I don't know but I believe there is an afterlife.Can a caterpillar imagine what it is like to be a butterfly ?

Maranta How do you know there isn't an afterlife for an ant, slug or puffin. The afterlife could be heaven, reincarnation or a move to life on another plain.

How do you explain my seeing my late father? This happened after I had been discharged from hospital and was home in bed in the afternoon, resting, not sleeping and he had been dead for over 20 years at that point so it wasn't as if the grief was fresh and I was thinking of him all the time.

I always find it interesting that people are so certain one way or the other. How can we possibly know for sure until our time comes? Also, the near death experiences of others are dismissed so firmly as hallucinations, illusions. The people who've had these experiences don't normally read them like that.

Sorry, I meant to say so many people are so certain.... I'm sure there are many undecided as well.

Yes there is of course.

Don't ask me for proof ...I don't have any .

I just believe. And that's just fine by me. I don't need to persuade anyone else

Good for you,nanna, not being apologetic about it like I was.?

I just wish people who are grieving could draw some comfort from the belief that their loved one is are ok in the afterlife.

If the person who died had no belief in the afterlife, is it right to say he must have been wrong?

Wot - all our wisdom is passed on - we live on in those we have influenced and those we have loved.

There is an implication that those who do not think there is an afterlife lack sensitivity, as in the comment about soop - she is a nice sensitive lady so how can she possibly not believe in an afterlife? I find that odd.

I know Soop is a lovely person. I don't know why I thought like that. Perhaps because she is lovely it seems such a waste for her not to go on forever. Maybe I'm nuts.

I know what you mean wot - there are many people who I think are so lovely they should go on forever. But I accept that life is just tough and our wishes are not always granted.

But surely if we go through all the journey of life; loving, learning etc there should be some reason for it. The miracle of birth, animals, nature can't all be a just for nothing?????? Arghhhhh! If only I didn't care! And my brain would stop questioning.

Agree with Anya, no

I like to think if the person who dies didn't believe in the afterlife .....they'll be really surprised when they get there

Why assume it's just for nothing, just because there is no afterlife. Surely it's for everything we do in this life, trying to make the world a better place for future generations.

There has to be an ultimate end product though. Otherwise it's just a big unending wheel.

Human beings seem to be hardwired to seek answers that make sense and to impose reason where there is none. We would like there to be an "end product" and for there to be some reason to living, loving etc. - that does not mean that any of these are true.

It is indeed an unending (?) wheel - the cycle of life: we live, we die and our atoms return whence they came and someone else gets a crack at life.

We tell our grandchildren that when granddad died all his energy went into everything else, just like energy from the sun and the stars goes into making food for us and other plants and animals.
Grandad's energy could be anywhere in the cycle of life. They prefer to think he's still vegetarian, though, a goldfinch in the garden, rather than the blackbird pulling out a worm.

But why???????

This talk of people waiting for you is scary. What if I got to whatever and found my ex waiting there?

I like that, durhamjen! My dad, who was very clever, believed that too.

I know many people who believe in God and many who don't. I don't think it is that easy to change anyone's mind. I believe and hope but don't know anymore than anyone else.

No. Just a big nothingness. Like a dreamless sleep. What's to fear?

Good eh?

I hope not! When my turn on earth is done I hope my afterlife is in the people left on earth who care about me.

But you won't be living that, will you? Other people remembering you is a different thing altogether.

Sorry, but the end is the end. There is no loving God waiting to enfold us under any sheltering wing.