So the tally so far is:
•Nothing / decomposition—10
•Reunite with ancestors—–1
•Reincarnation——————–2
•Heaven / Hell—————––-2
•Enlightenment————–––2
•Meet Cecil————————-1
and to LouisB: this is a POLL, used to gather information. If I wanted to judge people, or debate, it would have been put in The Great Debates. So stop assuming and respect that it is a poll of peoples opinions. BTW, I didn’t mean Purgatory as a place, specifically; just that there would be cleansing.
And I’ll add my own Brand New ™ category:
No way to know
Put me down as another vote for nothing.
As LouisB (apart from the bit about the OP, I thought that was a bit harsh)
Enough speculation. I know what happens. I have proof.
To Order Your Copy of What Really Happens After We Die send a check or money order to Oral Roberts, PO Box…
After I’m dead and buried I’m going to rise from the grave and organize all the other dead 'Dopers to form “The Straight Dead” message board.
Actually, I’m with the “Nothing” group.
I figure conciousness ends permanently after brain death.
I suppose if the universe is big enough, and lasts long enough, and what makes me “me” is a repeatable phenomenon, then the possibility exists that any or all of us may live again in some future place or time. In fact, if the universe lasts for an infinite length of time, this would be precisely what would happen, an infinite number of times. I don’t exactly stake anything on this, it’s just something to think about.
Another vote for nothing.
Well, my wife will get my life insurance, thats for sure.
Maybe…
I currently do not believe in an afterlife.
Subject to change without notice. But highly unlikely to change.
And somehow I keep thinking of the Beetlejuice [the movie] waiting room. :eek:
I think it’s unknowable.
My mum, who is in no way religious, is certain there is some sort of afterlife. She had a near death experience when she was in her late teens and remains convinced that there’s something after you die.
[sub]I want to change my answer.[/sub]
I’ve spent the last 27 years trying to figure out what happens after birth. I’ll have to get back to you on the death thing.
Another vote for Heaven or Hell. Don’t really believe in purgatory though.
To use one of my favorite, if trite, expressions, I’ll just be pushing up daisies.
Lights out.
Well, usually if the person was even remotely close, like a exroommates cousin’s brother, you can con a “free” day off of work.
Boring ceremony, held uncannily in the rain, despite the nice weather everywhere else nearby.
Some kind of buffet with lots of nice cold-cuts and patoto salad, served by smelly old ladys and the ever-present “Church punch”.
Goofing off the rest of the day!
Atheists live forever.
I suspect it’s just gonna be fade to black . . .
I don’t buy the “eternal heaven / eternal hell” scenario. If where you go depends on your goodness or evilness, it makes no sence – very few people are anything other then somewhere inbetween. If it depends on having or not having the right beliefs, it makes even less sence – what you believe is generally determined by what you were raised to believe. People spend eternity in hell for not believing in something they had little or no knowledge of? I don’t think so.
If there’s anything beyond this life (about which I’m doubtful), I agree with gex gex – reincarnation is more appealing, and makes more sence.
OTOH, there’s the idea Robt Heinlein described: we’re collectively god, but we’ve decided to split into different beings and live many lives, and (during each life) forget the real story. This is, basically, just to help pass the time.
Sweet, sweet, nothingness.
I would like the idea of having a short moment, before succumbing to the non-state, to reflect upon my life and feel myself get ‘erased’ from life. But, more likely IMO, I’ll think one moment and won’t the next.