# For those who don't believe in God, what happens after we die, then? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 22, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459 "2005-10-22T22:23:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/1 "2005-10-22T22:23:14Z")
I know I’m starting this in GD, but my intention is not to debate about the existence of God or not. It’s more or less just a question to all the members out there who don’t believe in God; basically, what do you believe and think happens after we die? Do you think that’s just it then? That it’s just one unconcious, dark void and that this life is all we have? Do you believe in reincarnation? Or do you believe as my father did (who didn’t believe in God either) and think that life is circular and that when we reach the end, we start right back at the beginning only with our memories wiped clean (accept for bits and pieces, which my dad used to explain Deja Vu)? What do you think or believe happens when we pass on? If your answer is that you don’t know until it happens, that’s fine enough too. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/2 "2005-10-22T22:38:24Z")
> [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > Do you think that’s just it then? That it’s just one unconcious, dark void and that this life is all we have? Nailed it the first time. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/3 "2005-10-22T22:39:22Z")
I suspect that its a lot like going to sleep but never waking up. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/4 "2005-10-22T22:40:29Z")
Maybe you really are asking for IMHOs? IMHO I do not know what came before of after and either I’ll find out or not. As the Blood Sweat and Tears song said, “I swear there aint no Heaven and I pray there aint no Hell, but only my dieing will tell.” Or sumpin like that. Actually I am have a Godconcept but I do not believe in an individual soul before birth or after death. When I die the processes that create my consciousness cease to be, so therefore my consciousness does as well. If between birth and death I have manged to both do some good, and to have some fun, then I’ll be pretty satisfied with having had that lot. Honestly, life is enough to keep me busy without having to bring in any afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/5 "2005-10-22T22:41:08Z")
Like any other machine, mechanical or organic; whirrr, click, stops working. Makes sense to me and I’m okay with it. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/6 "2005-10-22T22:43:00Z")
> [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > Do you think that’s just it then? That it’s just one unconcious, dark void and that this life is all we have? Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/7 "2005-10-22T22:44:08Z")
Since your consciousness is based in your brain, I suspect that ‘nothing’ happens and that you don’t know it’s happening. For a little while after I became an atheist, I attempted to believe in some kind of afterlife involving reincarnation. I had no idea, especially without a god, how this would work. Eventually, I realized I was telling myself what I wanted to hear, not what I thought was really going on. So I stopped. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/8 "2005-10-22T22:44:24Z")
Darn, I thought that was the preview button… Personally, I think this life is it. When it is done, it’s done. Do you know what you were doing before you were born (or, allowing for the slim possiblity of memories from inside the womb, conceived)? I don’t. I haven’t seen any reliable reports of any. Based on this alone, I believe we return to the nothingness from which we (our consciousness) began. However, I would not mind discovering I’m mistaken when the time comes. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/9 "2005-10-22T22:44:25Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Maybe you really are asking for IMHOs? Yeah, I was actually. But my last God oriented topic was started in IMHO, and then, follow along if you can :p, it was moved to GD…THEN moved BACK to IMHO, THEN moved back to GD a 2nd time. Heh. So I just figured I’d start this here in the first place. If a mod thinks it should go into IMHO, though, I have no beef. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/10 "2005-10-22T22:51:00Z")
After we die, that’s the end of it. No consciousness, no perception of anything, the same as before you were born. I don’t believe in reincarnation either. Time is a continuim (sp?), once a moment has passed, it’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/11 "2005-10-22T23:22:36Z")
> [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > Do you think that’s just it then? That it’s just one unconcious, dark void and that this life is all we have? A void is neither conscious or unconscious, neither dark nor light. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/12 "2005-10-22T23:25:49Z")
I believe that when I die, that’ll be all there was. I also played around with reincarnation, but decided that was just wishful thinking. I was not conscious before I was alive; I won’t be after I’m not. > [@Idle Thoughts](#): > > So I just figured I’d start this here in the first place. If a mod thinks it should go into IMHO, though, I have no beef. I swear, if this shows up in IMHO, I’m moving it to Cafe Society! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/13 "2005-10-22T23:49:05Z")
When we’re dead we’re gone. We’re nowhere before we’re born; we’re nowhere after we die. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/14 "2005-10-23T00:03:51Z")
You know what? I don’t believe in God one bit, but I do wonder sometimes if there’s something after life. The next great adventure. With nothing to do with a Supreme Being! Gandalf said it better than I could - check out my sig. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/15 "2005-10-23T00:11:28Z")
Myself, I don’t know. If thought is all based in the brain then when the brain dies, thought dies…and thats it. Of course, if the universe is infinite then I suppose re-incarnation of some sort is possible. Of course, its kind of a hollow re-incarnation, even if it did happen so… I’m in no rush to find out to be honest. It will come soon enough… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/16 "2005-10-23T01:48:52Z")
As Ethel Barrymore used to say, “That’s all there is; there isn’t any more.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/17 "2005-10-23T01:55:37Z")
Where does the light go after the lightbulb is broken? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/18 "2005-10-23T01:59:57Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Where does the light go after the lightbulb is broken? Not a good analogy. The photons still exist, or they convert to something else. There just aren’t any new photons created. But it sounded good! ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/19 "2005-10-23T02:13:28Z")
Are organisms exempt from the first law of thermodynamics? I suggest a differentiation between consciousness and energy. This could be interpreted as reincarnation. . ---
**Author:** ![Habanero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@Habanero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habanero)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459/20 "2005-10-23T02:31:10Z")
I have a bit of inner conflict with this subject. On the one hand, I was born and raised Christian and so a little part of me feels that I’m going to suffer the wrath of hell if I don’t believe firmly in God and heaven. Maybe this was the obedient portion of religion whipping fear into me at a young age. On the other hand, science has yet to prove the existence of any heaven or hell, so in which case I would chose to believe “That it’s just one unconcious, dark void and that this life is all we have,” as **Idle Thoughts** so adequately put it. So what do I personally believe? Well, if there is a God then fate will lead us to our respectfully earned destinations. If not, then the dark void that is the end of it all isn’t too bad either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-those-who-dont-believe-in-god-what-happens-after-we-die-then/327459.md?page=2)