What Happens After We Die?

No one who’s alive can tell you what happens after we die. No one. No one who’s dead can tell you that either so we are all left wondering about what will happen next.

Different people hold different beliefs about the afterlife. I have mine too. Here are three possible scenarios that have been on my mind for many years.

Afterlife Scenario #1

When you die, you’ll get all the answers to the most unanswerable questions that humans have been asking themselves since the beginning of time.

Who are we? Why are we here? Why was I born? How did life begin? Where do the dead go? Are we alone in the universe? If not, where are the others and what are they doing?

You’ll finally get to know everything.

Some religions claim they have the answers to those questions but their claims are based on stories that became true only because enough people believed them.

No one really knows. This is why — while you’re alive — you shouldn’t argue over questions you can’t answer.

But don’t worry, you’ll soon be able to.

Afterlife Scenario #2

No matter how much your life sucks, right now, you’re living in heaven. When you die, you’ll go to hell — a much more gruesome place than you could ever imagine.

In hell, you’ll be left to starve forever. Not to death — you’re dead already. So no one or nothing will come to save you from the pain of starvation. You’ll never find peace.

There won’t be any toilets in hell. You’ll have to defecate and urinate in the same place where you sleep — a dirty smelly cage made of cold metal bars.

You’ll be beaten, poked, electrocuted, and tortured continuously. And you’ll be forced to watch other humans being tortured as well. You’ll be smelling their blood, terror and agony every day for the rest of your afterlife.

There will be times when you’ll pass out because you can’t take it anymore. That’s when you’ll be given food — lots of food. You’ll have a metal tube shoved down your throat and you’ll be stuffed with some brown mush that’s so disgusting that you’d rather go back to starving.

Who will do all this to you? Who’s the devil?

Animals.

Chickens, cows, pigs, ducks, fish, sharks and all the other creatures we torment today, here, in our heaven.

In hell, it’ll be their turn.

Afterlife Scenario #3

When you die, nothing happens. Nothing at all. If they bury you, your body will decompose and turn into a banquet for countless microorganisms. If you’re cremated, you’ll turn into ashes.

And that will be the end of it all.

Your soul will go nowhere because you never had one. No soul has ever existed. You thought they did, but that was just another story you kept telling yourself. You refused to believe you were just flesh and bones commanded by a mysterious machine called ‘brain,’ so you sought a spiritual story to bring you comfort. You couldn’t accept you were nothing but physical matter.

All your life you believed in something bigger. All your life you believed in some god that was there guarding, protecting and forgiving you.

When you die, you’ll realise you were wrong.

There’s no god, no souls, no salvation, no judgment, no reincarnation, no nothing. It’s all much simpler than you thought. But you never believed in simplicity.

Death will show you simplicity. And it’ll do that by showing you nothing.

I genuinely believe these could be possible scenarios. 

What do you think? What happens after we die? Feel free to email me to let me know.

(This piece was inspired by a book I read called Sum: 40 Tales from The Afterlife by David Eagleman)