What Do You Expect to Happen When You Die? And why?

[FlyersFan]

Bumping because it's been a year and there may be new replies.
Interesting topic all the time.

[Shadow]

I’ve been trying hard to spiritually prepare myself for the next life. The clock on this world is running out, and that works for me. The Bible says to be not of the world, a world I’ve never had any real attachment to. I don’t fear death. I fear life. Death is the easy part.

[Maxmars]

Thanks for bumping this...  The question of how much power our expectations (faith-based or otherwise) have to each of us.

It seems that exploring the subject could lead to deep meaningful introspection about many questions... but similarly it could evoke dreaded existential angst for those clinging to other paradigms.

Whatever happens, I can only imagine myself 'dealing with it.'  And my only anxiousness is about who "I" actually am... once I peel away the persona, the desires, and my fantasies about "how things are."

I hope to explore, discover, learn, and if I am extremely lucky...
Finding my loves would be a priority, though I understand that all "priorities" are in flux, at that theoretical moment... when my former world doesn't register my reality any longer.

[Oldcarpy2]

I did this thread at ATS a while back.  
Let's give it a try  here.

What do you expect to happen when you die and why do you expect it?

Are you expecting to go to Heaven or Hell or Purgatory?
Reward by being with God in perfect paradise, or the exact opposite in Hell with loss of God and all is wrong?
Or is it the Muslim version of 'paradise'?  Lots of food banquets and sex. 
Or the nirvana version ... losing yourself and melding back with the perfect 'one'.
(Hope I got that right)
Are you expecting to be reincarnated?  
Are you expecting to pop out of your body and wander around as a spirit?
Are you expecting obliteration?  Nothingness?  
Do you not expect anything and you just take it as it comes?
What do you think is going to happen ... and why do you think it?

I've experienced spirits, both good and bad, so I know they exist.
I've experienced ghosts which means that either at least some people have an afterlife, or that means the evil spirits are pretending to be dead people to get you to interact with them.  I don't know which.
I've experienced supernatural things and seen amazing things in Medjugorje on pilgrimage.
I also believe I've had prayers answered so I believe God exists.
But belief in those doesn't necessarily mean that you have to believe in an afterlife.

My religious background tells me to expect Heaven, Hell or Purgatory.   However, some of the stories of reincarnation are very convincing, so I do have an open mind that sometimes God may allow/send people back to do it again.  That's His business and I wouldn't argue with someone if they think they are reincarnated.  It's a depressing thought .. having to come back and do it all again and not even remembering anything about what you have lived before.  

But then we come to the stories of Near Death Experiences.   Everyone has probably read some of them.   I've read that MOST people who have Near Death Experiences .. experience NOTHING.  Yep.  90% of people who have cardiac arrest, die, and then are revived say they experienced nothing.  The void.  Obliteration.  It's only 10% that have the classic meetings with dead people or the tunnel and the loving bright light .. etc etc.   And scientists are studying to see if those 10% who have those classic NDE experiences are having hallucinations from a dying brain or from chemicals the body is releasing as it dies ... they have found that parts of the brain remain active for six minutes after the heart stops.  The brain could be producing all sorts of fanciful events for the dead/dying person to experience during that time.  

Anyways ... what do you expect to happen and why do you expect it?

Well, you know my NDE experience .  No void, no comprehension of anything.  Just woke up after CPR.

Guess I must be "unsaved trash"?
my

[Maxmars]

Well, you know my NDE experience .  No void, no comprehension of anything.  Just woke up after CPR.

Guess I must be "unsaved trash"?
my

I can't attest to that except as your personal experience... mine have differed... but sharing them represents an intimacy I just can't extend to a public forum.

I doubt the experience is actually open to 'observer logic.'

It's pretty much all narrative crafting at a certain perspective.

It may as well mean that your destiny is set.

[Bootless]

What do you expect to happen when you die and why do you expect it?

I expect that when I die very few people will be notified or be expected to do anything different as a result; a few relatives, my landlord, my bank when someone shows up with authorization to withdraw my balance. Other than that, billions and billions of people will go about their daily lives with no change that can be attributed to my death.

Why?
I have seen quite a few people die. That's pretty much the way things have happened that I can recall.

Afterlife is that which happens without one's knowledge or participation after that life ends.

Are you expecting to go to Heaven or Hell or Purgatory?

No.

I've experienced spirits, both good and bad, so I know they exist.
I've experienced ghosts which means that either at least some people have an afterlife, or that means the evil spirits are pretending to be dead people to get you to interact with them.  I don't know which.
I've experienced supernatural things and seen amazing things in Medjugorje on pilgrimage.
I also believe I've had prayers answered so I believe God exists.
But belief in those doesn't necessarily mean that you have to believe in an afterlife.

I once did a summoning of Satan. And it worked. Then I told him to go away. And it worked.

I once prayed for a seeming impossible thing while also pledging to endure the consequence. It happened, and I did pay the consequence (pushing a flat tired bicycle 9 miles home, alone, uphill).

One time a cult of pseudo-Christians gathered a group of innocents to cast a binding spell on me in the name of Jesus (I heard the details from one of the innocents about a year later). It lasted three weeks until, with the help of a friend, I got free.

One time the air in front of my face parted, forming a mandorla. In the mandorla portal were two people. I thought that one of them may have been Jesus, but no specific identification was claimed.

Many other uncanny things have been seen and experienced by me. But I have no reason to think that I will somehow survive death.

[CrastneyJPR]

Here are my thoughts, just from the title of the thread, before reading any of it.....

I'm not religious, but I do believe that we don't know everything, and there's almost certainly a 'higher reality'.
I used to think that when we die, life just stops, and there's no more.
Then I changed my mind, and I believe that we all can determine what happens by what we believe - such that if you're a Christian, and you believe you'll go to heaven, then you will do, and if you've been a terrible person, and believe that you'll go to 'hell' then you will do, and if you're a Buddhist, and believe in reincarnation, then guess what? you'll be reincarnated. etc.

... and now I'll read the thread and see what everyone else says.

I've read the first post:
There's a great book called The First 15 lives of Harry August (or something like that).  it's about some people being reincarnated, as auroboros, living the same life each time they die, but remembering a lot from each life, so being able to manipulate what happens each time.

Also - mu uncle died recently, he had cancer, and as a Canadian had the option for assisted suicide, so he could time his death. some relatives, in the UK, had a zoom call timed for 5 minutes either side of his chosen time.  We rang a bell, and sat in silence for three minutes.  I closed my eyes, looked upwards, and tried to go to my delta brain wave level (Jose Silva - mind control) - I imagined myself rising up from my room, up really high, thenthe globe span, and I zoomed into where my uncle was in Canada, into the centre of his town, then I knew that I didn't know where the hospital was, but I had a photo of him there, so I used that, and then I was stood next to his bed, his wife, and two children were there all holding his hand.  I held his hand too, he looked at me, and smiled, and said thank you for being there, then he breathed in, a white light appeared above him, ....
... and then, his body got stretched upwards, and he screamed.  I mean really screamed.  long gutteral, and loud.  I was a bit freaked out, but then I just laughed.  he'd gone.  Then the bell rang, and I opened my eyes.  We finished the zoom call with some words.  I've not told anyone else about what I saw.  He was a vicar/pastor as his job.  I'm not sure he would have expected that ending.  I know he was at peace with his life, and was accepting for the end.  I was shocked, and I've certainly thought a lot about what happened.  it has made me question stuff.