No one, I repeat, no one knows for sure what comes of anyone after we die. Most of the time we go about our lives trying not to think too much about it. We’d rather do what makes us happy: Laugh, have sex, eat, spend time with people who give us joy, and explore the earth that we live in. Inevitably, though, in one way or another, we are reminded of the phenomenon that every being on this earth has or will experience for themselves eventually… death. If it’s not you dying, you will likely be brought news of death on occasion, or maybe even see death in front of you for yourself. It may be a loved one, a celebrity, or a complete stranger. Maybe it was a freak accident, or a crime, or maybe it was an expected death of someone getting taken off of life support, or succumbing to terminal illness. Often enough, death happens unexpectedly, catching us off guard. One day the friend that you see everyday, that jokes with you, hugs you, talks about life with you is energetic, and full of curiosity. You could leave them for an hour and the next thing you see is their lifeless body. Maybe they commit suicide, or are murdered, or get hit by a drunk driver. Either way, they don’t smile anymore. They won’t hug you anymore. They’ll never say another word to you. They are now a corpse, and that connection that you had with them doesn’t exist physically anymore. It is gone forever, and the same thing will happen to you and I.

Occurrences like these are what can make death into such a tragic experience for those emotionally involved. Death is a part of life. It is what makes life so valuable. As living, breathing humans, we normally tend to fear death, since all we know about is life, and the unknown is scary. We sometimes create hopeful narratives that our loved ones are in a better place, a place where we will go to and be reunited with them forever. We will all find out what happens after we kick the bucket, but until then, we have our imagination to contemplate with.

Possibilities:

Taking a look at the world that I live in and share with you, and being honest with myself has been the method I’ve used to draw conclusions on what really is the truth of existence. There are a few results that I consider plausible for what follows death. I am going to speak on these thoughts in detail.

Firstly, is there an afterlife? Do I actually believe that my conscience will remain fully intact, and continue to exist after my body has lost it’s ability to house it? If my heart, lungs, or brain stop working, I stop living. When that happens, will I still be conscious, but just not able to move my body? Will I experience eternal boredom six feet underground as an unspecified size of brain matter that is fully aware? Will I become a ghost? Living on earth as an invisible, intangible, inaudible, but conscious and maneuverable entity? Will I be transported instantly to either heaven or hell to become an angel or demon depending on rather or not I believe in, and worship one of the “gods” from the many religions of society?

Here’s what I think is most plausible. We will all either: Cease to exist. That is, we will physically decompose into another form(s) of matter on this earth, being rid of our past consciousness, memories, and sentience as human beings. Or, we will be reincarnated as any form of matter with nothing but our conscience. Not our personality, nor our memories, but our base conscience, or soul if you will. That which enables one to have an experience, to take in the experience, and respond to it with a will.

In the first theory, our souls die with our bodies. Heaven and hell are just stories like Santa Claus, and the tooth fairy, along with all similar tales of the afterlife among religions. In short, there is nothingness forever; not even thoughts or boredom. We won’t care that we’re dead, because we won’t know. There is nothing to know, and we don’t exist. The experience will be the same as before you were born.. you don’t know. In the second theory, our personality doesn’t exist, nor do our memories. The only thing that remains in existence is our will, our soul. The “thing” about us, whatever it is, that can feel, have emotions, and respond. It will be transferred into another living being. Maybe that being speaks Mandarin. Perhaps it has gills. It could possibly even have roots and branches. The commonality is it has living awareness.

Reincarnate

Continuing with the theory of reincarnation, there are admittedly many questions to which I haven’t the slightest confident guess. I’ll consider deeper, one I have already explored. Will we keep our memories? If we are reincarnated as living beings on earth, or even as humans once again, there is no known sufficient evidence that anyone, or anything remembers who they were in their past life. If a chipmunk knew it was an English professor from the United Kingdom, of course they wouldn’t have the necessary vocal structures to perform human speech, but they certainly have hands with apposable thumbs. Why wouldn’t they pick up a stick and draw a message in the dirt at the zoo explaining their predicament? If an Elephant knows it used to be a shark in the past, why doesn’t rush into the ocean to try and swim? None of us remembers being in a womb, nor being a sperm, and certainly nothing before then. Well where does the reincarnation cycle begin anyway? As a sperm? Does it begin at fertilization of an egg? Does it begin at the forming of the child’s brain? So in the case of miscarriages, does that conscience go through reincarnation again already? When exactly do we become who we are, and form a soul? Is there a soul in the first place? Will we even be a living reincarnation? Will we be a non living element, or chemical compound, or a microwave, or a ray of light? Will we have the option to choose what we reincarnate as?

One thing is for sure, we are all literally connected to the universe and everything in it. Spiritually, quite possibly, but most importantly we are physically connected to it all. We are a part of the universe. A microscopic point of paint on a canvas that is ever growing. Our bodies are a collection of cells working together to stay alive. We have to eat food, and drink water to survive. Water is a compound of one oxygen, and two hydrogen atoms. Our food consists of animals and plants. Plants get energy from the sun, which is a burning star in space, and use it to create energy, which ultimately is the reason anything is alive. When we die, our corpses will decompose and return to the earth, which can then become nutrients for plants, and even feed vultures along the way. Even individuals who are cryogenically suspended, I can only assume, will have their desperate plans for immortality ruined by the hands of mankind, or our lack of ability to protect ourselves from natural disasters. Who knows if we won’t nuke ourselves causing mass extinction, or a meteor comes, or we lose the battle against global warming. All topics for another post. Since we are all connected to the planet so closely, we will return to it without fail, and continue to be a part of it, just as our ancestors did and are. The planet is part of the universe. I am not sure how we contribute to the universe, other than just simply being here, but we obviously belong. Perhaps we will outpace our extinction event, and our space travels, our tampering with anti-matter, and other highly scientific operations will end up making a impactful difference to the universe in the many years to come.

We Are One

Lastly, I have also considered that we may collectively be one omnipotent entity that has decided to forget what it is. That has decided to detach and separate itself in order to experience itself authentically and cure it’s boredom. No one likes to play a game when they’re so strong that nothing they do matters. There’s no substance, no struggle no challenge, no reason. Likewise this entity wouldn’t want to know what it is, it would want to have an experience where it didn’t know, and didn’t find out until it died, became everything, remembered everything, and then, in another effort to cure it’s agony, chose to forget it all again. Rolling the dice of life, pleasure or torture, as long as it is something. It… we could be doing this for all of eternity with truly no way to escape it. We might have gotten bored of not existing and have been the big bang ourselves, not knowing what we wanted to be, because being didn’t exist, so we just had to create something. Maybe that’s why us humans are so fond of creation, perhaps we are all the result of a blind, inspirational, stroke of a figurative pen.

What do you think awaits us after death? A flash of our lives before our eyes? A talk with big daddy Jesus, or Muhammed? Maybe we become aliens and warp away at light speed from earth. Leave a comment with your thoughts, and feel free to look over my other articles. Peace