Life After Death?

[Siúil a Rúin]

My friend's son was violently murdered and remained close to his mother for some time, perhaps still is. There were phenomenal experiences like on his birthday, his mother felt guided to visit the art museum with his father. When they arrived there were birthday signs all over celebrating Van Gogh's birthday. That serves only as a single example of thousands of such experiences that are different from statistical anomalies.

I have felt close to people who have passed, and I don't understand what it is, but I do know that the Buddhists say separateness is an illusion and the physicists say time is an illusion. I think the nature of the universe is quite different from what our limited senses perceive it to be. Human are known to have systems of consciousness like the brainstem - psoas muscle system that remembers trauma without referencing linear time. Our functionality should not be mistaken for the nature of reality, but merely one way of perceiving a fragment of it.

Consciousness is a deep philosophical question because why wouldn't we operate as biological machines without it? What is it that enables perception? If it is a type of force in and of itself like another form of energy, then we might not understanding entirely how it exists in the universe.

 

[Schrödinger's Name]

Whatever helps people deal with uncertainty of the unknown. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Can't wait to find out though.

 

[Polaris]

I've considered that when a person dies, having lost their body, they might be cut off from the external world that their body connects them to and left, therefore, with nothing but the world of their thoughts and dreams. I would imagine that a person who is at peace with themselves would, if this is true, have a pleasant afterlife, whereas someone who suffers from guilt would have some issues to work through. As to the God question, I believe there is a God, but I'm uncertain about many of the finer details of His nature. It's entirely possible that I am God. If I am, then the dead live on in in my heart and soul as echoes.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Ooooh! Heaven is a place on Earth.

But I'm sure [MENTION=7842]Z Buck McFate[/MENTION] knows all about that.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

I sure do. Belinda Carlisle wrote a song about it. She really shines when she sings.

 

[Jonny]

 

[Lexicon]

I don’t believe in the afterlife. It’s a pretty thought, & but I doubt we exist beyond what we are right now.



However, if there is one, I’m absolutely going to Hell.

 

[Lexicon]

This is wrenching, but it really drives home how much people just hold on, don’t plan ahead or want to discuss how to handle these things. Conversations that need to be had well before the end. Discussion gives it form. Form we, perhaps, cannot bear to touch.

 

[Lark]

I do, and I believe in God, both meaning I acknowledge God's existence and I trust in divine providence too.

Although, as important, or more important, than life after death, ie the afterlife, is life before death and affirming life.

The death instinct or death drive is a real thing and its important that there is some hope of defeating it.

 

[Norrsken]

I kinda hope nothing happens after death. The idea of being in a dark endless, soundless vortex sounds attractive to me for some reason.
After so many dramatic and exhausting events in life, it would be nice to look forward to.. well, nothing.

 

[Morpeko]

No. I believe that when we are dead, we are nothing but dead. I really can't fathom the idea of anything else, although I am dumb and stubborn.

Also, that's the way I want it to be. I hate the notion of an afterlife. Imagine FINALLY dying and you still have to live after that...

 

[Lark]

I do believe there is an afterlife, however, I do not think it will be "pie in the sky", in fact, I think that thinking is deeply wrong in a lot of ways, life before death is just as important and should be sought out each day.

 

[Tellenbach]

I find the evidence from past life regressions and ghosts to be convincing. I know people who've seen ghosts and I find them to be credible people. I don't know what the hierarchy is or if there is some deity in charge of everything, but I don't see that as being all that important.

 

[Firebird 8118]

I know most people will probably laugh at me for this, but...

The longer I observe my niece, the more I’m convinced that she’s the reincarnation of my late grandmother. I love her for who she is regardless of whether it’s true or not though, so I guess I’m better off never knowing.

 

[Jonny]

 

[Firebird 8118]

So anyway, in a nutshell - I believe in the cycle of reincarnation, along with the notion that we can free ourselves from this cycle by remembering our true spiritual nature.

My beliefs these days kinda fall somewhere in between Hinduism and New Age. I’ve read the heck out of Neale Donald Walsh’s “Conversations with God” (all three volumes) as well as “Dying to be Me” by Anita Moorjani in recent years. Anita’s accounts of her near-death experience especially resonated with me, since 1) my mom had an NDE herself back when she was in her teens (she’s since gained a lifelong intuition about people in general), and 2) the story of Anita’s experience and miraculous recovery (both spiritual and physical) just felt... intuitively true, for lack of a better term.

 

[Lark]

I find the evidence from past life regressions and ghosts to be convincing. I know people who've seen ghosts and I find them to be credible people. I don't know what the hierarchy is or if there is some deity in charge of everything, but I don't see that as being all that important.

Why would people become ghosts rather than simply being reincarnated?

How does past life regressions AND ghosts exist simultaneously?

I'm not saying its not the case, I just dont see how to square that particular circle.

 

[Firebird 8118]

Why would people become ghosts rather than simply being reincarnated?

How does past life regressions AND ghosts exist simultaneously?

I'm not saying its not the case, I just dont see how to square that particular circle.

I think it’s possible - like, say for instance that someone was murdered long before their time. That person may find themselves stuck between the physical realm and the spiritual realm for a while, unable to complete the transition to the other side.

As a Reiki master, I was taught a technique to help ghosts leave the physical realm and move forward peacefully. I’d be a little scared going into, say, a haunted asylum by myself, but if I were to ever go along with a paranormal team it’d be nice to use this technique to help out...

 

[Tellenbach]

Why would people become ghosts rather than simply being reincarnated?

According to the TV show Ghost Whisperer, starring the lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt, some earth bound spirits haven't crossed over yet because of some unresolved issue. Once they cross over, they can reincarnate.

 

[Firebird 8118]

According to the TV show Ghost Whisperer, starring the lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt, some earth bound spirits haven't crossed over yet because of some unresolved issue. Once they cross over, they can reincarnate.

That makes perfect sense, and definitely in line with how we see them as holistic healers.