One day not long ago after an especially bad event occurred I broke down and decided I did not believe in God. In my head I had a conversation with Him that lasted days explaining my position and how sad I was that I could no longer believe. By the end of the conversation I had with God (days later) I came to realize that not believing did not work for me. I have no idea what comes next but I do believe it’s not the end.

23. Anonymous on November 11, 2014 at 11:16 am

    As a child and teen, I feared death. Nothing imaginable could scare me more. I wasn’t obsessed with the fear, but I did avoid thinking about it. I suspect that my fear of the future might have started with my fear of death. When, after years of life experiences specified by a Greater Power for me, I finally was able to attain peace with God, my fear of dying went away.

24. The Word of Truth on November 10, 2014 at 9:06 pm

    What happens when you die? Is there life after death?
    Where do gods come from? Where did heaven and hell come from? Where did the belief in the eternal soul come from? Where did the belief in an invisible spirit world come from? I believe that all of these questions have the same foundation; the fear of death.
    Man is the first and only species to be able to understand its existence and its inevitable eventual non-existence. Our intellectual capability’s has enabled us to do increasingly incredible things as our species evolved. However it is my belief that it’s our species intellectual capability to fully grasp the fact that each and every one of us will one day die and therefore cease to exist that began to threaten our own species existence. As we evolved part of our evolution was to develop a physiological coping mechanism to deal with facing our own death. This I believe is where god belief and belief in the eternal soul that came with god belief came from.
    Think about how difficult it is for you today to contemplate your own death. And you are much farther along the evolutionary scale than your ancient ancestor contemplating his own inevitable death would have been. The foreknowledge of his upcoming unavoidable death would have threatened his sanity. In order to be able to cope with his awareness of his upcoming death I believe man developed the idea of an invisible spirit world where death did not exist and all was eternal instead of finite. Eternally living as part of this spirit world were gods and or God.
    Gods had been created by man to answer questions about causality in his world that he didn’t understand. What caused the sun to shine? What caused the rain to fall? What caused the seasons to change? What caused earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, tidal waves and other such natural disasters? There had to be a cause for each effect. God’s were the cause of all. Because God’s could not be seen they were believed to live in an invisible eternal spirit world. Man created the idea of the eternal soul to one day live forever in the spirit world with god’s and or God; though the body died the soul lived on. The threat of the consciousness of man’s inevitable non-existence was gone. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Death had been defeated!
    The Word of Truth

25. Raphaela on November 10, 2014 at 1:29 pm

    Death. Life’s eternal lover. Life sends Death countless gifts of living creatures and Death always claims them in the end. But Death also sends Life presents – snacks, actually – because the living survives by consuming the dead. All food are essentially corpses.

    (Even corpses, the closest thing we have to Death in the flesh, is teeming with microbial life.)

26. Queenie on November 10, 2014 at 12:08 pm

    Perhaps there is Life After Death. Perhaps not. Me thinks there must be.

27. kingfamilyfan on November 10, 2014 at 11:46 am

    Iam not sure if there is life after death. However,i have life now and it is the time to live it. I will face death when it happens. I think about death but in the way of what i would like my loved ones to continue in their lives. i do not want for my death to be something where they feel they should be worried about what I wanted them to do or how they should carry on. Death is a part of life.

28. Anonymous on November 10, 2014 at 9:33 am

    I’m watching my father deteriorate rapidly from an untreatable brain infection (CJD) and I cant help but think sometimes death is a relief. His confusion and fear at being so…..lost is damn near unbearable for him. It would also be a relief to me, which makes me feel like a horrid person. The mechanics of death can be slow, plodding and clumsy or as fast as a striking snake. It may make me horrible but I hope for both my fathers and my own sake the snake will strike well and true soon.

29. Yvonne on November 9, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    I sat with my father last week as he died. He died at 5:58 a.m. October 31, 2014. I sat at his beside for four days as he lay in a coma. I had watched him deteriorate with Parkinsonisms for three years. He was losing his ability to walk and talk. Soon he would not be able to feed or toilet himself. That was death for him. He was a proud and private man. He took death into his own hands. I am terrified of being dead. Of not being. Of not existing. No one will remember me. I am from a dysfunctional and separated family. I am not famous. Few know I’m alive and even fewer will know when I die. I wonder if anyone will sit at my bedside as I die. Hold my hand. Sing songs I liked. Sit with me so I know I am not dying alone. After watching my dad I believe that. If there is a soul it was not with my dad as his “death rattle” began. Until last week, I had never watched a person die. I am still scared of not being. But I am not scared of dying.

30. Anonymous on November 9, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    The older I get, the more death doesn’t just follow me — it strolls alongside me and holds the door open. Death used to be confined to my grandparents. A distant cousin. An uncle. Now friends. Colleagues. Movie stars I loved. Buildings. Life is different because of death, and the awareness that comes as you get older that there’s just going to be more and more of it.

31. Anonymous on November 9, 2014 at 1:02 pm

    I believe there is no death. The bodies that serve us in this lifetime die. The world of Spirit is all about us but we are somewhat veiled from it.

    For me there is no doubt there is life after death. The world we live in is just a tiny occupancy of a great vast Intelligence.

32. S'hauni on November 9, 2014 at 11:24 am

    Death is a doorway or so I’ve been told
    Or maybe a pathway to decomp and mold
    Position you carefully and try to be bold
    I hope I don’t die before I get old

33. Anonymous on November 8, 2014 at 11:58 pm

    I died when I was 11 in a motorcycle accident and came back. I have no fear of death, the Other Side is more real than here, it’s brighter than here and there is no pain or suffering, no hell, no demons.
    Here is hell, suffering, and evil. Being over there is like being in a 5 star hotel, with all expenses paid, being here is like being in a shack with no electricity, an outhouse, no heat, no comfort. Dying doesn’t even hurt because the soul jumps out before the body dies. Why fear something that is so much better than here, and you get to keep all the positive things you like about yourself. The real question is, why do we have to be here? Living here is far worse than dying.

34. Ghost on November 8, 2014 at 10:51 pm

    I don’t remember anything before I was born, why would I be capable of remembering anything after my death? The world existed before I was here and will continue to exist after I’m gone. The only way you “live on” after your death is in the memories of those who knew you.

35. Lisa on November 8, 2014 at 9:22 pm

    I definitely believe there is, and after all if there isn’t no one is going to know.

36. Anonymous on November 8, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    It’s a secret. Only one way to find out what it is. Hope I like the secret.

37. chris20141107 on November 8, 2014 at 6:29 am

    death is blessing for making pain finite. Death gives also meaning to life , forcing us to get things done , knowing we don’t have an eternity here on Earth , so we can’t afford to be lazy.

38. Damocles on November 8, 2014 at 6:26 am

    Pretty straight forward topic. The opposite of life is death. When I die I cease to exist. I will be put in the ground and over time I will rot and eventually become dust. Belief in “life” after death is just that, a belief. kids believe in Santa Claus. Why should humans be any different to other creatures? All products of evolution and all come to an end.

39. synwave7 on November 8, 2014 at 1:46 am

    When I die many people feel sorrow. Joy. Happiness. Sadness. Many people feel many things. I move onto my next existence and I walk and talk with my son again. Life is always. My life will always be. My spark will never go out. I will continue. And if not. I wont. And someday it may be as if I never was. I doubt it though. Forever is a long time and I for one intend to get there. And when I arrive the party can begin.

40. Terri in Buffalo, NY on November 7, 2014 at 3:33 pm

    I love reading books about people who have had near-death experiences, and what they felt/saw. ESPECIALLY stories about children who have experienced it, like in the book “Heaven is for Real.” That book really gave me hope for an afterlife & a divine presence!

41. Anonymous on November 7, 2014 at 2:12 pm

    I think there is life after death. I think the essence of who we are continues on to another plane of existence after our physical body dies.

42. Anonymous on November 7, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    I hope so, but to me it seems there is a complete lack of evidence that this is so. I would guess annihilation, non-existence, just as we were before we were born.

43. Anonymous on November 7, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    When I die and go into the light will my pets who have passed be there waitingso meet me as well? (Smile) I hope so!

44. Maz on November 7, 2014 at 1:58 am

    Death terrifies me. Whether I suddenly cease to exist, become transformed into a ‘being of light’, or reincarnate is immaterial. I won’t be ‘me’ anymore. Maybe that’s just ego talking, but to what could I compare it? I’ve only ever *been* me – and despite everything that’s happened in my life, I want to go on being me. Forever, if possible. If someone handed me the keys to immortality tomorrow, I’d grab them with both hands.

45. JMS on November 6, 2014 at 11:07 am

    Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but it can be transformed. We are but spiritual beings having a brief physical experience. When our bodies die, our energy (soul) goes out into the universe. I believe the purpose of our lives is to make the choice to be either positive or negative. Some call it salvation/ sin, good/ evil, yin/ yang, karma… It’s all the same just labeled differently based on beliefs. Death is but the beginning of the next form we take. I think (have faith) that if one lives as positively as possible the energy that leaves our bodies when we die goes out into the world as positive energy (heaven?) and beautiful things happen as a result. Conversely negative energy is also released (hell?). Unfortunately the world seems pretty negative these days…

46. Anonymous on November 6, 2014 at 11:00 am

    It can’t be disproved, smile, i think we get to go on and live again or spend time with those who left before us, our animals as well.

47. Tommie Drechsler on November 6, 2014 at 8:00 am

    We will find out when we get there! A new adventure

48. LWS on November 5, 2014 at 11:33 pm

    Honestly I do not know. Either possibility scares me for different reasons.

49. "Coach" on November 5, 2014 at 9:44 pm

    Being a Science teacher, I try to blend both science and religion together. As far as death goes, I believe that our energy is passed on and becomes another source of energy for something else. In science, life starts out with “Light”. In what we often here about death, from those who’ve been brought back, we enter into a great “Light”. Science tells us that our source of life here on Earth is because of our sun. Our sun is of our simplest element hydrogen. As it ages, it makes new elements which eventually makes our entire periodic table. Our living bodies, are made up of these elements. So…… could it not be said that we come from “Light” itself and God is light?

50. BJM on November 5, 2014 at 9:35 pm

    I believe your soul(ENERGY) moves on .Where I don’t know. If you have ever experienced the actual time of death of someone ,once they pass away, they look, well, empty is the only way I can explain it.
    You would think that they would just look asleep but they don’t. Its as if the physical body is just a shell and the person is no longer there.

51. Anonymous on November 5, 2014 at 6:21 pm

    I used to think I “knew” all about death and an afterlife, but now I believe that there is no knowing. I have faith that dying takes us to another dimension, but I can’t begin to imagine what that will be. As our favorite author so wisely says, “Hell is repetition.” So what lasts forever that won’t feel like hell?

52. Ed on November 5, 2014 at 2:59 pm

    I too find that I only believe that when your time is up, that’s it. The ball game is over and your allotted time is done.

53. G.R. on November 5, 2014 at 2:38 pm

    I believe in reincarnation. In every life we live, we learn more and experience more. Evil and goodness. Sickness and health and poverty and wealth! And so we keep on climbing to a higher level until we reach…what?! I’m not sure of course, but my guess is we’ll remember who we really are (“Conversations with God”) and we will be enlightened.

54. Gary on November 5, 2014 at 10:10 am

    I don’t believe in souls, or ghosts, or an afterlife, I don’t believe in God, because there is no evidence of those things, so the logical answer for me would be to believe that when death comes… that’s it. Its the end of my life and there is nothing after that for me as a person, all my atoms get put back into the universe to be used elsewhere.

    It’s not a nice thought having to leave the party when you know the party is going to carry on without you. I guess that’s why a lot of people believe in the souls or God because they don’t like to think that, but I suppose it makes you want to get the most out of this short life we spend on earth knowing that this is all you get.

55. Jamieson Wolf on November 5, 2014 at 10:00 am

    I’m not afraid of dying. I believe there is a spirit world of some sort. We may not reincarnate but there is something beyond the pale.

56. Nat on November 5, 2014 at 7:49 am

    I don’t know what happens when you die … I haven’t tested it yet
    Life after death ? Maybe …
    I like pretty nice the idea developed by Bernard Werber in his trilogy of the Gods and I find that it goes well.

57. Josh on November 5, 2014 at 12:45 am

    I believe in God…and I don’t have a clue. I may or may not find out some day…

58. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 11:41 pm

    I’m terrified of dying. I worry it’s all lie and there is simply nothing and I will cease to be and that thought fills me with despair and dread. Though, of course I’ll never know should that be the case.

59. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 11:22 pm

    I do not know if there is a life after death , only that everyone who has lived , is living and those not yet born will find out sooner or later.

60. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 10:58 pm

    Nothing happens. You enter a deep dark place and cease to exist. I hope to go there one day.

61. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 10:15 pm

    We are as asleep not conscious until we’re resurrected or not. If I’m not resurrected I won’t know that will be the end but again I won’t know thing.

62. CDH on November 4, 2014 at 9:43 pm

    I sometimes think of life as a caterpillar, and after death, a butterfly.

63. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 9:11 pm

    I feel like this life is temporary in it’s entirety. We are here for a relatively small number of years, and we build up these things we call lives, but really they are existences. Because despite what we may attain or obtain during these years, we are all just going to meet the same fate. Perhaps in a different manner, but ultimately, the fleshly body will perish. The heart and brain will cease to function, and the flesh will stiffen. Blood will dry up and the inhibiting force will leave its shell. In what manner, we all seem to disagree. But most human beings will agree on the fact that the flesh is separate from the motivating force inside of it. When that force exits, I believe we return to our home. Call it what you will. I have no real name, only the one I have been taught “Heaven”. But in my mind, I believe that the place I will return to, the place that almost must be near the stars, is where we really belong. I feel like we are in a time out of sorts here, a punishment, if you will. When our time is done, we can go home, back to the good life.

64. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    There must be more. This world with its sorrows and troubles cannot be the only existence there is. I refuse to believe that this life is all there is. There is too much confusion, and pain, and loneliness. God didn’t create man to be miserable. We must live this life as much as possible so we can go on to experience the rest. The afterlife will be… based on the life lived now.

65. GreenQueen on November 4, 2014 at 8:48 pm

    with luck there will be a big staircase with my late fiancé waiting for me at the top… no seriously, there may not be a staircase but after the last 11 years I know for sure he will be there waiting, no doubt in my mind

66. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 8:31 pm

    I have lost two grown sons and one of the few things that helps me to go on is the belief that we will be together again.

67. inkartchick on November 4, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    It must be very comforting to those who believe they will see Aunt Ester and Gramps to share one more conversation. Those like myself who neither believe in, nor seek, nor live their lives for the all encompassing “cookie”, “gold star”, “reward” that is heaven…are able to comprehend the finality of the loss of dear people in our lives. It’s final and it’s the reason the loss impacts so deeply.

68. fab on November 4, 2014 at 6:32 pm

    Yes, I cannot deny life after death. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
    As a young nurse, I experienced it first hand, and denied my own experience for nearly 20 yrs after it. I question whether it was accidental or not, as it was only the quick turn of my head which captured a heart patient I was with while she was experiencing the onset of an attack. She was having difficulty breathing and began talking to and about people from her life, mostly childhood friends. It was very quick. I immediately ran to the door and called for STAT. As I turned, I witnessed an ‘ether’ rise up from her body and float through the ceiling. When the duty nurse approached with the cart, she asked me how she was. She was still physically alive, but I knew, she was gone. So, I told her, “She’s not here.” The duty nurse gave me the strangest look. We tried fruitlessly to revive her, but I knew she was gone.
    It haunted me for years, but I never told anyone, figuring they would think I was crazy.
    One day, I looked at my husband and just told him. Then I shared it with a good friend, “You’ve been given an incredible gift,” she said. And, from that moment on, I always knew I had to answer this question whenever it is asked.
    I’m one person that can’t choose to believe, I must believe.

69. stephen morrow on November 4, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    I would like to know the truth about death. Right now I feel there must be something else. I’m sort of hoping I come back as a bird. A lizard would be a cool existence too. We probably just die though. Lights out. This is the end baby, no more walks on the beach or midnight cocktails. You just don’t wake up.

70. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 6:24 pm

    This is something I’m curious about. Are my relatives waiting for me in Heaven? Who is going to help me when I start? I had a theory of reincarnation when I was 8 that your soul would keep returning to Earth and be reincarnated until it had achieved what God wanted. I accept this.

71. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    Either the energy particles forms other things or reincarnation occurs over and over and over because I surely have not reached perfection.

72. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 5:14 pm

    I worked as a hospice chaplain for five years. I served as a Priest for ten years. I am surviving breast cancer. I have been called the Queen of Death by some people because I was reading and talking about death a lot. I think there is something after we die, but no clue what it is. Some days I can’t wait to find out and others I want to run and hide. It is very interesting.

73. Sele on November 4, 2014 at 4:45 pm

    I will find out after I die. My intuition tells me that there is life after death. Yea…something in me knows this.

74. Jamie on November 4, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    After death, there is only rot

75. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 1:58 pm

    There is life afrer death and Heaven will be whatever you need it to be. It’s life that is so hard.

76. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 11:31 am

    Death, when it’s over it’s over, the only trick is accepting that it will happen and being at peace with it

77. Anonymous on November 4, 2014 at 8:49 am

    You just end. If you are lucky enough to have made a special impression on others you may live on in their hearts and continue to have an impact on their lives.

78. Anonymous on November 3, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    Our current lives are a dream and and only when we die do we really wake up.

79. Anonymous on November 3, 2014 at 11:03 pm

    It just seems so final. So dark. The end of life has always seemed so sad to me. When my father died it left a very empty feeling in my heart. It hurt…

80. Anonymous on November 3, 2014 at 11:03 pm

    Ka.

81. Anonymous on November 3, 2014 at 10:25 pm

    I believe there is life after death, just not what we tend to think it would be. I hope to be reunited with those I love and also hope to be able to forgive with those whom I will be meeting on the “other” side.

82. Anonymous on November 3, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    There is life after death, of that I am sure. The question is ” what type of life is it after death”?

83. Anonymous on November 3, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    Is there a life before the death?

84. Staropeace on November 3, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    Even though I am a Christian, I am uncertain about life after death in times of strife. I fight this fear by reminding myself that it was no big deal BEFORE I was born so why should it be any different after? I have been fighting cancer for years. I have to use these coping skills to keep from going crazy.

85. Mike on November 3, 2014 at 2:15 pm

    Having personnally observed death very closely as both my parents died in hospice in my house I’ve come to view the event differently than when I was younger. I believe there’s something after what we view as life but I don’t think it’s as simple as heaven or reincarnation here on earth. Just as many Christians have no trouble believing in the Trinity, one God in three persons, so too I think that ‘Heaven’ is an individual experience.

86. MG on November 3, 2014 at 2:14 pm

    I won’t even presume to have the answers. Even as an atheist, I find that this world has far too many mysteries and unknowns for any one person to know definitively what happens during and after death. With that said, I was privileged enough to be at my grandmother’s side in the final three days of her life. Being witness to her death was a profoundly life altering event. She died surrounded by love, and on her own terms, and it was beautiful. Her death taught me how to live my life. And though I still grieve her not being part of my physical world, I honor her in the living I do each day.

87. Tanesa Sanchez on November 3, 2014 at 2:33 am

    Our bodies are borrowed housing for our souls. I think when we did we either move on to eternal life or we are stuck roaming the earth. If we get stuck roaming the earth in after life it’s because we had an unfinished life and our souls cannot rest like the saying no rest for the weary, if we are accomplished when we die then we move on. Do we meet again in heaven, I like to think we do for comfort sake.

88. Anonymous on November 3, 2014 at 2:04 am

    People with faith sometimes argue that if there is no afterlife, some eternal reward or punishment, nothing that we do with our time here really matters. Something I found interesting was when someone, House, said if there is no afterlife then what we do with our lives is all that matters. I found that interesting and completely agree with it.

89. Robin on November 3, 2014 at 12:06 am

    I have dealt with people in the midst of death/dying for far too long to discount the afterlife. As a Christian, I do hold to my faith in a heaven prepared for me by my Savior. But I also do not place that faith in the tenets of organized religion, believing that much of God’s word has been twisted/corrupted by man. I prefer to believe that your afterlife is based upon what your faith/beliefs are in this life.

90. e.n.o.o.n.e. on November 3, 2014 at 12:04 am

    zero equals two

    when i was young,
    i was blessed to be able to have crossed the threshhold and returned again.
    this is what i have learned

    death is like a dream

    we are all fascinated by our own
    and bored by the stories of others

    zero equals zero

91. Anonymous on November 2, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    We all get a taste of death each night when we sleep.

92. MacBernac on November 2, 2014 at 7:02 pm

    I’m eagerly awaiting release of Revival in Kindle format. In the meantime, Here are my thoughts on death. First, the word, “death.” I prefer to call it “transition.” Everything, from the macrocosmic to the microcosmic, changes continuously. The unknown, which is on the other side of this transition, is frightening, because it is unknown. What comforts me is my belief that when I transition, my energy and consciousness will continue in another state of being, and I expect it will be appropriate to the way I’ve attempted to handle my life on this side. What I’ve learned on this side and what I’ve yet to learn, will not be “judged”; rather, I’ll review my life, and my experiences will serve me to evolve in my next state of being. I expect that in some way, I’ll encounter the same people I’ve known in this life and will bring whatever I’ve learned in previous relationships, into this new state of being, in a more positive and loving way.

93. Amber on November 2, 2014 at 4:41 pm

    I wish I knew for sure what would happen when I die. I am 99% sure there is an afterlife. I have had experiences with ghosts, and I think that even though some of the ghost hunting shows are fake, some are real. I was lucky that by the age of 26 I had never really had to deal with death. I had an aunt who died when I was too young to really realize what had happened and I had been to two funerals that were family members of a friends, and I had only met the deceased in both cases once before. In August my boyfriend’s father suddenly passed away. Him and I weren’t close even though my boyfriend and I have been together for six years. It wasn’t that he was a bad person or anything, we just had no common ground on which to grow a deeper relationship. The night after he passed I dreamt that him, my boyfriend and his unborn granddaughter were walking in a field. I don’t remember the specifics of the conversation, only that it was a happy conversation. Is this proof of life after death or just my mind finding a way to cope with finally having to deal with the death of someone I had known for years?

94. Michael in Atlanta on November 2, 2014 at 2:31 pm

    I miss my cat Skyler and thought I was (or would be) prepared for it. It happened suddenly and was messy. I think about him every day and wish that I hadn’t “put him down” so quickly. Was I being “humane” or just sparing myself the agony of vet bills (is there a price on life?) and further emotional torture. I will never know, or get to know. Ironically (or not so) I made the same decision with my mom who died of cancer. This was messy, and I saw her last breath. But she was old and smoked for 40 plus years. I can’t blame her for her death, but I tell you, for some reason, my kitty-cat’s death is tearing at me. God rest him.

95. Confused on November 2, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    I guess all I have are questions and fears. When you die do you still feel? I can not even imagine not feeling or thinking. What is nothingness?

96. Shaak Ti on November 2, 2014 at 10:46 am

    When we die, we return.
    Our bodies decompose, and what we were made of will be used again.
    Our energy combines with the energy of the universe and then is send on, to move the world.
    And that is God, this collection of matter and energy, in constant motion.
    You can pray and God will answer – you are part of Him after all.
    In a way we reincarnate, but almost always we get scattered in people, animals, plants, rocks, water; we don’t get to come back as our old selves, but if a cluster of cells or unit of energy is not completely divided – we remember.
    There is no end, just the new beginning, over and over again.

97. CB March on November 2, 2014 at 8:50 am

    I hope there is something. I would love to zoom around the cosmos seeing everything. Sitting on a cloud strumming a harp would be hell for me. So if I end up on a cloud with harp in hand, guess I went to hell. Reincarnation would be nice…as long as I do not come back as a botfly or a petunia. So many say they experienced near death experiences. I hope they did, rather than some brain joyride occurred. I am a bit worried their may be a book somewhere and a deity starts asking about any unfortunate choices I have made. Seems rather pointless if there is nothing. But then again, why should anything else happen? I hope to be surprised when I go. And sincerely hope I die skydiving or being crushed by a whale while swimming with them or something like that. I do not want to die laying in a nursing home bed and stroking out because I could not reach my ass to scratch it.

98. Anonymous on November 2, 2014 at 7:52 am

    I won’t know until I get there. I am not afraid of death. We all have an expiration date. It’s unavoidable. I hope I get to be at peace and enjoy loved ones and friends who arrived ahead of me. I hope it’s a relaxed, peaceful state of being, without time constraints.

99. Anonymous on November 2, 2014 at 7:52 am

    All I want to know is whether it hurts, or whether it’s worth it to find peace/sleep on the other side.

100. Nick on November 2, 2014 at 1:11 am

     I’ve had a number of near death experiences, and here’s the story of one. Back in September of 2006, a nasty headache had come over me. It grew worse and worse each day. Finally it grew so bad I went to the hospital, and was told it was merely a migraine. They drugged me up with Vicodin, leading to me seeing a yellow submarine floating around the room, while the lines “we all live in a yellow submarine” repeated over and over in my head. After that they sent me home.
     The next day my head was throbbing worse than ever, and so, I returned to the hospital. I had to sit for hours on end, waiting for my number to be called. When finally they did, I was brought into a back room to be inspected. The doctor closed the door and turned to face me and at that point the scene before me froze to a halt. Then slowly, darkness started to creep in around the edges of my vision. Gradually it grew to enclose all. Then memories started to flash before me. Seen from a third person point of view, I perceived myself as how I was. Each came dripping heavy with emotion, growing more and more intense. When finally, and abruptly, it all just came to a halt. And once more there was nothing but darkness. Only somehow there still was something, there just no longer was a “me”.
     I then seamed to float out of my body, up to become one with reality. Below, my body lay sprawled out with several people surrounding it. A stretcher was brought in, and I was loaded upon it. Then as it was rolled through the hospital towards a back room, a tornado of emotions was felt coming from all directions. Cries of joy, pain, sorrow, misery, delight, frustration; each cascading into each other. As death was felt claiming the lives of some, new ones were felt just then beginning.
     At last my body was stopped next to a large block of ice, and then placed upon it. After that I slowly sunk back down into it, and once more turned back towards life. A few days later I awoke feeling dazed and confused. The doctors said that I had had herpes simplex encephalitis in my left front temporal lobe which had caused a seizure and a near comatose state. The ice had lessened the swelling, and so, along with medication, managed to bring me back.

101. Kim on November 1, 2014 at 7:14 pm

     I believe that we are essentially energy. When we die, our essence (energy) changes into a new form of energy. Call this form of energy a soul, a spirit, a ghost. We do not simply end. We go on to something else. Whether that something else is heaven or hell, multiple lives to learn what wasn’t from the life before, or haunting the living because of traumatic events that need resolved is certainly open for discussion. I can not contemplate that my existence simply stops when I die.

102. Anonymous on November 1, 2014 at 6:25 pm

     You go to heaven and review your life. Its a place of learning. Its being embraced in love, no worry, stress, just incredible peace. Some don’t realize they have died and they linger those are what we call ghosts. Those who passed over do get to visit here. Two times I’ve had those that passed come and tell me what will happen to other relatives. They have been right.

103. bill s on November 1, 2014 at 5:50 pm

     hard to believe there’s nothing there but if there is I don’t think it will involve our spirits. perhaps we began as another form. being dead doesn’t bother me too much. it’s the dying that I have a concern with

104. STR on November 1, 2014 at 3:14 pm

     Death is that state in which one exists only in the memory of others. How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.

105. Claude P. on November 1, 2014 at 2:32 pm

     Death is the meeting point of all humans, be them young or old. It is the ONLY thing which sees us as equals, and comes to each. Death would make a great leader. Unfortunately, nobody lives to prove it.
     Many of my friends are somewhat afraid of Death. I am, to be frank, curious about it. What happens, where do we go? What NEXT? However appealing the countless possibilities may seem though, I think I would settle for Nothing. Death is only a door, into Oblivion. Does anything follow? Maybe so, but nobody’s lived to tell the tale.

106. Matt on November 1, 2014 at 1:56 pm

     I am a Christian of the Non-Denomination side. I do not believe that if you are saved you go straight to heaven when you die. I had a dream once, very vivid in which I died and woke up a screaming baby crying in the crib and that de ja vu was just learning new things over old things over and over and over and over. I believe that is what Ghosts are.

107. Bonnie, 65 on November 1, 2014 at 11:25 am

     When it happens, it happens. It will be interesting to see how it does and when and then what. Like my brother says, I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. well, We don’t get that choice do we? I was with both my parents on their death beds. My dad had a harder time with being pumped with morphine for a few hours but my mom just went to sleep. I wonder where they are now or what or who.

108. Anonymous on November 1, 2014 at 11:11 am

     When my Dad was dying I was sitting in the living room about 2 weeks before he pasted and I heard him call out to Mama, the only one he ever called Mama was his mother. The following day I asked him about it and he said that he was not afraid of dying anymore as he had seen his mother (Mama) and father and they had their hands out to him saying come to us its time. Makes you stop and take notice.

109. LP on November 1, 2014 at 10:48 am

     I am scared of dying. Is there something after death. Will I pay for my sins or is there nothing there/

110. mmw on November 1, 2014 at 10:19 am

     I think Heaven or Hell are not so much “places” you go…I think they are the feelings you carry with you. If your mind at your death carries regrets, anger, fear, hatred etc. that energy you carry with you will be your “Hell” and your eternity will be spent in your regrets… If your mind is at peace with your life, you are content, you are loved and feel love, you have enjoyed your life and are full of joy and hope for whatever your vision of Heaven is…then you will achieve that “Heaven”. Look at the vastness of space and the enormous universe around us that no mortal could ever see the end of….eternal. I love the earth and nature, the sky, and stars, people and all creatures on it. I know what my personal “Heaven” would hold and I am looking forward to seeing it. My only fear is knowing that the ones I love will have to deal with the sadness of loss, but in MY “Heaven”..I will see them all again.

111. Anonymous on November 1, 2014 at 7:48 am

     Nothing happens when you die. You are dead and over. To worry about an after-life is useless. I do not believe there is one. This is why I am so afraid of dying

112. Sharon on November 1, 2014 at 7:42 am

     My personal belief is that “heaven” and “hell” are lived…and choices we make, make them. We are all energy, energy cannot be created, only changed. With our last breath, we own how we lived and our energy guides us forward…

113. charla on November 1, 2014 at 7:25 am

     I hope there is an after life. I want to see my parents and friends who have passed. My best friend was murdered by her husband and still can’t come to grips with it. She was a wonderful person and didn’t deserve what happened to her. I want to see her again.

114. Anonymous on November 1, 2014 at 7:22 am

     We are of energy. Energy cannot be created, only changed. My belief is that we live our best life in this energy, and then with death, our energy takes another form…

115. Dilligaf on November 1, 2014 at 5:58 am

     There is no life after death. Check out the science. It is physically, chemically and biologically impossible. Every leaf, every sea anemone, every cat, dog, snail etc. lives and dies and the dissipate into the ground and are reassembled into something else. I may be part of a rock, or a tree or bits of many things. Life is life, death is death. Get used to it.

116. Anonymous on November 1, 2014 at 5:56 am

     Nothing. You stop existing. People believe in an afterlife to comfort themselves, but after you die, your brain stops working and so do ‘you’ as a person. There’s just a body left, and that will go eventually too.

117. goldens r great sb on November 1, 2014 at 3:15 am

     if you accept Christ as your savior then you will go to heaven. And there you will experience calm and peace and your loved ones will also be with you. Who could ask for more! My dogs will be there also!

118. Anonymous on November 1, 2014 at 2:15 am

     I don’t know.

119. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 10:12 pm

     God I hope so!

120. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 8:53 pm

     I’m convinced there is life after death. To simply cease “to be” just isn’t logical. One’s life essence has to go somewhere.

121. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 8:45 pm

     I believe if you have been a kind person, when you die you go to a beautiful place. You get to ask all your questions and hear all the answers. You get to see all those you love. You get to be with all the pets you loved in this life. You receive a big box full of all the things you lost, keys, socks, mittens, my xxxx cell phone, etc… You get the idea. I think we are all afraid the act of death will be painful. Perhaps we should not be so quick to judge suicide, there must be a comfort in controlling the end. Perhaps there is just nothing, that does bring comfort to some. As for me I hope it is painless, quick and I get my to see my Mom, dogs and my phone!

122. Lizzie on October 31, 2014 at 8:25 pm

     I believe we go on. In one way or another we go on. Whether it is our soul that goes on to some other existence or our energy that converts to something else or just our deeds and words that have affected others and caused change. I do believe we go on.

123. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 7:46 pm

     I thought as I grew older I would be afraid of what comes next. Now I understand if there is anything beyond this veil of tears here is no escaping. either there is more or there is just nothing. If we die and there is nothing, I have left behind all I love and will not be able to miss it. If there is a heaven and hell and a God to judge me I don’t believe a loving God could consign any of his creatures to hell. How could God punish me, when by punishing me He would also punish anyone who loves me.

124. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 6:26 pm

     I sure am hoping that when I die, I am dead. This life is more than enough for me and if I have to spend some mystical eternity with every f’ing person that ever lived I will be one pissed off corpse!

125. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 5:02 pm

     I like the idea that when our time comes we get to finally lay down our burdens… an end to our struggle and toil. I haven’t had it nearly as rough as some in life (in fact, I’m convinced that all of us who bitch and moan about our First World Problems are generally clueless about what real suffering is) yet still I find living often difficult and painful. Of course there are joys and pleasures as well, but these tend to be fleeting and ephemeral – even the highest of highs is ultimately tinged with a kernel of sorrow, if only because it cannot last and inevitably fades away. When my time comes and I breathe my final breaths I suspect a big part of me will sigh with relief, grateful to be finally crossing that finish line. Whether I’m headed for oblivion or some sort of hereafter is irrelevant – this life, with all its beauty and heartache, is the only one I know.

126. Tammy on October 31, 2014 at 4:41 pm

     Yes, I believe there is. I was with my Dad when he died, and he slipped away very peacefully. My uncle looked into the corner of the room and said, “Oh, sweetheart, I’ve missed you so.” before taking his last breath. My daughter’s friend’s grandma said, “Neil, get my purse, they’re coming for me and I have to go!” My mom’s mom died a few days before my mom did, and when my dad went to the hospital to tell her, she knew. She’d had a vision where she was in the garden with Jesus and it was so beautiful, but when she reached to take his hand, her mom stepped in front of her and took it instead. My family has had visitations from those who’ve gone before us, in dreams, and given us messages that they are watching over us. Sometimes those messages have come right when they were most needed. I believe there is life after death, and I believe that a loved one who has gone before comes to take us there.

127. Paul from Wales on October 31, 2014 at 4:26 pm

     No, there is no life after death. When you die you stay dead. That’s it. The end. We are not as important as some think we are.

128. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 4:04 pm

     A near drowning as a child ended my fear of death . Consciousness never stopped

129. PIC on October 31, 2014 at 3:53 pm

     While we may all have our own concept of what the afterlife will be (self included), I have come to the realization that it truly is inconceivable to know heaven. Just to have no wants is a concept we have never experienced in this life, so how could we possibly imagine an idea of heaven. We cannot! I promise…whatever you think it may be…that thought is wrong. it is better than that!

130. Agnes Gooch on October 31, 2014 at 3:24 pm

     I believe we exist in some form after death. I have no idea if there is a heaven or hell. My belief is based on a firsthand experience. My grandfather died when I was 13. Until that point, I had probably spent half my life with him and grandma, and he was my sun (don’t worry, grandma was my moon and stars).

     At one of the lowest points in my life (a decade later), he saved me from suicide. He had visited me in dreams before several times. I remember at least 3, but I have many dreams that I don’t remember.
     The most important time he visited me, I was wide awake. I was deep in addiction, in a terribly controlling relationship (which was too weird in itself, considering my personality, but that’s another story), and failing the most important task of my life. I was also seriously deep in depression and a mood disorder (hence the addiction, aka, self-medicating), but had no idea. I just knew something was wrong with me, I didn’t know how to fix it, and I didn’t want to exist. I didn’t want to die, so much, I just wanted erased. I wanted to have never been conceived. I could do that, so I was attempting to find a way to die (the relationship was so bad, he probably would have found a way to stop that, too – not because he wouldn’t want me to die, but because he said NO, and he MEANT it!).

     Anyway, I had gone to the bathroom for another marathon of sobbing myself to pieces while muffling the sound (doesn’t work well). I was on my knees, head leaning against the bathroom door. Suddenly, I felt someone approach, and looked up (yes, I know how it sounds – I looked up, at the DOOR). I saw my grandfather walking the last few steps toward me (the door still closed, no hallway), and just where was he coming from, anyway! There was no “light” behind him, he didn’t seem solid, and he sorted of looked like he was just made of energy and making that energy look like he did when alive: wearing his suspenders, sweater and jeans, glasses (with the little elastic strap to keep them on his head).

     I could see the door through him, but that didn’t matter, my grandpa was HERE! I was still feeling my despair. This all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to be surprised or freak out. Then, he smiled, leaned down, and gently kissed my forehead. My sobs immediately changed to cries of relief. Energy struck like lightening through my body from the spot where he kissed my head down through my body’s network to my tippy-toes. I FELT HIS LIPS ON MY SKIN.

     I’ve never experienced anything else like it. He gave me my joy back. My philtrum (that piece of skin between your nose and upper lip) swelled to triple it’s size in about 10 seconds, and TINGLED irritatingly, almost, but that energy he gave me, the happiness, the joy, the faith in life and love, overshadowed it. It took a few minutes for it to go away and for the swelling to evaporate, but I was crying so hard in relief that I didn’t care much. I don’t remember him standing after kissing me, or walking away, but I remember him smiling down at me. Little parts of his translucent body would randomly flicker into small . . . circling circles. This whole thing is weird enough, I don’t know how to describe a ghost very well, I guess. I saw his whole body, even though the door went through him.

     He didn’t tell me anything about after death, he didn’t show me where he was. It was so quick, he was gone so quickly, it was like I had literally gotten a jolt of electricity – but it was HAPPY electricity. I have no doubt it was him. I don’t know, but I think where he is, since he obviously left a body behind, these appearances aren’t needed. But he knew that’s how I’d recognize him best. He saved me.

131. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 1:26 pm

     I think that what happens to our soul when we die is pretty much what happens to our body…it doesn’t go away, it just gradually disintegrates and its component molecules become part of other stuff. I don’t think that “we”, in the sense of our individual personalities and memories, survive, but I think that all of our individual selves are really just masks behind which God hides (or say that all matter and energy is ultimately connected in a greater unity, if you don’t like the G-word), and that when they cease to exist, the God that we really were all along continues eternally. So, on the one hand, death is merely a transition which there is no reason to fear, and on the other hand, you cease to exist forever and it is terrifying. In the contemplation of paradox lies wisdom.

132. Terrence on October 31, 2014 at 1:12 pm

     Just the other day, I received a text message from someone the other day. Before I looked at it, I knew I was going to read about someone’s passing and who the person would be and I was right on both counts. Makes me wonder if we intuitively know when the cosmic scale shifts as people come and go.

133. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 1:06 pm

     having seen a ghost i know there is something beyond death

134. wendy on October 31, 2014 at 12:41 pm

     Greater minds than mine have pondered the question of the afterlife. No conclusions have been reached either way. So I will hedge my bets and try to be a good person and lead a good life..just in case.

135. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 12:39 pm

     It’s a sensitive subject, but should it be? People do it every day. Die, that is. Yet it’s nearly taboo to discuss. No one wants to raise a topic that could be hurtful to someone who has recently lost a loved one. Let’s not tiptoe around it anymore, okay? And let’s put a stop this foolishness about immortality once and for all.
     My mother passed away a few years ago after battling a long, debilitating illness. I take comfort in the fact that, while she is greatly missed, she truly is in a better place (whether it’s strumming a harp on a cloud or in black oblivion). I am happy she no longer needs to suffer. Yet doctors tried obsessively to keep her alive. To keep her going. Pushing toward that impossible dream of immortality.
     I ask, why?
     I read once that scientists are now able to increase the lifespan of yeast tenfold. Goody-goody-gumdrops. Next in line will be amoeba, then insects, and ultimately mammals. Let me pose a question: what good can come of increasing a human lifespan a thousand years? Aren’t there already enough of us living 100 years or better? Try to imagine Earth with ten billion people living a millennium. Sort of feel gut-punched, right?
     The only thing you need to know about death is that it is natural and necessary. It’s all part of a cycle set in motion in a time incomprehensible to human beings, long before our frail tenure on this planet began. Who are we to try to stop the clock? Mama Nature has a plan that has worked wonderfully for billions of years. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to mess with her…she’s bigger and badder than any of us. Than all of us put together, actually. Balk all you want like a petulant teenager–she will win every time.
     My wife worked for years at a retirement home and thus dealt with death regularly. During her time there, she developed a remarkable ability to view this process with a compassionate but clinical detachment. You see, she understands its necessity and has gone a long way in getting me to see it too. I haven’t asked her, but I’m certain she would agree that a planetful of folks celebrating their first eon would be a disaster. Think of all the paperwork she’d have to do. And think of that birthday cake–you’d be able to see the candles burning from outer space.
     So here’s my point. Let us all stop trying to beat the clock, to conquer age, to outsmart our dear old Mother. She’s benevolent, on the whole, but strict as a nun. And unlike your mother, or mine, she really does have eyes in the back of her head. Let’s quit trying to slow the inevitable by avoiding the topic, and just accept it: you’re going to die. Don’t fear it, embrace it. It’s going to be all right. All living beings have been doing it forever, since living beings have been a part of this world. Take comfort, at least, that you’ll be in good company. Take comfort that you won’t have to be the first one through the door to find out what waits on the other side. Death makes everyone equal; enjoy it, I say. Embrace it.
     And Mom? I love you, wherever you are.

136. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 12:28 pm

     I think that you are just….gone.

     poof

     nothing

137. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 12:01 pm

     Ka is a wheel… I’ll see you in the clearing at the end of the path…

138. Dee on October 31, 2014 at 12:00 pm

     My brother died in 1990, he & I were very close and I became pretty angry with God, that he was taken from us by cancer at such a young age (25). Years later my step mother became ill with cancer and she helped me come back to my faith and see that she wasn’t leaving us, but rather going home. So I began to believe again that there is a God and that you get to spend eternity with him in heaven.
     A few years after her death I was at work, which was the local video store. It was a busy weekend evening and a lady came in and needed to open a new account. As I looked at her drivers license I realized she now lived in my childhood home that my brother & I grew up in and where he died. I told her I used to live there and she asked who I was and then proceeded to ask me about my brother & if he died in that house. I told her he technically died in the hospital but yes that is where we lived when he died. Then she proceeded to tell me how her young son was afraid to go into the garage, he said he was afraid of the man that works on the cars. I stopped what I was doing and just started crying, because my brother spent most of his time in the garage tinkering on his cars. The garage was the one place he felt happy during the years especially during the time he was sick.
     Now I question is there a “heaven” or is it just your spirit goes where you were happiest??

139. Miss Mouse on October 31, 2014 at 11:58 am

     I believe in God, I believe there’s a Heaven. I trust I’ll get to see my Dad and little Brother when I leave this earth.

140. Alain on October 31, 2014 at 11:50 am

     During all my childhood, my mother always said that when she dies, she’ll come back and tell us if there is something beyond. She has now been dead since 2003 and I’ m still waiting for the visit. I guess they didn’t let her come see me or that there is nothing else…

141. carlisdm on October 31, 2014 at 11:48 am

     When you die, you go to an spiritual world that I believe is not allowed to contact us, unless it’s an special ocassion.

142. Gordon on October 31, 2014 at 11:41 am

     It comes to all of us I am continually surprised at the reactions of people when someone who is terminally ill or very elderly how surprised they are at the passing of a loved one when their time has come. I think there is life after death maybe not the idealised version of some Faiths, it would be a Tragedy to Disillusion you all to tame your Obsession and curtail your Curiosity but Death comes to us all weather we like it or not make the most of it if there is an Afterlife or Other side we will find out tomorrow next week or some time in the future just enjoy what you have and let the good times roll

143. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 11:23 am

     I’m not dead, so I don’t know what happens when you die. I wish somebody deceased could tell me.

144. Cjw on October 31, 2014 at 10:59 am

     Not as we define life. Thank goodness I have no idea what happens.

145. Lu on October 31, 2014 at 10:34 am

     Even though I have no faith in God at this point in my life, I do believe in Heaven because there HAS to be something better than this earthly existence that we plod through day to day dealing with problems until we die. I hope to one day be reunited with my parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles and never have to be separated from them again.

146. StarChilde on October 31, 2014 at 10:17 am

     I have believed in reincarnation since I was about four years old. No idea how or why I started down that particular path, but it is one I have never left. I think because of this, I have never been afraid of death. That and having comforted the dying and having seen death in many guises, it holds no fear for me. Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to meet it just yet, as there is still so much to do. But afraid? No.

147. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 10:05 am

     I believe that when you die, your brain ceases to function, so you no longer have any thought. The only way that your “spirit” continues, after your death, is through the memories of the living.

148. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 9:50 am

     I can’t say that I truly know what happens when we die. I like to think that after death, you are watching over your loved ones. It would horrible to think that there is nothing and empty.

149. Just B on October 31, 2014 at 9:40 am

     Death is just the end of the physical experience of life. Compare it to the end of a chapter which will segue to the next chapter or chapters. There are those among us that will deny having seen or heard spirits or ghosts. Perhaps they are just in denial.

150. Mandi on October 31, 2014 at 9:25 am

     I want there to be “something” out there after we die. Im afraid there may not be though.

151. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 9:15 am

     I think in the end this is what death is: On your “death bed” are you satisfied that you led a good life? Have you said I love you to all the people you love? Have you forgiven the ones who needed forgiveness? Were you compasionate and generous to those who had less than you? Did you try to leave your part of the world a better place? Once those questions are answered…does it matter where we go next?

152. BT on October 31, 2014 at 8:45 am

     Ummm – well seeing as no one I know who has died has come back to tell me what goes on after I will have to go by what I see. You die your body stops and you no longer exist. However while I can not say there is life after death such as being in heaven or hell, I believe the spirits of those who have gone on before stay around and visit us from time to time.

153. Lori on October 31, 2014 at 8:43 am

     I sure hope so. I have been doing genealogy and have thus learned of some amazing people in my family. Have always heard that after death we will be reunited with everyone. How amazing would that be? If this true, death isn’t quite so scary.

154. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 8:15 am

     Energy doesn’t cease to exist. It transforms.

155. Erica on October 31, 2014 at 8:12 am

     After my husband died, there were times when I needed an emotional boost and a song with his nickname would play. A song rhat is not normally played on certain radio stations. Also, when I made the choice to go back to college I had to pay off an old bill. Money that my family needed. As I stood waiting for the receptionist to get off of the phone, she says, “Wait one minute Aaron, I’ll transfer you.” Aaron was my husband’s name. I know that if one looks for coincidences all the time they will find some, but there were enough placed at really odd times that make me rhink he was still trying to give me some emotional support.

156. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 7:22 am

     People are not aware of anything from before they are born, so why should they think they’ll be aware of anything after they die? Oh, wait! Silly me! I forgot about wishful thinking. But seriously, evolution has instilled in every living thing the will to live (at least, until it has reproduced – many animals, mostly insects, live just long enough to reproduce which “gets” the genes to the next generation). Man is the only animal that can delude itself into a belief in some sort of consciousness after death. Life can be so hard that people create a euphorial existence on another plane, that you can only get to if you have subscribed to the “right” myth. And how do you know it’s the “right” one? The one you are born into, of course! So why endure 60-80 years of toil and heartache? Oh, yeah. Suicide doesn’t get you there – good justification for what is instilled in us by evolution. When are people going to grown up, give up on the “god of the gaps” and accept life and the world for what it is? The cycle of life has been going on for millions of years and each one of us (including me) is just a blip on the radar.

157. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 6:35 am

     Death is the end of living. That’s it; nothing more

158. Tulasi on October 31, 2014 at 6:30 am

     Well, for many years I believed in reincarnation from the Hinduism point of view, and it always made a lot of sense to me. Old Newton’s third law: “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”.
     I thought that made a lot of sense, it gave the world order and equilibrium.
     But then, as always, life happens and everything changed, my faith disappeared.
     Sometimes I look at people debating and fighting over what happens after you die, and I sympathize but also pity them a bit.
     NO ONE, absolutely no one has proof of anything. No one has a clue of what really happens when you die. Then why waste your time struggling and hating others because of it?
     I suppose people get very passionate about this because to them, like it was for me, having some sort of imaginary certainty helps them cope with all the suffering of this world.
     Nowadays I honestly do not know what to think about it, but I do hope that there is actually something after death.
     I find it very upsetting to think that after you die, you simply cease to exist, it would really suck.
     Anyway, I think people in general should learn to make a distinction between HOPING and KNOWING.
     People should stop waving around their ideas about death and religion like they have proof of anything.

159. kohalakirk on October 31, 2014 at 5:21 am

     I formulated this idea when I was about 8 or 9, so I thought it was my idea and have always believed it: when we die, we become part of a bright mass of life, up in space. We get mixed into the oneness, then get recycled into a new life. We may get a new brain, shape, attitude, radically different time period in which to live, etc. To me this means that the best and worst of humanity is a part of all of us. What chooses to express itself in each life must be expressed because it is what we are, from the serial killers to the saints.

160. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 4:56 am

     While I enjoy ghost stories or other tales that implicate some form of life after death, I don’t believe there is anything. Once the brain is gone, the thoughts, memories, and emotions that make up a person are gone. Dead is dead, gone is gone. No convincing or reliable evidence shows otherwise. A lot of people like to believe there is something because they can’t face their own mortality or they think you need some sort of reward and punishment system to behave yourself in this life. I am not a fan of this kind of delusion. But if it makes you a better person or a happier person, have at it. Just don’t expect me to live that way or particularly respect your personal insanity.

161. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 4:16 am

     I died. I was in a comma for two months and I died twice during that time. I had nightmares.. King-worthy nightmares that made those months the most terrifying of my life, and each time I died in real life, I died in the dreams too and I got resurrected; I despaired, I cried, but nobody could hear me. All I wanted is to stop existing. Then… I found out that even after death, you don’t stop existing. I have scars inside me nobody will ever understand ….

162. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 4:02 am

     It is of insufferable difficulty and pain to admit that there probably is nothing after cessation of life. Yet, the instinct of survival does keep the philosophical search for evidence that there is something, rather than nothing, once the natural (or unnatural) causes of termination arrive, alive, and quite animated, at that.

     But it doesn’t feel like it is simple genetic evolution that keeps the flame of hope burning; it feels as if there is a mysticism, a faith, a religious antithesis to Darwin and calculus that fuels the intellectual analysis of a potential for a life after.

     Nevertheless, as one gets older, and as nostalgia goes from feeling sweet to feeling torturously sour, as depression sets in and you feel you are still in the store close to closing time, the realization that there is only science, and that each DNA chain is just another experiment run by the laboratory of natural selection, begins to hit, and hit hard…and it doesn’t feel nice at all.

163. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 3:15 am

     There are worse things than death. Death doesn’t scare me, it’s the when and how that makes the mind think all kinds of things……

164. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 2:05 am

     Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I think you just fade into the dirt with no after life although I’d welcome a continuation of life in some form. It seems much more like a fairy tale or a good fiction to think there is some magic at the end of your life and you go on.I think its just wishful thinking.

165. California Dreamin' on October 31, 2014 at 1:31 am

     I don’t believe in a physical afterlife, where would we fit all the “resurrected” beings? I’m ambivalent about a spiritual afterlife. I’d like to believe that somehow the essence of me hangs around.

166. deldergod on October 31, 2014 at 1:18 am

     I don’t know about you man, but I’m going to get my kicks before the whole (out)house goes up in flames — Jim Morrison.

167. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 1:05 am

     I have terminal Stage 4 cancer and have outlived predictions…”go home and put your affairs in order” was said to me 5 years ago when I was 44. I’m a New Englander of Hawthorne proportions and will not be told what to do. My glass house is filled with gables. It’s also romantic and Whitman calls to me constantly. “Death is different than anyone supposed, and luckier.” And “The eternal principle, which never was born, never will die: it is in all things: it is in you now. You are a wave on the face of the ocean. When the wave is gone, is the water gone? Has anything happened? Nothing has happened. It is a play, a game, a dance.” – Campbell. I just hope not to rest in peace, because that sounds dull. I hope we get to continue the adventure.

168. Kittens McTavish on October 31, 2014 at 1:00 am

     When I die, my body will be burned, and my ashes will settle to earth and fertilize the soil so that new things will grow. Those who knew me will remember something funny I said or something kind I did and, for just that moment, maybe their lives will be a little happier. This is the reality of “life after death.”

169. Anonymous on October 31, 2014 at 12:56 am

     We are all travelers through this world. Heaven is home. I know this because I died and came back. I know this because my papa died and came back to tell me goodbye. He was just like you and me only he glowed…he kissed my forehead and I felt it. When I was three years old he had a birthday cake with 100 candles on it. The whole family was there and I was in the bathroom with a stuck zipper because I wore boys jeans and my fingers couldn’t get it to work right. They lit the cake sang Happy Birthday and he and all my little cousins blew out the candles. I came out crying. They zipped up my jeans and he made them relight every single candle, plopped me in his lap and just he and I blew them out. When he passed I was in a bedroom with my cousins and they came to take them to tell him goodbye. They told me they would come back for me. When my turn came he had passed away. I cried and said that I didn’t get to say goodbye. So he came back to tell me goodbye then left through my closet. My dear aunt who had left instructions for her death when I was only 11 years old and told the whole family I would ‘take care’ of the arrangements came to me in a dream when she was DYING. Everything came back to me… I was 16 and had not seen her in years but she had told me I would remember and I did. Flowers, casket, the whole nine yards. Have you ever known a 16 year old without a tear in her eye doing a funeral without a hitch? That was because I cried it all out the night she came to me in my dream. Then I did exactly as she expected me to. The ball of light that came and floated above me when I was sleeping on the living room couch. I pinched myself to make absolutely sure I was awake. It floated back and forth then left through a locked door. My aunt that raised me promised she would send me a sign from the afterlife to assure me all was well. While at her funeral the lights in the whole room flickered. I looked over to my sister and she was crying and nodding because I had told her something would happen because I knew she would keep that promise. I went home and whether it was kitchen, living room or bedroom the lights would flicker and I would talk to her. Because I knew it was her and still do. Dreams… oh the dreams. They will visit in your dreams if you let them. Heaven is real and beautiful. The love is just so unconditional and encompassing. I have seen those who have passed over and they are in very beautiful homes. They are happy. Happy doesn’t do justice.Words just can not express the things that should be said. It is all about the love. You think your sins interfere and you are wrong. Sinning is only of this world. Once you die there is no sin. One moment of God’s love and you will be forever changed. You see when you know that death is birth.. not suicide but death caused by living here…that what awaits you is pure love and a life that is beyond any beauty you can imagine, then you realize you would withstand ANYTHING on this earth to be able to be there. God is real and He is the Designer, Architect, Power and Creator of all things. He knows you. He knew you before you were born and you knew him. He knows you right this second as you read this. We only go home.
     I have realized just how blessed my life has been. Personally I always thought it was something that most people experienced at some point in their lives. This thing with death and afterlife. I am sad that so many people are just lost. I want to say don’t worry. Believe. Simple. I know that sounds like the Polar Express, but it is true. Try to find that part of you that believed in Santa Claus. The child in yourself because age has no meaning. If you pray and I mean really pray.. with all your heart.. and not the Lord’s Prayer folks please. Pray for each person you love, pray for yourself pray for a sign, answer, enlightenment, just ask for God to show you he is real. Guess what? He will. Now I don’t go around bugging people about God and Jesus.. and yeah I need to study the bible a lot more. Since it is a very important history. But you know, I am anonymous so I can truly speak my heart in a way I wouldn’t… I will end with this.. Do you really want to miss out on Heaven? Don’t you want to KNOW? Pray..I know it’s supernatural but isn’t everything? Oh and Jesus.. wow he is AWESOME. I like God in that form because He can relate.

170. Indy on October 31, 2014 at 12:22 am

     “Go then, there are other worlds than these.”

171. TR on October 31, 2014 at 12:17 am

     I hope there’s something but i really don’t believe there is. And definitely do not believe it’s the Western vision of heaven and hell.

172. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 11:58 pm

     I don’t fear death itself, rather the act of dying. The pain that is associated with most ways of dying. I believe in the Otherworld and the possibility of reincarnation, so death is not actually the end.

173. DrownedKing on October 30, 2014 at 11:07 pm

     I do not fear death. My faith provides me with an understanding of what comes next.

174. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 10:52 pm

     Remember when I saw you in your coffin and you were only 25? Remember how your sister put that sparkly eye-shadow on “you” and then she asked me how you looked, and instead of saying “Did you even know her!????”, I just said ” Sorry for your loss” and then I ran for my car.

175. Rafik on October 30, 2014 at 10:45 pm

     Death is that thing that everyone seems to have such a hard time accepting. And yet is has happened since the beginning of time. All around Death comes down, laying waste to life, the Lord and master of all. Winter comes and kills the leaves that once gripped to life, so tightly did they stick to their trees. Death is the wolf hunting the innocent sheep that pastures its’ life away in the comfort of the cool green grass. It clings to its peaceful existence, as all do, oblivious to the shadow that is ready to end life in one swift move. Then there is people, clinging to the very human idea, that desperate human idea that could have only been conceived by humanity, such is our desperation for life, that their is indeed still that “life” after death. Yet the only proof humanity now has is a book written thousands of years ago by strangers. Death killed the strangers yet their work lived on, but even so, nothing lasts, and it is in this truth that Death can reign supreme. Slow and patient, willing to wait for the kill. Is their life after Death? That itself is the horror of the human mind. Cursed to debate, and hope, and yet in the end succumb to the reality… Dead is dead. Dead is dead. And nothing more was said.

176. domino on October 30, 2014 at 10:30 pm

     I hope there is. That it all doesn’t here. What would there to look forward to if there isn’t.

177. RavenLake on October 30, 2014 at 10:15 pm

     Maybe, maybe not. I would like to think so but I suppose I’ll have to die to find out!

178. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 10:11 pm

     If I had read this when I was younger I might have posted something flip like, “live forever or die trying.” I’m in my mid fifties now and flip doesn’t sit so easily.
     My mom is in her mid eighties, otherwise very healthy and cannot connect moment to moment. My dad is a bit younger and is mentally and physically being crushed under my mother’s illness. I can see that on some level he is ready to check out. In mom’s rare lucid spells she is monumentually sad.
     My parents were quite religious in their younger days but I think that, at least in my dad’s case, that he has abandoned faith ( or perhaps faith abandoned him) because of mom’s Alzheimer’s. Which ever one of them passes first the other won’t be far behind. I think my father wants the afterlife he was promised but suspects that it was a big con.
     As I mentioned, I’m in my fifties now. I don’t feel old but I can see that it just around the bend for me. I never bought into the whole heaven and hell shtick that the faith I was raised in sold and it was a very hard sell indeed. I think that this is it. Our life here on the third pebble from the sun is it. No summer reruns, no syndication, no overseas market. One and done. A spreading ripple in a pond soon lost among all the others and then still.
     But I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that in one tiny corner of my heart I hope that I am wrong. That something of myself (I certainly won’t call it my soul) continues on somewhere. I’m sure my mom and dad feel that same way.
     I don’t think that that’s the case. All too soon we will all find out. But wouldn’t it be pretty if it were so.

179. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 10:04 pm

     I believe that in death we are able to walk those roads not taken in life. And we can peak behind the curtain and reveal life’s mysteries.

180. KSpi on October 30, 2014 at 9:58 pm

     I firmly believe there is an afterlife. It’s what comforts me when I think of my parents who’ve passed on. I would rather have them here on the earthly plane, but they are in a far better place with other loved ones who’ve died and one day, I’ll join them. Mourn the dead but live your life.

181. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 9:36 pm

     I believe we’re no more or no less significant than an earthworm.

182. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 9:23 pm

     I like to think that there is something else. But in my heart, I think it is just over.

183. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 9:03 pm

     I like to think that people get what they believe in after they die. If one believes in reincarnation, that’s what happens to them. If one believes in void and nothingness, that’s what they get. If they believe in heaven, that’s where they go. And if they believe in sins, hell and eternal suffering… well, they still have some time left to reconsider…
     Personally I’d like to stay on Earth as an evil ghost. For as long as I can remember I liked to make stories and scare other people. I guess being an evil spirit would open a whole new world full of possibilities for me.

184. danicus on October 30, 2014 at 8:56 pm

     I do not know. I do not think there is life after death, but I do think there is another form of existence waiting.

185. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 8:40 pm

     I hope there is an afterlife, especially for those who deliberately take another’s life in cold blood. Those who lost their life to violence that way deserve a great and happy afterlife!

186. Penny on October 30, 2014 at 8:32 pm

     Death to me is when the physical body that houses our soul and spirit can no longer function due to natural causes or trauma. As to whether there is life after death; I do believe that our psychological being, soul, spirit, or whatever you call it, continues on. As to where, I do not know. Maybe our soul continues on in another physical body. What I do know is that I’m not ready to find out!

187. Debra on October 30, 2014 at 8:03 pm

     I believe that when you die there is nothing. I would sooooo like to believe there is something more. I love my life and I hope to live a very long, active life. I plan on making the best of the here and now because I’m not convinced there is anything else. I am a realist and I need proof if I’m going to believe in a hereafter. Why isn’t there any proof? Just like life on other planets…where are they? Why don’t they make contact? I’m just not buying it. I think religion was “invented” so that humans don’t loose hope and live moral lives.

188. Ms. J on October 30, 2014 at 7:50 pm

     When you die you either go to Heaven or Hell. I do believe there is life after death and I think it’s forever. Not steps I don’t believe in a purgatory. I believe you have to ask Jesus to be your personal savior in order to go to heaven. And if you don’t then I believe you go to hell. It’s simple and not always fun to swallow but it’s what I believe.

189. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 7:47 pm

     After losing my father in my early 20s to an accident in which his body was never recovered, i have often wondered the answer to this question. My loss made me become a pragmatic agnostic, meaning God might exist but he has to prove it to me, and even if he does exhist it, it does not mean he cares for humans. I have often thought there is nothing after death. But my depression and anxiety has led me to a believe that is a comfort for me and not necessarily a real possibility. I grew up next to the ocean, my siblings and i doing things with my father ( mostly chores, but fishing, kayaking, playing badketball which fortunately my dog could rescue from the ocean. We would take walks at night, rain, snow, dark, or light and talk about hopes n dreams n little things that seemed to matter then.
     Now my belief in the after life is this: you get to go back to the times you treasured most with those you treasured it with if they have passed before you. I have this vision of running down the hill of our property, with the surroundings transparent changing to be what you want it to be, seeing my father walking on the beach and looking up and seeing me and we run to each other and hug and walking on the beach, working in the garden, welcoming others as they depart the previous life. In my belief, you can be present in many different places with those you love; for example my dad and i can be together but he can also be somewhere else with his late father at the same time. For eternity you get to spend the afterlife with those you love, reliving memories and just being in each others presence.

190. Lost in ?? on October 30, 2014 at 7:43 pm

     I think about death quite a lot the last couple of years. When you get to be 60, it’s not so far away, I guess. I wonder if anyone will really notice I’m gone. I have lived alone for over 15 years, when my youngest son went to live with his dad as a freshman in high school. I’ve taken care of my self, and my cats, all this time, with jobs that didn’t pay much but were over minimum wage. I bought 3 little houses along the way, fixed them up doing a lot of the work myself, and sold each one to pay off my debts and move along to see the country.

     But the last 6 years or so, with the economy taking the dive it did, my debts rose because my income didn’t. I used up nearly all of my savings fixing up house #3, then couldn’t sell it for 2 years. My son had a family growing up back in my home state that I couldn’t afford to travel to visit. So I used the last of my savings to file bankruptcy (it’s not cheap to go broke!) and move back ‘home’, walking away and losing everything invested in my last house.

     Now my personal effects & furniture is in storage, I’m living (heaven help me) with my mother who still works part-time in retail to supplement her social security, and I think about death several times a week. After 4 months applying to clerical support type jobs that I was qualified to do, and not even getting interviews, I finally took a seasonal retail job – at over $3 LESS than I used to make (which wasn’t enough, even though I’m quite frugal). And I think about death some more.

     Is this it? Is this all I have to look forward to? I look at my mother – she’s not all that pleasant at this point; she’s f___ 80 years old & still working to make ends meet! Is that what is ahead for me for the next 20 years? Alone, working shitty retail, just to survive & pay the light bill? I don’t have much free time (or gas money) to see those grandkids I moved back to see. I could maybe get a little closer, but even fewer jobs where they live. And I think about death some more.

     I don’t really believe in God anymore. I’m afraid ‘what you see is what you get.’ And then I read something that makes me reconsider. So I don’t know, it might be to nice believe we go to a place without politics, or greedy bastards, or hate, or sick minds. But that makes me think about death some more. I’m tired, and feeling beat, and don’t know how much longer I can wait to see if things get better. So I think a little more about death.

191. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 7:37 pm

     I think there is life after death, perhaps not the heaven as we imagine it but a better place than here none the less.

192. Mr.E on October 30, 2014 at 7:34 pm

     I have mixed feelings as to what happens when we die. I believe we end. Wink out. But a part of me believes we can get caught in The Between if we are not at rest and a part of us stays. Stuck behind in our own Hell.

     I do hope for a life after death but an even larger part of me hopes that I may rest. To finally be at peace. To no longer feel damned.

193. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 7:32 pm

     I change constantly on this question. The Bible says there is a place made for us. It paints a beautiful picture and I think there is a pain free happier place. Then logic starts to set in and I think that when you’re dead-your dead. You never have any proof of any activity after death. Sometimes I think we must hope for the after life to live through this one. I hope there is life after death and I get to communicate with my Mom.

194. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 7:27 pm

     I don’t know. I think there’s something beyond. I feel like there is something beyond. But I don’t know what that is or how any of that works. I like to believe that there are other worlds and maybe you travel on. Or maybe there is a place like Heaven and you see your loved ones. I like to imagine though, that after I die, the first place I go is this Irish pub. It’s all surrounded by mist and fog and that’s all you see. but inside is bright and clean and it’s all wood and has a long bar and there’s this bartender just cleaning glasses with a towel (like in the movies) and you can tell he’s a really nice guy and really funny and has that great sense of humor like my Uncles have. (And I secretly suspect that the bartender is God and maybe he gives that knowing smile and winks in good fun) But he doesn’t say anything and there’s some Irish music playing softly from somewhere and my Grandpa is there (whom I’ve never met because he dies when I was very little.) The oddest thing about all of this is I’ve never had a sip of alcohol in my life but my perfect heaven starts at a pub.

195. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 7:01 pm

     I would love to believe in life after death as I lost my dad three years ago and it would comfort me to think of him existing somewhere else. But unfortunately I do not believe and think people who do are just scared of death. But I am always thinking about my own death and wondering when and how it will happen.

196. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 6:58 pm

     That is the $64,000.00 question. In the human’s limited to understand time, even quantum physics, the past, present and past all runs together and one just sheds the physical moving on to exist in the soul of one’s being. The beings of other planets must be amazed at the primitive and barbaric ways of the human species.

197. rjt on October 30, 2014 at 6:53 pm

     I think we are all part of a bigger Universe or planes of existence. Our energy recycles back into somewhere I think. Death sux, pain, tragedies, cancer, murder all blow the big one. But no pain no gain right? I hope to be continuing on some level. Not sure if our current consciousness goes with the energy though.

198. Sue Kessler on October 30, 2014 at 6:43 pm

     I’m not sure. If there is a heaven, I can’t believe only born-again Christians are allowed there and that there is a hell everyone else goes to, although it would be comforting to think there is a place where all the truly evil souls go to burn for all eternity. I’m inclined to think that whatever your personal heaven might be, do whatever you need to do during your lifetime to insure your soul goes there when you die. Personally, I hope there is reincarnation because I’d like to come back as a Red-tailed Hawk.

199. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 6:36 pm

     Life after death? Maybe not life, but a different existence, yes. I think the mind, body, and soul are far too complex to just cease to exist. I suppose if you are narrow minded, you probably wouldn’t get the concept.

200. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 6:32 pm

     If there is no life after death then existence for millions on earth is a colossal gyp. A hereafter balances the books.

201. Carl R. on October 30, 2014 at 6:28 pm

     Is there life after death, who knows, but if there is I hope to end up as a character in a Stephen King story. Hopefuly just not one with clowns, zombies, killer hotels, possesed cars, St. Bernards, serial killing husbands or the Crimson King!

202. ellen on October 30, 2014 at 6:27 pm

     I hope there’s something.

203. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 6:23 pm

     I believe that nothing happens after you die, sadly you just cease to exist your brain stops and your body decays. Belief in Higher powers and life ever after is only a condition of the mind so that morals and values exist in society. Belief in the afterlife is nessesary otherwise life would be endlessly depressing and there would be no order in society.

204. buffster76 on October 30, 2014 at 6:21 pm

     For a long time, I didn’t think there was anything after death. Within the last several years, I have changed my mind greatly based on certain experiences I have had. Especially when something happened last spring that should have been physically impossible. Yet it happened, and I witnessed it. Since it involved calling out to my deceased mother and father for guidance at a very low point in my life and getting a very definite answer, I no longer believe that there is nothing after death.

205. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 6:14 pm

     I’ve been with two people as they died. I saw the physical slowing and stopping of their bodies. I did not sense their spirits leaving, transforming, or staying with the living, but perhaps they did. There is much that we do not know, and the mystery is wonderful.

206. SK0415 on October 30, 2014 at 6:04 pm

     Of course there is life after death; in fact what we call death is but a transformation when everything we feared the most is clarified and what we wonder the most about is answered.

207. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 5:36 pm

     I sincerely hope that the answers will be revealed. And I hope that I will see my son again.

208. Eddie on October 30, 2014 at 5:25 pm

     Death can only be either the end, or the beginning

209. Ralph on October 30, 2014 at 5:21 pm

     Death is the only thing everyone has in common

210. C. Neal on October 30, 2014 at 5:12 pm

     “Death is certain. Life on this earth with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely….I want nothing more.”

211. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 5:02 pm

     I sat with my aunt as she was dying from cancer. She was heavily dosed with morphine, but would have occasional moments of lucid interaction. Once, she woke up and looked at me and said “where is my little boy?” She only had two daughters, no son. Yet she insisted that a young boy had been sitting in the corner of her room every time she woke up. Her absolute certainty that a young boy was in the room, made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. That was twenty years ago and I have never forgotten it. I hope there was a little boy there to lead her to the next phase.

212. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 5:00 pm

     Death is scary because we fear the unknown. I fear death because of the loved ones I will leave behind. I worry what will happen to my children and hope I have instilled enough knowledge in them so they may care for themselves when I am gone. Having had a religious upbringing I fear the biblical punishment of Hell, and not being worthy of Heaven.

213. David H. on October 30, 2014 at 4:54 pm

     Post death is bound completely with how you’ve lived your life. All of the major religions of the world have doctrine describing afterlife, and all ties in to and is parable of what you do with your time while you live. Eternal life is not a gift given, but granted by the love evoked during ones walk down the path to the clearing, and that eternal life is created in the reflection of one’s self in the eyes of the living. The survivors. If you are good, and you create an impact on the world, you can live forever. People will speak of you. People will learn of you. People will remember you. Also, (and this is not talked about in many religions) if you are evil, and you create an impact on the world, you may too live forever….

214. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 4:52 pm

     You move on to the next step. Life after physical death is, I belive, why we were brought into existence.

215. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 4:42 pm

     I admit, I am afraid of death. I guess it’s the not knowing what’s on the other side, if there is one. I am fearful of a horrible death–an illness that will bring upon a horrible death. I just feel that when we die, we are not done living–we leave behind so many promises that were not kept. So many ideas that will never blossom. And people we will never see again or know what happens to them. I do not like death.

216. Constant reader j on October 30, 2014 at 4:36 pm

     Terrified there’s nothing else, but cannot fathom that there IS anything else. That fear keeps me awake at night, missing what I’ll never see.

217. Kay on October 30, 2014 at 4:33 pm

     Who knows? I loved a notion I saw in one of the Lord of the Rings movies (I think it was The Two Towers). Gandalf said that when we die we go to our most favorite place (and time) and live there. Ever since I saw that I let myself imagine how wonderful that would be. I really do wish that were the case. Well, I guess, it remains to be seen…

218. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 4:30 pm

     The various ideas around what happens after death don’t seem to be inconsistent with each other. Life and Death may be an iterative process if we are here to learn. Some may come back to re-learn what they missed other’s may move onto other dimensions and yet some may get lost in the process. I saw a move years ago that I felt made the most sense – Defending your life, with XXXXX XXXXX and XXXXX XXXXXX. Definitely thought provoking.

219. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 4:01 pm

     I believe that after this world’s death – your spirit (soul if you must call it) goes on. May it take on in an actual form or just a feeling. It is hard for me to believe that once we die here on earth, that’s it…….
     I believe that your spirit takes hold of a place or thing, all that energy has to go somewhere, right? There have been ghost hauntings and sightings all over the world for as long as the world has been here. Some people just happen to get the chance to see or feel these spirits once they have left this world. Maybe we go to another “place” or not, but I can’t wrap my brain around the depressing thought of just being gone forever or being all done.

220. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 4:01 pm

     I honestly don’t know. Just have to wait and see I guess. Sometimes I envy those with a strong belief of God and the afterlife. At least they find a comfort when faced with the loss of a loved one that they will “see” them again in the hereafter. I don’t believe in a “heaven” (or a hell) or even a god.

221. Another Constant Reader on October 30, 2014 at 3:45 pm

     I too have watched my loved ones die of cancer…but i wonder…is the pain they suffer preparing them in some way for what lies beyond death? Or perhaps the pain we suffer when we die is to “even things out” so we can leave this word without any ‘scores’ left to settle…in a word…karma. If you understand the true meaning of karma, you know that I mean no disrespect to those who suffer, it’s just a cause and effect way of seeing things. I see death as a transition, not to heaven, I have no illusions there, but to a different form of energy. Where does that energy go? Back to the earth somehow. The earth has survived just fine for I don’t know how long before humans came along, and it will do great…dare I say better…after humans are extinct.

222. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 3:36 pm

     I believe what we all, deep down, know as fact: death is death. The fact that it is unfathomable, painful, or undesired does not change what it is: the end.

223. Missy on October 30, 2014 at 3:28 pm

     We are all here for a time and then we move on. As we are mostly energy, I don’t think we’re ever truly dead, we just change form and move to a different sphere of consciousness. I believe that not only is there life after death, but that we can choose to experience it or not experience it however we believe it to be. If you believe you’re going to hell, then you will; but if you believe you’re going to heaven to be with all the people in your life that have moved on before you, then that is your eventual destination. I think we all have the same lives to choose from and that the flashes of deja vu we all experience from time to time are our markers to make us take notice of the situation and do it differently this time than we did last time. Once you’ve fulfilled your destiny to your satisfaction you can move on to the next realm and be anything or anyone you want to be.

224. bill on October 30, 2014 at 3:22 pm

     there may be no “life”, but my gut tells me there is awareness of the universal truths that flows above our heads as humans, and how we have been fooled into believing we are broken at birth and that there is no path to God without embracing a specific definition of redemption.

225. Not1knowsme on October 30, 2014 at 3:14 pm

     I have had 3 death experiences. Or near death experiences if you prefer. In each of them I vividly remember warmth, peace and a long tunnel with a white light the length of the tunnel. I was 2 months old the first time, my mother attempted to smother me with a pillow, and a voice told me “She is wrong, you have work to do”. Later when I could talk and vocalize what happened it added to my parent’s belief that I was the devil’s spawn. They already believed this because I was my father’s 12 child and this is somewhere in the Bible, I was told. I could not possibly know about that, yet I did. The second time I was 24 years old and my then husband was doing his nightly interrogation of me when I came home from work, strangulation, to find out whom I had spoken with at work, etc., and went too far. Again a voice told me “You still have work to do”. The last time was at Maine Medical Center in 2007, no one knows still what the medical problem was but I coded, the light was much brighter this time, the warmth and the feeling of serenity much more wonderful. My daughter and a friend were next to my bed and I was looking down on them and again the voice told me “You have to go back” and I said “No please no, I am so tired of it all, the constant pain is too much”. I was fighting as the person was pushing me back toward my body, and then the voice said “She needs you and you have much work to do” so I quit fighting and went. Based upon my personal experiences, I’m absolutely sure this life is only a stop, perhaps like a bus stop, before we board another conveyance to the next world. I would love to know what work I need to do before I can move on so I can do it.

226. kristin teeter on October 30, 2014 at 3:13 pm

     death is a release from the pain of life.

227. Drew on October 30, 2014 at 3:08 pm

     Do you remember what it was like before you were born? Well, that is what it’s like when you die. Think about that some night in the dark when your alone in bed trying to go to sleep. Just try thinking about that.

228. Mike K on October 30, 2014 at 2:53 pm

     I would sure hope there is something else. After watching my whole family die of cancer and the suffering they went through. There just has to be for what the paid when they died

229. Constant Reader on October 30, 2014 at 2:25 pm

     I very much believe we keep on living in another way/place after we leave our earth suits. In talking with the Hospice nurses who helped my mom and dad die, every one said that in 90+% of their experiences, the dying people, no matter what their beliefs, showed positive recognition of someone or something that they were going toward at their deaths. I believe in a God who loves, who wants every person with him/her.

230. David L. Stinson Nevada, Texas on October 30, 2014 at 2:24 pm

     If Materialism is all-
     If we are nothing but biological machines.
     If there is no eternal part of you-
     Then all that you’ve learned and all that you’ve seen
     all that you’ve laughed and all that you’ve loved
     and each and every hope and kindness and dream
     and all you might be and the destiny of ALL that YOU ARE-
     is to make its way slowly through the intestines
     of small, white worms.

231. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 2:18 pm

     I sometimes feel like they are the lucky ones.

232. Anna on October 30, 2014 at 1:49 pm

     When you die you are dead. There is nothing. You are not aware because you are dead. We are no different than any other living thing on this planet in that regard.

233. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 1:45 pm

     When you’re dead, it’s all over. Oh sure it’s nice to think you can watch over your loved ones like the ‘spirits’ in Six Feet Under but, in reality, the heart stops beating, the computer in your head fades to black and all that’s left is your physical carcass and your legacy. Sorry but that’s all there is so enjoy life to the fullest while you’re here.

234. Rick on October 30, 2014 at 1:38 pm

     I believe that while your physical body decomposes in the ground, your spirit and soul live on, in some way, shape or form.

235. The Funeral Director on October 30, 2014 at 1:33 pm

     As an embalmer and Funeral Director I’ve spent many years surrounded daily by death and grief and all of the other things that come with it. I’ve seen all of the physical changes that the human body goes through after death and from all circumstances. I’ve seen all types of grief and heard the stories of hundreds of people and their experiences after a loved one dies. From dreams, to signs and symbols, to odd feelings and sightings and everything in between. Death is not the end. We are spiritual beings on a human journey, the energy of our “souls” does not die in my opinion. I’ve experienced first hand and heard the testimony of too many people to believe that we are nothing more than this body we hold now. I do not believe in a Heaven or Hell but without a doubt believe that death is not the end, but a transition. I’m proud to be a gatekeeper so to speak for those on their way out and serve the people who are left behind.

236. JP on October 30, 2014 at 1:20 pm

     We all require electrical impulses or energy to live. Our brains, our hearts, our entire nervous system, etc.
     This energy has to go somewhere. Where and how I can not explain, BUT it is certainly not destroyed.

237. Wolfbane on October 30, 2014 at 1:11 pm

     I believe in life after death – perhaps another dimension, perhaps a bona fide heaven (or hell), and perhaps something we cannot even imagine. I’m enjoying life for now but looking forward to life after death when the time comes.

238. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 1:08 pm

     I don’t think much about death in relation to myself or my immediate family but I am disturbed by my father’s last day. I took a half day off of work, picked up my mother and we visited him in ICU. He had been very run down and rushed to the hospital 2 weeks before, been on dialysis and had a trach that had recently been removed so he could not talk a lot. At one point he turned to me and said ‘I died’. I looked at my mom and then said ‘No you didn’t you’re here with us.’ He said it again. As we left a nurse said that he would be transferred to a regular room later that day. He died in the early evening in that room. I have wondered if he arrested in the ambulance on the way to the hospital or when he got there or did he dream his future. I guess I might never know or I might find out when I join him in the great beyond.

239. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 12:58 pm

     Absolutely not!! There is a universal law of conservation of matter and energy, we are all stardust and go back to being just that. x

240. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 12:09 pm

     Dust to dust. In our case, star dust. Our matter and energy will be consumed by the Universe once again.

241. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 11:30 am

     I personally believe that there is something after death and my faith leads me to believe that I will be reunited with family and friends. However, dying remains a mystery itself and I am willing to let it be a long time before I experience that process.

242. Robert on October 30, 2014 at 9:34 am

     The ultimate question, isn’t it? I believe there is. Everything in my life experience suggests as much, particularly the ‘mystery’ aspect of existence. I’ve seen and experienced things I can’t define or quantify within the cold hard parameter’s skeptics would. The older I get the more I have a sneaking suspicion we may have a hand in shaping our own afterlife, that we define our own realities even in death.

     Then again that may be a load of crap and the joke may be on me. Either way I’m positive I’ll find out eventually. Meanwhile I get to get on with this living business…

243. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 4:18 am

     Have definitely thought about it. Have read the stories. Listened to the religious. Learned how the chemistry and hormones function with the body and what we know of the brain. Feel that energy changes, but doesn’t disappear. Talked with my mother about it in her last years. Dreamed of my Daddy months after he died telling me not to worry he was alright. In my dream he was walking with a cane and a couple of people I didn’t know were with him. But that was a dream and most likely a result of my grief at losing him. Funny note: he gave me lottery numbers which I promptly forgot when I woke up….wishful thinking I believe. Mother and I had a pact that which ever one of us went first we would come back and tell the other one – if there was anything to tell. Never heard from her or dreamed of her the past 14 years since her death. Don’t really believe in hell. Think that was just a misinterpretation of ancient text and stories passed down and embellished through the centuries. Reincarnation feels comforting, but I don’t think it would be as most think of it….possibly just that energy change. Certainly don’t want to die anytime in the next 50 years, but know that it would be impossible considering I am fast approaching 70, despite being pretty healthy as far as I know. Not really afraid of it. No sense in being afraid. Fear won’t stave it off. If I fear anything it would be physical pain for myself and the emotional pain of my loved ones. I just don’t dwell on those aspects anymore. Have told them all I want a party in my honor when I’m gone. Just lean me against a corner and have a good time, preferably with Guinness and a rip-rooting, tooting Celtic band and no damn lilies. Hate those things; the smell of them give me a headache. So like anyone else living, I really have no concrete idea about what happens, except we aren’t “here” anymore. But as long as someone remembers you, whether for good or evil, you are alive in a sense.

244. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 2:43 am

     When I die, I don’t want anything with my name on it; no tombstone, plaque or memorial. I like the idea of just leaving my corpse in a wood to rot or on a mountain, to be picked clean by vultures.

245. Amma Lullaby on October 30, 2014 at 1:20 am

     What happens when you die? First lets clear the air about death in the world of the living. As long as somebody remembers you, because they knew you, or because they’ve heard stories about you, a part of you never dies. You affect people in ways you’ve probably never considered. As for what happens to your body? Well, it becomes a different sort of molecule and regenerates into something else. As for your consciousness, perhaps you become part of a singular voice that sort of “intuition” that some people have such a clear experience of. Or maybe you go to meet those of your family and friends that left this visible plane before you. In Heaven, for some. I see a very long after life for you, Mr. King – because you have singularly touched the lives of so very many people with your stories. Part of you will live forever.

246. Anonymous on October 30, 2014 at 12:14 am

     I died and came back. I know, you’re all tired of hearing about the tunnel and light and all that, and many of you probably even believe a chemical in our own brains causes these experiences, but I have something to share that might give you pause. When I died and began my travel through what looked like a tunnel, Many small lights were blinking and moving around me. The great light I was heading toward told me (in my mind) to ignore the small lights as they would only slow me down. About that time one of the lights passed through me–and I relived major episodes of a previous life wherein I had known the person the light had been. And then another light passed through. And another. And another. Some of the lives I relived showed me many of the people and family I knew in this life, and others seemed primarily strangers to me in this incarnation. Suddenly I stopped my forward progress before a lovely blond woman I did not know. She told me I had to go back so the baby would be born. Baby? Yes, I was having a baby. I turned to look back behind me–from where I had come–and I was instantly drawn back to this body. Since then, several times I have met people who I recognize from some of the previous lives I saw. And now, more than 45 years later, I have even met the blonde lady. I see her in my granddaughter. I know where we go when we die, and when I reach that light at the end of the tunnel (not really a tunnel–just darkness all around so the light on the horizon creates the tunnel-like effect), I will know that this has been but one of many life experiences. Hopefully I have learned what He or I intended. We have lived before. We will live again. Karma is real, so give Love–all the Love you can.

247. onemorepage on October 29, 2014 at 11:27 pm

     I have no idea. I can make up a lot of stuff that would be nice, but it is all just speculation and fantasy.

248. CDH on October 29, 2014 at 11:00 pm

     I believe that after I die I will be allowed access to Heaven. I believe that many will be. And I think that some may not be, but I don’t think that all who don’t will go to Hell…some will, probably, but not all. And I believe that we can visit this world when we want, after we are dead…at least most of us will be able to.

249. cs601 on October 29, 2014 at 10:01 pm

     Death to me is the end of physical being but still being alive in memory. I do not fear death. It happens to everyone and it’s important to me to leave good memories for loved ones. And I don’t want them to mourn my passing but to rejoice for having known me. I have let these feelings be known because I am 70 years young and could go any time, although I am not ready. Is anyone ever? There’s always more to enjoy and accomplish.

250. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 9:56 pm

     How others remember us when we are “gone” is my belief is an afterlife. If we are remembered in a loving, positive, heartfelt manner, that is Heaven. Conversely, if one is remembered as hateful, selfish, and cruel, well you get it.

251. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 9:15 pm

     Gonna go to the Spirit in the Sky…

252. MARIA VRCHOTA on October 29, 2014 at 8:24 pm

     When I was 11 years old I had a burst anheurism in my brain. I went to a sky blue place with many resounding male voices. I looked towards the sound & saw 300 Angels with long blonde hair, all speaking to each other in small groups. I then became aware that there were 3 huge Archangels standing around me. They were so tall I couldn’t see their faces, & their robes were so long I couldn’t see their feet or hands. Suddenly Michael the Archangel spoke & said, “You know we have to send her back”? Instantly I was back in my body. The top neurologist in the country told my mother that I was the first person in medical history to have survived without an operation, & that most people drop dead instantly. Sometimes I’m sad because I still don’t know why they sent me back, although I know I have a beautiful family, & I’ve helped many people & animals through my life, but I’d still like to know why.

253. Lisa B on October 29, 2014 at 7:38 pm

     I hope I come back as a better person. If not, I hope I’m in a better place.

254. J on October 29, 2014 at 7:35 pm

     I believe that we live and have lived many lives. When we die we are reincarnated. The cycle continues until we learn the truth of our existence. When we learn this truth we become one with all life. I know this is not a common belief, but it is mine.

255. me on October 29, 2014 at 7:34 pm

     I have absolutely no clue. Not sure anyone does.

256. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 7:07 pm

     I have no idea. I think our “spirit” “consciousness” what ever you call it still exist though.

257. L.H. on October 29, 2014 at 6:20 pm

     I don’t believe in a god or gods in any traditional sense. In my opinion, an afterlife would need to make sense in some way to be possible, since it is quite obvious that the universe is not centered around us. The only reason for it that I’ve ever been able to think of is this:

     The energy that makes up our thought processes does not lose our memories upon death, but joins with those of every living creature that has come before. An ever growing tapestry of knowledge. The mega/multi-verse itself is alive in a way we do not understand and through this collected experience, it too experiences. This mean that heaven or hell for us would simply involve fully realizing how we compare to every other being in the universe. Imagine Hitler doomed to understand how awesome John Lennon was for all eternity.

258. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 6:04 pm

     I wonder why humanity is so obsessed by this one question, the one question you are certain to get an answer to.

259. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 5:36 pm

     I honestly don’t know and don’t really care. We all die and whatever happens, happens.

260. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 5:30 pm

     I believe there is a heaven and a hell, and each human will go to one or the other depending on their belief in God. We will die, and our spirits will be separated from the body. I do not fear Death, nor will I when my time here on earth and in this earthly body is up.

261. Red on October 29, 2014 at 5:09 pm

     I believe when we die it’s all over. I don’t believe in souls or afterlife. I think that people who do overestimate the importance of humanity. Just because we have big brains doesn’t mean we get to go on living after we die. This doesn’t bother me in the least, I’m just happy I got a chance to live. I also just got deja vu writing this so that’s weird!

262. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 5:05 pm

     As per our current understanding: energy and matter can change, but is not destroyed. We are, essentially, energy and matter. Our body decays into it’s elements and becomes part of the natural environment. But there appears to be another part of a living creature – the consciousness, spirit, soul. This part could continue to exist, unchanged, as an individual. Our physical life may be just one phase of existence. When we die the spirit simply releases (like a birth) into this world and maybe also into a different plane, dimension or wavelength. If this is the case, then what we “are” would continue on. If we are loving, happy and kind now we will likely be the same in the next phase. If we are evil, unhappy, tormented now we will continue to be so (hence “heaven and hell”). Perhaps our “job” now is to settle on what we want to be for as long as this universe exists.

263. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 4:55 pm

     I believe that our spirits are reincarnated until the individual spirit reaches a level of “spiritual mastery” so to speak. Our time on earth is essentially purgatory and when we are ready, we may go to heaven. I think that God put us on earth because it is the only thing He doesn’t know: what it’s like to not be God. So once we die, I believe that we are either reincarnated or we go to heaven.

264. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 4:49 pm

     If you believe in the 4 elements then you know you cannot eliminate them but only change there form. Since man in nothing more that the elements then it does not die only changes form.

265. Civility on October 29, 2014 at 4:15 pm

     Of my top ten favorite novels, The Stand is one I’ve read twice. I see similarities between it and the emerging Ebola reality horror show here, in the US.

     My heart tell me we’re in terrible trouble, but my mind says maybe the head honchos will be able to stop it. It’s like Chapter 1 of a horror reality show unfolding before Americans, but the affected West African countries are already in the middle of the book. Surely they pray harder than any group in the world for now. The thing is about this disease is that I can’t find how long it takes for a person to go through seroconversion from the time they’re infected to the time their blood test shows up positive, like an HIV test. Thus, a person could show they’re negative and be going about their business, but really be positive, and it’s only when most (not all) get feverish that signals they have active Ebola. Since it can be transmitted by sweat, imagine your young adult kids out dancing or working out at the gym with someone who is self-monitoring but not home-bound on a 21 day quarantine. It’s a reality show nightmare, full of interesting characters.

     Nine years your junior, I grew up reading your stories. Love the heroes and heroines. Later I became and am a mental health professional, and Steven, I have to tell you, the hidden insanity, only revealed in her private abuse of her victim in Misery was right on target. I also liked Needful Things a great deal; it captured the obsessive, destructive yearning in the human heart, as well as the malice in some characters and how they connected, that compromises judgment.

     But about your question of death. I don’t like pain (who does?) but I don’t worry so much about my own death because of my age, and because I’ve lived most of my life and my faith is that God has grand plan for humanity. I’ve wondered if Ebola will keep us (or delay us) from mutually assured destruction from our endless wars and that we’ve been pushing our luck starting them. However I have sorrow for my young adult children if they leave this world so soon from a pandemic or any other horror that might find them. Again, I have to trust in God, and that one day in eternity I may be fortunate enough to see them and other loved ones.

     And best wishes on your new book.

266. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 3:35 pm

     Death is the end, there is no afterlife, soul blah blah blah, we are purely physical beings and when our bodies have enough that’s it. I do think about death more now that I have child as I wonder about how she will cope and how her life will turn out when I am not around and wonder what the planet will be like 100 years from now.

267. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 3:33 pm

     I believe that there is no heaven, no hell, but there is an afterlife. This is where my soul will spend eternity.

268. Soda Pop on October 29, 2014 at 3:18 pm

     Death. Depending on the circumstance and your reaction to it it will be seen differently by all. But it is quite. It is the end. It is the beginning. It is the freedom from the body and all its desires and addictions. I made a commitment to my Grandpa when I was six not to die until I had been in “both” oceans. So anytime will do. I am not afraid of death, never have been. So I imagine my death will be uneventful. But it will probably depend on what happens between here and then.

269. suzeeqew on October 29, 2014 at 2:46 pm

     if you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart,then you WON’T die! and hopefully,all of your loved ones will be in heaven with you.if you’ve turned your back on God,then the Bible tells that story….

270. Luke DRB on October 29, 2014 at 2:46 pm

     Death is the end. No afterlife, no magical world. It’s the end of life. If it makes you feel better to believe in an afterlife, I’m OK with that, but there is no proof whatsoever. I find it impossible to believe that something can exist when it has never been proven. Death is the end.

271. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 2:37 pm

     I take such debates with both spiritual and scientific points of view. Matter is never destroyed, but changes. Thus when we die, we become something else. our energy moves forward and becomes part of the world the rest live in. That is why embalming is an abomination. We should rot, and feed the earth and plants and animals, not be preserved for sentimentality, our bodies cured like pork and preserved like dolls. That’s sick.

272. DeeCee on October 29, 2014 at 2:15 pm

     I am absolutely certain that there is life beyond death. There are so many stories about near death experiences that I don’t know how anyone could doubt this idea. I have also had experiences myself with my loved ones who are deceased, beginning with my Grandma, who died when I was almost 12. I don’t believe there’s a place we go that is full of only Christians. I think each person experiences the other side in their own way. I believe there is some order to it, as there is order in the universe, but I don’t think it has much to do with religion. I find it impossible to believe that God would keep out millions of people who don’t happen to believe in Jesus. I picture it as a beautiful place where you can be with anyone you want and learn anything where you spend as long as you want until your next incarnation on earth. I truly look forward to seeing people I love who have crossed over.

273. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 1:54 pm

     Live life while you can, after that you are worm food.

274. GHickman on October 29, 2014 at 1:46 pm

     Death is the beginning. I’m Not sure if we will have more work to do before we are ready to meet God. Some will be more prepared than others… But that is our ultimate goal.

275. Lara on October 29, 2014 at 1:43 pm

     YOLO.
     Unfortunately, I don’t think that the afterlife is as great as we want it to be. I believe that we do live on after our death, but only the same way any thing else does. Our molecules and energy get reabsorbed back into the environment. I don’t think consciousness survives and I don’t think that humans have a soul, unless dogs and cats and plants to do. This is a sad way to go through life, but it also forces me to work hard and live the best life I can. I wish I had faith, life would probably be happier.

276. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 1:27 pm

     I have been a widow since 1996. He was my soul mate. I try to live a good life now, so that I may be with him, either in Heaven, or in another life. I believe we had been together before, because I “recognized” him as soon as our eyes met. I have never remarried, because no one else could replace him…

277. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 1:16 pm

     I believe in heaven. I believe we are all brought to a place where we finally learn all of the “answers”, where we re-unite with our loved ones and meet God. I also believe in -reincarnation and that we have been here before and have lived various lives and that we all have soul mates that are a part of our many lives over and over again in different roles.

278. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 12:57 pm

     For a long time I believed that whatever happened to someone when they died was whatever they believed. If they felt there was a heaven and a hell, they’d go to one of those places – but not based on any arbitrary checklist or gatekeeping. It would be more like a self-judgment. That theory didn’t allow for sociopaths – non-empathic people who may have committed heinous acts while alive – believing that what they did was right, or even OK, and therefore getting into whatever they believed Heaven to be like (which would probably seem like hell for the rest of us.) I then thought that instead of a God, maybe a universal sense of karma – controlled by whom, if anyone, I know not – acts as a regulator when we die, and in place of a strictly codified heaven or hell the soul is sent to what it could perceive as either heavenly or hellish. I now believe more in the Wheel of Samsara approach, where we keep getting “sent back” until we get it right (whatever that may be; not the same for everyone at every stage.) I do see Death as more of a next stage of life than a complete ending or shutoff of consciousness.

279. Virren on October 29, 2014 at 11:58 am

     I do not know which faith is the right one. Having a religion is great, but it doesn’t automatically make you a good person. I believe that, even if you didn’t believe in God or Jesus or Allah, if you truly were a good person in your life on earth it will be rewarded.
     Is there a heaven? Nobody truly knows. I like the idea my grandmother had about heaven. She believed that everybody had there own place to go to like your home on earth, and you would live on in the place that made you the happiest. Loved ones who passed away would be able to come by whenever you’d like etc. I really hope she is in such a place now… But it is not necessarily what everybody should believe.

     Personally I fear death at this stage in my life. Simply because I do not want to go yet and have a fear that it will be painful to die. Not only physical but also emotional, because of everything you have to leave behind.

280. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 11:55 am

     Literally nobody knows what happens when we die.

281. Heart Away on October 29, 2014 at 11:29 am

     Death can come in many forms,shapes and can bring many,many feelings (salvation, pain, despair, joy, revelation etc. ). Which feeling will you get? Well it heavily depends on what kind of person you are and what life are you living. Keyword Life. Black and white. Yin and Yang. Death and Life.Each side have their opposites. So right now I’m just living this life and when death comes…well…let me tell you something I heard in one song: “And when you die, the only kingdom you’ll see is 2 foot wide and 6 foot deep”.

282. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 11:18 am

     All of the energy that we have put out into the world floods our senses. This is where I believe we get the ideas of heaven and hell. If we were good people in life and put love and beauty in the world, this is what we will get back in death. If we were bad people and put hatred and anger into the world, that is what we will receive. For eternity.

283. Joe Seer on October 29, 2014 at 11:17 am

     Death does not frighten me. I have a serious medical condition that forces me to keep the thought of death every present. However, knowing this does not alarm me, worry me, preoccupy me, etc.. it just is. It is not the end of ‘life’, but just a transition from this current corporeal condition to the next ‘condition’ (however/whatever that might be). The loss of life is felt by those left behind, not the one passing on. I am curious to see what is in store. What will I see, feel? Will I be able to interact with my past ‘earth’ life? Will I even be conscious of where I came from? Life is eternal – regardless of state. Our soul has a past, present, and future.

284. Pandora on October 29, 2014 at 10:59 am

     I certainly don’t want to die, but I am not terrified by death either. Going through chemo many years ago, I dreamt of a cousin ho had passed. She showed me some version of an afterlife and I have been at peace with death ever since. I genuinely believe we are never really gone

285. Andy on October 29, 2014 at 10:51 am

     What happens when you die depends on the choices you made while you were alive. If you asked Jesus into your heart you know where you’re going and that you have a home there. If not…

286. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 10:34 am

     We reap the fruits of our actions in hell or heaven (as the case may be) and then we are reborn to continue our spiritual journey toward God.

287. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 10:22 am

     The Return in the Light, going back to our Source… It’s not to explain in words, it’s way beyond our imagination… If I really have to try, I’d use these words: Love, Light and Brigtness, Pure, Divine, …

288. truewonder on October 29, 2014 at 10:20 am

     Well…I don’t know. I have a feeling though, that death is just a door that only love can come and go through.

289. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 10:11 am

     We become pure energy and then are reborn

290. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 10:02 am

     Ideally, I hope there’s some sort of spiritual aftermath where people can have the chance of a ‘do-over’. There’s too much to see and not enough time and too much hardship piled into that short life. I’d like another go in other circumstances.

     Realistically, nothing.

291. IS on October 29, 2014 at 9:49 am

     Energy can’t be created or destroyed, it can only be transformed.

292. Jan on October 29, 2014 at 9:46 am

     I leave that sword fight to others. The reality is that I’m alive now, so might as well make the best of it. It would be nice to have the kind of afterlife that I daydream about sometimes, but beyond that, focusing my own eternity is just exhausting. I do love reading fiction and non-fiction on the subject. It’s fascinating because nobody knows, so rather than engaging in that debate, I’d rather get a bag of popcorn and sit back and watch others speak in absolutes. Sometimes this movie is a comedy, sometimes a tragedy, but always, always entertaining.

293. IS on October 29, 2014 at 9:44 am

     Energy can’t be destroyed or created, it can only be transformed …

294. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 9:38 am

     The body and brain stop functioning. Death creates pain and sadness for those still living. It brings peace or justice to those who die.

295. TWMJ on October 29, 2014 at 8:44 am

     I believe that your spirit comes back in another form. I’ve put in my request to come back as a Golden Retriever. There is no creature more dear.

296. Anon on October 29, 2014 at 8:39 am

     When you die you become worm food and fossils. That’s it.

297. One-Eyed Jack on October 29, 2014 at 8:29 am

     …Who knows?
     …I don’t want to think of it, only that this life is short, and we must enjoy it while it lasts…
     Do we ascend somehow when we die? I’d rather enjoy earthly bounties than ponder questions that I may never fully comprehend…

298. Jackie on October 29, 2014 at 8:11 am

     My family would cry and say lovely words about me and when they remember me they allways will have a big smile on their faces.

299. Writer Z on October 29, 2014 at 8:11 am

     Well, that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? If it weren’t such a mystery, we wouldn’t be so fascinated and frightened by it.

     But there is something. I say this because, when my father died, my mother saw his spirit pass from his body. It was something that, when it happened, she didn’t speak of to anyone for some time. She knew what she had seen; she knew it was real and not a hallucination; and she wondered if perhaps she had gone a little mad.

     Then she spoke with my father’s primary oncologist, telling him what had happened: “He was lying in ICU, and in the corner there appeared this bright ball of light. It was like fire, brighter than the sun, but it didn’t hurt to look at it. It began to move along the place where the ceiling and wall connected. I was watching it as it made its way around the room. It was pulsing, like it was beckoning. And I felt my husband wanting to go to it. At some point, I had to look away from it, as I understood it wasn’t there for me. And so I continued to follow it, but without looking at it directly. When it had made its way around the room, and stopped over my husband’s bed, it just went, and he went with it. The doctor who was in the room with me said, ‘Your husband just expired.’ And I asked him, ‘Did you see that?’ hoping he didn’t think I was crazy. And he said, ‘Yes. That was your husband’s soul passing.’ So tell me, Dr. ____, do you think I’m crazy or…?” My father’s oncologist responded that he’d heard of this happening before, but it was extremely rare. He told my mother she had experienced something very few people ever do.

     On a personal note, I knew when my father died without having to be told. I was staying at a relative’s house that day, and I was sitting alone in a basement room. I remember it was very quiet; the air was so still it almost seemed to hum. And as I sat there, I looked up at a corner of the room, and it was a like voice only I could hear spoke quite calmly and matter-of-factly to me: “Your father just died.” There was no flourish of trumpets; no angelic choir rose up in polyphonous profusion. Just this voice conveying to me this information.

     I then went upstairs and looked at the clock on kitchen range. It was 1:38 p.m. I said nothing to anyone about what I had experienced in the basement. I didn’t feel traumatized or devastated. It was just information that had been given to me.

     Later that evening, I was taken to another relative’s house, where my mother was. A family friend and nurse who had helped care for my father took my sister and I to the bedroom where my mother lay. She, Mother, was distraught but doing her best to be strong for my sister and me. The family friend and nurse was the person who had told my sister and I, the previous night, that our father was dying. Using terminology she had us when telling us this, she now said to us, “Your father moved to his next plane or phase after 1:30.” To which my sister said, “You mean he died?” To which the friend and nurse said, “Yes.”

     It may seem bizarre — even incredulous — to read these words. But it happened. And I understand there is far more to this world than we can see or know.

300. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 8:10 am

     I would like to think that it is similar to Defending Your LIfe. I believe in God, I believe in an afterlife…but I also believe that we have to keep reliving our lives until we learn HOW to LIVE. I believe once we die, we will see the true ramifications our lives had on others, that we will see how being selfish or selfless affected the world. I believe once we have proven ourselves we will move one to the next chapter….maybe it’s Heaven, maybe it’s another dimension…but we we WILL live on.

301. Daniel Gonçalves on October 29, 2014 at 7:19 am

     After your last breath, your brain will shut down and you’l enter the realm of nothingness. Ever had surgery? That’s what death will look like: a dreamless eternal sleep.

302. Elsa Mars on October 29, 2014 at 7:05 am

     The whole world disappears, so nothing really matters anymore.

303. anon on October 29, 2014 at 6:55 am

     An end to pain.

304. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 6:48 am

     Death is inevitable. Birth is also like a death sentence with no identifiable date. I’m a strong believer in reincarnation, but one’s beliefs do not clearly define the enigmatic event that is death. The only way to be sure of what happens after death is to die, and most people don’t wish to die voluntarily. The way that I see it is that, rather than worry about when we will die and what will happen, we should instead continue living as we do now, and let things answer themselves when the time comes. Because, why worry about something we have no control over?

305. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 6:36 am

     I think Death isn’t the opposite of Life. Birth is the opposite of Death and Life is eternal. The only thing I don’t know and nobody can ever know is what happens with your soul afterwards. Could be reïncarnation, but I don’t think that is the case, since there are more and more souls people on this planet. Or it should be that there is a stream of human souls to Earth. What I do think is that too many people fear Death, while it’s a natural phenomenon.

306. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 6:35 am

     I believe there is something after, I believe in God. I just don’t know what heaven is like. Maybe it is different for everyone.

307. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 6:27 am

     Death- it’s like a song I can hear, playing right in my ear, but I can’t sing and I can’t help listening…….Jackson Browne. For a Dancer

308. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 6:24 am

     We’re energy at our core which goes on. To what no-one knows.

     The thought of being a ghost and trapped in one place is the worst. How boring is that?! Or being at the beck and call of a medium at any time. I do watch some of those paranormal shows on occasion (hey why not?) and the thought of being a spirit just hanging around seems worse than death to me. Rather be a ball of energy zipping around the universe seeing what’s there instead of being stuck here.

309. sevn7 on October 29, 2014 at 5:47 am

     I agree with many of the comments you just end….There is nothing more….hopefully your ashes are scattered and we join the compost process of the earth

310. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 5:37 am

     Who truely knows?

311. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 4:34 am

     nothing.

312. robert on October 29, 2014 at 4:32 am

     I don’t believe in an afterlife, but don’t belittle those who do. Either way Death will grasp her hands around me one day, and take me to where I’ve chosen to go. Cremation favoured option just now. Death scare me? Nope. What does scare me is method it will occur. But more importantly I want to live long enough to see my children grow to at least adulthood.

313. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 4:25 am

     I think, what’s the point in even thinking or wondering about it? There’s no way of knowing what there is or isn’t after death and absolutely nothing that we can do about the fact that we are all going to die, whether it be today or in fifty years time… live each day as if it is your last, do your best to be happy and healthy and be kind and respectful to others around you. Peace.

314. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 4:18 am

     You’re dead. That’s it.

315. Yvonne on October 29, 2014 at 4:00 am

     No idea. I’ll let you know when I’m dead. Ha. I have no idea what happens when you die. Is there a heaven, a hell, some sort of afterlife, are you going on to a new level, do you get reincarnated, or is there nothing but oblivion? And which would be worse; to have an afterlife in which you may go to hell or have to face the judgement of a god you didn’t worship in life, or to know that there is nothing and that this down here, on this earth, is all the existence you’re going to get? My dad had a near death experience and when asked he said there was nothing; no white light or anything. What that means I don’t know. I do know there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re all going to die, we can’t escape it; being afraid of it is a waste of emotion. I don’t like the idea of the actual dying bit but I’m interested in seeing what actually being dead is all about. It’ll be fascinating to discover if there is anything after. Am I afraid of ending up in hell? I don’t really believe in heaven or hell but if those places do exist I suspect I’m not bound for heaven. I’m not the nicest or best person in the world, but at the same time I’m not sure I’m wicked enough to deserve fiery torments in hell. I guess, like a lot of things, I’ll just have to wait and see.

316. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 3:10 am

     Beautiful oblivion.

317. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 3:08 am

     You get to sleep all day – everyday! I can’t wait!

318. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 2:43 am

     Nothing happens. Nothing. No white lights, no trumpets, or angels, no fire and brimstone. There is only the dreamless sleep

319. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 2:39 am

     Nothing happens when you die. Nothing. No mystical diety, or devil comes for you. No white light. No family members. It’s like falling into a dreamless sleep. Knowing that, what’s to fear?

320. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 2:06 am

     I can honestly say that if I am laying very still and I feel myself drift off to sleep in a certain way I feel as through I may be dying and in a panic I will force myself awake. For all the religious training seems to mean nothing when I feel my body letting go.

321. Michelle B. on October 29, 2014 at 2:05 am

     The body dies.. your energy carries on to the next level OR if there’s no other level then i guess you will be judged and condemmed or forgiven.

322. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 1:58 am

     Whatever chemical processes propelling the being that is “you” come to a gradual (or abrupt) stop. The particles which constitute our physical bodies return to the universe for recycling. As for a soul or higher conciousness, what’s the point? Mankind is inherently flawed, look around you. It’s all a matter of degree. We are better at destroying than creating.

323. Lilith on October 29, 2014 at 1:02 am

     Death is only the beginning.

324. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 1:01 am

     I will not take your key or his but my own as I was promised or I will die! I’m here for my pleasure not yours!

325. sara cicek on October 29, 2014 at 12:54 am

     I hope theres there something different out there and if the next ones like this one I’m gonna stop time and rot cause I need something else I feel like I’m being abused here

326. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 12:48 am

     I’m a nurse and I’ve seen death on many levels.
     There is a peaceful death, a painful death and the worst kind of death where you are still alive but your dead inside.

327. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 12:44 am

     I am a Christian and believe I will go to heaven. What does it all entail? Is there such a thing as Reincarnation? Are there other worlds? Our God is a supernatural God, who has shown He can do anything. I know that I belong to Him and all will be shown, one day.

328. beth on October 29, 2014 at 12:08 am

     When we die our spirit leaves our body and joins Christ in Heaven. It is the ultimate reward for all Christians.

329. Anonymous on October 29, 2014 at 12:08 am

     I am not afraid of dying, or even what comes after death. I am afraid of what leads up to it.

330. CB on October 29, 2014 at 12:03 am

     I don’t know…it hasn’t happened yet, which is a big plus every morning.

331. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:41 pm

     Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed. Death is an illusion.

332. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:32 pm

     Many people in my family are religious, they believe in Heaven and Hell or an afterlife of some sort and for a while I did to, my faith in a god faded and I stopped following the belief that there is an afterlife, we just decompose in our graves. One night, not to long ago, I was laying in bed and couldn’t fall asleep and I was just thinking about, “What happens when we die? Energy cannot be created or destroyed, we keep living on in some shape or form but the consciousness, what happens to that?” and I just went a bit crazy, I don’t normally say that I fear death, and I don’t know if it’s death I fear or what happens after death.

333. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:27 pm

     I get to go home. I get to be with my Father and Jesus.

334. AM on October 28, 2014 at 11:18 pm

     I was raised Christian, and desperately want to believe there’s something after. But honestly, it scares the shit out of me. The thought of just…stopping. Everything in my head, my memories, my entire ME-ness just gone. And as time passes not even anyone to know or care I was ever here.

335. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:17 pm

     We are human, and most people fear death because they either want to be successful, achieve something great, or obtain as much stuff as possible. People also don’t want their death to be painful. But why should we fear death because when we are dead we will feel no pain? We will feel nothing.

336. Christina on October 28, 2014 at 11:16 pm

     We decompose in our graves.

337. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:14 pm

     The afterlife is self created. You make your own heaven or hell by the way you have or haven’t developed in life. You pass judgement on yourself at death. You get what you feel you deserve. Prepare by letting go of all your attachments. We go out of this world by ourselves so be prepared.

338. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:11 pm

     Transformation. (Sorry, I’m a Tarot reader. You get what you get.)

339. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:11 pm

     There is an afterlife but it’s not all of us sitting around in robes singing songs of praise to a giant light on a throne surrounded by streets of gold. It IS however a place where time does not exist, another dimension. Here on earth we are bound by time. We are on a linear path with it and everything we understand about reality is rooted in time. Events that occurred in the past and events we hope to occur in the future. But there are higher dimensions where time as we know it does not exist. Our creators exist there in eternity, a place without beginning or end. We are not able to comprehend this place here but it exist. In it you can move forward and back, you can explore as many lifetimes as you want. Play out one set of events then try out another. And we’ve all done this many times over. Those of us here in this life are the elected spirits, chosen to enjoy this and earth is a special place. We are all incredibly powerful, much more than we know or can even comprehend. We’re all sleeping.

340. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 11:05 pm

     And then there was silence.

341. fiona on October 28, 2014 at 10:54 pm

     I’m catholic so I suppose it’s heaven hell or purgatory for a while, but that’s not much help because heaven could be anything is it we all live it up in paradise or do we join a collective consciousness, we don’t know. I realy like the idea of reincarnation because I like being alive as long as I come back as a person. I’ve heard there is only one person who must live every life from a Chinese man to an Indian girl to a Nazi and Jew we are all one soul overlapping the one time line and only when the one has lived every single life then they will be called home. so be care full what wrong you do to another person you are doing to yourself what you inflict you will be the recipient of when you are living that life.
     I don’t know nobody dose look up the story of the river fly. no ones ever come back to tell us what happens
     we’ll have to wait and see.

342. Kim on October 28, 2014 at 10:53 pm

     Hearing so many stories of people who have died and told of what they experienced is a comfort. Most say they had the most peaceful feeling and they did not want to return to life. I do believe our souls live on and that our loved ones who have passed are waiting for us. It scares me to think of leaving this world but there is also a strange comfort in it. It can’t just be nothingness.

343. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 10:51 pm

     I died twice already. I saw nothing but a gray nothing. Maybe I was not dead long enough to experience what really happens.

344. Snow on October 28, 2014 at 10:45 pm

     I think more about death now than when I was younger. Then I don’t think it really crossed my mind. Religon says the number of days I have ,were numbered long before I was even born. Every time I plan something, I wonder if I’ll be here.

345. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 10:41 pm

     End of pain.

346. Jane on October 28, 2014 at 10:40 pm

     You stop breathing. Your heart stops. Your brain ceases to function. That’s pretty much it.

347. trish on October 28, 2014 at 10:31 pm

     I don’t know. I don’t fear death-I figure its coming one way or another and that is one thing I can’t turn aside.

348. Sue on October 28, 2014 at 10:27 pm

     Our physical body stops and our essence, or soul, leaves its earthly shell and travels to its final destination. Mine is going to Heaven.

349. Star on October 28, 2014 at 10:19 pm

     Death is the bane of the living. The strongest links in the chains of the oppressor. Death comes in many forms, catching unaware the intended. From the first power trickle of the toddler stepping on a spider to the unbearable sobs of the grieving mother death leaves it’s mark only upon those who are alive. Once death takes you, you are it’s equal.

350. Peter S. on October 28, 2014 at 10:13 pm

     Death it’s the one thing we all humans and animals have in commen. Were born we live, we die. Some die young, some die very old. Some in incredible pain others peacefully. If given a choice I would like to go in my sleep. Odds are probably in some degree of pain. After life? Guess we’ll find out, do I believe there’s a being who will decide my fate. No. But if believing in some supreme being gets you thru your day. I’m OK with that, as long as you don’t try to force me to believe. What you do, and live my life according to your belief’s.

351. Darlene on October 28, 2014 at 10:04 pm

     I have experienced spirits firsthand and Ik ow they had to have lived at some point. So yes, I do believe in something after death. Ido bekieve in God.

352. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 10:03 pm

     Those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as their Lord and Savior will live forever with him in Heaven. It is said that those who do not believe will go to hell.

353. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:59 pm

     You find out whether or not you got it right……or you just blink out of existance.

354. GHickman on October 28, 2014 at 9:56 pm

     Death is the beginning. I’m not sure if we have more work to do before we are prepared to meet God. Some will be more prepared than others; but that is our ultimate goal…

355. It's Me, Margaret. on October 28, 2014 at 9:54 pm

     It’s all a dream.

356. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:53 pm

     Nothing. Your consciousness pops like a soap bubble and you return to the blackness that was before you were born.

357. Shannon on October 28, 2014 at 9:51 pm

     I believe that when one dies they will be in heaven with Jesus, or in hell apart from Him. I put my trust in Jesus, the one who died for me and the one who loves me so much.

358. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:46 pm

     Death is the end.

359. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:39 pm

     I have always pondered this question, even as a child. Frankly, it scares me.

360. Jonathan on October 28, 2014 at 9:37 pm

     As disappointing as it sounds, i believe that we are all only comprimised of bio-chemical and electrical reactions creating nervous impulses which in turn create memories, thoughts, and emotions. Therefore when we die, without the blood pumping and the brain firing, we simply cease to exist.

361. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:35 pm

     The thought of oblivion scares the shit out of me. It brings on panic attacks! Not breathing, being buried, being forgotten and missing people are all intolerable. What if I disappear and no one thinks about me? What if no one thinks of me and I disappear? There is no comfort in thoughts of death…unless I can spread out into the universe and become part of everything. That’s not a bad thought at all!

362. Annie on October 28, 2014 at 9:33 pm

     I think we go where our heart was happiest in life.

363. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:29 pm

     A few years ago while I was kiving overseas I had a dream that my grandmother came to my house and she told me that she had to go but that she loved me she then handed me a bible that had my name engraved on it and told me to read it. The next morning my mother called me to say that my grandmother had passed away I never told anyone about the dream that I had and a few days later I received a package in the mail containing a bible like the one in my dream with my name engraved on it.
     I would like to think she is watching out for in from heaven and if thats the case then death doesnt scare me

364. Matt on October 28, 2014 at 9:27 pm

     There’s no reason to believe that there’s anything, but who knows? I’ll find out when I get there. What I find offensive is the idea that you get tortured forever simply for not believing in the right religion (or any one for that matter). If such a god existed then it would be a monster not deserving of worship.

365. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:22 pm

     I don’t fear my own death, but rather the deaths of my loved ones. To think of losing my daughter terrifies me, and the selfish side wishes to die before others so as to not have to witness theirs.

366. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:09 pm

     We stop breathing… Our brains stop functioning and we start to decay. The end.

367. Ellen on October 28, 2014 at 9:09 pm

     I am scared of dying; the process of it is really what I mean…..

368. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:07 pm

     I’m scared to death of it (pardon the pun)………I’ve lost 11 loved ones in 15 years……taking care of them….and holding them until they took their last breath………who will hold me????

369. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 9:03 pm

     Well… Let’s think about it for a moment. There are many theories. Heaven and Hell, Purgatory, Reincarnation… The list goes on, but let’s move along shall we. There are many variations of Heaven. I’ve heard quite a few, and even dreamed up a few of my own volition. The same applies for Hell. Some say that it will be a lake of fire. Some say eternal darkness. Some even say that nothing at all will happen. Try to imagine that for a moment. Really try to sit and think about nothing. You cannot. The mere thought of nothing forces it to become something. The existence of nothing is inconceivable because if there ever was a true nothing, there would be nothing still. The closest thing to nothing, that I can comprehend, is empty space. Could that be it? Once we die it’s just empty space… Perhaps. But I have a different theory. It’s not Heaven. It’s not Hell. It isn’t Purgatory, nor is it Reincarnation. I think there is something after death. Not life… No that’s over and done with now. However, I do think that we will remain. You don’t get a second chance at life. You don’t get the opportunity to right your wrongs. Everything you’ve fucked up in life will still be fucked up when you’re gone. Just as the happiness you’ve brought to others in life will remain for a time. Everything that has been done up to the point you leave this earth will still have been done and there is no undoing. So now, the ultimate question; the answer that I’ve been building towards… Rest. I think there will be rest. Sleep. But not eternal sleep. No, you will eventually wake up. You may be around your loved ones… You may. But I doubt if you’re going to recognize any of them. I don’t think you’re going to be able to walk right up and say “Hey granddad, nice to see ya again. How ya been?”. It’s a complete do-over. A rebirth if you will… Can you remember being born? Can you remember anything that happened before your birth? Of course not! So you’ll remember nothing about life. Nothing about family. Nothing about friends. Nothing period. You simply cross over to a new place. A new world. A world that, just as this one, that will have it’s faults and advantages. The difference, I’m afraid, is that there is no escape from the next one. That, in my own personal opinion, is probably where the concept of Heaven and Hell comes from. Maybe it’s even where the idea of Purgatory stems from. I think that for some it will seem like Heaven if they build a good life. The same goes for Hell. If you make foolish choices and mess everything up then you’re either going to spend eternity paying for those choices and mess ups, or you’re going to spend eternity trying to correct them. I think that it’s perhaps Heaven, Hell, Purgatory and Reincarnation all rolled into one. First you die, then you’re reborn into a new body (Reincarnation), then you make the choices that determine how you’ll spend eternity (Purgatory), after which you’re either in Heaven or Hell. It’s entirely up to you… I may be right or wrong… But it’s a fun concept to kick around the old noodle on sleepless nights.

370. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:59 pm

     He stops being her bit on the side, and becomes the leading man. Lives in my house, plays with my kids, pets my dog. It’s like a country song, with rigor mortis and decomp thrown in.

371. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:56 pm

     I wish I knew! I find myself torn between the traditional church view and a hope for nothing at all. What a release of culturally imposed guilt trips it would be if indeed it turns out to be nothing at all. Yet, I also experience a longing to see those whom I have loved and have died.

372. Deb on October 28, 2014 at 8:53 pm

     I tell myself it is the end of suffering, I don’t believe there is anything beyond it. Since my life is not what I thought it would be and never thought I would be old at 60 physically, it messes with my mind and I spend so much time reflecting on my past actions and way I lived that it seems karma is a harsh mistress. Death will be a welcomed event if I can escape the memories I don’t want to have. Having wasted 30 of my 60 years drunk I missed my moment to make good memories for myself and my family. In the end, when you are alone, memories are all you have.

373. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:53 pm

     You stop breathing. Your heart stops pumping. Your brain stops working. You are no longer walking around. If you’re an organ donor you can help a whole lot of people. If you’re talking about “heaven” or “hell” – well – absolutely nothing. Maybe chemicals and some electrical energy waft back to the cosmos.

374. Autumntide on October 28, 2014 at 8:50 pm

     We flow back into the Sea of Existence.

375. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:49 pm

     Before I watched my dad pass away, I simply couldn’t BELIEVE that there is NOTHING after death. I believed that the amazing thing that is our unique identity must remain in some way after we die. There MUST be something of our “spirit” floating around in the world somehow. But now I think maybe our “spirit” simply lives on in our loved ones hearts .. I have felt nothing FROM my dad since he died, I hoped I would .. But he’s in my heart ..

376. lynne on October 28, 2014 at 8:46 pm

     When I die I’ll know. I am an agnostic. When my father died I chose to think he must be {somewhere} because to think that his goodness and his dad-Ness was just lost and alone was too scary. I don’t know where he is. I don’t think there is a heaven and I believe Hell is right here on earth.

377. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:42 pm

     Think about before you were born.

     It’s more of that.

378. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:41 pm

     Death is the end of your physical self. Whether it is a period or parenthesis on your intangible self is unanswerable.

379. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:40 pm

     I want to be with John Lennon.

380. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:36 pm

     Wow! I surely cannot be the only Christian who reads Stephen King. I have been a fan from the beginning, and will continue to love all things creepy and scary. Have no doubt people, Jesus died for you every bit as much as He died for me. There is room for all of us in His Father’s house. Just let Him in and you’ll know what’s after death.

381. BB on October 28, 2014 at 8:32 pm

     When you die that’s it…..you are no more. Your energy goes back to the universe to be used somewhere else.

382. Dodgyvinyl on October 28, 2014 at 8:29 pm

     Nothing. All the electrical and chemical reactions in your body cease. I’m not frightened of being dead. I’m frightened of the moment of death. Will it hurt? Will I have a second or a minute or an hour of terrible panic or pain?

     Although I understand that the crutch offered by religion has been helpful to some, a proper understanding of our insignificance in the universe can offer similar reassurance, without the “carrot and stick” of afterlife and belief in a vengeful and egocentric god.

     To me, it is astonishing that people can believe in a supreme creator (or creators). It is more astonishing that this creator will judge you when you die and decide upon a black and white choice of eternal heaven or damnation. Most astonishing of all is that so many people believe this supreme being will be so needy that, however good you have been through your life, if you have not worshiped him… and in exactly the right way, you are damned for eternity.

383. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:24 pm

     The physical being ends.

384. Ric on October 28, 2014 at 8:19 pm

     Darkness, and an uneasy feeling around your body.

385. SuzyQ on October 28, 2014 at 8:13 pm

     I believe there is an afterlife. I believe that we are here to learn and we come back time and time again until we have learned all that is needed prior to going on to the higher plain. I have had personal experience with ghosts, some known entities and others unknown. I have seen evil, the true dark side and the violence that comes with it. From these encounters I have learned to trust my gut, my instincts.

386. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:12 pm

     death is just a part of life and what difference does it make what happens after?

387. wolfbird on October 28, 2014 at 8:08 pm

     I will most probably be completely unprepared for my death, and therefore unable to do or say all the things I always imagine I would. I won’t say the name of the person who made my life most beautiful, I won’t be able to shed life’s wisdom to be passed over generations, I probably won’t have my loved ones at hand to tell them what I refrained from telling my whole life, for reasons unbeknownst.

     And then I’ll die and, if I get to be concentrated enough, I will make my last thought effectively eternal – the content of which would most probably include a very specific weightless water bubble out of a Dan Simmons novel, an even more specific female entity and all the things I’ve never been and knew I could.

388. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:08 pm

     Game Over

389. Virginie on October 28, 2014 at 8:08 pm

     Nothing, I think. And I am scared to death about it…

390. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:02 pm

     I use to believe in heaven or a better place but as I have grown closer to that age when the years are ticking down I have to wonder about its existence. I don’t believe any of us wants it to be the end of everything. I have lost a child , my parents and a sister and I want to believe I will see them again but then you have that worry if you lived a good enough life to get in. Death is just scary.

391. Mac72 on October 28, 2014 at 7:59 pm

     Humans have a hard time accepting that we are animals, the same as any other. What happens when your goldfish dies is the same thing as what will happen to you. Minus the part about getting flushed down the toilet, hopefully!

392. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 7:56 pm

     The meat machine stops. The biochemical reactions slow and stop. Conscienceness ceases and is therefore is unaware of the cessation. The end and nothing more.

393. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 7:55 pm

     I often want to find out first hand what’s on the other side. Just a peek. But the first trip is the last. Guys I’ll have to wait.

394. Cis on October 28, 2014 at 7:54 pm

     there are other worlds than these!

395. Neo-Pagan on October 28, 2014 at 7:48 pm

     I believe that when we die ..a choice is made. A choice for the universal good. Sometimes our consciousness becomes part of the divine and sometimes it changes to another form.

396. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 7:46 pm

     That is the question, isn’t it……..”What happens when you die?”
     I truly believe that there is something after we die, but not knowing exactly what is what scares the crap out of me!!
     I sometimes go to bed at night and start to think about death and the mystery that lies beyond and My heart rate starts to increase and I am afraid to go to sleep for fear of not waking up and discovering what lies beyond! My biggest fear is that it won’t be something pleasant, leaving a whole eternity of unpleasantness! Or the bigger fear for me is that there is NOTHING!!!!!

397. Diane on October 28, 2014 at 7:45 pm

     Death is fascinating because no one really knows what happens after you die. I believe in the idea of “guardian angels/spirits”, they are your family and friends that have died. I think they are the ones behind “feelings/intuition ” we experience. I believe your body is just a temporary home for your essence, I plan on donating any needed organs or my entire body to medical science when I die. I find the idea of burial repulsive, not to mention the ridiculous expense associated with the trappings of a funeral. I can only hope I have a good death. My father had what I would call a good death, he died of a massive heart attack while playing tennis. He didn’t suffer or linger, just went doing something he loved to do.

398. Jenn on October 28, 2014 at 7:44 pm

     “Nevermore. Only darkness, nothing more.”

399. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 7:39 pm

     Death, the end of a vessel, and no longer one in the body. I have witness many deaths and like birth each is individualize for each person. Each death has common steps which happens and yet no two deaths are the same. In the 10 years I have been at the bedside and cared for hospice patients there has only been one which remains steadfast into my brain. I can’t remember his name, but I remember the days leading up to his death. He pointed out a woman in a black flowing dress in the doorway. He could only see her and the look in his eyes was not one of peace or comfort which I had seen so many other times with other who passed. This man has haunted my memory. Who came to him? Not sure.

400. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 6:11 pm

     I believe in the existence of a creator, and thus believe that the afterlife is where true justice resides. It scares the shit out of me when I try to think of human beings as mere hyperconscious biological bodies and death as mere cease of their biological functions.

401. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 2:11 pm

     I don’t think that death is the end. I’m not certain what happens after death, but I am almost certain that I have seen several loved ones after they have passed on from this life. They did not appear as see through apparitions, but were solid forms. I actually followed one of the people around a corner, and spoke his name. When I did, another person that I have never seen appeared and stated that they had to go.
     While I have no idea what happens after we pass from this world, I believe that there is more than we know about, maybe even more that we can conceive of in our minds while living in this world that we know.

402. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 1:55 pm

     I believe nothing special happens. The same thing as with any animal. I do not believe in an afterlife. When you’re dead you’re dead.

403. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 1:19 pm

     I have no idea what it is but there MUST be SOMETHING after we die? For whatever reason, my brain refuses to acknowledge or really even comprehend the idea of being nothing. Worst case scenario, we just reboot and keep doing the same life over. But not nothing. Please don’t let it be NOTHING.

404. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 12:42 pm

     Do you remember what it was like before you were born?

     I think it will be like that.

405. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 12:32 pm

     I’ve always been enchanted with the idea that after death, some good souls become guardian angels. The idea is a bit scary though because if there are good souls on the other side, there are also evil souls.

406. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 12:30 pm

     I think this is it. Just darkness after life.

407. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 12:21 pm

     I feel like I know deep down that death is the very end. There are no lights, no pearly gates, none of that. My eyes will close and that blackness will be my view in passing. Life just ends. But I keep telling myself that I won’t be forgotten and something will be there for me when I move on.

408. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 10:13 am

     whatever happens it must be natural. It’s commonplace.

409. Z on October 28, 2014 at 9:39 am

     You go wherever your mind and soul wants you want to go. The body may die, but consciousness remains immortal.

410. Anonymous on October 28, 2014 at 8:17 am

     …you cease to breathe…nothing more…

411. anonymous on October 27, 2014 at 12:25 pm

     Although I have this horrible feeling I will never see my loved ones again and dead is dead and done, believing that I just might get another opportunity has kept me from killing myself. The belief that if I did choose to end my life would send me the opposite direction and I may never reunite with these people tortures me and keeps me here and plugging along. That minute possibility keeps me from placing myself in a worse Hell than the one I sometimes feel by staying. I want to believe in Heaven and because I choose to, I am forced to believe in an equal and opposite place. And that all equals — stay and fight the good fight.

     Being Agnostic has its benefits.

412. Bee Man on October 26, 2014 at 8:10 pm

     Nothing. We go back to our component parts. As for consciousness it cannot exist without the brain and body in working condition. We have no memory of a life before we were born, so this shouldn’t be a frightening concept. I think people are more afraid of the inevitability of death, the unknowns, and the possible pain. Also, we hate to leave our loved ones behind forever.

413. Anonymous on October 24, 2014 at 6:17 pm

     Not having a particular faith in anything very much, I’m not sure if I believe that anything (at all) happens after we die. It is a scary thought though, because sometimes I feel like I haven’t even begun to live.

414. Anonymous on October 23, 2014 at 7:57 pm

     I would like to think that when you die, you get to see all the people you have loved and laughed with again. A great happy reunion.