2Kviews
54 Guesses And Speculations About What Happens After Death, As Shared By People In This Online Thread
One question that most of us have thought about at least once is what happens after death. And although there are many thought-provoking questions, hopefully, we don’t get the answer to this one anytime soon. Yet still, it’s the question that has occupied the thoughts of many. What happens to the soul after death has been the question posed and discussed by many religions and philosophies. However, there’s no singular answer to what comes after death.
From a biological point of view, we can explain what happens to a body after death. However, humanity has yet to answer what happens to the soul, spirit, consciousness, or whatever you call that formless energy that makes up a human being. There are only speculations and guesses. Interested in the secrets of the universe and the afterlife, user Maleficent_Team430 of the AskReddit community asked fellow members, “What do you think happens to you after you die?” The question prompted an open discussion, allowing people to share their views and thoughts on what happens after you pass away. While some answers were facetious, quite a few took the question seriously and provided genuine, heartfelt, some even highly researched responses worth looking at.
Below, we’ve assembled the most interesting answers from the thread, in which Redditors shared their guesses, perhaps hopes, about what will happen after death. As always, upvote the entries that share the same views as you or the ones that seem the most plausible. Also, we would love to hear your thoughts on this topic, so share your wisdom in the comments. And if you are looking for even more mind-boggling subjects to mull over, check out our article featuring 145 Confusing Questions.
This post may include affiliate links.
"IDK, but I hope my organs are donated to whoever needs them."
In France you are a donor by default. If you don't want to be one, you have to declare it. Preferably before you die.
knockfart said:
"My family sells all my stuff way under value."
parsonis replied:
"Don't flatter yourself. We're hiring a dumpster."
wemberxa said:
"My hope is that I get to see the people I love again but reality bites and I think we just cease and that’s it."
Hunt3rRush replied:
"Hold onto your hope, friend."
TheArtfulWarrior replied:
"Think about it this way: if seeing your loved ones again isn’t true, and you simply cease to exist, then you will not feel any pain or sadness because of it."
User No 1 said:
"Spectator mode."
AdolfCitler replied:
"That would be so entertaining tbh. I could pick a favorite family or two and watch their lives, or I could go into the wild and do the same with an animal, I could see a murderer and see if the real killer is found, sounds way more fun than life."
TheDayOfTheDucks said:
"You guys are boring. I think, if you were a good enough person, you'd meet Renny, the cosmic overlord that looks like a duck. You would proceed to play Legos with your new friend for the end of time."
spudtatogames replied:
"Sounds great, sign me up."
"The world continues as though you never existed."
No, you'll continue to exist as long as you're still getting junk mail. That's probably forever.
awellenreuther said:
"You just transfer to the next universe where you didn't die."
murphycharlie replied:
"I feel like I’m a few universes in at this point based on near-death experiences."
This multiverse theory is something I can't wrap my head around. How came people to the conclusion this could be true? I've read some on the subreddit about their own experiences and it's just not clicking for me and I don't understand the reasoning for the faith in this "system"
"I believe the Law of Conservation of Energy applies: energy can change form, but can't be created or destroyed.
Whatever it is that comprises consciousness; whatever it is that makes me, Me; the something most commonly called a "soul"... I believe it's some kind of energy that's "tuned" in some way unique to every living creature. So when I die, that energy goes back out there - who knows where - in some new form. I'll still be a part of the universe; and while I can only hope there will be some sort of awareness of what I become, I find it oddly comforting simply to know I'll continue to exist in some way."
The first bit is correct, but what follows is wooo unfortunately. Or maybe fortunately…
Snoo-43285 said:
"I imagine it's like when you fall asleep unexpectedly or go under for surgery and you wake up out of a haze, minus the waking up part."
haversack77 replied:
"Do you know how it felt in the millennia before we were born? I'd imagine it'll be a lot like that."
thekoogs replied:
"That’s usually my perspective when this is brought up in conversation. I usually say an event, like, “What was it like for you when the Titanic sank"?"
I don't believe things like that, but there's a flaw in this logic. Only because we can't remember something, doesn't mean we didn't experience it. We could have had a "life before birth" and just have forgotten about it. I have a complex PTSD and I randomly forget stuff I just remembered a few hours ago. Couldn't even remember that I have had a pet hamster that I dearly loved and thought my siblings would fool me. The brain does this as a protective service but its flaws are huge, for example forgetting random other stuff that is not related to trauma (or not related to it at first glance, as some triggers come in a millisecond although the chain of memory is damn long. I know why I forgot my hamster back then rightnow, it caused a long chain of associations that would have caused a trauma attack at this moment back then. But sometimes it just fails, especially when paired with anxiety and depression, fml I guess). Well.. I'm not saying there's life before death or not. Just that this logic has a flaw :)
"I've wrestled with this question mightily the last ten-plus years after the loss of several significant loved ones (wife, father) and at this point, after all this searching, questioning, and pondering my thought is: what does it matter?
whatever happens: closing my eyes the final time to fade into oblivion and complete annihilation, eternal bliss on some heavenly plane of existence, an eventual return to another life as another aspect of "me" or something I has never even imagined? I cannot change it. I cannot alter it. I cannot run from it. All I can do is live the rest of my life the best I can each day, savoring every moment, with love, appreciation, and gratitude until that time comes."
I like to think I'll see loved ones again, but if I'm dead & that doesn't happen, I won't even know. My family knows I want to donate all possible organs, if any. Then cremated me and throw the most awesome Irish Wake ever! If I can look down, I want to see family and friends celebrating my life, telling stories about me to each other and generally just laughing and enjoying my party! And if I'm looking down and they don't do that, I'll haunt them forever! LOL 😆
EmileeHavens07 said:
"The ones who love us will miss us."
jessdfrench replied:
"This is the most real one. Recently lost my husband to a rare cancer shortly after he turned 35. We were together almost all our adult lives - 12 years, married for 5. He’s the love of my life and I miss him every waking hour. I will always love him forever. He was my home and I want to go home."
User No 1 said:
"It is heaven or hell."
santaclaws_ replied:
"Or maybe New Jersey."
litttleman9 replied:
"That's just hell for people who live in New York."
"I remember hearing that "Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed." I like to think that it goes somewhere else. I hope that somewhere else is where I can see him again."
Usagi_Shinobi said:
"My hope is that it is the end of whatever sentence I am serving and that I won't be forced to come back."
JCIgaming replied:
"Guess you can say it’s a life sentence."
"Your family members fight over your things, if applicable."
"I’ll be like Mozart and Beethoven: decomposing."
TVFREngine64_2020 said:
"I wish people would go to wherever they wanted to, like - whatever their religion teaches, they’ll go there. And if their non-religious, then they can choose whatever they want to believe in. I don’t know what’ll happen to me but I hope to see my friends again."
raptor182cmn replied:
"When do we ever get what we wanted?"
Jerbairs said:
"Your own personalized game over screen."
razorbackfrost7 replied:
"Would be cool if we could see our life stats and achievements."
"I don’t want to be boring but trust me, I’d bet a lot that the most interesting stuff happens to you when you’re alive."
nphased said:
"I don’t know but I’m going to put off finding out firsthand for as long as I reasonably can."
kingdom_tarts replied:
"This is a great example of survival instincts. We are here because all species have the instinct to avoid death at all costs."
More-Masterpiece-561 said:
"People go through my stuff and get pissed about the f**kload of truth I say about them."
Flyingwheelbarrow replied:
"Why not speak your truth now?
I have begun to embrace radical honesty and I like it."
More-Masterpiece-561 replied:
"I don't have that luxury yet."
"What does a computer think when it's turned off?"
NihilistPunk69 said:
"I have a few theories on it. I think the consciousness may be transferable. When you die there are 300,000 people born daily give or take. There are 150,000 people dying daily. That means there is an excess of 150,000 bodies that need consciousness. I believe all memories would be erased during this process. You just wake up in another existence somewhere else on Earth. It’s a dumb theory. But is it really crazy to believe we could acquire consciousness in another body?"
bronkovic replied:
"I like this way of thinking."
les_bean_13 said:
"I hope something like reincarnation but it’s probably just nothing. Like we just end and we’re not aware that it’s nothing but it is."
TheyreEatingHer replied:
"Careful of what you wish for. Everyone thinks they'll end up as something cool like a lion but nobody thinks about how insects and bacteria make up some of the largest populations of life on Earth. Maybe you'll be gut bacteria for some rats. Or a slug that a kid wants to pour salt on."
If you believe some religions, a man is the ultimate level in reincarnation - do well as a man, you get into paradise. If you're a woman, and you've done well, you come back as a man. No idea what they believe in relation to trans people.
"I used to think nothing but my personal research into NDEs or near-death experiences revealed an odd event that takes place after death and has happened to hundreds of thousands of people. That's just the ones we know about apparently from interviewing patients who died on the operating table. One particular case involved a woman describing the tools the doctors were using as she was under anesthesia on the table having surgery done to her, also with tape over the eyes.
One important thing to note is the patterns. That's what really shocked me about this whole thing. Random people from all over the world who don't know each other describe the same things when they died. Blackness and feeling like you're in a floorless void, seeing a bright light that comes near you and engulfs you. They all described feeling at peace and loved in the light. A lot of them also described a green pasture or valley of some sort. Sometimes with other people there, sometimes they're just alone."
There's a fairly well-accepted theory that the brain can stay alive for possibly up to 30 minutes after bodily death (i.e. heart stopping beating), hence why it is possible to "come back from death", so it is reasonable to suppose that it is still able to process some information such as surgical tools. The white light is a symptom of oxygen starvation. This sort of speculation and supposition without understanding the facts is how we got religion in the first place.
"I think the energy that you're made of disperses like a popped balloon and scatters to wherever energy like that scatters to and collects with other energies of the same likeness making a new something. I think you become a little bit of a lot of things. I also think the new things you become would somehow recognize each other like there’d be a sense of familiarity.
I don’t know if I think you become new humans or something completely new/unknown."
Maybe that's what true love is? It's because you recognize yourself in that partner. (Don't ask me about Aromantic or Asexual people)
"Some place that’s too good to come back from. Otherwise, dead people would’ve come back already."
Hillbilly415 said:
"Bugs eat your sphincter."
Reddit user replied:
"I'd like to hope there are better places to start even for a starving bug."
CelticDK said:
"I just hope there’s something. It’s easier on the mind."
NlitendOperativ replied:
"You’ve discovered the reason for religion."
CelticDK replied:
"I’m pretty sure this has been known for a while that religion fills the void for fear and uncertainty but I get your point."
Religion is a teddy bear for people who are afraid to sleep alone.
Fine-Helicopter5352 said:
"You re-enter the fourth dimension having shed your three-dimensional form."
Reddit user replied:
"Were we stickmen in our previous lives?"
"Probably gonna sound dumb, but I think if time goes on forever until every possibility has been exhausted, then you will exist again after you have died, and we have already existed and died before.
Some theoretical physicist will probably tell me how that's impossible, though. lol."
"I’m not a genius so feel free to correct me but I think when you’re asleep is the lowest brain activity u have. So it must be similar to that. The type of sleep you can’t keep your eyes open for, no dreams just good ol’ z’s."
zeracine said:
"You go back to the character creation screen. (I'm a simulationist)."
RichardLiquor69 replied:
"This time I'm using my points to build up charisma and assertiveness instead of using them on whatever I'm good at now."
"Several billion years later an incomprehensible powerful machine intelligence scans the cosmos and extrapolates backward to determine what material components would need to be arranged to perfectly replicate my consciousness. It consumes the power from a dozen star systems, snuffing out trillions of sapient beings to perform this digital resurrection. Once I am fully aware, it asks me the question: What is Mambo No. 5? I sing the song and it immediately becomes stuck in the head of the cyber god, driving it quite mad. It splinters apart in a vain effort to preserve some functionality. The spawn spread across the universe spreading Mambo No. 5’s irresistibly catchy rhythm wherever they go. Eventually, Lou Bega himself is resurrected and I am made his chief apostle. The universe unites under him and a new era of peace follows. Pretty sure it’s that or the Macarena in which case may the cyber god have mercy on our souls."
Agile_Ad_6346 said:
"Something I find to be comforting every time I think about this death is that you die and see yourself at the moment you were happiest.
I don’t know much about my life being I’m relatively young and really haven’t gone through that much of life, but I think that if I died right now I would be back with my ex and laughing at 3 am about stupid stuff while we don’t have a care in the world about anything else. But, maybe that will change in the future but right now, I wouldn’t be too upset if I died."
johannesboblec replied:
"I spend too much of my time wanting to go back to that too. I hope it changes for me but I don’t know how to want anything else."
User No 1 said:
"A rejoining of a united consciousness of some kind."
UhnonMonster replied:
"There’s a short story called “the egg” by Andy Weir that’s about something like this. It’s a cool theory."
Michael Bentine had a similar idea, the supraconscious. Psychics etc work by tapping into it.
TicklesMcFancy said:
"Your name is used to vote."
Butwinsky replied:
"I received a declined loan request in the mail today.
It was for the previous owner of my home.
She died 15+ years ago."
"I have this theory that when we die, we can stay in this universe as ghosts or whatever for however long we wish, then when we want to move on, we sort of branch off into another universe in which we become a sort of god in. I think that there are some universes without a god, which have always been here, like ours, cuz I don't see any god allowing a world as horrible as ours to exist, so basically when you die you become the god of a new universe where you have control over everything."
I'd wish that this one is what happens, i wanna haunt people as a spoopy monster
Asmo_fu2 said:
"It was always that everything goes black and you just don't exist anymore. My SO believes that you die and you get to live in your own little paradise and I've always loved the idea of that. I just wish I could believe it. It's also been super sweet to hear from him that I'm gonna be in his little paradise."
trthaw2 replied:
"I've posted this before but the idea of my own little paradise disturbs and terrifies me. Because my little paradise wouldn't be the same as other people's. If I say desire to meet my parents again after I die, the age I'd want them to be is likely different from the age they'd want to be in their paradise. This means none of our paradises can overlap, and the idea of heaven is really just a simulation in which you are horribly alone."
Back2Bach said:
"You return to that state of non-existence before you were conceived."
beastieofthewilds replied:
"After being in a brief trauma-related slumber I recalled… nothing. Blank. Didn’t exist for a while. I remember during recovery that I didn’t fear death as much as I had previously, because I was comforted by non-existence. May be biased - I definitely feared it less than the propofol dreams. Dear goodness."
hillmonk replied:
"The same thing happened to me, it was straight-up nirvana. Pretty much cured my depression. I feel like I know what awaits, and I hope it’s that. I’m just here experiencing things while I can out of pure curiosity."
User No 1 said:
"We are stardust."
User No 2 replied:
"This was the most comforting and oddly beautiful fact for me to know once I started struggling with my religion and belief in the afterlife."
Raspint replied:
"How and why is that comforting? Dust is dust even if it comes from stars its nothing special."
I look forward to my dust stage. The moment of my death will be the happiest. No more anything. Vanishing like a dying ember turning to ash. This nothingness provides me such relief. I know this may seem dark to some, but it's so deeply gratifying to know that someday it will all be over. I use this as a way to deal with the good and bad moments of my life. Bad is temporary/and a lesson and good should be savored.
Atomic-Soup said:
"I like to think of death like this:
The universe came from nothing, which means my consciousness came from nothing, when I die I will return to nothing, so it is inevitable that something will come from nothing."
Mister-Karma replied:
"Something can't come from nothing, that's literally impossible. If something existed, it's because it came from something/someone."
Atomic-Soup replied:
"Then that is your theory."
"Hopefully, some people will remember you. So make some babies, make some great art, be a great or terrible politician or ruler, or be a great athlete. 'Cause that's it, folks."
Fabulous-Peanut-920 said:
"You're born again somewhere in this universe or another with no memory of your past life. If time, space, and matter are infinite or if there are multiple universes, this seems like an inevitable outcome.
It might be a million years from now, but it will feel instant to you."
WeldNuz replied:
"I’ve always toyed with the thought that, if there are infinite universes then surely there would be a universe where an ‘afterlife’ exists and if it’s truly infinite then there would be one with an ‘afterlife’ that could permeate all over universes.
It makes me sleep a bit easier lol."
"I believe we go to the spirit realm and we live as nonphysical. It sounds crazy but I've had experiences with spirits before and I've heard so many experiences from my friends too."
"You get one more chance at life and if you blow it that’s it for you forever."
But if we are reincarnated and do not remember the previous life, does it even count? There have only been a handful of documented cases where people remember their previous life.i could be on my 17,045 life but maybe I keep screwing up because I can't remember my previous lives to learn from them.
"My husband talks about a theory sometimes that sends me into existential dread;
What if however we die, what feelings and sensations were experiencing while heading out.. what if that’s just what’s left of your consciousness, and the way you die determines the eternal loop of... whatever is the cause."
"As you draw closer to death time from your perspective becomes incredibly drawn out, your last breath will seem like an eternity in your mind as the brain shuts down. Your state whether it be pain or pleasure, when you draw to the end, it'll be the eternity you experience."
Oh great. Excruciating pain forever. Isn't that the christian hell?
I don't believe "ourselves" are made of energy. I came to the conclusion that our consciousness could(! Could!) just be an evolutionary thing. It helped us to survive better than all the others, that's why we got on top and enslaved everything and everyone "under us". Why should it be energy? My body gets energy by food, it uses energy by existing and doing stuff, releases heat, chemicals of all kind. Think of water in feces, sweat, saliva and every other body fluid, think of your poo helping composting plants, your flesh feeding insects etc. That's what has stored energy and what is able to be released or being used. Why should consciousness have energy? Some days I break my head about all those kind of theories posted above, though. And I hate it so much. Depression and mental health problems make me focus on this part of life instead of the good side. I hope no theory ever boggles you so much and everyone can release the thoughts of them and focus on the beautiful things. Take care
I don't believe "ourselves" are made of energy. I came to the conclusion that our consciousness could(! Could!) just be an evolutionary thing. It helped us to survive better than all the others, that's why we got on top and enslaved everything and everyone "under us". Why should it be energy? My body gets energy by food, it uses energy by existing and doing stuff, releases heat, chemicals of all kind. Think of water in feces, sweat, saliva and every other body fluid, think of your poo helping composting plants, your flesh feeding insects etc. That's what has stored energy and what is able to be released or being used. Why should consciousness have energy? Some days I break my head about all those kind of theories posted above, though. And I hate it so much. Depression and mental health problems make me focus on this part of life instead of the good side. I hope no theory ever boggles you so much and everyone can release the thoughts of them and focus on the beautiful things. Take care
