Discussion what do you think happens after death?

[waistcoat]

due to my dissociative identity disorder i have conflicting views on what i think happens after death,

most of my alters are agnostic/atheist but there are a handful that believe in some form of afterlife, specifically they believe in spirits and that they'll come back as an animal or something along those lines (idk i dont really understand it), i don't think anyone believes in an afterlife as depicted as heaven in the bible or anything

so im curious, what do you guys think happens after death? and more importantly, what do you hope happens after death?

the idea of coming back to earth as a deer is kind of peaceful to me, idk

 

[Ch4in3dcr0w]

personally i think its just a black screen i kind of have the same when i sleep because i dont remember my dreams so i just wake up randomly after not remembering anything. Reincarnation would be interesting but that would mean i reincarnate without my memories or experiences so i wouldnt be myself anymore. The worst case scenario would be afterlife where u are judged for how u lived and what u did im not a bad person by any means but there is always dread that u didnt do good enough.

 

[ayanitoolz]

i'm very agnostic/atheist as well so in my mind, the moment after you die, you get reborn into another life. it's honestly kinda terrifying me, like what if i ctb and then i end up like in another life with abusive parents or in some sort of fundamentalist cult or any number of horrible things.

idk i've been binging svu law and order so i've been exposed to a lot of horrible situations. like my life sucks but dull is way better than horrible so maybe i should be thankful??

 

[Doll Steak]

Id like to think it's nothing but I can't know that, and I never will. This could be just another infinite time I've existed, It's unlikely due to many reasons but if it happened even once, is it really out of the question it could happen again.

But really, who even knows how consciousness works. Maybe it really does only come with this current body and then never again, or maybe it works in some weird magical way, somehow transferring to different bodies or plains of existence. Honestly I really REALLY hope reincarnation doesn't exist. No point in it.

 

[digitalblackhole]

for the majority of my life i was a staunch atheist. i always believed the afterlife to be eternal nothingness. you neither exist nor don't exist. for the past few years i've been doing some very heavy reading into the occult, western esotericism, magick and metaphysics. i can't lie, i'm still not a 100% believer in any sort of meaningful afterlife, but i want to get there. the idea of reincarnation/rebirth is such a fascinating topic.

is your soul tied to our planet, universe or reality? or are you able to reincarnate in different universes, worlds, higher or lower dimensions where the laws of physics could be fundamentally different than ours and are significantly different than how we currently experience them. you could definitely be reborn into a world of fantasy, sci fi, cosmic horror or maybe something as simple as a universe near identical to ours. perhaps we are tied to our planet and we just endlessly reincarnate into another human, in our own world, in our own universe while moving forward in time. you could even reincarnate into a life far worse than your current one, born into poverty, sickness, abuse, etc.

things such as quantum physics, the many worlds interpretation and a ton of other multiverse hypotheses state that this is a very real outcome, even if unlikely. the universe is infinite, with infinite possibilities, thus whatever it is you believe in could be real. believing in this future has helped me power through the last couple of years.

 

[waistcoat]

you could even reincarnate into a life far worse than your current one, born into poverty, sickness, abuse, etc.

oh boy do i have some news for you XDD

 

[darksouls]

I think death is the beginning of something new
whatever happens to your soul
I hope you find peace

 

[sambrosia]

I kind of think eternal nothingness, like before I was born. I do believe part of me will persist, since my body will go back into the atmosphere, and if I was born once then maybe I can be born again. But I think whatever consciousness / awareness persists after death, if any, will be very different than how I am now. Which is a reason death terrifies me, I'm not ready for ego death yet

 

[digitalblackhole]

and if I was born once then maybe I can be born again

Alan Watts on Death

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

1 microsecond after my brain dies I will cease to exist forever

I'm glad too that Death is Non-existence forever. Eternal Non-existence is the only guarantee of me never suffering a trillion times worse than the worst torture u can imagine. So Non-existence forever is the only perfection

Permanent Non-existence is the ultimate bliss

I think especially normies that if they haven't suffered so badly yet that they are so scared of that pain or suffering for even 10 seconds of the worst pain... that u are constantly in terror of existing / living every second... imo it's just a matter of luck they haven't fallen into a trap of extreme torture every second .... but it's out there that threat of extreme torture extreme suffering words can't describe that can entrap any human or other sentient animal

There is no purpose to life

What is worth even 10 seconds of the worst pain, what about 10 hours of the worst constant pain every second? Is eating a sandwich or watching a video worth that? Not to me not even 10 seconds

So I have to work so hard 15 hours per day a job chores to do lists as a slave only to exist under threat of extreme torture. I don't see why that which is called life/ existing is so good or sacred that we have to be grateful for. I didn't have to work or had any problems no threat of suffering extremely no suffering no pain no problems no bad memories for all of 13.8 billion years before i was born because I didn't exist . The very big problems some of which i described above began for me only when I was birthed into this evil world as a slave a small fragile animal, a bag of monstrous 30 trillion cells , a brain that can suffer unending constant unbearable pain

 

[snooperdooper]

My views on the afterlife since I've developed suicidal ideation have been very conflicting. Like a battle between my heart and my brain. On one hand, so much of my depression comes from my endless yearning, so I find so much escape in maladaptive daydreaming different scenarios. It comforts me to believe that in the afterlife you are able to live out all of those fantasies. But, that belief conflicts so much with all logic and reasoning. It just seems fairly absurd for that to be the afterlife when life seems so utterly complex and random. To have it be so desire-centric would be weird. That's what my brain thinks at least. I truly hope that there is an afterlife in which you can pass on to nothingness without any regrets, but if we're talking logical beliefs then it is most certainly just an eternal nothingness like the one we were in before we were born.

 

[FuneralCry]

Nothing, I believe death to simply be non-existence where this futile, torturous existence I always saw as a mistake is finally all forgotten about which is all I hope for, I just want to never suffer ever again, I'll just always see existence as an abomination with no limit as to how much one can be tortured and I'd never wish for any of this, all I want is to be unconscious for all eternity. I'd just always prefer to not exist than suffer so unnecessarily just waiting to die anyway, only non-existence can bring me the peace I search for from the cruel, deeply undesirable burden of existence that I wish was never imposed more than anything.

 

[HopeToStay]

Ever had an anesthetic?

Like that, but you don't wake up.

 

[bankai]

I believe it's just the end. The complete end. Darkness and that's it. It's only human ego that wants us to believe there's something more.An afterlife or reincarnation? Come on. Where's the evidence for any of that? There is 0. There's no evidence. But people will believe because they want to believe.


But I also understand the need for hope.So I'll leave the believers to hope in whatever they need to.

 

[Darkover]

i hope we are just nothing for all time but it's either that or rebirth

 

[jazzcat621]

Reading many near death experience stories, its common that people experience leaving their body, being able to visualize being outside of their body, seeing things they would not otherwise be able to see. Then they would recall going somewhere through a tube, maybe following a line of some sort. Many recall this experience to be completely peaceful. I think we do go somewhere after death, and wherever it is its much better than here.

 

[waistcoat]

Ever had an anesthetic?

Like that, but you don't wake up.

aha, around 20 times,

 

[Tired_birth_1967]

Our thoughts are shaped by our experiences (physical, sensory, etc.). This means that we only think what we think (especially about certain subjects) because we are also influenced by all sorts of things throughout our lives. Some people will have influences from movies, books, something related to their childhood, dreams, etc. in their minds. From this, it is very common for some people to hear or read stories and simply tend to believe them, even though in reality they are just stories (like stories of "near death", for example). A classic example is the number of people who believe in a God, for example. 100% of these people have never heard of or seen God. At most, they have had some experience whose proof is only their stories. The idea of God is only known through stories in ancient writings. And that is all there is about God. However, this was enough for millions of people to have some kind of belief to this day. Even agnostics or atheists have influences in their minds. The same happens with regard to life after death. Rationally, there is no possibility of life after death. Science points to it, logic points to it, the universe as far as it is possible to know it points to it, history points to it, nature mainly points to it. But there will always be in the minds a (forged) propensity to believe in something outside of this reality.
Rationally, I do not believe in anything other than this pile of organs that I have inside me and that rot every day until they culminate in putrefaction and decomposition.

 

[InTheAbyss]

Personally I'm hoping/wanting non existence. Just so there would be no way of suffering anymore.

 

[Alexandra0]

All-consuming darkness. It's wonderful! You just cease to exist - it's like a dreamless sleep

 

[bl33ding_heart]

due to my dissociative identity disorder i have conflicting views on what i think happens after death,

most of my alters are agnostic/atheist but there are a handful that believe in some form of afterlife, specifically they believe in spirits and that they'll come back as an animal or something along those lines (idk i dont really understand it), i don't think anyone believes in an afterlife as depicted as heaven in the bible or anything

so im curious, what do you guys think happens after death? and more importantly, what do you hope happens after death?

the idea of coming back to earth as a deer is kind of peaceful to me, idk

I believe in different possibilities depending on what experiences you had/decisions you made during your life.

 

[undoinglife]

I hope it feels like a warm blanket being pulled over your body, like you're facing the sun with your eyes closed.
Kinda like this ^

 

[kitkat9234]

I'm scared of what happens after you die. Not knowing for sure. Worried I will come back as something worse if that is even possible. It's one of the few things that is keeping me here. I'm trapped.

 

[Britney Spears]

I hope it's eternal nothingness. I just want this pain, this existence, and this suffering to end.
Like sleeping without dreaming

 

[LastDayOnEarth]

Whatever it is, I certainly hope it's better than this, imagine living a life of torment then being sent to hell just for ctb

 

[deathbydesign]

Idk what I believe honestly and it sucks cause I have such a scientific brain. I believe in things and don't believe in things because I trust science.

But death mystifies me in ways I can't quite come to terms with. Scientifically we just cease to exist - there isn't any consciousness or anything. Just nothingness.

But I've also had too many experiences and read too many accounts of ghosts existing and children who quite clearly have been here before.

Part of me wants reincarnation or an afterlife of some sorts as a ghost or something. But it's the one area of my beliefs that I am just not sure what to believe in.

 

[Fall_Apart]

I always thought it was like an eternal dreamless sleep, but then I changed my mind after studying consciousness in depth in relation to how computers work. Every day millions of computers are assembled, but only when we install the operating system does it start to work. In the same way every day billions of new life forms (humans and animals) are born. Now if we think that every new biological body that is born will have a new consciousness assigned to it, this could mean that that new consciousness could be experienced by a new "you". And if we have been born once in this existence, there is a good chance that this process will happen again after our death in an endless cycle. Mind you, I am not talking about reincarnation, I am talking about a new consciousness to be experienced, and this literally terrifies me. I really hope I am wrong.

 

[Darkover]

I always thought it was like an eternal dreamless sleep, but then I changed my mind after studying consciousness in depth in relation to how computers work. Every day millions of computers are assembled, but only when we install the operating system does it start to work. In the same way every day billions of new life forms (humans and animals) are born. Now if we think that every new biological body that is born will have a new consciousness assigned to it, this could mean that that new consciousness could be experienced by a new "you". And if we have been born once in this existence, there is a good chance that this process will happen again after our death in an endless cycle. Mind you, I am not talking about reincarnation, I am talking about a new consciousness to be experienced, and this literally terrifies me. I really hope I am wrong.

the self is a model, and that consciousness can arise when a system represents itself as itself — not due to a soul or essence, but due to structure and process.

the question is not why am I me, but rather why is there any experience at all, and why does it feel like this?

consciousness is seen as an emergent property of information-processing systems (like brains, or potentially, machines).

So your reasoning goes something like:

Consciousness arises when physical systems (like brains) reach a certain complexity or configuration (like installing an OS).

Countless such systems are constantly forming in nature.

We've each found ourselves "awake" once before — subjectively existing — in this kind of universe.

Therefore, nothing prevents that from happening again… and again… and again.

Since the new consciousness wouldn't remember the previous, it's not you in any continuity sense, but it would still feel like being you, in the same first-person sense — just with different memories, different circumstances.

Therefore, death might not be an escape, just a door to the next conscious moment, somewhere, as someone or something else.

There's no opt-out — because even if this consciousness ends, the "lottery" of existence continues elsewhere.

Worst of all, this could mean suffering — even extreme suffering — is not a one-time risk, but potentially an eternally recurring possibility.

Maybe death really is dreamless sleep. Maybe it's even oblivion. And in a strange way, maybe that's the only peace there is.