What Do You Think Happens....

[.:x:Marissa:x:.]

Me and my friend got together tonite and had a really long conversation about our theories on what happens after you die?
I'm curious, what do you guys think?

[Sufjan Stevens]

We decompose.

Seriously though, I highly doubt there is a heaven, and that scares me. It's hard to think of it as when you die, everything about you and your memories go with it, but it's the truth. That is what keeps me alive every morning. I don't want to die and know that it would be the end of everything about me. I want to believe there's something more to life than death, and the end of everything you've ever felt, but it's the truth, once I die, I'm dead. I won't come back. I won't personally have thoughts or feelings ever again.

If you want to have an in depth, meaningful conversation about life, death, depression, or time, hit me up on AIM. I only tend to give very brief explanations of my feelings on here. I am actually quite philisophical when it comes to things like this, so yeah, you should hit me up on AIM. My name is BleedToPleaseYou. I'd love to have a conversation about this with you. I love to learn other viewpoints.

[Joey]

I don't believe in heaven or hell .. I don't believe in god.
I don't think people are divided up on how 'good' they were in life ..
I don't really have an opinion on what happens afterwards .. though it scares me that I may never see my dad again and not knowing where he is right now.
I don't really want there to be just nothing afterwards either ..
Death itself doesn't scare me .. the 'afterlife' doesn't scare me either ..

I just don't like not knowing where my dad is or if he's anywhere

[.:x:Marissa:x:.]

Well I personally havent made up my mind about this yet.
I don't want to believe that when I die, I just decompose and my existence is gone, meaningless. But in some ways it does make sense.
I guess the question we have to ask ourselves is if humans are special, do they have a soul? Do all animals have a soul? Do souls move on? If not are humans just a highly evolved creature that has a high intelligence to help us survive?
I also refuse to believe that the millions of ghosts sightings reported in the past have all been a lie. How can all of them be fake?
I really hope our soul moves on somewhere, perhaps to a parallel world or something *ponder*

[.:x:Marissa:x:.]

...and Joey...I'm really sorry to hear about your dad
I have lost people I loved in my life, and I know how it feels.
I want to know where they are.

[Joey]

I believe animals and humans have souls ..
I have to believe that ..
At the moment of death, the person's soul leaves ..
All that's left is just their body, an empty shell of who they used to be ..their soul has already moved on somewhere .. I think if that person led a good life, their soul is free and they don't feel any pain or any hurt or any regret ..
I also think souls can be trapped though .. sort of inbetween .. maybe because they're scared to move on, or they feel they have things left to do before they go ..
meh .. I dunno The souls that are sorta caught inbetween are the ghost sightings etc .. the ones who haven't moved on yet for whatever reason ..

[Sufjan Stevens]

But if there was a parellel world, or something more after death, we'd have some way to prove it. At this moment, no one can say there's proof of a heaven or hell. We just make these things up to help us sleep better when a family member or close person dies. It's sad, but true. I don't believe that after I die I am going to live a plush life.

I guess I am trying to say we don't have souls. That's not possible. What would make you or I any better than my cat or a turtle? There's no difference between us. We say that the ability to feel emotions, but we don't know if animals can't feel the same way? We just don't know this. That's the only thing that really separates us from animals, that and opposable thumbs. I just don't think that there's anything so special about a human being that makes me worthy of having a soul or a place for me when I die, well, more so than a dog. I mean, humans are rather complex beings and very intelligent (some are), but just because we posess intelligence doesn't mean we have a place for us to go upon death. We are just highly evolved animals.

[.:x:Marissa:x:.]

you talk about proving it though. scientific advances happen all the time. Maybe someday they'll find a way to prove it for sure.

[Joey]

I think animals definitely have emotions and can feel sadness, pain, hurt, confusion just like humans can .. every single animal I've had has clearly shown that. So there's no question about that for me. I really don't think there's a difference between animals and humans when it comes to souls though .. I'm not making any sense

[starseed_10]

i believe in Catholic beliefs.. i think it's not as easy as a lot of people think to make it to heaven though, which scares me and puts me through unbelievable stress. ack.

[Sufjan Stevens]

But I am concerned about my lifetime. If there is a way to prove there is something more than life, I want to know about it before I die. I want a way to feel safe when I go to bed, and knowing that when I die, I have a place for my existance to continue. Sure, it sounds selfish, but what good will it do if someone discovers heaven and hell a year after I'm gone? These places just become meaningless to me after I die, because I am sent to spend eternity there. It's the same way as how we take living here on earth for granted. It's nice, but we care more about our lives than the place we live them on. Heaven and hell are only meaningful during life, because we want comfort in life that when we die, that's not the end. If we find out after we die, that's fine, but it will be taken for granted because that's our mental nature. Beyond that, I don't know what to say on this bit of info on this topic.

I am going to bed now (work = 5am) so when I come home from work tomorrow, there better be loads of interesting theories damnit. I want conversation here.

[Henrietta]

I think all animals have souls. If you've had a pet, you know. It's just a different kind of soul.

I definitely believe in life after death. It's part of my religion. But I believe that after you die you go to the spirit world. If you're generally good, you just kind of live there and wait for judgement day. If you kill people and shit, you go to spirit "prison" and wait for judgement day. Then of course, on judgement day, God jugdes you based on the life you've lead and you'll be resurrected. I know I'm going to get knocked for this, but I've prayed about it, and I know it's true. It's just something you'd have to experience.

[Joey]

I have such a hatred for the catholic religion and the idea of 'god' that i can't possibly believe in heaven and hell .. it makes me angry. I don't want there to be a heaven and hell in the biblical sense .. I'd be that lost soul wandering around trying to kill myself again to get away from there.

[starseed_10]

I definitely believe in life after death. It's part of my religion. But I believe that after you die you go to the spirit world. If you're generally good, you just kind of live there and wait for judgement day. If you kill people and shit, you go to spirit "prison" and wait for judgement day. Then of course, on judgement day, God jugdes you based on the life you've lead and you'll be resurrected. I know I'm going to get knocked for this, but I've prayed about it, and I know it's true. It's just something you'd have to experience.

yeah, the catholic belief isn't quite the same as that but i definitely dont knock you for it... i'm pretty scared that it's not only murderers and such that dont make it to heaven though.
and the thought of "eternity" has always bothered me.

[Henrietta]

Eternity is the scariest thing to think about for me. I already hate this life, who says I won't hate the next? What if it just goes on and on and on and there is no escape!?

The way we believe, there are tiers in heaven. There are certain requirements to make it to the highest level of heaven, and then there are like four or seven more. I can't remember for sure. Same with hell. The thing that I think makes it cool is that God puts you where you belong. If he put you in the highest and you didn't deserve it, you woudlnt' be happy there. The only thing I'm confused about is what if your family goes to the highest heaven and you're like in level four or five...can they ride the elevator for a visit? *sigh* Ok, I'm not thinking about this anymore.

[starseed_10]

yeah.. if that's the case it would make sence that either

a) yes, God would let you see your family.
or b) heaven is different enough that family isnt that same as it is on earth. You've now reached so much more than you ever could have on earth, and family isn't existencial anymore.

[Henrietta]

Well then I want no part of the after life.

[Joey]

AHHH ... where raine hits the wall is my favorite part of that video!!!!

sorry, spam i know but i just noticed your new pic! I love it

[nikki4982]

I believe in ghosts.

People think I'm silly for that *cough*myboyfriend*cough*, but I don't care. My whole life, I've seen and heard things that have led me to believe in them. My house has definitely been the home of at least one the entire time I've lived here (since I was 3)... and I've always believed that they (I said *at least* one) are Mr. and Mrs. Peacock, the previous owners of my house, who both died here.

While this has always been my belief, it was never as strong as it has been since my dad died in June.

You see, he did things after he died... I like to think he did them to let me and my mom know he's still here. Some of you are going to think I'm crazy and/or making these things up, but they really did happen. OK, here come the stories.

Well, before my dad died (probably a week or so), my mom asked him to take a plastic bag with a stuffed goose (not a real goose, just a stuffed animal... that happened to belong to his late mother, and he wanted to keep upstairs, but my mom got a new doorstop, which is what we were using it for) in it from one side of the basement into the other (after she threw it down the stairs, and it was just lying at the bottom). He did this, and it wasn't at the bottom of the steps anymore. A few days after he died, my mom opened the basement door, and what was lying at the bottom of the steps? The bag, with the goose in it. It definitely hadn't been there before, because we had been down there multiple times, and even had a conversation down there right where it was.

A few days later, one evening, I opened up the microwave to heat something up. What was in there but a cup of coffee. I told my mom she had left her coffee in there, and asked what she wanted me to do with it, and she looked at me like I was nuts... cos she hadn't put it in there. She didn't do it and forget or anything, either, cos I counted the dishes and stuff, and we dwelled on this topic for hours... heck, days. My dad absolutely loved coffee when he was alive. Guess he still does.

Not long after, my mom went down into the basement, where my dad has his tools and work benches and "man" stuff. One of the little drawers on the holders he has all his screws and nuts and bolts and stuff in was pulled out. Neither of us had done this, and we're the only ones who had been here... and it definitely wasn't out before.

My mom went away for a few days (I was home, though). We each have our own toothpaste. When she got home and looked at hers, the end had been pushed down... like... this is gonna be hard to describe. You know when you squeeze the end, and completely flatten it if you're running out? She doesn't ever do that to hers, but that's how it was when she returned. My dad ALWAYS did that, not only to his toothpaste, but he'd sit and flatten candy wrappers and stuff while after he ate the candy and stuff, too.

There's also the fact that right after his death for a few months, I'd hear him the same as when he was alive in the morning. Because of his cancer, he was sleeping in the room across the hall from me, instead of with my mom (coughing and stuff), so every morning at 6:00am, I'd hear him get up, and go downstairs to get ready for work. Sometimes, it even rattles my door when people walk by it. This continued even after he died... so not only is he still here, but he still seems to be going to work every day.

All of this has since stopped, for the most part, but I think that's because he's made his presence known, and doesn't feel the need to make noise or move things anymore. Occasionally, though, we'll hear something. Like, my mom's heard him cough a few times recently (he always had a really distinct cough... which sounds weird, but if he coughed while we were all in a store or crowd or something, you'd know exactly where he was just cos you knew the cough was him... it was just one short cough to clear his throat or something). And, the other night, when walking past his room after a late night trip to the bathroom, I heard what sounded like someone pulling on the ceiling fan chord, and just assumed it was the fan cos it was on, cos the sound wasn't stopping... then something made me stop and walk closer to the room and look at the fan... which was off.

So yeah, what happens to us when we die? We seem to continue on with life as ghosts.

[.:x:Marissa:x:.]

Ya I believe in ghosts too. I think I've seen one twice (i posted about it in 'The Freaky Thread'). I just don't understand how every ghost story and sighting can be a stretch of the imagination or a lie. It's impossible.
Well, what has really validated my opinion about this is an experience that happened to some really close family friends of my family.
This happened about three years ago. Our family friends had just bought a house in Collingwood, it was a beautiful house, and the old man that lived in it had died of a heart attack, which is why it was for sale.
They have a little boy named Kegan who was 4 at the time. As the weeks went on in the new house, the parents noticed that Kegan was talking to himself at night. They thought nothing of it. One night they came in to say goodnight:

Mom: Kegan, can you say goodnight to mommy and dadday for us?
Kegan: Goodnight mommy, goodnight daddy *pause* goodnight Mike.
Mom: *laughing* who is Mike?
Kegan: He's right there! *points to the corner of the room*
Mom: *shifty eyes*

This sort of scared the parents. They did some research on the previous owner. His name was Mike. They asked Kegan to describe Mike to them. It fit the old mans description perfectly.