What happens when you die?

[LogDog75]

This question is from the (Stephen) Colbert questionaire that he asks guests.

I like Bad Bunny's answer: They bury you.

Me, we cease to exist. No Heaven, no Hell, and no reincarnation. Whatever essence that composes our "soul" dissipates into nothingness.

What your opinion.

[surfered]

1. In the Army, the saying was " when you're dead, you're dead."

I believe that when you’re dead, you won’t know you’re dead.

[cbabe]

2. Let the mystery be/Iris deMent

https://m.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Only one right answer.

We don't know what happens to us after we die.

[Grim Chieftain]

4. Yikes

That's a very heavy but important question, especially as one gets older. I'd like to think I will see my loved ones again in a place of peace, love and grace.

[multigraincracker]

5. Like bubbles in a glass of champagne.

We rise to the top and then explode into the vastness.

[mitch96]

14. I like the lines from 1982 film Blade Runner, Rutger Hauer...

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."All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain"...
All our conscious thoughts and memories will be gone...
Back to the space and time before you were born, before you were aware..
m

[ms liberty]

6. Keanu Reeves said that the people who love you will miss you. That's as good an answer as any other.

[Upthevibe]

60. ms liberty...........

That's exactly what I was going to post.

I love Keanu's answer maybe better than any other.

I'll say what I believe in a separate post.

[Doodley]

7. To me, it is a question of soul survival, and if we are all that we perceive through our brains and senses, or if there

is a universal energy that we do not understand.

[BlueTsunami2018]

8. The same thing that was happening before you were born.

Oblivion.

[Coventina]

9. We play saxophone for an all female cabaret

In New Orleans.

Iykyk

[gab13by13]

10. We return to the universe.

[Deuxcents]

11. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. It all dissipates into the elements we're made of..Star stuff, as Carl Sagan says

[mitch96]

15. I love that line... We are all stardust..nt

[Norrrm]

12. Heaven

[True Dough]

13. SPOILER ALERT!

When you die, you wind up here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=inmemoriam


Rest assured, you'll be in good company.

[Deuxcents]

17. Thanks for that..good company, for sure

[NJCher]

16. you can find out if you want to

I know, but I'm not telling.

The answer means nothing unless you figure it out yourself.

[lpbk2713]

18. Neurons cease to function.

Everything comes to an end.

[Intractable]

19. 72 virgins?

Did I get that right?

[debm55]

20. My idea of heaven and hell--what happens after you die. In college I made a tapestry weaving. I went to the yarn store a

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2026, 09:09 AM - Edit history (1)

and bought yarn in all shades and tints of the warm family-yellow, orange, and red. I also bought white and black. I started my weaving in the center with white in the center, I next came around the center white with the very palest of yellow. then a slightly darker version, then the next would be a little darker, then a pale orange and so on . I finished with the orange with a very dark shade of orange in a circular shape. Finally I did the circular weaving with the red hues, until I reached burgundy. Then a dark burgundy, Then the last color woven was black. Mind you the weaving frame I made was 6 ft by 8 ft. Going out from the center the color forms had different
circumferences. It was my idea of heaven and hell. My church believes in the concept of heaven or hell. I don't. I believe that no one is totally good or totally bad. The white weaving is God, the nearer to the one weaving you are. the better person you were in life. The farther away, the worse you were in life. But you still have some light to show you had some goodness in your soul. So animals could be there too. As a child of abuse, it gave me a sense of spirituality mixing my Art Ed. background with my Psychology classes.
I am so sorry this is so long.

[Coventina]

23. Hi Deb, I love your description.

I once had a really vivid dream of the afterlife.
I even posted about it here on DU, years ago.

I dreamed it was kind of like a health spa, or a ski resort during the summertime.
Quiet, beautiful, surrounded by nature.
It wasn't a final destination, I somehow knew.
It was a temporary place for newly dead people to adjust to their new reality, and come to terms with any "unfinished business" they'd left behind.
Not that they could do anything about it, it was more a mental adjustment about letting the past go.
There were opportunities to resolve hurts or other forms of unhappiness.
At some point, it was known that you would move on. To what, I never found out. Another life? A "heaven"? I really had no idea.

It was a dream that really stuck with me. As you can see, it still has, even after all these years.

[debm55]

37. Thank you very much, Coventina. Your concept sounds wonderful

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[Skittles]

21. I agree with you

and be a decent human being because it's the right thing to do, not because you expect some kind of reward in the end

this is it

[Inkey]

32. After watching The Good Place TV Show

I really hope for a next level of existence. But I will also accept returning into matter again.

[Skittles]

33. I don't have a problem with people who need to believe otherwise

as long as they leave that stuff out of politics

[Niagara]

22. Niagara's unofficial DU Will & Testament

If at all possible I would like the following to occur upon my death.


It's most likely unsanitary and not legal due to various environmental laws but set my dead ass on one of those funeral pyres that some of the indigenous tribes use to donto say goodbye to their loved ones.

If this isn't legal or lawful in any way, maybe cremate me using the aquamation AKA alkaline hydrolysis. It's fairly inexpensive and legal in 28 states.

If not I suppose a regular fire cremation will have to do, this will be my last chance to have a smoking hot body!

Then there's going to be a gathering of people with food, drink with music and dancing out in the middle of the woods or a forest.

Don't consume too much food and drink because you all will be required to dance naked around a colossal bonfire 🔥 at least one full turn. No one cares what you look like naked, just do it for me and in my honor.



For the Fourth of July, everyone should buy some pet food, blankets or pet toys and donate them to the SPCA or a local animal shelter instead of purchasing fireworks. If you don't do this, I will haunt you.


Also, someone will have to take over the Halloween Countdown threads in the Lounge. The overseer of the threads will have to remind people that Halloween isn't always cute but at times creepy.


I haven't really dwelled on it for long time but the thought has crossed my mind that I may get sick, disabled or die at some point. I'm making notes in a specific notebook so that my family can access my online accounts and information that my vehicle is paid for so they don't have to worry about that.

I haven't updated this specific notebook in awhile so I should look at it this weekend.

Thank you for the reminder.

Enjoy today and dream for today. 🌞

[LogDog75]

26. You could donate your body to the Body Farmm

The Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee has a Body Farm where they study how bodies decompose under varied conditions. Here's the link to the Body Farm.

https://fac.utk.edu/

[Niagara]

42. This body farm can retrieve a body for 100 miles but there would be transportation cost of additional 459 miles

And there's always a charge for sanitary transportation as well. The cardboard box to transport is between $50 to $495.


I'm a bicentennial baby, hopefully I have some time to figure this out.

[debm55]

63. Dr. Bass started that. I was interested in that field as Graduate work. Wonderful work they do there.

[True Dough]

39. You sound like someone

trying to stay warm!

[Niagara]

43. For sure, True

These artic cold blasts are for the penguins!

[sestina]

24. If I think too long about this life

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that we all experience, it becomes absurd.
People arrive and people leave in an infinite rotation of the future covering up the past, all within a limited time frame, everyone on their own unknown journey to somewhere, maybe contributing something along the way for future generations, but for what real purpose?
I don't know what to believe about what happens after we die. I imagine that nothing happens at all.
But if we could feel an incredible moment of relief that our life is finally over, that would be the greatest gift.

[Iggo]

25. I'll never know...

…so I try not to worry about it.

[Doodley]

27. The miracle of us being here happened once. Why shouldn't it happen again? And again?

[Shambala]

28. I believe we'll be recycled

We are all stardust. And all that energy that exists on a molecular level in each of us is released upon our death to wait for the cosmic cycle of collapsing stars, black holes, and big bangs creating new stars and new worlds and new galaxies and new universes. It may not be next week or next month - but I believe I’ll be back again.

[markodochartaigh]

29. Mark Twain

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.


Life was not a valuable gift, but death was. Life was a fever-dream made up of joys embittered by sorrows, pleasure poisoned by pain; a dream that was a nightmare-confusion of spasmodic and fleeting delights, ecstasies, exultations, happinesses, interspersed with long-drawn miseries, griefs, perils, horrors, disappointments, defeats, humiliations, and despairs--the heaviest curse devisable by divine ingenuity; but death was sweet, death was gentle, death was kind; death healed the bruised spirit and the broken heart, and gave them rest and forgetfulness; death was man's best friend; when man could endure life no longer, death came and set him free.

[catbyte]

30. I loved the answer to this question that Keanu Reeves gave:

"Those who love us will miss us."

I think it's like a light switch turning off.

[highplainsdem]

31. I don't believe we die. And I'm not saying that because of any religion's teachings. I don't believe one's

religious beliefs, or lack of belief, matters.

I'm saying that based on near death experiences that I've heard and read about, and paranormal experiences (really the wrong word, since they're normal and pretty common) that I've had, that people I know have had, or that I've learned about. If you've ever been in a grief support group, you've probably heard of such experiences. You're likely to hear about them, too, from hospice workers, or from nurses. You usually won't hear about them, though, unless people feel that it would be OK to talk about their own experiences.

https://www.businessinsider.com/near-death-experiences-research-doctor-life-after-death-afterlife-2023-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Long

There have been some threads in the Lounge about paranormal experiences.

You can run across stories of paranormal experiences in biographies and autobiographies. The Johnny Cash autobiography cowritten by Patrick Carr, for instance. Producer Tony Visconti's autobiography.

You can always try to dismiss the stories...but I've heard stories like this from people in lots of different occupations, from different religious backgrounds, or with no religious beliefs at all. It often took a personal experience to end their skepticism. The people I've found most unwilling to.accept these experiences are avowed atheists and people with very set religious beliefs who don't feel paranormal experiences can fit with their church's teachings.

Some links you might find interesting:

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/

https://youtube.com/@uvadivisionofperceptualstu9909

You'll see some videos with John Cleese on that YouTube channel, and here:

[SheltieLover]

35. Great post!

I've worked in hospice & yup, you are correct

Great reads:

Journey of Souls;
Destiny of Souls; &
Many Lives Many Masters.

Fascinating topic imo.

[highplainsdem]

48. Thanks for the reply, SheltieLover, and the book recommendations!

[SheltieLover]

50. Yw, HPD

[sestina]

46. Thanks for this post and the links.

I used to read about the fascinating subject of near death experiences, and I'm going to revisit it.
I went through about four years of different types of grief therapy after my husband died.
He died at home with hospice care. My family and I were there when he exhaled his last breath.
I know that our grief makes us find comfort and significance in things that other people don't understand.
I know that it's beneficial to find those things and keep them close to our hearts for as long as we need to.
Things like an unexpected unique rainbow, a perfect, relevant song on the radio, a face in the clouds that no one else can see, dreams of the person offering encouragement, a "familiar stranger" in the street.
These things happened to me, as well as a very specific joyful occurrence that carried me along for years and occasionally still happens.
Yet at some point my brain told my heart the truth, even though I know that my heart still remembers everything.

[highplainsdem]

53. You're welcome, and I'm glad you had those comforting signs. Please don't doubt them - you

recognized their significance because of your brain, which was telling you the truth.

There's a book on the subject of signs that I've often recommended, Hello From Heaven by Bill Guggenhein and Judy Guggenheim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_from_Heaven!

Bill has a website that lists types of ADCs (after death communications) - http://www.billguggenheim.com/types-of-adcs.html - and that links to a larger website: http://www.after-death.com/

I'd also recommend David Kessler's Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms: Who and What You See Before You Die. Kessler worked with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

https://grief.com/books-by-david-kessler/visions-trips-crowded-rooms/

[sestina]

59. Thanks for your reply with all of the links and

referrals for reading, as well as a different perspective about the brain being the truth-teller.
The heart wants what the heart wants, but maybe the brain knows what the heart should want.
I'm familiar with the five stages of grief, and I look forward to exploring the books and links.

[OldBaldy1701E]

36. I have no idea.

But, I am ready to find out.

Sorry if that bothers some people.

[Emile]

38. You quit breathing.

[chouchou]

40. Many, many people take your place. The universe doesn't care....

...except the ones that count..Your love ones.

[justaprogressive]

41. Or burn you

I'll see you and my beloved Appaloosa in the Elysian Fields...🐎

...if you make it...

[mnhtnbb]

44. If the First Law of Thermodynamics is correct

There is a transfer of energy when you die. Where or how it goes, I do not know. But it is not lost. I do believe that.

If the 1st law of thermodynamics is correct, then what happens to energy in us after we are dead? Does this explain a ghost or spirit? - Quora https://share.google/KgFwTpjsejbiJ1lE4

[NNadir]

45. I do not expect to remember dying. As for nothingness...

...I don't think that is much of an issue; somewhere in the universe, all over the universe, in a seemingly infinite series of places, new things, perhaps new beings will be coming into existence and discovering the wonder of that existence.

I've had my wonder of being, enjoyed it fully, and I am pleased to surrender it to the universe beyond.

There is release in knowing I never really mattered but somehow in an absolutely silly way, I thought I did, amusing as that is.

[LudwigPastorius]

49. What happens when you are put under general anesthetic? Where do "you" go?

Or, what was happening to "you" before you were born?

That's what happens when you die.

[bluestarone]

62. Probably the best answer.

[Figarosmom]

51. The energy that sparked our life

Returns to it's source. I imagine it like an energy river. And our skin and bones and organs rot to feed the soil.

All part of the balance of nature.

Now if there is some force of cognition in our energy I don't know. But nature uses everything so I think there must be some use for us having brains that retain information.

[dweller]

52. Life itself is such a mystery , magical and miraculous

The whole of Nature is a wonder . I remain astounded by its existence and so find myself as an integral being of this mystery . That awareness carries me on and I try to remain astonished and mesmerized and pleased to be a part of it all .
What happens next must be as splendorous , but if I had to guess I would observe the seasonal rebirth of this planet’s natural rhythms , and hope that some essence of me would participate in that rhythm …

But what do I know , I’m just a dweller on this lovely and magical being .


ymmv



✌🏻

[anciano]

57. Great post...

Nature is indeed awesome. Although we humans often act like we are separate entities, I personally believe that we are one with Nature, and our lives are to Nature just like waves are to the never ending flow of the ocean.

[Cirsium]

54. When I die?

A disaster of biblical proportions. Old Testament, real Wrath-of-God type stuff! Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! 40 years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!

[LogDog75]

56. That's a quote by Dr. Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) from Ghostbusters

I ain't afraid of no ghost.

[Cirsium]

58. ding ding ding

We have a winner!

I think the last sentence is from Peter Venkman (Bill Murray.)

[no_hypocrisy]

55. The question should be "Where were you BEFORE you were born?"

because IMO, you're returning to that sphere. You simply rented your body for 0 to 80 or so years and the lease is up.

[Upthevibe]

61. LogDog75...Kicking for when I'm ready to post - "What happens when you die." N/T

[Morbius]

64. Well, possibly

...you end up in a steam bath and the Puerto Rican janitor is actually God. I saw a pretty good movie once where this was the case.

My opinion is that no one really knows, and some people have for millennia taken advantage of that. Most of us are afraid of dying; I admit I am not looking forward to it myself. Promising people that they will benefit after death by complying with your directives and giving you 10% of their income... I should stop now before I really go off.

We cannot know, and therefore theories about it are and must be meaningless. The question is unanswerable.

[LudwigPastorius]

67. "...you end up in a steam bath and the Puerto Rican janitor is actually God."

Well, if Valerine Perrine is there, I wanna go.

[Dulcinea]

65. I like the Eastern religions' take on it.

You get to try again until you get it right. Anything else just seems wasteful to me. YMMV.

[LogDog75]

66. I knd of like the theme of the movie Defending Your Life

In the movie, Albert Brooks plays Daniel Miller who, after dying, is in Judgement City where his life is reviewed in a courtroom-like setting. He falls in love with a Julia, played by Meryl Streep, who he fears will move on to the next level of existence while he'll sent back to try again.