Another afterlife thread that I was able to use to refine my thoughts and theories... Same original poster... but nearly ten months later ;)

"Ping" wrote
> Where do we go when we shake off this mortal coil? 
> When our bodies die................

If I told you, would you believe it?

There are three options:

1. Atheism: Into nothingness. This answer sucks, but it's the possibility of this answer that makes us want to live life to the fullest.

2. Religious: Into some sort of "afterlife", be it "heaven", "hell" or otherwise. Some state of existence where we retain some sort of individuality -- some retention of ego. This is what most people hope for.

3. Spiritual: Recycled. Either our spiritual energy goes into other lifeforms (i.e. the worms that eat our bodies) or our "spirit" goes back into some sort of collective consciousness ("God"). Either way the result is the same... we're no longer who we were before in any shape or form. Again, it's the possibility of this that makes us want to make our mark -- leave something behind.

So which is it? There's only one way to find out ;)

Bits and pieces of subjective claims lend credence to number 2... past life regression, spiritual awakening, etc... and by far the bulk of the world population is betting on horse number 2... but that doesn't mean it's the truth. As egoists, we certainly don't like the idea that our identity will be lost forever.

Then again, if we are all truly just "God in disguise" on a quest to discover who we really are (God), then holding onto a false ego is quite futile. In that light, horse number 3 isn't all that bad... it means that you are God. How can that be a bad thing? ;)

Reincarnation would fall under category number 2 ... (with a little of number 3 if you consider it from the "your energy goes into other lifeforms" perspective). Many people believe that you are on some evolutionary spiritual journey where living good and learning your lesson in this life will allow you to the next stage. Failure will result in repeating similar scenarios until your learn your lesson, and serious sins (murder, suicide) could result in a more painful next life, or a demotion down the evolutionary chain (dog, cat, goat, rodent, etc).

I can't tell you for certain which one it is... and I seriously doubt humanity will ever be able to prove it one way or another. Technically even memories of past lives could lend favor to number 3 just as easily as number 2 -- if you were really God, why couldn't you have a memory fragment of a past incarnation?

It may just be that number 2 and number 3 are a coexistent duality. This would still jive with organized religions like Christianity -- that we are all children of God, and that God is everywhere and everything (including us). It may just be our own limited mortal comprehension that makes us see number 2 and number 3 as different things, when they are really just two sides of the same coin. I think maybe I'll stick with that one ;)

-Derek