Life After Death

[CoffeeCanuck]

I would be interested in hearing of other peoples belief on life after death. Has anyone had an 'experience' or know someone who did? The idea for this topic came to me after reading a few posts on the soul in another thread.

***Please, I dont want this discussion to turn into yet another ugly argument between atheists and Christians. This discussion is not about proving anything, it's just about sharing ones beliefs and experiences in the afterlife.

*This thread wil have a zero tolerance policy, so please respect the intention of the thread starter. Thanks/Jo*

I absolutely believe in the afterlife. My grandmother had an out of body experience back in the 30's when she was being operated on. From what I can recall, her experience was very similar to many other people. She recalled being very light, like air, and there was a very bright light. She was in some kind of field that was filled to capacity with flowers. Some flowers she could identify, but many she could not as well as the colours of them. There were colours that she couldnt not even describe because she didn't know what to call them. There was incredibly beautiful music everywhere. She could only describe it like it was even passing through her body, weird, I know. Other than the music and colours, she had this incredible feeling of utter peace. She said even in good times on earth, she never felt that level of peace that she did in heaven, as she referred to it. A man named Peter appeared before her and beckoned her to come with him, however she recalled that she had two small boys back home that still needed her. As soon as she said this, she woke up in the hospital.

It was a long time before my Grandma ever told anyone that story as she thought people would think she was right off her rocker. I remember being in awe as my Grandma told us what happened to her, and it still brings me comfort now, as I know she is back there, filled with music, peace and happiness.

~D

[Baba O'Riley]

I'm undecided. As I posted in the other thread, "some people strongly believe that what we are discussing is the 'soul', whilst others think it's nothing in particular - just 'life' that will one day be gone forever again. Me, I just don't know....".

I think that many 'out of body' or 'supernatural' experiences can be explained, as the power of the human mind is still quite an 'unknown'.

There are, however, some experiences that cannot be so easily explained, and those are my reason for not being at all sure about life after death.

[CoffeeCanuck]

I've heard many different accounts of people dying and being transported to another place. I think it's just one of those very personal things that happen that changes you forever. There are of course skeptics, but when I think back to my Grandma telling me her story in such an honest and earnest way, I had no doubt that she experienced it.

I believe that the soul is our spirit body, for lack of a better description. As for reincarnation, I used to say no way, but I'm not so sure about it now. There was a lady who had an experience years ago. I saw her interview on tv and was truly amazed. I remember her first name, Betty, but cant remember her last name. She even wrote a book which I have somewhere packed away. What stands out from her interview was that she said we are all spirits that already exist in heaven, waiting to be born. I was facinated with this concept and I am trying hard to find her story online, but so far I cant.

~D

[gardengirl]

I am also undecided. I have had some very strong Deja Vu experiences that I cannot for the life of me explain. Some of these experiences about places which were very familiar to me. I knew my way around, knew directions....but I had never been there before.

Previous life? I don't know.

[ferri]

i know the book you are talking about! i've read it too.

i do believe there is life after death. not only because i was raised that way, but because it just makes sense to me. a quote attributed to Chief Seattle sums it up for me!

Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not powerless. Dead, did I say? There is no death, only change of worlds.

edited to add:

this is the book i was thinking about:

Embraced by the Light - Betty J. Eadie

[CoffeeCanuck]

Those deja vu experience are neat when they happen. For myself, they always happen in a very fast moment, it's instantaneous. It's like, ok, I just lived a moment that already happened, how weird is that eh. LOL.

~D

[CoffeeCanuck]

i know the book you are talking about! i've read it too.

Now what is the title...lol I'm making myself crazy here trying to remember it.

[ferri]

scroll back up, i edited my post.

[steven lloyd]

Here’s something to consider that I have posted before that I think is quite relevant to this topic (thank you Coffee).

Researchers at MIT produced evidence (not proof) that consciousness can exist outside the body (supporting the notion that a soul could continue to exist after the body dies). They programmed a supercomputer to generate massive amounts of random binary numbers at an incredible speed. What we are talking about here is a computer that would randomly generate millions of binary numbers in the space of twenty minutes or so. The reason they wanted so many numbers generated was so the results of their testing would be statistically significant (ie. unlikely to have occurred by chance).

The program was tested in numerous control runs, and as expected for randomly generated numbers with equal chance of selection, the results showed a distribution close to 50-50 (significantly close after repeated control runs). The researchers then put human test subjects in a room adjacent to the computer and told some to think about the number “1”, some to think about the number “0”, and some to think about whatever they wanted, and then ran the program again. They found that the presence of the test subjects significantly affected the outcome of the test results.

Now it wasn’t like the computer generated more “1”’s when test subjects were present and thinking about the number “1”, or more “0”’s when test subjects were present and thinking about the number “0”. There was no correlation between what the test subjects were thinking and what was generated by the computer other than the fact the computer would generate more of one number than the other when test subjects were present – and only when they were present.

Obviously (being the good little scientists they were) the researchers ran additional control runs after runs with test subjects present, and again, without the test subjects the computer would generate a distribution significantly close to 50-50, as would be expected for randomly generated numbers with equal chance of selection.

Again, this experiment did not ‘prove’ that consciousness exists outside the body (it’s only evidence), but something in repeated runs with test subjects present significantly affected the outcome of the test. Evidence is open to interpretation, however, the evidence produced by this experiment more supports the notion that consciousness can exist outside (and without?) the body than it does refute it.

[steven lloyd]

Another idea to consider. I’m sure many posters here are familiar with, or have heard of the idea that at the moment a person dies they lose a small fraction of weight. I never saw the movie “28 grams”, but I think the title was supposed to be a reference to that. Does the soul actually weigh something? Is that sudden decrease in weight at the moment of death actually the soul leaving the body? I know there are people who would try and suggest this but I wouldn’t argue either side of this idea as, of course, I have no way of knowing. I haven’t heard of any other reasonable explanation for that sudden loss in weight. Maybe someone else here knows more about this.

If the soul is energy, though, does it actually weigh anything? Can energy be weighed? Maybe there’s someone here who knows more about physics than I do who can answer that question? Maybe energy trapped within some type of vessel (ie. our bodies) actually does weigh something?

One thing I do know about energy (one thing I do remember from physics) is that it cannot be destroyed. Energy is never destroyed but it can be changed into another form. I thought I was onto something with this idea in forming an argument that life and consciousness (energy) would continue after death, when my philosophy professor pointed out that consciousness (if we agree it is energy) could be changed to non-consciousness (darn it, got me there). Interestingly enough, I believe it is the Krishna whose belief is that we are reincarnated onto ascending spiritual planes as we die in each life until eventually becoming one with the Godhead (or God). I guess at this point we will have lost all sense of self, and in that sense, self-aware consciousness.

[ferri]

it's funny you should mention that steven, i was just thinking about that! i remember seeing on tv in the late 70's or early 80's maybe, someone that was dying and had agreed to an experiment. s/he was on a table that was a scale and the second s/he passed away there was a weight loss. look out google...

[steven lloyd]

it's funny you should mention that steven, i was just thinking about that! i remember seeing on tv in the late 70's or early 80's maybe, someone that was dying and had agreed to an experiment. s/he was on a table that was a scale and the second s/he passed away there was a weight loss. look out google...

I'll really be interested in what you find out.

[ferri]

according to Snopes the experiments were inconclusive.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp

[CoffeeCanuck]

Ferri, I remember seeing that same show about trying to prove the soul actually did have weight to it. Simply fasinating! Embraced by the Light, thats it!!! Thank you Ferri!

The afterlife is really a great unknown to us all. Different faiths have different beliefs about what occurs in it. I do believe all of us, no matter our personal belief, will be surprised to some extent.

I have worked with dying people. I have sat at their bedside, have held their hand, cared for them all the while knowing they would soon be gone. Even a person who is not conscious and is near death has a little spark of life. I can see it and feel it. The minute they are gone though, there really is a difference. It's one of those things that is really hard to explain in words. I believe that difference is when their soul leaves their body.

I'm kind of curious now if there have been any recent studies to try and determine if the soul does in fact have some weight to it. It doesnt matter to me, but I would find it interesting.

~D

[steven lloyd]

according to Snopes the experiments were inconclusive.

http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.asp

Good find ferri. Interesting there has been no recent research done (or maybe there has?). Given the gains in research methodolgy and much more precise tools available to science today we might expect more conclusive results. Or, maybe not. Either way, it would be important for us to note that no matter what the findings they would not impact the question of whether or not life (in whatever form) continued after death. It might be concluded there is no evidence that a soul (if it exists) weighs anything, but it would still not prove that a soul does not exist (good chance it might not weigh anything).