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| Author: Posted: Sep. 8, 2002 | This Page Viewed: 6,999,384 |
Question of the Week: 111 - 5/21/2003 So, You’re Dead. Now What? What happens to our souls/spirits after we die? Is there an everlasting haven to which we retire? Are we reprocessed and reincarnated? Do we – as dearly departed spirits/souls -- have any say in the matter? How have you coped with the loss of a loved one? Do you feel that this person/animal is still keeping an eye on you from beyond? Do you think that some of your present animal friends are really some of your old animal friends recycled? Would that work for humans as well? Are you troubled over the thought that one day you will die? Why or why not? |
| Reponses: There are 59 responses posted to this question. | Reverse Sort |
| From The Devotee Of The Jackal God... | May 21st. at 9:18:03 pm EDT |
| Stormwind (Canada) | Age: 25 - Email |
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Death is greatly misunderstood in our society, and I wish people could come to realize that there is nothing unnatural or evil about death. No more so than there is about birth. Death is the gateway to a new existence, and while it's hard sometimes not to have someone with you all the time any more, I don't believe that it's forever. I'm still trying to determine my beliefs about reincarnation. I certainly think it's possible. I've yet to find any beings, animals or human, that seem to be the souls of deceased loved ones of mine. I'd like to think that there would eventually be an "end point" when we had learned our lessons on this earth (and others?) and were able to all meet up again...a "gathering place of souls" as it were. Likely on this new level of existence we'd start all over again. I am not so much afraid of dying as I am afraid of dying before I have certain goals in life accomplished. If I do what I've set out to do, and get it done, then I'll be ready to die when my time comes. If I meet an untimely and early end, though...whoever's responsible for it is gonna have one heckuva haunting. |
| I Always Believed | May 21st. at 9:56:09 pm EDT |
| Ares Hearthfire (ny, ny) | Age: 21 - Email |
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Well call me a Wiccan of traditional thought. I came to Wicca because so many of itsviews naturally matched my existing ones years ago, this was no different. I was always a believer i reincarnation. I believed now added the Sumerland as a place to go temporarily before you get reincarnated. It is just a stopover to clene your sol and to deposityur experience into the pool of knowledge before being sent back. I also am a subscriber to something similar that irecently read by Owl at HttpL://www.twpt.com that this reincarnaion and ever growing knowledge may have somethingto do with evolution. I also asked why do we evolve if people just pass on the same DNA. How would the genes know to evolve or adapt? I believe that all this plays intoreincrnation and past down experience of those that die leaving their knowledge in the DNA somehow... Just a thought... i am happy that someone else had thought about that too!! Reincarnation and evolution.. a Wicca perspective =) . |
| Don't Really Know But Am Confident | May 21st. at 10:54:03 pm EDT |
| Maria (NY) | Age: 26 - Email |
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Having hung around my loved ones for a nice LONG time to obsessively make sure they're OK without me I will finally conclude that life indeed goes on and it is time for me to *move* on, and I will cross over. Into what I'm not sure, but it will be good, for the universe has showered me with too much undeserved love to think otherwise, plus there really are too many ungoing projects to worry that far ahead. If I get to choose, it will be a tough one. :) P.S. Good to see another Ares fan out there. |
| It's All In Your Head... | May 21st. at 11:58:56 pm EDT |
| Eluwei (Omaha) | Age: 13 - Email |
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I think that your afterlife is whatever you envision it as. |
| Afterlife | May 22nd. at 12:17:59 am EDT |
| D & J (Tx) | Age: 22 - Email |
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Cochrane once said that our ancestor's urge for an afterlife paved the way there... If we stop believing, then the road gets harder to navigate... Anyways.. on to my post.. I don't believe in karma, it has no effect on me--I have no bad or good karma. My life is already written out by Fate, but the goal of traditional witchcraft is to CHANGE your Fate and take control of your own life. In pagan times, there were people who simply lived their lives, believed in the gods, made offerings, and that was it. There were others who were witches, who were pagans as well, but who went further, and actively pursued mystical truth and power. A pagan lived and died by what the pagan religions told them, going off to the underworld of rest after death, while witches knew powerful ways of returning, even from death. --Cochrane In trad. craft, there are different worlds... the Underworld plays a big role in the religion, and is very frightening.. There is a place for the good and the wicked in the religion, with the good going off wherever and the wicked suffering from isolation and lonliness... This question still remains unanswerable for me. |
| I Beliveve... | May 22nd. at 12:23:50 am EDT |
| Dawn (SLC UT) | Age: 24 - Email |
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I believe that we pass on to another life. Of course right after you die there is a "debriefing" of sorts and an "orientation" for what is to come. After all the necessities have been taken care of then you have the option to look in on your loved ones ( or not so loved ones for that untimely death, eh?) Then you get to choose if you feel that you have lived enough lives or if you would like to re enter the world of the living and learn new experiences. I do not have an opinion on blood lines. I'm sure that some souls come back amongst their own family and blood line... I've read of ancient ceremonies to ensure this, but I feel that ultimately we are given the choice and many choose to learn life lessons that require us to leave our family blood line. But one thing is for certain, we will all know for sure when we get there! |
| Heaven | May 22nd. at 12:49:12 am EDT |
| Dawn (Storm Lake) | Age: 20 - Email |
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I believe that heaven will be how you see it. Like the movie, What Dreams May Come. Everyone saw their own heaven. I think thats what it will be like. And I also think that if you want to go back and try again you can. BB |
| Death Is A Funny Thing... | May 22nd. at 2:18:30 am EDT |
| Silver Raven (Nottingham, England) | Age: 21 - Email |
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I believe that there is an afterlife. I think it would be great to meet up with family and friends, pets and even famous people (or is the latter wishful thinking?!LOL) . I like to think that we can be reincarnated - I often wonder if I may be the reincarnation of my paternal grandmother, who died when my father was a child. I have a very close bond with my dad, and he has often said that, from what he can remember, I'm very like his mother; in appearance and personality. It could be a genetic thing, or could it be that I am she, come back to look after her son? I shan't say anymore, it gets to the point where you feel like quoting Austin Powers in Austin Powers 2 - "Oh no, I've gone cross-eyed!". I like the concept discussed by Marian Green in one of her books - that when one physical life ends, our spirit goes to heaven (whatever we perceive that to be) and we can discuss with the Gods what we learned, what we failed at, if we need to go back, when to go back and even who to go back as!! A never-ending cycle of learning, with the eventual fulfilment of knowledge and enlightenment. But what happens then? I suppose we must get to become a God, but obviously that doesn't happen too often ;o) I cope quite easily with death - you could say I'm a pro! I have had so many family members and pets die in this short life that it's no big deal to me. I see it for what it is - a necessary life process that happens to everyone at some point. That doesn't mean I don't have feelings, of course I grieve, I just don't cry for days like some people. I usually cry at the funeral, as that's usually when it occurs to me that I'm not going to see/hear from this person/animal ever again - I let my selfishness in there; I have to otherwise I wodn't be able to accept the situation. But then I'm over it. People who cry and cry and mope for days, weeks...even months or years are selfish. I don't mean to sound harsh, but it's true. You feel sad when a loved one dies, because YOU aren't going to see them anymore. Surely it is better to celebrate the good times you had with them and be grateful that they are no longer in pain/suffering? Sometimes you have to be selfish to allow your feelings to be processed and for you to accept the situation, and it takes some longer than others (my mother is still coming to termswith the death of my brother, 2 years ago) , but to spend your whole life grieving is a waste of your own opportunity. I feel I am looked after by my grandparents - I'm often aware of them. They usually sit with me when I'm tired, although my maternal grandfather does visit me in dreams as well. I think my brother keeps his eye on me, but he doesn't 'come' to me as such, like my grandparents. I don't like the prospect of dying, probably because I'm young and have so much more I want to do. What scares me more though is losing my parents and husband - I suppose I fear the loneliness. At the end of the day though, that's life - we are born, grow and mature, bear fruit (kids) , age wither and die, to rest and be reborn. |
| Now-Nothing! | May 22nd. at 6:55:06 am EDT |
| Aquila ka Hecate (Johannesburg, South Africa) | Age: 43 - Email - Web |
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The question of whether our 'self' survives death is of course unanswerable for certain at the moment. However, having been a pagan for a number of years now, and being very interested in just this question, I have to say that in all likelihood, we don't. Survive death, that is. I realise that it's a tough and, to some people, bleak outlook not to believe in any afterlife at all.But come on now-where are the strong suggestions that this life is not all we have?I've gone looking and not found any. Anecdotal evidence doesn't count, and frankly the 'scientific' efforts in this feild are so loaded with presumptative bias that they don't speak to me. I have lost my mother and my father in short order not too long ago-and nearly lost myself as well, but far from strengthening my wish to believe, it's confirmed my suspician, upheld by Occam's Razor and the lack of good data, that there is no soul to carry on. Anyone who has lived closely with someone dying of Alzheimer's would be less than honest to not admit that the lack of soul is in fact the best explanation for what we observe. I'm not fazed by my own impending death-I've had to confront the very real possibility more than once up to now. Of course I love being alive, but the very absence of any afterlife makes this one all the sweeter, believe me! |
| When We Die, We Rot... | May 22nd. at 9:12:44 am EDT |
| Black Cat (Madison, WI) | Age: 24 - Email |
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..and from the rot, life grows. We become flowers, eaten by deer. We become deer, eaten by wolves. We become wolves, who die, who rot, who become trees. We become trees that breathe oxygen and water into the atmosphere. We fall as rain. We are swallowed by the fish. We become the fish. In this way, we live forever. |
| Death Isn't Real | May 22nd. at 11:46:36 am EDT |
| Matt (Detroit) | Age: 25 - Email |
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Well, coming from a guy who lives in the murder capital of the world, I'd have to say that death is as much an illusion as is our sensory perceptions. Everything that is sensed is mearly interpretations of the brain - and the brain is the physical manifestation of the Mind. I don't quite know what I'm getting at there as I just woke up, but suffice it to say, death is just a leap from one way of being to another. Matt |
| Just A Thought... | May 22nd. at 4:12:43 pm EDT |
| Duck (CA-USA) | Age: 41 - Email |
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Death and reincarnation will always be a hotly debated topic. But I am curious about something that may have slipped by some folks. As we all know, scientists are expermenting with cryogenics. People will have themselves "frozen" at the time of death, with the hopes that one day in the future, they can be brought back to life. Sounds good, I suppose. But, I can easily envision the following... The year: 2216. A guy (let us call him "Stan", ) comes home from work one day to his apartment in a city on Mars. He discovers DEATH sitting in the living-room, watching the 23rd century version of JACKASS on MTV ("It's still garbage, " he mutters.) Stan asks DEATH why he is there. DEATH answers; "Have you ever heard of Cryogenics?" Stan answers that he has, but how does that concern him? DEATH gives an nervious smile, grumbling that there should have been a memo on this long ago, and answers: "Well Stan, some kids at Harvard Medical School, back on Earth are about to revive some fellow who died in 1998. I hate to say it, buddy, but your Soul is about to be re-posessed by a previous body." Think about it. |
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