After Death

[Bones]

Re: After Death

I don't really hold any particular beliefs and I don't know what to think or expect.
However I do think the following:
That the whole universe is some sort of cycle, or loop. Same goes with just simple existence. I don't think that there is an end or that there was a beginning, because that does not really make sense. I also don't really think that nothingness is even possible, because if there was nothing, there would simply be nothing.
If we are to just simply cease to exist, then our whole life and experiences are irrelevant and pointless. Because at that point of where you simply cease to exist it would be become the same as if you never existed at all.
The simple fact that we are existing now and at this moment has an immense meaning. If we were nothing before we existed, how could we even come to exist now? I do not believe that something can exist out of nothing, therefore we never really were nothing and we never will be nothing; we will always exist in some form. It is all just a continuous cycle or loop. The process of forgetting and losing memories (at least consciously anyway) is perhaps just a way to refresh, regenerate.
Also considering the age of the universe, if we only have one life, then the fact that we are actually existing right now is a mathematical miracle, to say the least... If there is no age limit to the universe, then that makes the probability that we exist basically infinite to one. And if the probability is infinite to one, that could be equated to infinity, meaning that we should not be existing right now. But we are.

[Yrja]

Re: After Death

The Universe is endless, and being alive the way we are is just one way of many ways. To me, "death" is something that is strongly attached to our human lives, our bodies; not our souls. Since we (the way I see it) are souls currently owning a body, I rarely think about what will happen when our bodies die, because I don't see the life we now live as the "main life" of our existence.

I do believe in reincarnation, but only because we - our spiritual higher beings - can choose what form of life it will now explore. Our souls will never die unless we choose to fully disappear.

[Heka]

Re: After Death

I have no idea what happens after death, and I don't think anyone can truly know unless they are dead and in an afterlife of some sort. Whether or not there is a metaphysical afterlife, I do think that death is part of the universal cycles of death and rebirth. Your body goes into the ground and is reborn as fertilized soil, plants, energy for worms who enrich the Earth, etc. etc. If there is something after death, I imagine it involves reincarnation.
In the end, I'll certainly never know for sure as long as I'm alive, so I just enjoy my time here, do good for those around me, and make peace with the fact that one day, I will die, and that may very well be the end of my conscious existence.

This is pretty much how I feel. I would like to believe in reincarnation, and past lives but I dunno... There is definitely death and rebirth, destruction and creation, etc etc etc, but as Cuckoo said, until we get there, we can't know... So for now, Meh and I'll drink wine.

[Sarkana night]

Re: After Death

In my opinion, the only way to find out what happens after death, is by dying. So all we really can do is guess, and though there are so much guesswork that sound very possible, I'll just meet death, when it comes, with an open mind, a face held high and the feeling of excitement as when something different and completely new happens.
Not that I look forward to death as such, but I'm at least not much afraid of it.

[Volniy]

Re: After Death

There are many different opinions and theories about this. For comparison - Christianity condemns suicide, considering it a sin, but at the same time, in Japan, ancient samurai used to a hara-kiri, it was considered worthy.

I believe that there is life after death, and rebirth is possible that something like reincarnation.
We see the world not as what it actually is.
Sorcerers, shamans, magicians, who developed astral vision can see the world in a different plane. But even looking at the world in the astral plane - each of them certainly sees what is his. Somewhere - it looks like the fact that they see the same clairvoyant, but adjusted for the individual.

[Greenlife]

Re: After Death

Nothing at all. I do however think we should value our lives and those we love. To me, believing that this is the only life we have inspires me to live a fun and care free life. love those you love and do as you wish.

[Rae'ya]

Re: After Death

I have a very long and complicated belief system about what happens after we die, which is tied up pretty intrinsically with my faith system. Heathen people please bear in mind that I'm not re-constructionist and therefore not everything I believe is supported in the Lore - I believe it because it's my experience (not that I've ever died), the reported experience of others and it makes sense to me. I believe that when we die we do one of several things...

1) For most of us... Go into the Land of the Dead of our particular faith.

I believe that somewhere in the Otherworlds are the Lands of the Dead of different religions, and that's where each of us go when we die. To me, the Otherworlds are vast and distinct - there's not just an Upper, a Middle and a Lower/Under - there are hundreds of realms within the Otherworlds (technically ours is just one of them so the term just relates to all the others external to ours). So somewhere in the Otherworlds is Heaven and Hell for the Christians; the Summerlands for the Wiccans and neo-Wiccans; Hades and the Elysian fields for the Hellenics; etc etc etc

For me personally, I will likely go into one of the Nine Worlds of the Northern cosmology. It's a complicated system of several places where the dead go, depending on who you are, who you are sworn to and how you die.

If you are sworn to someone in particular (Othinn, Frigg, Thor etc) and you have a good working relationship with them and are of value, then they may consent to you going to their own hall. Someone like Thor is much more likely to do this than someone like Ullr or Idunna, because Thor likes company and the more the merrier as far as he's concerned.

Men and women who die in battle go to either Folkvangr or Vallhalla, depending on whether they are chosen by Freyja or Othinn. Freyja gets first pick of the slain, and normally takes all the women unless they are specifically sworn to Othinn - they go to Folkvangr (some say Sessrumnir, but Folkvangr is where the dead go and Sessrumnir is Freyja's personal hall, though she owns both. There is some debate about whether Folkvangr is a hall or a field - as I've never been there I don't know for sure). Othinn gets what's left over and those sworn specifically to him - they go to the mead-hall Vallhalla (Othinn owns it, along with the meeting-hall Gladasheim, but lives in his personal hall Valaskjalf). Contrary to popular belief, the entry requirement for these halls is not being a warrior. It's being a warrior who died in battle. If you are a warrior but you die in bed of pneumonia then it will depend on how much Othinn or Freyja value you as to whether they'll fight Hella for the right to take you or not. Hence Viking-age warriors were determined to die a glorious death on the battlefield rather than a peaceful death at home in bed.

If you drown you go to Ran and Aegir's hall, Aegirheim. Ran is rather protective of her right to claim the drowned dead, and if you are sworn to someone else then they may have a fight on their hands to claim you.

If you die of old age or disease or accident then you go to Helheim. The vast majority of Northern Tradition and Heathen people who die end up here, in Hella's realm. This world may be the source of the name 'Hell' used by the Christian faiths, but it's not fire and brimstone (that would be Muspellheim lol). Helheim is calm and peaceful and serene. There is a hall within it that drips poison and is full of pain and suffering - Nastrond - but it does not hold people there by force. If you end up in Nastrond it's because you feel that you deserve to be there for some action that you did (on a subconscious level, usually).

2) Remain Earthbound

If you die a sudden and traumatic death then there's a high chance you'll remain earthbound. Usually 'earthbound' means that you're not here by choice, but that you can't move on for whatever reason. Either you don't know that you're dead, you're stuck in a loop or you have some unfinished business that wont let you move on. Also... you could be refused entry into your chosen Land of the Dead and then not know what to do or where to go.

3) Choose to remain Earthbound

Sometimes people don't want to move on. They want to stay and watch over their families or whatever. Sometimes they want to wreak some havoc on the living. Sometimes being earthbound is a conscious decision and if your will is strong enough then you can make it happen.

An extension of this is...

4) Become something else

In the Northern Traditions, it's not unheard of for humans to become landvaettir (land wights) when they die... usually because they had a bargain with the local landvaettir or they have an ancestral link to a particular patch of ground. Rather than going to Helheim they remain behind and continue to care for the land as spirits. Most landvaettir are NOT human, but every now and then you may find one that was. I suspect this may also happen in Celtic cultures where the dead are buried in barrows and become linked closely with the land. It also happens in Native American and Aboriginal burial grounds sometimes - they remain behind and become the 'spirit of a place'.

Female dead may also chose to remain as Disir - these are ancestral spirits that protect a family line. Males can also do it but it's not as common. The Disir continue on, watching over their descendants to ensure that they are safe and grow to be honorable. I think that this probably happens more in modern times than we realise, at least on a temporary level. You often hear stories of people who are haunted by dead relatives and I think that this is a similar concept. It's just that the Disir are a much more conscious, deliberate ancestor spirit who will often follow a line for hundreds of years.

5) Reincarnate

I do believe in reincarnation, but not as the inevitable, linear thing that many people do. Sometimes the Nornir recycle entire Threads and a person will reincarnate. Often a person WANTS to reincarnate or Hella petitions the Nornir to send someone back out there for whatever reason (I've heard she's a bit of a schemer). I don't think that it happens to EVERYONE and I don't think that it's a set, inexorable process, but it's definitely one of the options out there and many people do it.

I think it's likely that reincarnation is linked to religion and cosmology. I think that there are entire faiths that will always reincarnate because that is the purpose of their faith... to evolve to the point of spiritual ascension. I think this is a characteristic of transcendental religions in particular, such as Buddhism and Hinduism. So for some people, reincarnation is a set, definitive thing that will happen to them when they die. Whereas for others it may not be a part of their afterlife at all. In the Northern Traditions, it is just one of several options - some people do and some people don't. If you don't it's not because you're already spiritually evolved and don't need to... you just may have chosen a different path, or had a different path chosen for you.

Anyway... that's my thoughts lol.

[Quetzal]

Re: After Death

My body will return to the earth. Perhaps my soul will too, if there is such a thing.
But if there is such a thing, it would just be energy, with no consciousness.
I, myself, as a person, would be gone permanently.

This is actually a cheery improvement on my former atheist outlook,
though that still crops up when I'm feeling depressed.

[Starling]

Re: After Death

I feel much the same as Cuckoo; I know that my body continues to feed the earthly cycle, and beyond that, I don't know.

[Corvus]

Re: After Death

A big thing that happens is the concept of multiple truths. I've summoned spirits so I don't think there's nothing after but I also think there's enough evidence for reincarnation so I am in the thought that there is both an afterlife and a cycle of reincarnation.

[Louisvillian]

Re: After Death

I believe that individual souls reincarnate in a cycle of rebirth. When we die, these souls are subsumed into a "source" or whole, kind of a spiritual monad; more of a patchwork than a melting pot, as I think the souls retain their individual essence. Because I believe that the spirits of the dead can be channelled, I can deduce that the time spent as part of this monad is variable, that reincarnation is not immediate. Else they wouldn't be "dead" and couldn't be channelled, they'd be reborn in someone's body.
I believe that a soul is reborn until such time as its most recent possessor renders it liberated from the cycle, through whatever means they believe does this. At which point that soul is permanently subsumed into the monad. I believe that the time spent as part of the monad, whether temporary or permanent, is "translated" to the soul as a state of bliss, and is visually represented as an abundant, fertile paradise. Thus I can reconcile the Summerlands and the concept of reincarnation. I have a pet idea that when a person is reborn they may some latent memories of the monad, or a person may interact with the monad during mystic states of consciousness; thus, accounting for some of the common imagery of paradisal afterlives.

[shadow1982]

Re: After Death

I'm not really sure what I believe but I believe there is 'something' after death, and am currently leaning towards reincarnation. Regardless of what happens next, however, I am only going to get to live this life once and I think that is what is really important. I'll worry about what happens after death when I finally get there (when I'm like 114 or whatever )

[jcaternolo]

Re: After Death

I believe that the afterlife is spent in the spiritual realm (forgot the name) that many people have soul traveled to through meditation. Either that, or we're reincarnated, with all of our memories from our past lives buried deep within our subconscious.