I’m not sure what made this pop into my head, but I thought it would be interesting to discuss what we would like to happen when/after we die. It’s a slightly different question from what you believe will happen, and the answers to those questions aren’t necessarily the same. For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume that none of us knows or can know what happens when humans die, and any one possibility is just as likely to be true as any other possibility. I’m interested here in the wanting rather than the believing.
I’m inclined to think that the common human desire for life not to end with death is one of the reasons why religion exists and has been ubiquitous throughout the world for a very long time. Even if there is one true, objectively accurate religion, if you look at the wide array of different religious belief systems that have existed throughout history, some of them are mutually exclusive (e.g. polytheistic vs. monotheistic), so it seems fairly certain that there are at least some people who have (or have had) religious beliefs that do not actually correspond to reality.
We can probably all agree, for example, that the Ancient Greeks didn’t get it right with their hypersexual pantheon. That’s who I’m referring to when I talk about religion existing to explain death – the people, whoever they might happen to be, that believe(d) something that isn’t true. And the explaining death part seems to be a common thread across the board with different religious faiths.
I feel like I might be the exception to the norm in my desire for life to end with death. As a soft atheist, I figure that when I die, it’s the same thing as when one of my guinea pigs dies – it’s just the end. But more importantly for the sake of this discussion, I’m good with life just ending. Scratch that, I’m more than just good with it; it’s what I actively want. I have no desire at all to stick around for eternity in any way, shape, or form. I want me, whatever me is, to end when the electrical activity in my brain stops. I want my body to be burned to transform me into heat and ash, and that’s the end of the story.
I already feel like my natural life is likely to be far longer than I want it to be. My family is ridiculously long-lived, and one of my grandmas is still alive and kicking at the ripe old age of 105. The idea that I might not even be halfway through my natural life is all kinds of repulsive to me. I don’t want to stick around for another 10 years, much less an eternity.
As I said, I’m probably rather unusual in my feelings on the matter. So now it’s over to you – regardless of what you believe is most likely, what would you most like to happen or feel most comfortable with happening when you die?
I want the same. It’s over when it’s over. Religion has done all of what you said it’s done, and there is no evidence to suggest anything other than what science knows, to be the case when we die. So, for me, cremation is what I want as well.
I wonder if cremation will become more common as cemetaries run out of space.
That’s a great question! It needs to be anyway 🙂
Cremation is the norm in my country and they also exhume bodies to cremate them.
Oh that’s interesting.
I’m not sure which would be worse in the case of paralysis but not death, air tight coffin, or cremation 😆
Eek…
I’m not sure I was ready for all of this this
morning 😂 I think my beliefs kind of line up with yours, and I more or less think that what you want to happen is what does happen.
As for what I *want* to happen?
Eh, I think it’d be cool to stick around and haunt my husband. Knock some shit off the shelves when I disagree with something he’s doing, or if I just want to mess with him or say hi 😅
Lol
I think I have romantic notions of my afterlife and hope that there’s some other world we all go to where there’s no pain or hate. Where there is no need to constantly compete and one-up one another. It’s just being in a state of effortless joy and happiness without having to think about it.
I wonder if no pain or hate is possible for the human mind, or if the nature of our minds would have to fundamentally change somehow in the afterlife for that to happen.
My beliefs and wants are very close to yours. I want to be cremated too, because I’m afraid of waking up accidentaly from the coffin. 😅 Cool topic Ashley, I think about it a lot.
Yikes, waking up in a coffin is a creepy thought.
I’m a soft atheist too and won’t believe in anything spiritual until I have direct proof. It’s been sixty-one years and nothing, so far. As far as death, I hope mine is quick and not too hard on my children. What happens to my body after? I don’t care… whatever makes the kids happy!
A quick death is definitely up there on my wish list too.
air-holes and a walkie-talkie, just in case. Given it’s now 2022, I guess I should upgrade the walkie talkie for an iPhone and wifi. I don’t think anything with happen in terms of souls or heaven or reincarnation. And I don’t want to be hanging around to see what people are up to when I’m dead either.
I agree with you in how a part of the need for, and appeal of, religion is the comfort in believing in an afterlife. It also gives some meaning to what can otherwise feel like a meaningless existence and suffering.
xx
Please ignore the last comment as it got cut in half. It wouldn’t let me submit it so I signed out and back in again. Here’s what I tried to post :
What I would like to happen and what would happen are definitely very different things. What I would like is an endless mushroom-like trip; a psychedelic, weightless, painless wandering in bliss forever more. What will happen is my brain will be mush and my body will be eaten by insects within my not-air-tight coffin. Ever since I was a little kid I said I wanted a coffin with air-holes and a walkie-talkie, just in case. Given it’s now 2022, I guess I should upgrade the walkie talkie for an iPhone and wifi. I don’t think anything with happen in terms of souls or heaven or reincarnation. And I don’t want to be hanging around to see what people are up to when I’m dead either.
I agree with you in how a part of the need for, and appeal of, religion is the comfort in believing in an afterlife. It also gives some meaning to what can otherwise feel like a meaningless existence and suffering.
xx
After reading your first comment that got chopped, I came across this article that’s all kinds of creepy: https://allthatsinteresting.com/buried-alive
Yikes! I like this part though –
“He then invented a type of security coffin that he toured across France. It was reported to contain “a small oven, a refrigerator, and a hi-fi cassette player.” – That is my kind of coffin!
I’m still having problems commenting, which is weird. For the last comment and this one I’ve had to go through the WP Reader. I usually go directly on your site to leave the comment. It just keeps saying to fill in the blank fields (usually happens if you’re not logged in), but I am logged in. I tried logging out and back in, but it still happens. Grrr. Something has gone tits up there but I’m not sure what.
I had that happen trying to comment on someone else’s blog this morning, so I guess the WP gremlins are at play again.
Yeah, that was a pretty impressive-sounding coffin. And there definitely needs to be booze in that fridge.
I want to cross the rainbow bridge and be reunited with every pet I ever lost
I like the sound of that.
The thought of being cremated scares me to death, not really sure why. I want to be buried in the same cemetery as my grandma, the ancestral burial place of many generations before me. Then I want to meet up with them in heaven. I really don’t want to stay here and watch over everyone because I do way too much worrying about the living while I’m alive. I want to be in eternal peace.
I find burial a scarier prospect than cremation, but I can see the appeal of a multigenerational family burial place. And good point about worrying about the living.
I love this question, Ashley. What I hope happens death is the continuation of consciousness, and that it experiences peaceful events, ideally with other consciousnesses that were once friends in the physical realm. I guess like sleep-state with no physical dreamer.
Happens after* 🙂
Interesting!
When I die I would like my ashes to be recycled into a tree and an oak if I had the choice of tree too. You can have something called a tree urn which when planted, a tree will grow from your ashes. Whereas what might happen to my spirit if there still is one will hopefully be a bonus on top.
I hadn’t heard of a tree urn before – that’s so cool!
What I want is different than what I believe. I believe we die and decompose and become in soil, plants, animals etc. but, what I would like to happen is for a spirit to leave my body and join others. I don’t want to haunt anyone. I would like it to be welcoming and for hell to be a myth.
Hell does seem rather unlikely.
I only know i don’t ever want to come back if any sort of reincarnation is possible 🙂 all must end at once, everything must stop. So kinda like yours? (Selfish but I really do not care about what happens here after I’m done.)
I also have zero desire to be reincarnated. No no no!
What an interesting post. Am pondering your words, still. I am also quite contemplative with all the commenters thus far. Have been grappling with how I feel about life, about everything, since mom passed away. I have to start my work week again and ALL I can think of is….fuck that/this! I am a positive person, or try to be, but being a person of color and target practice for the world, finds me…tired of all this shit. I detest swearing and all I want to do is say…fuck it and fuck off. O, yea, I love me some Him, so there is that as well. Hope that helps. Sure am grateful and thankful for all the honest peeps around here. Yall make me a better me…❤😎
Hugs ❤️
🥰🥰🥰
I consider myself a somewhat religious person, and yet, I haven’t considered the afterlife at all really. Like I have no idea if/what happens from an afterlife or even if there is one, and I don’t particularly care. There are “practical” post-death things that I care quite a bit about (where I am buried, what happens to my belongings), but I find myself unable to imagine or care about the afterlife
It seems like the afterlife is generally less of a focus in Judaism than it is in Christianity.
That could be true. There’s plenty of Jewish opinions on the afterlife (and with all things Jewish, there are different opinions), but I feel like it just isn’t emphasized or talked about all that much. I can’t speak to Christianity
Interesting topic. So I follow the Christian faith which means I believe that there’s more to my life after death. However outside of that, I would be quite ok with not expecting anything to happen after death. And for whatever reason I hope within the next ten years you’ll find reasons to want to stick around a little longer
Thank you 💕