What Happens After We Die?

Instead of being unknowable, perhaps the afterlife is something we haven’t looked at hard enough. And if so, why not?

For one thing, the mind is addicted to repetition. We pursue the same desires today that we had yesterday. Even our thoughts today are generally about 90 percent the same as the thoughts we had yesterday, according to some studies. Habit rules our actions; a fixed roster of likes and dislikes governs our taste.

On the positive side, psychologists point out that the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain motivate us every day, and generally to good effect. We’re reassured by what we know.

At the same time that is reassures us, repetition has a deadening effect. By keeping out what’s new, it forces reality into the strait-jacket of the old. Each of us lives behind a wall, beyond which lies the infinite potential of the unknown. Only the smallest gates are built into the wall, and we stand guard at these, allowing one experience to enter but excluding another, calling this experience good and that one evil. As long as we keep on taking in reality so selectively, freedom is a remote possibility.

In this regard, death is a great gift, because it throws open all the doors and windows. Dying forces us outside the wall. Instead of seeing the familiar things we’ve assiduously collected and labeled as reality, we must start over.

Whatever our dream is right now, that dream continues. Consciousness is tied by thousands of threads to old memories, habits, preferences, and relationships.

Who are you? You have to know where you are right now, in order to know where you will be tomorrow, and the afterlife is just a special kind of tomorrow.

Adapted from Life After Death: The Burden of Proof, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2006).

Read more: Deepak Chopra's Tips, Spirit, afterlife, death, desires, dreams, dying, habit, heaven

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Stella G.

7:51PM PDT on Nov 2, 2012

"Arthur hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction there and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife."

November 2
send a green star

Kathy P.

7:47AM PDT on Oct 24, 2012

energy lives on. the rest is a crock

October 24
send a green star

Lynette D.

8:21AM PDT on Oct 13, 2012

Death is part of a journey, not a destination.

October 13
send a green star

Pat M.

9:01AM PDT on Oct 12, 2012

I think that the reason most people belong and go to churches/mosques/synogogues is basically a fear of death. We have so many problems that need our attention in this life that if all the monies that were given to churches as insurance for an afterlife went toward solving problems in this life so we could live in peace and harmony and no child would be unwanted or suffer from hunger and deprivation, humanity would so much better off.
Why spend energy and so much more worrying about a 'next life' that you make this one almost miserable? It's like going on a great 2 week vacation to some tropical island and then spending all your time there looking at travelogues and planning for the next vacation. You miss the point of this vacation and this life and end up really getting nothing out of it.

October 12
send a green star

Mulheed M.

8:32AM PDT on Oct 12, 2012

As an atheist I think that death is only the end our own subjectivity. However, awareness lives on and it is too narrow minded to think that existence and consciousness is limited to your own subjective self. Just like I am aware at this moment while many are dying and ending their lives, when I die, will there not be countless minds that remain aware and conscious?

I am mortal only because of my spatial and temporal insulation from other conscious minds. Perhaps, Ray Kurzweil's "projection" may come true and we can one day end this insulation (Ray Kurzweil has written extensively on reverse engineering the brain and mind uploading)

Michael W.

4:22PM PDT on Oct 8, 2012

There is sufficient anecdotal evidence from scholars and other evidence gleaned via hypnotherapy or Near Death Experiences to point to the reality of an afterlife. In most cases there would be self-examination of what one has done to utilise one's gifts / talents while on this planet and from there it seems there is a progression into another, higher, level of personal development. What exactly it is we can expect is not that clear. Different belief systems portray different versions of an afterlife. For example, an afterlife preparing us for reincarnation makes perfect sense too many, but perhaps not if you are a Christian. Some see Hell and Damnation; others see ultimate love and forgiveness by a gracious god. “May you be in heaven, half an hour before the devil knows you are dead

October 8
send a green star

David H.

3:40PM PDT on Oct 7, 2012

This guy carries on with some rubbish...all his claims are ridiculous with nothing to back them up and people just eat it up. People should use their own brains rather than take this fool's words as gospel.