What do you believe about the possibility of an afterlife?

[Htom Sirveaux]

And what do you base that view on? Any book, article, etc. recommendations are most welcome. I don't have a firm opinion on this, so I am looking for different ideas and opinions, and reasons for them.

Thanks!

[hrmjustin]

1. The bible and tradition for me. I want to touch the divine.

[angstlessk]

2. I am an athiest, but have experienced, what I think, was spirtual.

I met a man who sold office supplies...we drank coffee together, slept together when I told him I was afraid to be alone, and he asked me to excuse any errant hard on...we did not have sex....ever

He gave me a book "Life After Death"..not sure if it is the actual title, but it was about life after death.



A couple days after, I got a call from my sister, her daughter was killed in a pedestrian/auto accident.

My sister's daughter died on Labor Day

My sister lived a few states away, and my mother and I took a plane to be with my sister and for the funeral.

I gave her the book the man I had met gave to me...and she said it gave her great relief.

I returned home before my mother, as I had to get back to work...

Upon my return I went to a grocery store I had avoided, as it required me to turn onto a side street then do a U turn to get into the parking lot. There was a grocery store much easier to access which I used all the time...except this time.

I shopped the grocery and came upon it's card display, and thought "I never send my nieces and nephews birthday cards". I decided to purchase one for each.....my birthday is Sept 14, my sisters is Sept 26...so we both had a birthday that month...

I had no problems picking cards for my sisters other children, but when it came to picking her card...I picked up one card...started to walk away, went back, and picked up another...this went on for about 3 or 4 cards...finally I chose the card which I would purchase.

Before I mailed her birthday card, my mother returned...In her suit case she had a birthday card to me from my sister....IT WAS THE EXACT CARD I HAD PURCHASED TO SEND HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sister asked why she did not pick up the card and put it back...my explanation was: You KNOW Jennifer's voice and just accepted it, while I did not, but ended up hearing her.

This does not prove a man in the sky, but does prove we are all one in the universe.

[cbayer]

3. Wow. What a great story to share.

I think we have all had similar experiences. Whether it be serendipity, coincidence, karma or who knows what, it carries meaning.

And those that are the things that make life so very special. Thanks so much for sharing this.

[angstlessk]

4. I even tried to find the man who had given me the book

and could not find him...he just vanished.

Like I said, I ma an atheist, but can angels exist outside of religion?

[cbayer]

5. I wish I knew the answer to your question, but I don't

and I don't imagine that I ever will.

FWIW, I don't think we, these simple biologic beings, are "it". I think there is something more, bigger, more pervasive and difficult to explain.

[okasha]

6. Sure.

NT

[TreasonousBastard]

8. When I was in high school I knew my father was dying of cancer...

one afternoon, on the way home from school, I decided to see him in the hospital.

"Wait a minute, he's not in the hospital, he's at home." And I headed back home.

When I got home, my mother was distraught because he was taken to the hospital that afternoon.

Most of us had things like this happen to us and there could be perfectly reasonable explanations for most of them. But all of them?

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Possibility, sure? Isn't just about anything possible? But...

so far no one has come back to tell us about it, so it's all just guesswork.

For an afterlife to make sense, though, we would have to agree on a "soul" or something that would survive physical death. There's little evidence of that, although there is some evidence of things beyond our physical existence. I suspect that we are connected through higher dimensions that we can't see,

Imagine a being that lives on a plane-- only two dimensions. A hand touching the plane would not look like a hand to it, it would look like five spots where the fingers touch it with no connection. A color wheel turning at the end of the plane would look like the horizon changing color, and might signify time on the plane. Then imagine that there are higher dimensions that we can't see and the types of connections that could be up there.

I don't know where all these ideas about an afterlife came from, but they are so common it may be from some fundamental human wish to deny death, or could it be some ancient wisdom we have forgotten...

[okasha]

9. Since I was old enough to have any memories at all,

I've had memories that do not belong to my present life. They also date to the period in my current life when I couldn't yet read, had never seen a movie or a tv, and had no context to make any sense of any of them. That came much later.

[hrmjustin]

10. I hope there is an open bar in heaven.

[rug]

11. I hope it doesn't have Budweiser.

[hrmjustin]

12. I hope not either.

It ruins the palate.

[okasha]

13. I hope it has

Cadillac Bar-style Margaritas.

[hrmjustin]

14. Sounds like fun.

[kentauros]

15. Absolutely!

And it's based on a lifetime of personal experience, mostly from out of body experiences (OBEs) and books on the subject, such as those by Robert Monroe, as well as a fairly recent one Anita Moorjani ("Dying To Be Me&quot

You might also have a look at the website Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife. It has a wealth of firsthand accounts and analysis by researchers.

[Htom Sirveaux]

16. Thank you!

I will definitely have to check that out.

[kentauros]

17. You're welcome!

Maybe let us know later what you learn