Pagan Information Question #15. What happens to you when you die?

Question

A nujmber of my Christian Friends ask me this often enough to warrant asking this of the REAT of the Pagans out there. I'm sure that this question would be at the top of many non-pagan's list of questions to ask us. I KNOW we ALL have different concepts on this so, as many diferent answers would be VERY helpful to the Non-Pagans out there.

Brightest Blessings,
Raji the Green Witch

Adams Rib. The purpose of this series is for us PAGANS to explain to YOU, non-Pagans OUR Religions. NOt for YOU to tell us what YOUR Religion is about. Information on YOUR Religion is freely available in millions of places. Information about OUR ways is not. This is a chance for YOU to learn about US. NOT an opporunity for YOU to flood Y!A with MORE of YOUR Dogma.

BB,
Raji

Answer 1

We go to hell and burn for all eternity, of course.

Just kidding. :-)

I think we are reincarnated, and the time in between is like spending time in the locker room at half-time during a football game. Lifetimes are like the first and second (and third and fourth and fifth) halves of football games. The downtime in between gives your "soul" - the essence that is you and was the person you were before you and will be the person you will be after you're you, that is progressing over many lifetimes towards what the ultimate goal is - a chance to reflect on what just happened. Whether you're reincarnated immediately or not I would expect would be dependent on the individual. If you've just gone through a particularly difficult life where there were a lot of harsh lessons for you to learn, you might want to hang out up in the cosmos for a while and think about how that last life just went before getting back out onto the field. I have no reason to believe that our essence wouldn't experience the pain of a "bad" life experience and need some time to recover before throwing itself back into the mix. Or, you may want to chill for a little while if you've progressed to a level where you should be teaching others, but the human timeline isn't necessarily ready to learn. Or you may need a little time before it's decided what would be the best life for you to come back into to learn more, rather than just coming back down and not learning anything. I definitely think Goddess and God, when we're in that state, have something to do with what lives we ultimately end up in, so we aren't just spinning our wheels through an endless series of lives that are exactly the same.

Since I came back for at least one more life, I obviously don't know what's at the end of all this learning and the cycles of reincarnation. But I believe, whatever it is, must be something worth working for, or why else would we put ourselves through this world again and again trying to get there (wherever "there" is)?

)O(

Answer 2

I'm sure I have a pretty unique view on the afterlife. I see all life as being made up of four parts: mind, body, heart, and soul. The way I see it is when a person or other life form, be it animal or plant, dies, several things happen. The body decays and turns into fertilizer for the earth. The mind lives on in the teachings the "being" gave to others and the heart lives on in the live given to others and recieved by that being. And the soul has three routes. One, it can go straight to the Afterlife/Heaven/Summerland/call it what you will. This "place" for lack of a better term is somewhere where all souls go to merge in a great pool of perfection and happiness. The souls can stay there for all eternity or after a while they can be recycled and reused, reincarnated. Depending on how that soul lived before, I think it would return as a life that Godd would deem best for it, be it as a person, rabbit, eagle, rose, or oak. The second route the soul could take is not even get to the afterlife but be reincarnated right away. I think the decision is made by Godd, but the soul gets to have a word in too. The third route is not getting to the afterlife right away, but not being reincarnated right away either. I think a soul can remain on earth for a while in order to finish something that it and/or Godd thinks still needs to be done first. In this case, the soul would then become a ghost/ghoul/spirit/etc. It would stay like this until the job is done, then it can move on to Heaven and/or reincarnation.

Just a note, I am a henotheistic Eclectic and like to spell the deity's name as Godd to represent my belief that S/He is made up GODs and GODDesses. I see Godd as a sort of crystal with infinited facets, each face being a different god or goddess. I can talk to Godd and cover every base or if I need help in a certain area, I can talk to a certain "personality" such as Isis or Thor, Artemis or Mercury.

Answer 3

I am an atheist. I am humble enough to know that I don’t know the answer to that question. Anyone who does answer is self deluded or just a liar.

If anyone can prove or new the answer I would listen but I need more that ‘because I told you so’ that works on 8 year olds; I am not a child and therefore will require more evidence.

As a home hobbyist mechanic I don’t trust work to be done on my car by anyone but me. I go to shops and talk to professional mechanics who I find are very often just taking guesses and some of those guesses are very off. Many people can’t just say ‘I DON’T KNOW’ this is the same as talking to a priest, pastor etc. They will give answers but the truth is they don’t know either. They will and do make up answers that they have no clue. People do this everyday; its human nature.

To think a priest, Christian, or pastor has some divine knowledge or above human error or faults is foolish. There is only one person/thing can answer this question and he aint saying anything.

Answer 4

I believe that in all likelihood, when we die we are gone. Our molecules and atoms continue and will transform into other things, like dirt which then becomes part of a tree, etc. I believe that the memory of me will live on in those who loved me. I believe that my genes will carry on through m descendents. I believe that since there will be no physical support system (my body) to sustain and nourish my brain cells, which house my thoughts and feelings and self, that I will vanish, most likely. And I think it will be like the time before I was born. This does indeed scare me some, but I realize that there is nothing I can do about it, and that all the religions in the world aren't going to change what is going to happen to me, and to everyone. I think that we struggle with this question very hard and that we have created so many religions because of this not knowing, and because of being afraid of not existing. I say this with the utmost respect, with no disrespect intended ,in light of my disagreement with many of my esteemed pagan colleagues. I also believe that when we live long enough, that Mother Nature often brings in us a sense of completion, of being tired, of being finished with life, of being ready fo be done. Nature has a way of doing things gradually in us, so that there aren't too many overnight changes in our bodies or spirits which would be too jolting. We scarcely notice growing older, it goes day by day. I read the other answers. A very interesting and thoughtful group of answers. Blessings, and Merry Yule, Raji! Lady Morgana )0(

Answer 5

I'll use an analogy to try and explain what I think happens. Get, or think of, a glass of water and a dropper. Take one drop out of the glass. This drop is someones life force. When the person dies their drop goes back into the glass of water. The exact same drop can not be taken back out again (well, maybe after enough repetition). Each drop is unique, but of the same whole.

I do not know if this drop has concious, or purely of matter. I would like to think some of our knowlege or personality is stored in this drop and is more than just our body decomposing into the earth to be used again. Either way, or another, it is what it is and I wont fully know until I get there.

Answer 6

What I "believe" happens is the following.

When I leave this body that is only a shell I will go back and joins others who have died and are waiting to be reborn. In this time we make decisions about what we want to do in the next life. By that I mean we decide what we want to learn and experience. Time has no meaning there so it's not like I would say I want to go back in a year. It could be in a blink of an eye and I may be born again.

Answer 7

OK, this is a little complicated but... Here is what I believe.

One of the teachers I studied with explained that we are in control. If we truly believe in nothingness, with all of our heart and soul, then we move on to nothingness. If we truly believe in hell and that we have earned a place in that place, our energy will create a hell that we will be trapped in. Some of us remain close to this realm for reasons of our own; maybe we just cannot leave our child or loved one; or we have something to prove or resolve; etc.

Most of us are released and move on to a realm where basically we evaluate the lessons learned and the lessons to be learned. We "negotiate" (for lack of a better word) with others in this realm to create scenarios where we can (if we take advantage) learn those lessons; we are then sent back to earth.

The problem with the lessons we set up is that we forget or underestimate the difficulties of being within this body. We are reborn and know we can do/be more but toil to overcome the restrictions of the flesh.

Hope this makes sense!

Answer 8

Personally? No effing clue.

There are lots of theories, and none of them have any factual basis. They're more based on tradition and wishful thinking than anything else.

(So far as I know, people who claim to do OBE do not submit to scientific testing. And they do not seem to be able to confirm each others experiences without having been told what to expect in the experience originally.)

Anyway, consciousness is a function of the brain, when the brain dies, consciousness ceases to function. If anything exists beyond that, then I will be as surprised as everyone else.

Answer 9

Hi, Raji, honey. first, i want to start with NO ONE KNOWS truly what happens... lol if we did, there wouldn't be so many different answers!! haha

My thoughts are as such: I believe when we die, we hang around on earth until our services, in spirit form. Until our frends and family have blessed us to go on. As for services, it doesn't matter what 'religion' it's under, just as long as there are services. It could be something as simple as spreading ashes, or an all out funeral, just being remembered is what counts. My reasoning? this doesn't come from books, this comes from my heart. When my father, my grandmother, my uncle, and 4 of my friends died (all within the last 4 years) I could feel their spirits still with us. my grandmother, i could feel sitting at the piano at her services, she played the piano for years. When the services were over, i no longer felt her presense. It was the same with the rest of my loved ones, i felt them, until services were over.

Now, for what happens next, i beleive it depends on the person. I beleive in reincarnation for some, i beleive in folks becoming angels for others, I beleive some go and be with the Goddess and God, to share what they've learned, and to continue learning for the next life, then they are reincarnated. But, for the most part, I believe there are truths in all religions, and whatever your religion tells you is what will happen. My mother is Christian, and she believes she will go to heaven, god willing, and i pray that it happens for her, becuase that's what she wants.

I also beleive that part of every person out there, becomes a spirit guide for those that they love, they are there to call on by the ones left behind, for guidance, support, and even answers.

Answer 10

Interesting question. U get a star. In my opinion I believe that we die go to a place where we are debriefed on lesions of life. Like what we did vs what we should have done. After that we relax for a bit and waite to be reincarnated into another body to go back and learn more lesions.